Not surprisingly, the time has flown by and the end of the first term is tomorrow. I feel super fortunate to have the students I have this term, as they are all very easy to get along with, something that isn't always true.
My home room and first block is the largest class, with an enrollment of twenty-seven, but it sets a really positive tone to my day. It's Honors English 10, and they are a pretty happy group. I have about ten AVID students in the mix, and so far I haven't had personality issues with any of them, nor have I seen any occur. One student had to go on home bound services at the end of the second week due to surgery, and a new student transferred from a different class to due a conflict with another student, but it seems to be going well. I provided color paper and markers earlier this week following a test and encouraged them to make a get well card, but only a couple did it. One or two of the boys suggested I make a large one and just have them all sign it, which seems like a good idea, so I am planning on doing that tomorrow. So even though it's a large class, it's easy to manage.
My second block is my Transition English 10 and only has a total of fourteen students now. My roll had started with sixteen, but one was a no-show and the other one moved during the second week. The interesting thing is that there are only three girls in that group, which definitely affects the management. But they are a nice group and most are working hard, although two are not passing at this time. Two of the boys are repeating English 10 with me even though all three of us had the chance to make a change if we wanted to. One of them is still doing the same behaviors of sleeping and not working much, mainly due to his home life, but the other one is killing it! He said he just decided to make a change and do it right this year and that is exactly what he's doing. He has an A and lots of praise. Pretty cool.
Lastly is my English 11 class, which is inclusion with a co teacher, and it's working well. We have twenty-two students, ranging from very low to two who should be in Honors. We had the one student put into Honors today, and the other one is still having his schedule manipulated to try and make it work.
More on instruction later.
