5th Week Grades...Ugh

I finally entered all my grades into LA Unified's website.
It's not pretty.

In one class of 43 students, only 6 are passing with at least a C. The rest of the class (37 students!) are receiving Ds & Fs for these warning notices. I will have to talk to them about the urgency of getting their act straight and doing school the right way. Class hasn't even been very difficult, in my opinion. In another class with 31 students, 6 students are passing with C & above. Yikes! What happens when we start reading a 300-some-page novel like To Kill a Mockingbird? Most all the work has been doing in class so far, and I can't possibly NOT assign homework. I will have to talk to other teachers about this.

Robby took a breakdancing class at the YMCA yesterday. The teacher is really good. He not a skilled but impatient breakdancer who expects you to emulate him perfectly. He is a skilled breakdancer who knows how to teach. He had his students practice a new move slowly as he counted, then to slow music, then to faster music. Then, after teaching 3 moves, he weaved them together by the last ten minutes of class. It looked fun. I chickened out and watched, but I'll take a class soon.

Life is good, but work is a little stressful. I'm starting to teach Hamlet to my junior students next week, and the last time I taught it was a total disaster. I ended up showing the students the film. Sure, I scoured the Internet for ideas, but nothing caught my attention. Wish me luck.