Tuesday

I hate the last week before Christmas vacation. This is now my eighth year at it, and I still haven’t been able to develop my syllabus so that we end perfectly with something right before the break. Usually we end too soon with something and I’m left with two and a half days of ‘dead’ time. Now I often come up with something ‘fun’ to do during that time, but that often doesn’t really fit into what I should be doing. For example, my Comp I class just finished their third set of essays. Since I was a mess yesterday, I basically had them do some busy grammar work. So that was a wasted day. I hate that, but it’s what I had to resort to. Now today I’m beginning their fourth set of essays, but if I have them complete them before break (this Thursday) the work will be rushed and shoddy. If I have them complete it over break, I know full well that only a third of the class will get it done. I’m also contemplating showing a movie and just holding off on the essay, but what good is that really? I think just about everyone shows a movie the last few days before Christmas break.

I can say without hesitation that the weakest part of my teaching is my planning and cohesion. I think my strength is relating to kids, but that doesn’t help get them ready for the BST either.