Well, Movie decided to join us again. That was nice of her I suppose. We started a new quarter yesterday, and things have been going smoothly…so far. I have introduced a few new disciplinary elements to my classes, and they seem to be working nicely. School has gotten a bit easier as I have been learning more about how to effectively engage the students. The class I still have the most trouble with though is my 6th and 7th graders; they simply just don’t get English. Their English comprehension is FAR less than my 4th and 5th graders and they don’t seem to really want to do anything about it. They don’t have disciplinary issues so much as they just don’t talk. I will ask a question and it will be silent…it is like pulling teeth to get them to say anything. There are a few that will talk, but for the most part they are silent. I try not to call them out and make them talk, but sometimes I just have to. Listening to what they say though – it tells me they just don’t get it. I will ask them if they understand something and they will all say yes. Then, I will ask them a question about it and it is like I just asked them to explain it to me in Swahili. They have NO idea. They will repeat some random word that they heard me say, and put a few other words around it in an attempt to make a sentence. Here – I’ll give an example: Last week we spent the week learning about the four seasons and writing paragraphs. We talked a lot about the four seasons and read a story called “Natures Year.” Natures Year outlined the four seasons pretty much, and had 4 or 5 paragraphs explaining what happens in each season. The sections were very distinct – with headers – and the language was simple. We learned 20 vocab words related to the topic and also learned how to write a paragraph. We read examples, talked about them, and wrote example ones as a class. We talked about into, three details and a conclusion, and talked about how to pick out important things from a text to put in a paragraph. We made a sample paragraph about the four seasons in general, and then I tried to have them do it on their own. I asked them each to pick one season and write me a paragraph telling me about it. They were instructed to read the section again by themselves once – read it again and ask comprehension questions they may have (vocab they didn’t know etc) and then once more to write down important details. Then they were supposed to fill out a “paragraph sandwich” template for their season and then write a paragraph. When they were done they should switch with a partner to edit, and then write the final paragraph. I okayed most of the outlines – and then the paragraphs they turned in were almost all completely different. I don’t know how they changed so much, but not a single paragraph made sense. It was so depressing. There were sentences like, “The season is Natures Year is the one a winter. The winter is very hot and gets warmer. In the season there is winter. You can play in the snow. Leav sit an no more, in the a winter is the season.” Their outlines were NOTHING like that and I don’t understand why they changed them…but that was their final product…and it just made me want to cry. They will act like they get it and be enthusiastic in saying they understand…but apparently I have to make 10,000 percent sure. Oh well, I guess that just means we back up and do it again…just go down a different road to learn it this time.
Life here is still good though…again not much is changing. Day to day routines are pretty…well…routine. I got a package from the SPRAGUES today – which completely made my day!
OHHHH and I GOT MY GARDEN SUPPLIES TODAY!!! Three weeks after they were supposed to come about half of them came today! I got a message from Billy this morning that they would be coming – so I went to Arno after school to check it out! Most of the supplies came – but there was no soil or cement. So it’s good that we got this stuff – it’s definitely a start – but we can’t officially start until we get the most important part – soil. Shovels and hoes can only get us so far if there’s nothing to shovel or hoe. Regardless, it was still exciting and I can’t wait for the rest!
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