First Semester Down!

I am officially finished with my first semester of teaching! I finalized grades today and put a comment for each student. For the most part, students did fairly well this semester. I am a bit disappointed that some of them that didn't do so well last quarter had a high enough grade first quarter that their grades weren't really adversely affected. It's not that I wanted them to get a "bad" grade in my class, but I wish their final grade was a "true" reflection of the type of effort they've put in since October. First quarter was fairly easy - mostly introductory stuff and essays. Second quarter was built on more substantial assignments. To me, second quarter is the true indication of work effort and ability. Granted, I had some students who vastly improved, and I was very happy with their effort and how they have come along in class. I just hope that they continue to work hard this next semester.

I am getting a new student in my class tomorrow. Apparently he didn't do so well at his last school, so I hope I can reach him in my class. I feel kind of bad because he's coming in in the middle of a unit, but I'm sure I'll be able to catch him up. I may have to adjust the final test for this unit for him, but other than that, I'm sure he'll be fine. At least I hope he'll be fine.

We started planning for our Holocaust unit. I am very excited about it. I think the Holocaust is fascinating. Yes, it's terrible and I pray that it never happens again, but the kids need to know about it. They need to know how it started and where it can lead and how even one person can make a difference. I hope it impacts them the way it should. It kind of scares me because the older I get, the more kids are removed from that era of our history. I know I wasn't there, but my grandparents did live through it - theirs didn't necessarily. Scary scary thought.

I'm thinking about joining the Y, but I'm not sure if I want to pay the money to belong. I feel like I need to do something during the week other than lieing on my couch and watching T.V. At least the Y has classes that I can take and would motivate me to go work out more than if I had to go work on machines by myself - that's never worked very well for me. We'll see.

It's very very cold here, though we haven't gotten any new snow. I'm ready for spring!