too many kids

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Home : 2002 : August : 16

too many kids
By Connie

You didn't say what grade you teach not that it makes a difference. It's a lot of kids. I had a class of 33 first graders one year and I cried every night for the first month of school. I had no aide. I just felt so bad
that I couldn't give them the attention they needed.
You need to keep in mind that you really cannot do all you have done in the past with a smaller class. If there are some things you did in the past that took some time doing then plan not to do it. I usually give the parents a weekly progress report but with the large class I just didn't do it. The parents didn't miss it because

never had it in the first place. Plan bare minimum so you don't wear yourself out and then if you feel you can add things then do so.

It's going to take more time to grade papers. So you need to devise a system to cut down on that. You may have them do the work but only grade some things for the grade book. Have the kids mark their own papers especially homework or seatwork.It's good for them to get instant feedback from work they just did. Only grade tests and major projects. Give a general grade for doing homework not getting it correct.

If you do a lot of writing activities have the kids keep them in a folder and have them pick out the best 2 or 3 stories and use that for a grade.

A good parent volunteer may be of help by running off papers and working with small groups of students.(Sometimes they make more work so be careful.)

Good luck to you.