First Week of School

My school is behind that apartment building to the left.

I did a couple activities with my students this week that brought up some interesting revelations.

1)One of my classes, who I assumed to be more advanced, really needs to go back to ground zero.  In most of my classes, I have outliers who translate for me and understand the material, who nod their heads and keep me going when, in actuality, over half the class doesn't understand what's been asked of them.  So, today I'm having to scratch up new plans for the semester.

2)In one class we had a discussion on parents.  I work at a middle to upper-middle class school, and am very aware of it, and sometimes frustrated that I don't spend more time with orphans, kinda viewing my kids as spoiled.  However, as we shared I realized that about 60% of my most socially well-adjusted and energetic class came from single-parent homes, and that smart phones can't cover over those kind of things completely.

3)So this week was Martin Luther King Jr. day.  First off, if you're not familiar, you should check out James Meredith's story.  Secondly, I'm kinda embarrassed because I taught about James Meredith on MLK Jr day, because he is actually opposed to the language of "civil rights" and didn't really have much patience for the movement, and reportedly opposed the day being a holiday.  (His points were that he believed he was fighting for his constitutional rights as a citizen, and wanted to be treated as nothing other than a citizen.  He also laughed about celebrating a fight that isn't over, and celebrating what to him was a time when people were denied their basic rights.  Interesting.  Anyway.)

Secondly, I asked my students what their nationality was:  In a mix of Russian and English, I got:  Kyrgyz, Russian, Korean, Ukrainian, German, and Kazakh.   And of course, in sixth class one student started making Hitler jokes about the German kid.  Ugh!  It's always amusing and a little discouraging when I have to call students out on doing the very thing I've been teaching against right then and there.  But perhaps it means that I should be there.  :)

So all in all, I learned a lot this week.  Sometimes going into the first week of classes without a plan actually reveals a lot to you.  But I wouldn't recommend it.