4:3

I’m glad that today is Wednesday. It means that tomorrow is closer than ever to being the day that I can attempt to have the whole class all day to myself. I’m really excited. There are a few things that have been going on for a while. There is a couple students who are just sitting in the wrong places and today was finally the last day that I allowed the touching and talking. It may not have been my place, but I was the one teaching, and Miss M wasn’t in the room. She was running copies off downstairs for her lessons tomorrow. I finally told the two students who have been talking, and touching, and kicking and messing around too much that if they didn’t stop I was going to move them. I then after school today talked it over with Miss M and told her, and she said that it was completely fine. I had every right to tell them that, and that she was ok with my decision. The only thing now is that if something does happen tomorrow that I need to follow through with what I said, and get that taken care of. We also sat down today after school and re-did the entire seating arrangement, and hopefully that can take care of a few other talking/not listening problems. I am also going to try something out with the students that Miss M had suggested (and I thought about, but didn’t think of anything when Miss M approached me). We (more me) are going to do a “Keys to learning” thing using listening. I am going to be watching for students while I am teaching and awarding the ones who are, and can answer questions, get their work done, etc., while I am teaching the subjects (hopefully mostly just using this in the afternoon but all times if it is needed). The students who are caught will get either a ticket, or a slip of paper to write their name on, and place into our “prize box”. Then a name will be drawn out every day at the end of the day. The name that is called gets to have a key put up on the wall. At the end of the week, whoever has a key hanging, will get a chance to win a prize. The more times you’re caught, the more tickets you get, the more chances you will have at getting a key! Students will get tickets taken away after being caught listening, if they stop listening or are interrupting/playing around with the tickets. I’m thinking this is a good idea, and after explaining it to the students, they also seemed to think that it was a good idea, and the minute that I said we were going to practice today, so that we can get started right away tomorrow… students perked up and started to pay really close attention. I think it might work. They were listening before, but got easily distracted, and were not willing to answer questions in case they were wrong.

Today the only thing besides student behavior that I really have to talk much about (because it is different then every other day) is the daily language book. One of the questions was using quotations and the students didn’t know anything about quotations. I gave it my best try, on why you have to have a comma before you have a quotation. I understood the rule, and thought I was doing an ok job, until all the students stared at me, and Miss M tried then. They still looked at her somewhat in the same look, but seemed to have understood it a little better. She said it would take a little bit before the students would fully understand the concept, hopefully by December or so. I guess I would have thought it would be sooner than that.
Miss M also taught her students to slant. Which means- s=sit up, l=lean forward, a=act interested even if you are not because you might become, n=nod when appropriate, t=track the speaker. The students understand and started using it, but I think it should have been taught awhile ago. Then students would be doing it already, and hopefully would be better at paying attention. Can never tell, but hopefully some of these things will help in the afternoon, everyone being tired and hot problem, and not wanting to listen.