Fourth Week, FINISH

I can hardly believe I'm almost halfway through student teaching already.

Things are still going well. My supervisor came to observe me yesterday. It was my first day teaching the ninth graders, but everything went fairly smoothly. I just got his notes and feedback today, and it was all really positive. One area for improvement was showing more enthusiasm -- something I do better at when it's not the first class of the day, not my first day teaching a group, and not my second language -- but I'll keep it in mind as something I need to focus on.

The sixth graders were crazy with April Fool's Day in homeroom this morning, trying to get everyone right and left. One girl kept trying to pull the exact same thing on several people, pointing and saying, "Look, your mom's right there, look!" My response was to not break eye contact for a second and say, "My mom's two thousand miles away, try again."

Just in time for the weekend, I seem to have come down with a slight bug. Yesterday I thought it was allergies, but today it feels like something else. I was able to function all day at school just fine, though, so if I just rest this weekend, I should kick it easily enough.

Mathematically, the students are hanging in there. Funny how they seem to understand and do it right when you're there with them, but when they hand in their homework or take a test, you wonder if some kind of "invasion of the body-snatchers" phenomenon has taken place. So we'll review and clarify a few things next week. (And the ninth graders will take a quiz Thursday -- lucky them!)