Another Friday, another observation.

Today was the culmination of several busy days and longer than anticipated nights. Since the second week of the semester I have tried to be in bed by eleven each night, but this week the pile of work before me led me to extending my bedtime a bit. In addition to regular homework and grading and left-over work from last week, I have also been planning my lesson for my second observation that happened today.

Yesterday when I arrived home from school, I discovered a couple of things: (1) I had only sent my prof one page of my lesson plan, and (2) my complete lesson plan was on my teacher's computer out at WCHS. No big deal, I thought. I would just go out to the school, log onto my ST's computer, open my lesson plan, and email it to my prof. So, I drove out there, logged on, and then the lights flickered and turned off as did the computer. It's a lame excuse right up there with "the dog ate my homework," but it's true: the electricity went out. Luckily, when I went back later that night, the lights were back on, and I was able to get in the necessary paperwork.

During my observation I tried something new -- taking my 5th period students to the computer lab to start work on a cumulative assignment that required online research and source documentation (a new concept for most of the students). And I planned to try to fit both into the same lesson. It was a bold strategy, to be certain. And it was difficult. One thing that I have noticed is how difficult it is to cover all the material that I believe is important for students to understand. And today there was so much to do -- DOL, vocab quiz, intro to citation, taking the class to the library, and help them navigate research and an associated worksheet. Although I "covered" everything, it all felt rushed. I wish I would have had time to devote more than just part of a class to the important idea of citation, and more than just part of a day on how to find research.

But that constant push seems to be characteristic. There is so much to cover, and so many of the students are behind in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. And I run into the temptation to try to teach them everything, and I forget that learning takes time and patience. I typically feel inadequate when I try to make up for the years of language deficiencies that plague students, but I don't quite know what else to do.

But still, I question how healthy it is for students and teachers to be under the strain of the constant push to cover large amounts of material, quickly assess "learning," and move on hoping that somehow everyone "got it."

There must be a better way.