We Have Students!

School let out early today because the temperature was over 100 degrees (I heard 103), and many schools are so old they do not have air conditioning. Regardless, we taught our first lessons today. My classroom has only 15 4th graders, but they are a great group. They're all bright and eager to learn. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of work to be done.

Over the next four weeks, we will be responsible for teaching a multiplication unit, as well as a reading and literacy unit that has 18 distinct objectives outlined already. All of our students have already taken a multiplication pre-test, and they are all finishing up their reading assessments. Keeping in mind that all of these students have already finished 4th grade once, it is more than a little striking to find out that the average score on the multiplication pre-test was 49%. Reading levels, at least by our preliminary tests, show a number of students reading at or below a 1st grade reading level, with one or two at a 4th grade level, and one reading above 4th grade.

Like I said, there is a lot of work that needs to be done over the next four weeks. But, I know that I am willing to do it, and from the looks in the students' eyes, they are ready to do it, too.

The workload and stress seems to be catching up to some people. I heard that one person quit last night out of the blue, packed up, and left. Still, looking around and talking to the people here, you hear a lot of, "Today was all right. Lots of room for improvement, though." It's nice to know that there are so many people here who just want to get better, and aren't afraid to admit they don't know everything. What a great experience this is turning out to be.