Hit the Ground Running

Honestly, there is no other way to describe the start of this school year. Since the start of school on Monday, I have been swept up in a whirlwind of activity. The Head Teacher wants Class VII to finish all of their units by June so that they can spend more time "revising" before they take their national exams in September. This puts a lot of pressure on us teachers to keep the kids moving and on the kids to keep up with us. But, we are moving right along in English and I hope that we'll be able to get at least most (like 3/4's) of the way done before I leave in June. That's my goal at least, though I'd say it's pretty lofty when I think about how much we'll have to cram in. I made sure that the kids knew what to expect for this year and that it was going to be a tough year for them. But, so far they seem motivated to keep up (we'll see how long it keeps up though).

My main goal right now is to re-establish myself in the classroom as a teacher who should be taken seriously. I want the kids to know that if they're not following through with their classwork or homework, they will be punished. I'm making a pointed effort to collect homework first thing in the morning and follow up with kids who have not completed classwork. I'm not sure how well this will hold up, but it's always easier (and better) to start the year more strict and then ease up as the year progresses. Thus, I've been very busy "laying down the law" so to speak, but hopefully the returns will be worth all the extra effort now.

One advantage that I have this year is that I've already taught my materials before. Thus, I can spend more time establishing the classroom  so it's just a matter of doing it again except better. I've already begun to implement the changes that I mentioned a few posts ago. So far, I've had a lot of success with the homework and I hope that this will continue throughout the course of the year. Of course, with me really following through now, I expect that we won't have problems. Also, the idea of doing vocabulary lists each week and having a test on Fridays has been an excellent idea. We had our first test yesterday and it was very successful (out of classes VI and VII combined, only about 4-5 got a 0/5  or 1/5 which is a pretty good success rate I'd say!).

This week was mostly review of concepts that were learned last year. Class V really emphasized telling time, so Class VI had a big review of that. They really struggled with time last year, but this year we have a big advantage! Kjirstin brought a whole set of individual paper clocks for the kids to work with! Also, there are 3 large "teacher clocks". We had a BLAST telling time together and by the end of our period, I could tell that there was definite improvement. I never thought that they couldn't do it, but the concepts never clicked until now. (and praise God that they have!)  Here are some pictures of us working with our clocks:

As fun as review is, I'm really looking forward to next week's activities. We're going to be discussing how to write complete sentences in addition to tenses and other common problems. Writing in complete sentences is a particularly MAJOR problem with all of my students as they hate taking the time to write in complete sentences. I mean, I won't lie, I hated when my teachers required that I write in complete sentences. But once I got to college, I really appreciated the fact that they did not give up on me and kept pushing. So, I have vowed to do the same. I will push and push, and then push some more until they learn this skill!! Hopefully, they will look back one day and thank me for making them do things they hated. Even Nathan said that when he got to pre-form I, he was very grateful for all of the things that I taught him at Wesley (especially vocabulary and writing in complete sentences). That really gave me some encouragement!! :D

To conclude, I will leave you with some pictures of me hand washing clothes for your enjoyment!! :D

I hope you all have had a wonderful week and are having a wonderful weekend!!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine