Their words can describe my days better than mine...
A small collection of my students' quotes:
Mid-lesson, a girl in the front row yells out, "Miss, why your eyelashes short some days and long some days? Today they short!"
"Miss, you my best teacher. I'm not even lyin'. You mad good."
Mid-lesson, I had the nerve to interrupt a gossip session between two of my students, and I got: "Stay out my business! No one's talkin' to you! You always startin' with me!"
"I'm not yellin'! THIS IS ME YELLIN'!!"
"Miss, you mad strict. You always writin' stuff and callin' people's houses-n-shit."
"I don't need you tellin' me what to do. You not my mother. Last time I checked, my mother was dead."
Some students recently discovered the circuit box and have taken to turning off the power in my room on a daily basis. Good times. Yet they still yell out, "This school broke. They can't even afford lights."
"Miss, you a good teacher. You sensitive, but you mad strict. Yours is the only class where we learn anything." (Maybe I should teach the verb "are" so I could accept that compliment with a warm fuzzy feeling instead of cringing at the bad grammar and feeling guilty that they haven't gotten that yet. :)
I called the office FIVE TIMES today, trying to get someone to come get the student in my class who was screaming at me, and I got the secretary's voicemail each time. Great message to the other students in the room. Do what you want. Your teacher has absolutely no power, and you can get away with anything in this school, consequence-free. Not to mention the huge safety hazard. What if I'd been calling someone to break up a fight? The only bldg. security is on the 1st floor. I'm on the 5th.
In summary...
I need a break. I'm burnt. And my eye twitch is back with a vengence. There are only a few feelings worse than the one you get when you're standing in front of 30 kids who are learning absolutely nothing, you're desperately trying to bring them back under control, and your eye is twitching like no one's business... Oh, then you go to the bathroom and discover that you've sat in gum, despite the half dozen 'ABSOLUTELY NO GUM IN 502' signs you've posted everywhere. That's a bad feeling. Just ONE more day with my 90 11-14 year-old darlings, then I'm homebound to see my cute, squishy baby nephew. SERENITY NOW!!!
posted by notawidget @ 5:59 PM
5 Comments:
Very strange.
I've been having a hell of a time this year with my right eye twitching. I never had this problem before. It usually starts on my commute to work and then tapers off. It's a bitch, and I totally know how you feel.
Enjoy the break. It's well deserved.
Not to mention the coolest part about being a teacher...
Feeling like you do now and hearing an adult from another profession say to you, "Oh, you teachers have it made. You get summers off and all those holidays during the year."
Thanks Mr. McDon't-Know-Anything-About-Kids/Adolescents.
If we didn't have vacations, we would be killing the youth of America, rather than trying to educate them.
Countdown to April vacation: Less than 2 days!
One of the reasons that I chose to teach at the University level is that I'd be working with people who really WANTED to be there. That's what they told me in grad school, anyway, and it made sense--why would an adult waste their time and money if they didn't want to learn what we're teaching?
Keeping this in mind, there aren't words to describe how stunned I was to discover that a significant percentage of students--even at this level--have little interest in learning. They read magazines/text message/fall asleep in class. Many have writing skills that would embarrass a high-schooler, and I've uncovered plagiarism that was so blatant I actually scolded one student for insulting my intelligence with it. I'm getting jaded already, and it's only my first year.
So why do we do it, then?
Because WE love to learn, and even when it's hopeless and naive, we want to share learning with others. We live for our successes, however few and far between. It's like an incurable disease--we're intellectual lepers, except that the affliction we try to pass on is only *perceived* by our students as being dangerous. Somehow, we press on... sadder and wiser perhaps, but determined.
So good luck, and best wishes from a fellow traveler in California.
I suppose you've gotten these words of comfort in the past, but it does get better. When you get smarter about how to teach, the kids get smarter about what you're teaching. And then suddenly, you hit March of your second year and you realize that you just had two incredible days in a row (although admittedly, I've never had more than two). Keep trucking.
ps: My eye started twitching last year at about the middle of winter. It went away though.
Sounds like you have your hands full.
I teach in the UK and have no knowledge of US teacher training.
I have picked up a couple of useful ways of talking with pupils that help (a little).If you don't already know them you might like to try.
Often when we redirect a child they try to draw us into 'secondary activity'
E.g. Teacher: John, stop talking.
John: I wasn't talking.
Teacher: Yes you were.
John: No I wasn't. Bill's talking, too,. You're always picking on me.
And this goes on until the cows come home.
There are two useful ways around this. My favourite is simply to say, 'What should you be doing, John?'. It cuts the chance for them to start drawing you into a secondary discussion. The other way is if they say, 'I wasn't talking' or 'Bill's talking too' or 'You've got bad breath'is to reply, 'You may be right. What I want you to do now is..' You've agreed with the, and cut off the chance for a 'debate'.
Good luck,
I have a few more ideas on my blog:
http;//www.francisfarrell.blogspot.com
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