I’m happy to report that the student who previously eschewed talking to me was fairly participatory during my lesson on Wednesday. He said he had a sore throat, so he was speaking very quietly, but he answered my questions more than once (and they weren’t even directly only at him). They had a test after my lesson, which was a less than optimal situation for my first lesson in front of the class, but I worked within my time limitations. This student was done early, so he was allowed to use one of the classroom computers. At one point he started practically jumping up and down in his seat and excitedly stage-whispering “Mister! Mister!” He was trying to get the attention of my cooperating teacher, who was assisting another student on something test-related, so I came over. (Hey, if nothing else, if he refuses to talk to me then it quiets him down during the test, right? Hah.) He showed me two Pokemon games that are apparently coming out on Nintendo DS (I think?) sometime soon, about which he was quite pleased.
This all gives me a generic “good feeling” about working with this student, and I hope I’ll be able to keep him communicating with me in the future.
