First Friday of the school year, and man, am I happy about that.  This waking up at 5am is not as bad as I was afraid it would be... but I sure am looking forward to no alarm clock waking me up tomorrow.

My mentor has expressed frustration about the behavior of our 7th grade homeroom.  For me, I was expecting a lot worse.  A whole lot worse.  However, as Kris has pointed out to them, some of these students are trying to give science a chance, and are being hindered by those students who would rather clown around and dig up some trouble.  There are so many little power struggles going on.

I have decided that one of my special focus students will be Duc Duong.  He is in 8th grade, and has been in the US for one year, after moving here with his parents from Vietnam.  He seems like a good kid, who is seriously trying, but I think he is missing about 90% of what is said in class.  He may be getting certain words, but the content is flying right over his head.  Regrettably, I don't know any vietnamese, however, I am planning to try my best to make sure he understands what his science homework is each night.  Also, I put an English to Vietnamese translator on my phone.  I think with what I'm doing in RETELL, I may be able to provide some support for him.

There is a girl named Evelyn in my 7th grade homeroom who I am working on as well.  She is shy and uncommunicative frequently, however, she often has correct or almost correct answers.  Whenever asked to share, she hides her answers, and won't say anything.  How does one get her to feel more confident.  Then again, today on her dwarf planet mini poster, she said the location of Makemake was in the Pacific Ocean.  I pointed this out to her, and she immediately recognized that this was incorrect.  I suspect she found something on the internet and just copied it verbatim... how do we teach her to be more skeptical of what she finds on the Internet?

We're out at 2:30 today.  I'm so happy about that!  Taking Carl to see Book of Mormon tonight, and will be so happy to sleep in tomorrow.  But... it's going to be a busy weekend, full of school work and assignments.  And this is just the beginning.  Yikes!