On the days when Sg thinks I'll one day make a capable and experienced teacher, the one who says I was born to teach, thinks that this class will be a special class for me. Right now though it's a little intimidating. Oh and then she forgets that I'm new and wonders since she's told me once why i don't understand the concept of phonics 20min and blah blah something the other 40min or that she says, oh songs take a lot of prep work but don't fill up the classtime with X, or try to have them glue in their homework themselves- but don't take a lot of time to do it (except they're young and some are a little OCD about how much to cover the page in glue... Do it all fast... do your lesson plans in 2 hours, but to save time do x in class... it's conflicting. I get that she's overwhelmed and superbusy, but sometimes it's hard to figure out which advice to take. I mean- I've learned their names, but am probably butchering them, or likewise they're getting used to foreign teacher accent, and i count it a great victory when i say one of them correctly and their heads whip around in understanding. Right now it's a lot of high 5! and thumbs up! Good! And make eye-contactness. They're forever fumbling things, dropping things and as they get more comfortable trying to get a way with things like sneaking gum?or was it candy? or? Is that writing on the desk!? NO! and make big- X with hands and shake head from side to side, and one or two of them just being off-task or defiantly ignoring me, even though they very well know what the penetrating stare and raised eyebrows mean. One day i'll work up to listing all their initials and doing the step 1, 2, 3 and out you go,ness, call the parentness. But for now I just scoop up their origami or their cards and keep them until after class, or in general give them disapproving looks. Its a tricky balance between trying new things and wielding an unwieldy control.
10 were in my class today and it seemed so much more manageable then 12- mostly because the one who's standing on chairs and forever restless was absent, as was the one who is always shouting at me in korean or shouting the answers, lots of shouting in general in her puffy pink neon coat...she reminds me of what samsoon would be like as a kid. The boy who kept crying didn't make it a week and was replaced by a cute and quiet but equally sneaky and unfocused girl who doesn't do her homework. I gave her a shrug, sadface and tears dripping down my face to which she just as sweetly smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I do my best to understand them when they ask for water or the bathroom, and yes, now you must go one at a time you little shysters, though conversely i get that sometimes kids just need mental breaks from things- so i don't challenge them on it until Sg says this a.m. they're taking too many breaks. Class is for studying yes? What am i going to do? Figure out which kid is lying to me in korean? No way. I peed my pants one time in 1st grade because a teacher ignored me and i was paralyzed with the should i run out of the class or obey teacher and wait? I had a box of kleenex that helped a bit, i remember vividly, but that's it. As i said, no way. Unless they ask more than once, I'm sorry- they get to go. I'll give them a keen look in the eye but then out they go, hurry, fast. Go. It's a trust exercise. Also I try my best to figure out what they're saying and what they want- here?they ask? in korean? this? and i look and say, yes, or no, or thumbs up, and good!
Besides that the day starts with homework checks, collecting notebooks, handing out new homework- the dreaded glue in the bookness, then a song maybe, and class commands and objects, perhaps review from a-z of the animals, or a-z the A ah! Apple! which a few dickens know so well that the other kids don't have to try, so then i have to take the cards around and ask them quietly one by one, then maybe listen and write A, B, C exercise,introduce new letter, and then some drawing and color time, quiet time... peaceful focusedtime. Then bell rings, classover! phew. NExT class! GO.
questions, comments?
10 were in my class today and it seemed so much more manageable then 12- mostly because the one who's standing on chairs and forever restless was absent, as was the one who is always shouting at me in korean or shouting the answers, lots of shouting in general in her puffy pink neon coat...she reminds me of what samsoon would be like as a kid. The boy who kept crying didn't make it a week and was replaced by a cute and quiet but equally sneaky and unfocused girl who doesn't do her homework. I gave her a shrug, sadface and tears dripping down my face to which she just as sweetly smiled and shrugged her shoulders. I do my best to understand them when they ask for water or the bathroom, and yes, now you must go one at a time you little shysters, though conversely i get that sometimes kids just need mental breaks from things- so i don't challenge them on it until Sg says this a.m. they're taking too many breaks. Class is for studying yes? What am i going to do? Figure out which kid is lying to me in korean? No way. I peed my pants one time in 1st grade because a teacher ignored me and i was paralyzed with the should i run out of the class or obey teacher and wait? I had a box of kleenex that helped a bit, i remember vividly, but that's it. As i said, no way. Unless they ask more than once, I'm sorry- they get to go. I'll give them a keen look in the eye but then out they go, hurry, fast. Go. It's a trust exercise. Also I try my best to figure out what they're saying and what they want- here?they ask? in korean? this? and i look and say, yes, or no, or thumbs up, and good!
Besides that the day starts with homework checks, collecting notebooks, handing out new homework- the dreaded glue in the bookness, then a song maybe, and class commands and objects, perhaps review from a-z of the animals, or a-z the A ah! Apple! which a few dickens know so well that the other kids don't have to try, so then i have to take the cards around and ask them quietly one by one, then maybe listen and write A, B, C exercise,introduce new letter, and then some drawing and color time, quiet time... peaceful focusedtime. Then bell rings, classover! phew. NExT class! GO.
questions, comments?
2 comments:
hugs to you. They will all love you by the end of the term and want to do everything to please you. They will still do origami in class but well.
Ditto what your mom said - they WILL love you 'cause to know you is to love you. I thought I had it tough teaching first year English learners, but I think teaching kids the basics is even more difficult. When you return I'll hire you to teach Thorne phonics!
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