Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Entry 9

I've had to change my plan from daily impromptu writing because the system at school doesn't allow blogs. I don't get home until 10:00 at night, often too weary to gather my thoughts for this blog. I didn't feel sincere calling day 12 day 8 so I've switched title to numbered 'entries'.
My students are more motivated as a whole than last year's bunch. Could be I'm more alert and on top of things. Last year students were given a syllabus of assignments, all independent work units, and were told to work at their own pace (that was the model I inherited when I joined the system). A few students were so far behind in obtaining enough credits to graduate that they indeed were motivated to work day and night to complete course early,enabling them to complete more courses in the school year. But, for the most part, our students were accustomed to not being seen in the big classes at main campus; they became experts at looking busy and doing nothing -
n o t h i n g. These students come to our school expecting to get away with same behavior - give them 18 weeks to do five units and they'll take 18 weeks! We don't allow our students to be invisible. Our classes are small enough to monitor each kid's progress and classroom activity. They don't get to stare into space - they're called on it and re-directed or they're put on an academic contract that risks an F for the course if they miss deadlines.

That said, I also brazenly changed the entire curriculum this year and spelled out weekly due dates for all 18 weeks. One day a week students work with me on composition while the other students work independently on literature and versa-vice.(Remember I have two levels of students in same class at same time) Students are adhering to the schedule and many are completing their independent literature studies early. The student motivation and progress are great except that we have composition lessons through the end of November. Hmmmm. What will the students do if they have no literature assignment to work on?? That was my dilemma yesterday. Problem solved. I added more literature assignments. The really good news here is that students are learning much more than they did last year.