Jasiel and his class

It's no secret that I love one of my first grade classes and pretty much despise the second.  What's worse, that just about accurately describes how I feel about their teachers as well.  That's pretty unfortunate.  Jasiel is in the first group.  The class that moves more slowly, understands less, and listens way less.  The teacher that frowns, yells, and doesn't give me the time of day.

Jasiel was such a problem all year.  He quickly became less urgent when Carlos Jovany joined us.  He's the one that throws things at me, cusses, and chases kids around the room.  Yes, while I'm "teaching."  And I wonder why they haven't learned as much as the other class?!

Anyway, I've noticed a gradual change over Jasiel in the past few months.  I shouldn't say that.  I know the change was gradual over months now in hindsight, but it seemed overnight that he was not only interested in English class, but also actively participating and right most of the time.  "Caballo es horse, verdad Teacher?"  He has just become eager.  He's still a bit of a crybaby.  He still is a busy body little boy that needs constant correction (which is so hard in a class like his).  The difference now is that he is engaged.  I've won one!