They call him Lucky!

The morning staff meeting was characterized by the distinct absence of yesterday’s excitement. The novelty has worn off, and it’s back to the old routine, I gather. We were informed that the periods would be roughly 10 to 15 minutes shorter today, to allow the sport teams who played Away Games to leave school early. I remembered how we were told to expect these fluctuations in scheduling before we left campus – but I was surprised that our first two days at school were to be this amorphous. Admittedly I have a bit of a thing for structure and consistency, but I can see how daily variables would require a school program or daily schedule to be flexible. Sticking to a rigid schedule whilst also accommodating any outside activities such as Away Games would surely lead to chaos?

I had an opportunity to present the reading comprehension I had prepared to Mrs. Lambrechts. She found my worksheet to be on target, and suggested that I present it as a lesson to the Gr. 8C class during the first period. This caught me a little off guard, but I agreed without batting an eye. Thank heavens I focused on the Senior Phase CAPS document last night! With those notes at hand, and the information fresh in my mind, I was sure I would be able to present a decent class. My confidence took a bit of a knock, however, when checking their homework started to take up a rather hefty chunk of class time… Not only would I have to think on my feet, but I’d have to do so in a rush! The class and I managed to engage in successful pre-reading and reading activities, but our time ran out right as I started addressing our post-reading strategies. The class was asked to complete the questions for homework.

Mrs. Lambrechts gave me some very helpful feedback, and asked me to present the lesson to the 8E class during the third period. The second period was Gr. 11A’s literature class, where we continued with chapter 5 of Animal Farm. As was the case yesterday, about a third of the boys had not read much of the chapter after the previous class. I am beginning to see why it is necessary for the English teacher to go through each chapter so painstakingly. If she didn’t, many of these boys would not have a clue when it came to testing the content. At the end of the period, the 11As were instructed to summarize the completed chapter for homework. Now that’s one way to get them to pay attention! (That is, if they would do their homework.)

Teaching the reading comprehension during the third period felt good. We had to spend a bit more time on clarifying tricky words and concepts, but by the time we got to the post-reading phase it looked like the learners had a shot at completing their homework successfully. I will need to tighten up my time management though. When class duration is subject to change at the drop of a hat – or sport’s ball – I will have to be able to adjust to stay on schedule.