Déjà vu

I
teach 9 classes of 8^th grade English, which means I teach the same
lesson 9 times. Each time is a little bit different, because I learn from my
mistakes (I actually spelled ‘correct’ incorrectly in one class) and
misunderstandings (I was trying to ask the kids how many people are in the
world, and they kept saying, “two - man and woman”), but all the classrooms
look so similar that I could accidentally walk in the wrong classroom and teach
a lesson I had already taught them and probably no one would say anything. Who
knows, I may have done that already and I’ll never even know.

But
the personality of each class is beginning to develop. Classroom A always has
way too much energy, and when I ask them to repeat words back to me, their goal
is to shout as loud as possible (they loved when we sang Anything You Can Sing
I Can Sing Louder). Classroom I has the oldest students, some my age or older,
so they are more contemplative. Classroom E likes to laugh and is very sassy
and starting to test my limits. Classroom F asks questions. Classroom B loves
songs.

My
goal is to learn the names of all 438 of them. Currently, at the end of the
first trimester, I know about 3.7 in each class. Moving right along!