You Drive Me Crazy, I just can’t teach

By now you’ve heard it all about my co2. She won’t discpline the kids and tells my other co1 that I shouldn’t either. Then when she realizes the kids are out of control, tries to enforce weak rules that the kids again don’t listen to and gives up. Leaving me with a group of 30 students who talk through my entire lesson.

Well today I had to play “bad teacher” because the kids were unbelieveably noisy. We spent 15 minutes on a section that should have only take about 5. Why?

Because my  co2 has this habit where she likes to wander around the room and help students with trivial problems. Like my one student who fakes sick every class. Or my lazy student who doesn’t do his work. Instead of helping the students that really need it or helping me keep them somewhat quiet (I know silence is not an option) she is worried about getting tissues for one student.

Or when I’m trying to explain something she answer a question unrelated and starts having a conversation in front of me with the student in Korean.

How unaware can you be?

She taught these kids last year and I don’t think going up one grade is going to make much of a difference. If the kids were loud and unruly last year because of her, being with her again isn’t going to help.

Today the students didn’t want to do their work. I told them at the beginning of the year if they didn’t want to do their work during the class they could stay after and do it during their break.

Well I had to reenforce that rule today. Some students couldn’t do it so I helped them finish it. Others just didn’t feel like it and refused to do it during class. Others couldn’t hear the instructions of what I was telling the class to do because there was too much talking.

I don’t know why my co2 thinks it’s ok for the kids to be talking when I’m giving directions. It’s simple directions “Do part a”. And I’m not even asking for silence I’m asking that the majority can hear me at least. But none of them could because of how loud it was-then they ask “what am I supposed to do?” a thousand times because they were talking or couldn’t hear .

In my world I wouldn’t tell them to teach them how to listen…but my co2 of course repeats it in English and then in Korean.

In easiest terms, I wish my co2 would grow a fucking backbone! Don’t be afraid of the kids not liking you. Don’t be afraid of the kids complaining to their parents. Be an adult and a teacher-document if you must but do what you need to do to help educate these children. You’re not benefiting anyone by simply ‘being their friend’ and not instilling classroom manners, education and proper behavior. So what if they don’t use it outside of the classroom-they will use it in your classroom.

 

I know today is supposed to be lesson planning day: but I will offer a little different spin.

1. Set the rules you want at the beginning of the year. No matter how “strict” they might seem.
2. It’s easier to ease up on rules than try to enforce them later as shown by my co2. It won’t work and it’s not fair to them. They have been getting away with something so far-so why all of a sudden does the teacher try to enforce a rule?
3. Follow through. It shows the kids you are serious about the rules.
4. Don’t be afraid to hand out consequences. Yes you want to inspire the children but you aren’t their friend. You are their teacher.
5. Get to know your students. That way you can tell who is not doing work because they can’t and you can help them, or who is not doing work because they don’t want to or think they don’t have to…and hand out consequence accordingly.
6. Find appropriate solutions. Don’t just hand out detentions or write home to mother’s as the first punishment. Show the levels of degrees of discipline so the children know what will happen
7. They are children. So there is bound to be noise. I don’t mind a little noise here or there or asking them to be quiet a few times. But it’s when the chidlren become unruly and unresponsive that it becomes a problem.
8. If you need to change a rule here or there tell them. Don’t just spring it on them. My co2 decided to spring a test on the kids because they were too loud…yeah that’s not going to work.
9. Find activities that keep them occupied. Sadly for me moving around activities tend to cause chaos whereas worksheets keep them quiet and calm.
10. Show them what they missed out on. When one of my classes didn’t want to do the warm up, I showed them a few seconds of what they missed. They were very sad about it and wanted to do it the next class.
11. Don’t be concerned with things that can be taken care of after class or during another activity where the kids are on their own. My co2 does this all the time-and it drives me absolutely crazy and wastes so much time.

That’s it for now. Nothing too extaordinry but simple.