11/22/09

The second quarter of school has been going well so far. The Algebra II classes that I teach are starting to get more difficult and with the day off this week, I slowed down a little and gave them a review day. I like to give review problems for them to do in order to prepare for the test, but not until we are well into the second quarter. The first quarter has so much review that they do very well with that it isn't necessary. Now, it is starting to pick up and this is one way that I can get them to practice more and increase repetition.

As for 6th grade, things are picking up as well. We have been working on new material that they are not familiar with. At the beginning, I felt that they were so quick to learn but most of it was review. They are a bright class, so even the new material isn't incredibly difficult for them. They have been a fun class to teach. I did have one student, Lindsay, who was struggling, however we have a recent graduate, Miss Elose, who started working as an aide in 6th grade this year and has been helping out. Each day, she takes her upstairs and tutors her one-on-one as I teach math. It has been very helpful because she can teach everything at her own pace. She can stop on the material that is difficult and speed through what is easy. It's great to have this luxury. Lindsay struggled last year, but seems to learn quickly. She had moved here from the Bahamas so I wonder how thorough their math classes are there. I only wonder because she seems to learn quickly. I am hopeful that by the time we are getting through the 3rd quarter, she'll be doing much better.