Change of Plans

So I often just think a lot when I can't sleep...or maybe it's all the
thinking that keeps me awake, either way, I lay there, mull over problems
and usually come up with plans to solve them.

Things just aren't working in my math classrooms. The learners who mostly
get it are the ones that are participating, and all the rest say "yes" when
I ask if they understand. Due to time I can only glance at homework for
completion, not correctness, but that doesn't matter since most of it is
copied anyway. Me being one and them being *very many*, I can't give too
much individual attention, and really it's only the ones who do fairly well
that come in for extra help anyway. And you all know how exams turn out...
I strongly suspect language/accent to be an issue, the ever-present
disinterest in math and that many simply give up after a few failures (who
wouldn't?!)

So I have a new plan...teams. I ranked all the learners by their exam
scores, and went Team 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4-... right down the list. The top
performers are the "team captains" and each team has some middle, low and
very low scorers. There are between 5 and 6 learners on a team. They will
of course get to come up with team names and decorate some sort of team
banner. The teams will sit together every day (except quiz day) and I'll
allot time in class for team pow-wows with the material. I'll assign
homework every day, as usual, but will not be checking it, even for
completion. The motivation for doing the homework will be Quiz Day. Once a
week there will be a short quiz, with problems virtually the same as the
homework. The team with the highest average will get 1 point. The team
with the most points at the end of the term wins...something, TBD. I'm
going to make little score boards for the classrooms.

If someone has a question outside of class, they should come with their
team. If someone is absent/ditches class, presumably their team will want
to catch them up...if someone is having English issues, hopefully their team
will explain in Thimbukushu...all to better their team score on Quiz Day.
With a guaranteed quiz a week, I will have enough scores to choose the
highest ones to record in the register - not to mention no longer having to
sift through their notebooks weekly. Oh, AND, hopefully they'll get a
little more used to tests, which should help allay some jitters for the next
round of exams.

Think it'll work? I'll let y'all know...stay tuned...