It would be a big, fat lie if I said I slept well last night. I had class yesterday, and the professor couldn't get any of her technology to work for the life of her. Her power point, syllabus, and video clip all failed, and she spent much of the time muttering under her breath about the computer. Luckily, that didn't happen to me this morning; I went to class early to set everything up only to find that I'd spent the evening worrying over nothing.
This morning my students were VERY quiet at first, so I played a small practical joke on them By introducing myself in French, and (still speaking in French) asked them if they were there for French 101 (to which I quickly assured them that if they weren't, they were in the correct class) that got a laugh, and they at least started talking to their neighbors about their being relieved. It got better from there - thinking over that again, that was risky, but they were making me nervous with their blank stares.
We first talked about their expectations for the class (they all said they expect to "write"), and I went over my definition of the class, and my job to help them - not rule over them. From there we went over the basics of the syllabus, then I had them get up out of their chairs to meet 5 interesting facts about 5 different people before I broke them up into 2 teams to play Karen's baseball game. (The game went fairly well because they'd gotten a chance to meet one another before the game, and were able to guess many of the answers). After the game, I had them introduce the people they'd talked to earlier to see if they'd still remembered, and then we talked a bit about what was due Monday, and (because I completely forgot that my class I doesn't end at 8:50) I let them go "early."
A few instances that gave me insight into my class this morning are:
a) After I'd walked into the classroom, one student ("E") popped her head into the class and asked my permission to enter the room. I smiled, invited her in, and we began to talk, but I immediately discovered something about my students: they're young, and they're terrified of me. I tried to address that fact as each student came in, by smiling, greeting them, and encouraging them to get to know one another, but that definitely threw me for a loop.
b) While playing the baseball game, one of the students' facts was that before we got going, he/she was really afraid of the class. I didn't poke around and ask who'd written it, and I didn't want to dwell on the idea of their being afraid, but the person who was guessing actually said "I think that applies to all of us, right?" and they all laughed, so I'm happy that they resolved the issue (however "small") together.
c) Talkers: who's a talker, who isn't, and who can make others talk. While playing baseball, I allowed the players to get feedback from their teams if they weren't sure who had written the fact, and some of the talkers would ask the quieter folks their opinions. One student ("D") gently forced one of the quieter students ("F") to participate by insisting that he looked like he knew the answer. They struck out, but at least "F" participated, and wanted to be up to bat next!
Overall, I'm looking forward to the quarter!
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