Day 8

My day has been great! Let me reflect on what I observed and saw today.

First up at 8:45am was double lesson of Year 11 IT. The bulk of today is mainly to finish up their Task 2 (assignment) which I gave them at the beginning of last lesson. Their task was to analyse 4 photos from a website and then later take a digital camera and take 4 photos that analyses and matches the principals. Most of the students in the class handed up their Task 1 but a few haven't and haven't been attending classes as well. It is always a great pain to give them a "zero" for their assignment as i hate giving anyone a fail mark. But some of the students I have no choice as they don't turn up for classes and do not do the assgns even if i chase them up. These students know what they are up against. They know if they fail any assignments or do very badly this term (eg from me), they will lose their SACE points. That means they will fail this course.

For their Task 1, they didn't do as good as I wanted them to do, because mainly I did not specify what EXACTLY i will be marking them on, even though the criteria states exactly what needs to be included in their assignments. So i am using that criteria and requirements stated in the assignment to draw up my marking template.

So for Task 2, I gave them a copy of what EXACTLY I will be marking them on, so that they can ace their assignment. :) Hehehe, i absolutely love giving my students full marks (IF they adhere to the requirements :) )

I notice that some students cannot be trusted. For example, in my year 11 IT class, a boy who hasn't been coming for a few lessons, rocked up this lesson and i asked him about his Task 1 because it was due last Thursday but he said he didn't know it was due then. Anyways, I got him to do Task 2 and it's due tomorrow. He said ok. Then he asked me if he could go to the toilet. I said ok. He never came back =.= So, i presume he nicked off to somewhere or had a chat with his frens along the way. =.= That's why i think students should really earn my trust first before i let them go out of the classroom (eg toilet or have a drink or go library)

After lunch today, I have the Year 8 S&E. I dreaded this lesson. As last Wednesday, it was the worst class i have ~ esp after it was after lunch (they go hyper). So. Today I changed tactic. I went to class 10 minutes earlier and wrote the stuff I needed to write on the whiteboard and prepared my notes and everything on the table. But they still came in after the bell. I decided I should not let them have any lead time as I gave them last Wed (eg delay time in settling down as i didn't dare to use my voice [shout/yell/scream] last week). Once everyone was in class, the noise level was quite high. These students are supposed to do silent reading for 10mins. Silent means Silent. Not talking and chucking papers around (like last Wed). So my mentor hasn't come to class yet, so I had the students for about 5 mins to myself. I got cracking at them as I have asked them nicely to settle down and read silently. My requests have gone out the window. So i started raising my voice and yelling at them to quieten down. A few students shushed up but a few still kept going at it despite my instructions. I decided I will not let them defeat my instructions as I do need to set down the barrier. So I yelled at them and controlled my very LOUD voice asking them "I've asked u to be quiet and start reading quietly. Do you understand the meaning of being quiet??" some students said 'yes'. So i said "Yes, and are you doing that now? No. You're Not. So BE QUIET" ps: i gave the glaring look as well to the naughty boys as well but they saw me looking at them so they avoided my eyes. It took me a few minutes to completely settle them down into their silent reading. And then that was the time my mentor walked in. I could see her look on her face like "what the.....these clowns are actually quiet?" Because I know what she thinks of me as a brand new student teacher and her class esp after lunchtimes.

One thing I've learned while I had the students to myself for the first few minutes after the bell went and my mentor was still coming to class, one of my students told me that she [my mentor] had called them "turkeys" this morning. Now I did not probe more about what on earth were they doing to make her call them 'turkeys'. But that boy was actually considered one of the naughty boys in her class. He's also a Special Ed student last term when I was observing during my regular activity at the school. He told me once that he doesn't like me. I was shocked and asked him why. He said he just doesn't like teachers. So i felt better; it was ME that he doesn't like. It was ALL teachers. LOL. Anyways, this boy told me in class that my mentor teacher called them turkeys this morning. Now I don't think she has them for classes this morning and I could see on his face, that he was quite cut or something. Anyways, later when I was teaching, I heard one of the students ask my mentor (who was sitting at the back), that why did she call them turkeys. I felt sorry for the students as they really do feel they are stupid clowns. And I really feel it's not right to degrade students even if they are being a turkey or a clown. This mentor teacher of mine...she is very strict and harsh and grumpy and irritated all the time; she's quite bitchy. She has confessed herself too.

I'm not sure why today the class was very good.....as in they stayed on track right from the minute I yelled 5-8times at them. Possible answers:
1) I used the consequences of "there will be detention for those who keep doing stupid things" or along those lines. They all know i gave 4 boys detention last lesson.
2) i was nice to them; i'm being comparative to my mentor teacher. I talk to them like human beings and ask for their opinions
3) there are concrete work or what we have learned, that there are "busy work" eg copy notes, read out and discuss and finish writing their essay to be marked
4) wrote up the Overview of what we will be covering in today's lesson (at the corner of the whiteboard).
5) I explained things in a very logical and basic english manner. SOme kids will get so hung over what u're saying, if u say a word that they don't understand.
6) The naughtiest student in class, he was all good today as well. One thing I've noticed with him is that quiet and not disturbing anyone else in class today. Last wednesday, he was a havoc with disrupting the class. I think it's because he has alot of issues going on at home that we can even begin to comprehend, so he is actually carrying his virtual schoolbag with him. Last Wed, I think his behaviour was sparked by what happened at home and he got in trouble wit the Year Level Manager and it's his way of forgeting what's happening at home by mucking around and trying to be happy at school. He didn't have his workbook with him today. He said he has finished it. So I gave him a fresh A4 paper (i have spares in my folder ~ so i can do my lesson plans in between classes). He copied down the notes on the whiteboard and he was really good too!

Sometimes these Year 8 students can melt my heart but other tiems, they are monsters! LOL. Well, kids are like that and the only way is to be patient and help them along the way when they fall out of path.

My last lesson ~ Year 9 S&E. It could have been better; i have been soft on them but i still nag them to do their research assignment that i have set them at the beginning of this week. Some of them are off task and chatting and walking around. I have not been as harsh on them as I should have, as in having firm consequences if they do not do their work and muck around. My mentor (another mentor ~ remembering i have 3 mentors for 3 subjects), said we should warn them that i'll be making phone calls to parents whom i think their kids are not doing any work in class and just mucking around. Most of them are on task and are up to where I want to be at for the assignment.

I notice the Asian students in the class don't really mix with the Caucasian students. Esp the boys. For examply, one caucasian boy asked me for help with the Mac comp but i said i have no idea. So i asked another boy. I think he's Cambodian. He said he knows how to do it. So i asked him if he could please help the caucasian boy. He said no. He said he doesn't like him... cos he doesn't do his work. So there i was...standing there,...... having a little sweat =.=' cos he doesn't like him and doesn't wanna help him cos he doesn't do his work, so his point of view is he will not help those who don't do work. =.= So i asked him to show me then how to do it. So he did. LOL. I originally thought that Cambodian boy didn't like me, because he is a quiet boy in class and he seldom answers me but he does contribute in class discussions. Anyhow, i'm so happy cos at the end of the class, he said "Bye Miss" and I was paying attention but i heard that. Then i turned around and realised he said that to me cos my mentor's a male and there was no other female teachers around.....hehee... so i'm like "bYE" lol hahahaha... oh, i luv my students (even if some of them are hard to push to do work). LOL I am so gonna miss them at the end of my Week 5 prac. Or wait a minute, maybe i shouldn't jinx myself and say that first. hehehe..

One boy asked me, why do i wanna be a teacher. I just answered him. cos I like helping students/people. Students like him. Hahahaha (he was a student whom have not done any work for the assgn and i need to have a crack on him next lesson).

Overall, my day has been really good. Today i entered my classes without much stress and nervousness, compared to last week. Last week was hell; i couldn't sleep cos i was too nervous and stressed.