How can we help failing students become successful?

Here's the situation:

About 30 freshman failed the first semester of Algebra 1 in the fall. Those who did not leave the district were moved on and enrolled in a second semester Algebra 1 class. Of these, a few were place in NovaNet to recover the missing half-credit, and the rest were divided up into two "repeat first semester Algebra 1" classes.

What a strange situation for these kids. They failed the first half of the course, so now they are being presented with this material again, while also being taught the second half. In some subjects this might not be too strange, but in math, you typically need to know how to do the first half before you can attempt the second half. Concurrency does not seem to be a viable solution. Yet this is the situation they (and I, since I was chosen to teach one of the repeat classes) are in.

So the question is this:

How do I help them be successful both in my first semester class, as well as in their other second semester class?

I am not completely sure. The problem is, I think I'm a pretty good teacher, but I'm not sure I'm a great teacher, and these kids need a really great teacher. In reflecting on how best to help this class be successful, I typed up some notes. Follow this link to read them.

I just started blogging, so I don't have a lot of content to interest people, but I'm hoping some of you teachers out there have some insight into this situation. If so, please leave comments. I'd love to hear what others think or if there are others out there who have taught in a similar situation.