My new Monday/Humpday Combo = success!

Last night:

I am SO tired... and my feet hurt... BUT...

I had a visit from the chair today; he wants to talk with my disruptive student (we had another rough class today - that makes 3 out 4 where I've left class frustrated & lost over 25% of my class time lost due to whining or "explaining" why he "can't" perform a task)... 

AND, even after my telling him about my ONE concern (that's not bad for a new job, right?), he still asked me what he came up my office to ask: if I would teach a mini-mester humanities "American Women's Studies" course beginning in October!

This morning:

The meeting between my challenging student and the chair seemed to go swimmingly! While they were talking in the chair's office, I took the opportunity to tell my remaining students (of which there are 17 students between the ages of 13 & 16!) that I had made an executive decision. I said, "Consider this your final warning. We waste way too much of our class time trying to get the room quiet. Every time you begin to chatter, I have to spend time when you should be learning English to ask you to stop talking. So. From now on, if I have to stop my instruction to ask students to be quiet, I will also, in the same breath, ask you to leave the room. No tolerance policy goes into effect now."

And the class was transformed. My older student returned to a room filled with engaged students, all working on different levels and different projects, and he had a few minutes of one-on-one time with me where he learned how to make an appointment via Gmail and is visiting my office hours on Thursday, yes! He has also asked me to write a referral for him to receive free tutoring in technology, so he isn't so frustrated during class time. WHEW!

I met my night class for the 1st time last night, too. It is my smallest class, with 11 students, all of whom work full time day jobs, so I have an even more diverse dynamic between my classrooms than before. I am so glad that I found a career that is NEVER boring and ALWAYS challenging me to improve myself, my work ethic, my instructional practices, and my students' engagement. 

UPDATE:

I just finished an extremely productive meeting with my challenging student! He heard me... REALLY heard me... and we have a plan for working together to make sure that he has a successful term in my course. I love my job :)

the end.