William cheering up

Today in class I worked through the visualization exercise I learned in grad school for developing characters and modified it for them to run through scenarios in groups at their tables. I'm beginning to believe strongly in this table system I've assembled to accommodate the 26 of them in one room. William's new classroom is also table-based, which William was adamantly against just two days ago. However, he now seems happier about school. We went to the open house and had the new teacher's ear for a half hour or so and feel pretty good about it all. The room they are in is a bit spartan but brighter and airier that I imagined the basement could offer. The teacher was nice and seemed thoughtful, although it is worrisom that she's been on the job three days and no one has introduced her to the other teachers yet. There are always pros and cons to getting a new teacher: enthusiastic but without having field tested her strategies.