I was blogging with jwag2005 and he mentioned semisters. I got to thinking...wouldn't it be nice if elementary schools had semisters too? Then we could take students we really do have personality problems with and switch them to another teacher. We could also take students who just are not getting it and put them in remedial classes and let the ones who are getting it go on. I really like the idea of semisters in elementary. Then kids don't have to wait a year to find out if they are going to pass.
We could set up elementary schools by semisters and if you don't pass the first one, you have to go back and do it again. Maybe then, the students will understand they need to keep up. I had students who didn't learn their multiplication tables all year because they had a whole year to learn them. When we came to the final test...they were still counting on their fingers. Holy Cow! This if 4th grade. They should already know them.
I think it would work even better in Reading and Math. Although we would probably would have to switch classes for each subject, I still think it is do-able. I think I will mention it to my principal and my team.