Fall Break

One quarter down and 3 more to go!! Teachers, and students, see their lives in terms of quarters. Nine weeks. It's only been nine weeks. It feels like at least 4 months. Yuck! As you can tell, I'm still not enjoying being in the classroom. It is definitely a struggle to make myself go everyday. I feel like most of the kids could care less about learning English, and some of them outright refuse to speak English. It's very frustrating. There are those few that seem genuinely interested and motivated to learn English, so basically they keep me going. I only see 25 kids throughout the entire day and I've concluded that if I can help 2 of them this year then I have done my job.

We did get our school label last week based on our Spring 2008 AIMS scores. We are considered a Performing Plus school. This is HUGE news for us. We haven't been making our Adequate Yearly Progress the past few years so our school has been in School Improvement. The thing is that 2 groups in our entire school populations drag down our scores. Our special ed kids and our ELL kids. Well, I'm responsible for teaching one of those groups so I can't help but feel a tremendous responsibility and weight on my shoulders for the kids I teach this year. They will be taking the AIMS test in April and at this point I have no confidence that what I'm doing is helping them learn English.

Starting on Monday I will be using a new reading program. That's right. The past 9 weeks I've been piecing things together everyday. I've been trying to make sure everyday I cover writing, reading, speaking, and phonics. It has been stressful. I'm looking forward to having all four of those components in one reading program. My problem is my laziness this week.

It's fall break. I don't feel like doing anything. I have a huge stack of papers to grade and now I have lessons to plan with the new text book. Instead I'm sitting here typing this and catching up on my shows that have been recorded with the DVR. Oh well, relazing never hurt anyone and as long as it gets done before Monday I'll be fine. Plus, I'm getting things done like doctor and dentist appointments that I can't do when I'm working. Oh, and let's not forget a visit to the State Fair that will take place some time this week!!!