One Down.
So one week in hell is drawing to a close.
The Highlights:
-Teaching 4 third grade classes by myself. Two were pretty much ok. In the other two, students who weren't actually in the class wouldn't leave and go to their class. In one a teacher came upstairs and actually had to physically pull the boys out. Those boys were noisy and drove me crazy until they were gone. In the other, three boys who weren't supposed to be in the class, wouldn't participate in the activity (I mean, jeez we were just playing games!) and they sat in the back of the room and played cards. Anyone who thinks Japanese kids are well behaved is seriously deluded.
-I learned that this school has the second lowest test scores in all of Yamanashi. Good good.
-Today a first grade boy (whom I like, and I absolutely love his older sister Maria) poured a bowl of hot water on some classmates. Luckily it wasn't hot enough to burn. So his parents were called etc. I was talking with my teacher and it sounds like he has anger issues. His father works a lot and his mother works part time, but besides that, he gets frustrated and he blows up. He is always good for me, probably because his sister likes me so much, it's just really disappointing to see him getting worse and worse.
-We had demonstration lessons for parents this afternoon and I had to play Jeopardy with a class of first graders. It went pretty well and the kids had fun, which I guess is all I can ask. It wasn't to watch me teach, but I ended up being the principal teacher. Too bad the BOE wasn't here, it could have been my evaluation lesson. Oh well. Something tells me they aren't going to actually do one, since they haven't yet.
-I'm starting to really have trouble putting on a happy face to teach, though a lot of that had to do with the third graders misbehaving in my class.
Anyway, duty calls, again.
The Highlights:
-Teaching 4 third grade classes by myself. Two were pretty much ok. In the other two, students who weren't actually in the class wouldn't leave and go to their class. In one a teacher came upstairs and actually had to physically pull the boys out. Those boys were noisy and drove me crazy until they were gone. In the other, three boys who weren't supposed to be in the class, wouldn't participate in the activity (I mean, jeez we were just playing games!) and they sat in the back of the room and played cards. Anyone who thinks Japanese kids are well behaved is seriously deluded.
-I learned that this school has the second lowest test scores in all of Yamanashi. Good good.
-Today a first grade boy (whom I like, and I absolutely love his older sister Maria) poured a bowl of hot water on some classmates. Luckily it wasn't hot enough to burn. So his parents were called etc. I was talking with my teacher and it sounds like he has anger issues. His father works a lot and his mother works part time, but besides that, he gets frustrated and he blows up. He is always good for me, probably because his sister likes me so much, it's just really disappointing to see him getting worse and worse.
-We had demonstration lessons for parents this afternoon and I had to play Jeopardy with a class of first graders. It went pretty well and the kids had fun, which I guess is all I can ask. It wasn't to watch me teach, but I ended up being the principal teacher. Too bad the BOE wasn't here, it could have been my evaluation lesson. Oh well. Something tells me they aren't going to actually do one, since they haven't yet.
-I'm starting to really have trouble putting on a happy face to teach, though a lot of that had to do with the third graders misbehaving in my class.
Anyway, duty calls, again.