Back in the Saddle

After two weeks of not-so-restful vacation (so much to see and do!), I'm back to work again. It's been an adjustment going from the quick-paced vacation back to my 12-hours-a-week schedule. The last two Tuesdays I said au revoir (and in some cases, good riddance) to some of my students. Just as I was starting to learn their names! :o) One of my schools has decided to give me a different set of classes starting next Tuesday so that more students get to work with me. The ones I'm losing were among my more challenging classes and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with new teachers and students. Of course, that means adding 100 new names and faces to the already challenging mix.
As if things weren't complicated enough, there is a new teacher at one of my other schools and she has expressed an interest in working with me as well. This is the school that, in creating my schedule, placed me with two teachers for each hour that I'm there (they must think Americans are good at being in two places at once). As it is, I have no idea which class I will be working with until I show up, making it difficult to plan lessons since the students are at different levels. Now I will be adding a third teacher for some of my hours there and I'm starting to think seriously about cloning. While I can understand their desire for me to work with as many students as possible, I am only there for 4 hours each week. Giving me more than 16 classes (I have a two-week schedule covering 8 different hours) means that I'm not getting to know the students very well, nor are they getting to know me. It begs the age-old question of what's more important: many people with little experience, or a few people with a more in-depth experience? Between the new classes and my magic tricks, it should prove to be an interesting couple of months!