a better day today

Today was a busy day, and both tomorrow and Friday promise to be just as busy. The reason: I've scheduled a slew of appointments with students from my Tuesday 9AM class. Some appointments are for groups of students; some are for individuals. Starting Wednesday afternoon, I had three appointments (it would've been four, but one student canceled on me): two were individuals, at 1PM and 2PM, and one was a pair at 7PM, which met me after I had finished teaching my Korean class. So, in list form, my Wednesday looked like this:

9AM-10:45AM: Beginning English
11AM-12:45PM: Beginning English
1PM: Appointment with a student (make-up quiz)
2PM: Appointment with a student (in dire need of tutoring)
3:30PM: Obtain ATM card from Daegu Bank
5:15PM-6:45PM: Korean class
7PM-8PM: Tutor two members of Team 1 (from the Tuesday 9AM class)

It was a long, tiring, but fulfilling day. I was glad to have gotten my ATM check card from Daegu Bank: I feel almost human now. I still need to get my campus ID card and my school insurance card; those things will happen over the next week or two. I was also glad to have had the chance to meet with some of my kids in smaller numbers; they're a lot better up close than when I'm declaiming loudly to twenty of them at the front of a classroom.

My first tutee came to make up the quiz he had missed. He had provided me with a doctor's note to explain his absence; otherwise, I wouldn't have allowed the make-up. My second tutee had gotten a 50% on his quiz; his English needs massive work, and we only just scratched the surface during our one hour together. I wasn't clear, at the end of our session, as to whether he would be coming back for more tutoring; I hope he does, if he has any concern for his grade. My final session was with two members of Team 1 (you'll recall that I've divided every class into four teams for the round-robin format I'm using); the team captain was a shy but studious girl who told me she was actually very interested in the round-robin style of learning; I was heartened to hear this, but I also think she's in the minority. Perhaps things will change once I've had the chance to sit, team by team, with most of the class.

With that final pair of students, I worked on pedagogy: how to teach. We spent an hour going over my suggested method, but in the end I told the students that they could change my suggestions to whatever they felt would work. Their team, Team 1, actually has four members, but half the team was unable to make the appointment. The two kids I saw this evening will have to take what they've learned and teach it to their teammates. Little by little, I expect to see improvement in how the students teach (tonight, we ran through a practice drill in which I role-played a student).

Compared to my awful Tuesday, Wednesday, though tiring, was a vast improvement. As I mentioned above, Thursday and Friday promise to be equally busy; I just hope both days are as good as Wednesday turned out to be.


_