Never a Dull Moment

One of the ways I describe teaching to people when they ask is with this catchy phrase, "There's never a dull moment." It's so true! There are ups and there are downs, but it never gets boring - that's for sure. This week was no different. I generally felt that my Monday and Wednesday classes went pretty well, but my Tuesday and my Thursday classes went poorly. I'm struggling with teaching to every student's skill level. I keep wanting to move slowly so that everyone understands, but 95% of the class is then bored! I don't want to be a boring teacher, but I'm having trouble justifying moving on when I know everyone doesn't understand the concept yet. I need to find ways to challenge some students with independent work while I work with other students individually. My mentor suggested I make a list of students I'm worried about and brainstorm ways to help them out. I also need to go through students' IEPs again to make sure I'm giving them what they need. I think one of the best solutions for this class is for me to spend less time at the board. Give as little whole group instruction as possible, then break up into small groups or individual work so I can help different groups of students. Another suggestion my mentor made was to put times up for each section of my agenda. She thinks I do a very good job at making sure I answer every student's question but that I need to set limits so the class can move on as a whole. So once thirty minutes are up for homework questions, I say, "I'll take one more question, and then we need to move on." We'll see how that works. Thoughts?