Assessing week one.

So far, pre-internship has been an incredibly interesting experience.  It is certainly overwhelming, but dang is it fun.  As it stands now, I've given out one assignment -- it wasn't anything huge, just an eleven point paragraph, and I assigned it last Monday with the intention to have it handed in on Wednesday.  After quick deliberation with the class, they figured Thursday was more fair.  Thursday came around and we weren't anywhere near where we should have been -- in fact, many kids were still in the pre-writing stage, so I pushed it to Friday.  Still no good. 

I worked with the kids who were on schedule and taught them the value of peer editing (and ways in which to do it.)  Finally, today was the final due date, and I got about 80% of the assignments in -- a big win for my class.  So, I guess the biggest shocker is the sheer amount of time things take to work through.  This 11 point paragraph -- something I could write in an hour -- took an entire week.  

I'm moving into the next big assignment tomorrow, and now that I know how the class works, I've allotted far more time for the class to work, and I plan on having the work periods far more structured.  

Here is the link to view my next assignment -- a reflective essay after watching Stand By Me.