One week under my belt...

Well, here it is Friday, the school day is over, and I've just made it through my first week of teaching at GCA. I'm hear to tell you that all is well.

I'm actually enjoying it. Here are the subjects (covering grades 10-12) that Ray and I are teaching:

Business Math
Consumer Math
Algebra II
English 10, English 11, and English 12
Bible (Jesus and His Followers)
Speech
Spanish 1
American Government
U.S. History
World History
Biology
Chemistry

Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the A beka DVD curriculum, here's how it works: Each class has a Master Teacher (teachers who are qualified with minimum of Master's degree in the subject they are teaching) who oversees the class. A teacher's video manual accompanies each subject. This allows Ray and I to follow along with each class. Most of the time, there are 3 classes going on at once. Due to our limited space, we have 3 "pods" in each room, separated by those 6" walls you often see in office buildings. Each pod has it's own 32" TV, DVD player, and headphone station. The students use their headphones to listen to the lectures.

Ray and I assign the homework, collect the homework, grade the homework, and (fun, fun) help the students with their work. Each class has 7-10 minutes (usually) at the end of the video lecture which allows us to check for comprehension and address any perceived problems. Our students also have a study hall at the end of the day and this gives us time to help them with concepts they don't understand.

Ray and I have our areas of expertise/enjoyment, so we split up the work. It seems like the two subjects that the students struggle with the most are Math and English. I enjoy working with the students in the Math class, and Ray likes helping out with English. Everything else is addressed as a problem arises.

It's worked out pretty well. Our students are doing a good job this week. So far, so good!

I do have a new respect for teachers. I now believe that they their salaries should be doubled. It's amazing what they do! God bless our teachers! Especially the ones who know what they're doing.