I'm happy to report that I survived the first week of school! It was questionable at times - having not had a full first week of school in years, having a group with 4 more kids than last year, and realizing that this class is like day and night from last year's! However, they were amazing yesterday, a feat for a Friday, and I feel confident that they are going to be a great challenge, a ton of fun, and a group I will never forget!
The biggest differences from last year's class to this group is that they talk even more (not unusual for a group with a lot of Spaniards!), they are academically lower and have a wider range of abilities, and that there are quite a few boys who can't be seated within 10 feet of each other without a conversation, play-fighting, or anything else happening! Luckily, once the behavior log was put in place, as well as consequences (thanks, Mary Robison!), kids started responding. Again, it's such a great reminder of the importance of high expectations and consistent follow-through.
My class is bigger due to having 12 new students in 5th grade this year! Most of these students are international, so it's helping to balance out the languages. At this point, I have students whose native languages are: English, Spanish, Catalan, Hungarian, Swedish, Korean, Greek, Afrikaans, Dutch, and Portuguese - it's pretty amazing!
I stayed at school pretty late all of last week and feel kind of nerdy for it! However, there is just always so much to do at the beginning of the year that you can use throughout, and to be completely honest, I love it! It's great to feel re-energized about teaching and believe that I can really help these kids to improve. Again, I'm missing the intensity and level of conversation from Crawford, but feel more prepared to bring pieces of it to ASB, poco a poco. (I am also feeling very grateful for all of the amazing flipcharts we made, too -- my room is looking SO much better already! :)
And so, the first week is over. A much-needed night in and 9 hours of sleep did wonders! I'm now off to do a bit more preparing. Below are some photos of my classroom - a year later, a horseshoe table, and some rearranging have it much improved!
We're ready to write!
classroom library and writing supplies
cabinets full of supplies for all sorts of things
and prepared for student work
student seats, homework, daily schedule
my teaching area
No comments:
Post a Comment