The Next Day ...
Today was just awful. Seriously. Yes. We are going to write.
It's why we came. *headdesk*
You would have thought I suggested they flush their head down the toilet the way they reacted to writing half a page. And of course, because I was not giving out a worksheet He Who Would Be Alpha male decided to choose then to be a complete jerk. On the plus side leadership came promptly. On the down side it was the new principal and she wanted his work for him to go on with. And of course it was all on the board and I hadn't prepared an alternative. I felt silly ... but really even if I *had* a worksheet he'd just spent the time disrupting the calss so much i hadn't even explained it yet! So how would he have done it?
They tell me "It's different when it's your own class." Not so far it's not. I warned them last week we'd be shifting seats today and yet when I went to do it ... all hell breaks loose. They are seriously lazy. And today there were firetrucks. Very distracting. So that didn't help. Turns out someone set fire to a toilet seat in the upstairs boys toilets and leadership called the fire brigade ... but didn't evacuate the building! FAIL.
So I guess in perspective failure to have a worksheet is not as serious as failure to evacuate! Apparently the Firie went off - as well he should. It owuld have been inconvenient but can you imagine had their been other fires?!!? And a building full of children?
We don't know who set it. We have at least one amoral child and a pyromanic in residence ... it could have been anyone. Meanwhile half my class has plenty of work to do during reces tomorrow since some of them didn't write more than a sentence - in twenty minutes.
I was givne some advice today by this woman I did my Honours course with. Some lovely fluffy, warm fuzzy stuff about democratic classrooms. "Let them vote on things so they own the classroom" It's what she did her thesis on and stuff. The thing is I'm not sure she ever finsihed her thesis yet ... and she hasn't practiced as a teacher yet ... and I got them to vote on something the otehr day and the kid who didn't get his way started to throw things ...
Seriously I've made THEM tell me the class expectations. What are our rules? What are our rewards? I'm sorry though they don't get a democratic say in doing work. If I gave them a choice to vote their vote would be to not do anything. "You wanna do this .. or this?"
"Can we go home?"
"No."
"Then I don't care."
They literally don't care. So maybe losing break time will make them care? Maybe.
I have plans for the forseeable future to spend half of every break inside ... there's nothing left to try than keeping them for half of every break. Maybe then they will do some work during learning time. They are continually wasting time. I had one student today as I was waiting for people to settle down say "Can we get started now?" as if *I* was holding *her* up! when I explained that she couldn't because she didn't know what to do she reckoned she did! I hadn't even told them, she decided she knew because of the half instruction I wrote on the whiteboard!
They call out - Oh My Gosh. I need to find a strategy to stop that before I go insane. I tell them and tell them and tell them and STILL with the calling out. It's INGRAINED with some kids like they can't HELP it. Drives me NUTS.
I will have to turn into dragoin lady. it's all very fluffy to talk about democratic classrooms but seriously - how does anyone implement that? These kids are so LAZY it's disturbing. *shelves most plans and hitches up her skirts ready to practice basic skills like not talking extensively and repetitively*
Seriously this job was more fun when I didn't have to turn up every day ...
It's why we came. *headdesk*
You would have thought I suggested they flush their head down the toilet the way they reacted to writing half a page. And of course, because I was not giving out a worksheet He Who Would Be Alpha male decided to choose then to be a complete jerk. On the plus side leadership came promptly. On the down side it was the new principal and she wanted his work for him to go on with. And of course it was all on the board and I hadn't prepared an alternative. I felt silly ... but really even if I *had* a worksheet he'd just spent the time disrupting the calss so much i hadn't even explained it yet! So how would he have done it?
They tell me "It's different when it's your own class." Not so far it's not. I warned them last week we'd be shifting seats today and yet when I went to do it ... all hell breaks loose. They are seriously lazy. And today there were firetrucks. Very distracting. So that didn't help. Turns out someone set fire to a toilet seat in the upstairs boys toilets and leadership called the fire brigade ... but didn't evacuate the building! FAIL.
So I guess in perspective failure to have a worksheet is not as serious as failure to evacuate! Apparently the Firie went off - as well he should. It owuld have been inconvenient but can you imagine had their been other fires?!!? And a building full of children?
We don't know who set it. We have at least one amoral child and a pyromanic in residence ... it could have been anyone. Meanwhile half my class has plenty of work to do during reces tomorrow since some of them didn't write more than a sentence - in twenty minutes.
I was givne some advice today by this woman I did my Honours course with. Some lovely fluffy, warm fuzzy stuff about democratic classrooms. "Let them vote on things so they own the classroom" It's what she did her thesis on and stuff. The thing is I'm not sure she ever finsihed her thesis yet ... and she hasn't practiced as a teacher yet ... and I got them to vote on something the otehr day and the kid who didn't get his way started to throw things ...
Seriously I've made THEM tell me the class expectations. What are our rules? What are our rewards? I'm sorry though they don't get a democratic say in doing work. If I gave them a choice to vote their vote would be to not do anything. "You wanna do this .. or this?"
"Can we go home?"
"No."
"Then I don't care."
They literally don't care. So maybe losing break time will make them care? Maybe.
I have plans for the forseeable future to spend half of every break inside ... there's nothing left to try than keeping them for half of every break. Maybe then they will do some work during learning time. They are continually wasting time. I had one student today as I was waiting for people to settle down say "Can we get started now?" as if *I* was holding *her* up! when I explained that she couldn't because she didn't know what to do she reckoned she did! I hadn't even told them, she decided she knew because of the half instruction I wrote on the whiteboard!
They call out - Oh My Gosh. I need to find a strategy to stop that before I go insane. I tell them and tell them and tell them and STILL with the calling out. It's INGRAINED with some kids like they can't HELP it. Drives me NUTS.
I will have to turn into dragoin lady. it's all very fluffy to talk about democratic classrooms but seriously - how does anyone implement that? These kids are so LAZY it's disturbing. *shelves most plans and hitches up her skirts ready to practice basic skills like not talking extensively and repetitively*
Seriously this job was more fun when I didn't have to turn up every day ...