Today was Day 1 and I got to teach my Studio Art class again.  They are working on their comics so when I told them they could begin drawing, they were excited just to get to work.

I started off talking about the consequences of losing their worksheet.  It was necessary that I remind them so that they would take what I say seriously.  If I didn’t, they would keep asking me for worksheets and lose them time after time.  I got to speak to the class to address this issue and many of them did listen.  I said that they would only get one sheet and if they lost it, they would need to copy the template off of a friend.  There are still a few students who didn’t hand in their sheet but I got a good chunk of them to.  I was especially proud of the students who were ELL and wrote their concept sheets in Chinese.  I had a student in the class translate it into English for me!  I really appreciated this help.  When the ELL students were given the opportunity to communicate in their own language, I felt that they were better able to get their ideas across.

The afternoon was rather relaxing compared to the ones previous where I had to present and facilitate discussion.  I walked around and talked to each of them to see how they were doing.  The more quiet students were able to open up and it was pleasant to talk to them.  I agree…with time, the students will eventually understand who I am as a teacher.  I am a kind teacher and would ideally, have all my students succeed.  It is also true though, that some students will just dislike you from the start.  They’ve made up their minds about you and it’s not going to change.  There is no point fighting those students.

One of the best tips that I heard from a fellow TC is that when you’re feeling a lot of negativity from your students, perhaps try to talk to those who are more positive.  I’ve tried it and it does alleviate some of the anxiety, frustration, and disappointment I feel when I deal with disruptive students.

After class, I spent some time preparing for next week…aka the 80% load!  Scary times…I want to be as mentally and physically prepared as possible, but as I’ve learned, the best preparation a teacher can do is to be flexible.