Today marks the end of our first week of the 2014-2015 school year. I'm exhausted beyond measure but I'm feeling pretty successful.
This year I've taken part of each period to not only remind students of the rules, expectations, and procedures, but to teach them WHY I do what I do. With the exception of about 2 students, everyone seems on board. I think taking the time to do this may eventually head off problems that typically arise during the October slump.
The other thing I've done this week is to keep the kids on their toes by switching activities frequently. I LOVE Ben Slavic's circling with balls, but with a 70 minute period, I will lose the students quickly if I only do the circling. So we do a mix of TPR, reading, Kindergarten Day, songs, circling, teaching procedures, PQA, comprehension checks, and (in French III) a little partner work. In Latin I, I read the book "Quis Me Amat" and did PQA throughout, while the kids sat on carpet squares. We talked about maybe adding a small snack to kindergarten day and that idea went over very well! So far all of this is working well. I enjoy the first few weeks of the new semester because I love getting to know all of my students.
How was your week?
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