Thursday, February 02, 2006
The Day
Today was ski day for the sevens. I stayed back at the compound with the derelicts that had racked up referrals, detentions, or suspensions and the other lingerers who did not turn in permission slips to go. About ten of them total. Staying back with ten kiddos sounds pretty easy, but planning six hours of activities for ten angry and left-behind children was a daunting task. Missing work was determined, copies gathered, a schedule prepared, lunch duties swapped, and passes written to break up the group now and then. I was, admittedly, worried about how the day would go. In the end, it was smooth sailing. Even the girl who had told off three teachers that morning before arriving at my room settled in to read a book before too long. There was no magic formula, just a little attention given to ten kids by one teacher. And I realized, if this could be the size of every one of my classes, we could really get some stuff done. I mean, we could really learn some shit. I could feel like a teacher five out of five days of the week and no child would be left behind. Not a single one.
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5 comments:
I had a low level class of 12 before....it was awesome. Some even scored one point away from an Honors level on the district writing assessment. We had such a community in there.
Do I sense a little sarcasm in that entry? Very well placed sarcasm, I might add. You're not alone, the Bushwhached Admin. doesn't leave any issue behind either - Medicare and Medicaid is being slashed, the ANWR is not out of trouble, and the pro-lifer just got confirmed. OH, but alas, he accuses AMERICA of being addicted to oil. Assjacket.....
Ahh..ditto to bdoc! I watch the Daily Show to at least laugh about how ridiculous AMERICA is atm. And then there's the whole excuse that Key West is the Conch Republic, and not really a part of the U.S.
But, I think there's hope. The class I teach -- adults with severe/profound MR -- is about 10 clients. It's a nice size, and with three aides in the room, there's plenty of opportunity for 1:1 work.
my class of 12 was kind of a nightmare, if you recall...
i think fifteen or sixteen is the real ideal. :)
it's great to have some time to chat with the kiddos. our electives are smaller and we're getting stuff done, while having fun in there. what a concept. (we also don't grade the electives, and that really changes everything. for the better.)
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