Hi citizens!
The second semester began yesterday. We finished Life Skills in December and this semester is a continuation with the same students but now it's Health. There are always a few change-ups. Students moving from my period 4 to period 2 or getting a few new seniors that never took health and need it to graduate.
The numbers are about the same... still have 35-42 for four out of the five I teach but the weirdness is the my last period of the day, which had been my smallest, is now 42 (which is the max since I have exactly that many desks). My first period is 31 which means it lost 6-7 students. In a perfect world all classes would be the same, whatever the average is, but we don't live in a perfect world (you probably already knew that!)
I find that after 2 days I can ease into my day with 31, or even the 28 or so that show up. And at the end of the day, kick out some adrenaline and be "on" for those 40+ that show up. Classroom management is even more vital with a large class at the end of the day. With freshmen, they treat the last period of the day already like the morning before a trip to Disneyland. Now with a packed class, OMG!
It should be an interesting semester. It always is =))
