Session 2

Out of 8 students, 4 returned. I gained another that came in from the other summer school session at the school for a total of 5. It didn't help that many of our kids walk to school and that it was raining today. We might get a few tomorrow as many of us called our kids/families to see where they were, but many are taking this time to go on vacation. This happened last year at Summerbridge--it's the only time many parents can take off for vacation, so everything else comes second.

The day still ran smoothly and class went quite well. My pacing is improving and I did not feel rushed for any part of class as I've had in the past. I was able to get through the lecture, take questions, have guided practice, have independent practice, and have time to show the students how to light money on fire. No, I didn't break any federal laws. I put a $5 dollar bill in a 50/50 alcohol/water solution held it up with tongs and then lit it on fire. The rubbing alcohol burnt off first and then the remaining water in the bill doused the fire out. The fire never reached the bill, so no material actually burned (ie no worrying about the fire alarm going off). The students were quite impressed and we worked a bit of science in by predicting what would happen and why and then once it happened coming up with an explanation. While this wasn't aligned with any objective we taught, it functioned more as an reward for coming to class and staying on task during class as it was at the end. Tomorrow I may show how to put a flame near a balloon and not pop the balloon (put water in it and then blow it up). I'll probably have non fire experiments in the future, but these are working quite well to keep the students' attention/motivation.

Luckily, all of the teachers in my collaborative planned out our objectives so that we'd be ahead in teaching. This allows me to take tomorrow to go over the midterms with each student individually and discuss his or her weak areas and how to improve them. I can also give mini-lessons on the areas that all of the class missed. This will be followed up by more comprehensive review quizzes every 2 days probably (the kids breeze through most questions so time won't be much of an issue, especially if the quizzes only cover a few objectives at a time).

We found another kenyon alum working for TFA here at Institute. I think there are plans for the kc corps members to hang out with him or go out to dinner this weekend.