Saturday, January 21, 2012

apparently it's NOT hip to be a square


January 21, 2012
I try so hard to remember that things are different here; they aren’t better they aren’t worse just different.
I always get asked questions about classroom management at home, which is tough one to field. We don’t have 40+ kids in a tiny classroom with desks that are falling apart. I think that is the main thing. In the U.S. I wouldn’t have to tell kids to sit in their proper seats, and if I did they would. Here I tell them and Tricia gives me a sugary smile and says wait. I say now and she moves. It is not a big deal, but a deal that just wouldn’t happen in the States. A child would never tell a teacher wait. I just don’t know how to explain this to teachers who are doing the best they can to maintain their massive population of students.
I’ve been working with a student teacher, and he is a good teacher but has very little as far as classroom behavior controls, or even expectations. I think he is still too nervous about the lesson to worry about if kids are paying attention or not. Yesterday he was teaching and some kids in the back were not paying attention at all. I asked why, and Marc Vincent looked at me and said that he was too cool to pay attention. I didn’t even know what to say. Then the class dismissed early to go to Grade 6 mass (on Thursday we dismissed early for a Grade 5 mass).
It is just so different here.

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