Period 8 is the last period of the day, and I see class 4. They are oodles more advanced than class 3 in terms of English abilities, but they are still a little bit of a challenge to teach. This is probably both because they are still a fairly large class (28) but also because it’s the last period of the day so the students are a bit hyper and chatty. Some days I have to do a fair amount of classroom management and that, in addition to an only 35 minute period (instead of 40 minutes for all my other classes) means that the periods fly by and I never feel like we’ve accomplished much. But what can you do? In this class (as with class 3) I have begun a reward system where for exception work, effort, or behavior, I reward the students with a sticker, which they get to stick on their notecard on the wall. I told the students that if they get 20 stickers they will get a surprise, but I find that just the act of getting to put a sticker on their notecard in front of everyone is enough reward for them! Also like in class 3, I have had to pull about 8 students out of class to talk to them about missing work. About 5-6 are failing and when I voiced this concern to Rudra (my partner teacher) he simply shrugged and said, “Yes, this person is a poor student”. But after speaking to the students and paying particular attention to them, the results have once again been close to miraculous. They have begun participating in class and regularly doing their homework, and one of my worst students just got the highest grade in the class on her last 2 homework assignments! How proud I am of her!
