It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

The most important thing I learned this week is that my kids really respond to my moods. When I am sick, tired, or cranky, they turn it back on me. And they can tell before I can.

This week, I saw the best and worst of my classes.

One of my classes has been great this week. We've covered material, they've been on task uniformly, and the quiz grades weren't terrible. I look forward to seeing them, and it shows in their response.

My homeroom class had some issues this week, but they've improved considerably and I've figured out how to solve some of the problems. The beginning of the week was rough, but Wednesday I rearranged the assigned seats and they improved immediately. Today, my TFA adviser observed class and gave me some advice. He pointed out that I am getting a great performance from the front of the class, because I am holding them to higher standards than the back of the class, who I allow to get away with some chatter. Chatter leads to distraction, which leads to confusion in class, which leads to more distraction. I need to pay better attention to the class. This also creates resentment in the kids in the front of the room who get more consequences than those in the back.

My half class, that had kids missing due to the TAG program, was awesome. They were asking science questions, and I was leading discussion to the answers. Some topics covered: how healing and platelets work; how the skull forms in pieces so childbirth can occur more easily; why domestic cats show some behavior of cats in the wild; and how to check sources on internet information.

I spent most of my week giving and grading exams, which is really, really time consuming. The grades were not very good, but I gave students the opportunity to revise their answers for some credit, and was happy with the results.

Next week, I am starting a new unit with my 8th graders (Forces and Motion) and giving my 7th graders their Unit 1 assessment. I'm excited to teach real material. I am also excited to use the package of scratch-n-sniff stickers I bought to reward students.

WEEKEND!