2 March

Another month is gone and I'm afraid the next couple will fly by. I am
going to the regional athletics competition tomorrow. Another weekend
without enough rest. I am glad to be working hard, but it is wearing
on me a little bit. I really want to get out and play soccer a couple
times a week except that I'm working in the library all afternoon
everyday getting it organized and preparing my lessons.

My grade 9 classes wrote a test on Wednesday. My objective with this
test was to give them all a shot in the arm. Too many learners here
think physical science too hard for them to do well so they don't try.
I set the test a little bit on the easy side to encourage them that
maybe over the next two years they can figure this stuff out. There is
already some naive optimism just because the new guy is their teacher
so why not feed that fantasy right? Really though, I figure if they
think they can learn the subject then they will study it more and
learn the subject better. A lot of the teachers don't teach much so if
I'm working hard for them then I want them to work hard for me too.
The average was a 52%. The kids were excited with their scores.

The other objective I had going into this assessment was to force them
to do test corrections. I wanted them to write the test, get instant
feedback and then fill in the gaps of their understanding. They
finished writing the test at 4pm so I worked from then until 10pm
marking the test with a short break for a little dinner and a little
guitar playing. I'm trying to learn this song call Top Down Holiday
that I have on a random compilation but its tough. The song is in D, I
think, but the chord progression is giving me fits. I'm not sure if it
will help but I might try it in drop D tuning if I can remember how
that works. Still though I think they're using mostly bar chords on
the song, there might be a capo involved too which would be a slight
problem. The other song I want to learn is Cocoon by Jack Johnson but
I'll spare you the details of that one.

Back to the test, I marked it Wednesday night and returned on
Thursday. In class on Thursday I made them do corrections, after the
excitement died down, by working with each other. Every class had a 42
out of 50 so the answers were available with their classmates. I'm
sure some were just copying answers down but generally the kids seemed
to catch on to the idea of working together and I overheard some good
explanations. That is when I could understand the explanation, I still
remind my classes several times a day to speak English in class. After
school I was talking with two boys that were both beaming with their
good results and spouting out some lofty goals for the rest of the
year. My primary objective was met, and I'm getting emotional just
writing about it. Too many of these kids have too low of expectations,
hopefully now they'll strive for a 50 out of 50 instead of just not
failing. Don't worry, I won't enlighten any of these with the 93% rule
that guided me through college.