180 days over and done

I guess it's about time I update, huh?

The year is pretty much over and done (teachers have to go in tomorrow to clean out their rooms). Final exams are over, my grades are done and submitted, and summer vacation will soon begin. So many ups and down this year. From the first two months of the school year where I came home everyday saying "I love my job!" to the next few months coming home everyday saying "I hate my job!" to the final months coming home everyday and saying "I accept my job, for now at least." What a long year!

Of my 5 classes, 2 of those classes have 3 people that failed for the year, while my worst class all year has 9 failures (7 of which didn't even bother to show up for their final exam). That last number really bothers me, but all of those failures are for students that didn't even bother to try all year. I can't feel sorry for someone who refuses to take responsibility for their own education. Hopefully, if they take Spanish 1 again next year, whoever their teacher is will hopefully be able to motivate them more than I was able to. All the Spanish 1 teachers this year just walked away feeling like horrible teachers because of the high rate of failures. I feel bad, but I know I tried. Perhaps I could have tried harder, but as the old adage says, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." That's the kind of year it's been for the Spanish 1s.

As much as I pushed my 2Honors students this year, I'm pretty proud of them. They had to absorb A LOT of information, which many of them managed to do despite coming from a very weak Spanish 1 background. Now that I have finished a year of teaching Spanish 1 in this system, I have a better idea of what they come into Spanish 2 (not) knowing. I'll know what gaps I need to fill in, and I'll know just how much they can handle. I'll still push them very hard, but I'll prepare them a little more for the pushing. Or at least I hope to!

My Spanish 2CPs I am also proud of this year. They come in with about the same background as the 2H kids, but they are usually the ones that barely passed Spanish 1. I'll also know and be able to deal with these types of students next year. They can definitely handle the load that I throw at them (I pretty much treat them as I treat my honors classes), but I now know that they need a lot more reinforcement than the honors students. I know that they at least absorbed 70-80% of the stuff thrown at them this year (impressive) because their final exam scores were in that range. I can accept that. I had one student in there who managed to get a 100% for her 4th quarter grade and a 95% overall grade for the year. I have decided to move her up to Spanish 3 Honors next year (very rare for a CP student to be moved into H after the second year of language study). So that's one very big accomplishment in that class.

I still can't believe that the year is over. There were some very looooong weeks/days, but overall, it seems like it went by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I walked into my classroom for the first time and thought Here goes nothing! So weird.

One thing I wish I did better this year was to build better relationships with my students. I feel like I didn't really get to know many of them very well. I did get to know a lot of my homeroom students pretty well, but I only had about 4 of them in my classes, so that's not many. I think I came across as a very strict person when I was teaching but a more relaxed and friendly person in my homeroom. I guess that's why I got to know my homeroom students better. One of my homeroom students also spent a lot of time in one of my classes since she often had a study period (due to a teacher chronically being absent). I may quite possibly have her in one of my Spanish 3 classes next year, but I don't know yet. I think I might be the only Spanish 3CP teacher next year, so it looks like I may have a lot of my old students next year (if they decide continue with the language). Fun fun.

Well, I think I have babbled enough. Perhaps I shall write a little something over the summer time (probably not until August though). I'll be hunting for summer jobs and be on vacation. Not getting paid during the summer is pretty hard, especially when I still have to pay rent, my credit card, and my student loans.

!Qué tengas un buen verano!