Grade 6

It was decided that I will not be teaching any High School classes this year. It was more of a matter that the schedule didn't allow me to trade classes. Seems like the first time the schedule was not changed for some reason rather than changed. I am not mad about this, though I would have liked to have a High School class, I understand that I was hired to teach Middle School. The department chair did say something about allowing me to teach some high school classes next year.

I have discovered my Grade 6 class is the most challenging class I have. I have a group of boys in that class who are all Korean, all very smart, but talk all the time in Korean. Even when I tell them to be quiet, they still talk in Korean. I had enough of it when it was happening during the quiz on Friday. Monday, I decided to break them up and create new seating chart. I placed a few kids who were struggling around some of the smarter kids in hopes that things will improve and the talking will be minimized.

After two days, I will say that this made a huge difference in the classroom atmosphere. Some of the kids that were struggling are still struggling, and everyone is asking to move back, but they are much quieter and focused on the subject matter. One problem I did have was with two girls that are struggling. I moved both of them next to two of the smart Korean boys and they kept moving the desks away from the boys. I had to move the desks back 3 times. I started to get agitated with them because that is unnecessary.

So far, the other classes are going well. I have my first round of tests coming up this week, we'll see how the students fair.

Aaron