After re-reading through my last post I realized that I should add some other tid-bits about teaching and Australia that will balance out the scene that I am painting for everyone. No, not every class is horrible. The ones that bother me the most are the ones I write about because I'm trying to process them. Some classes I walk away from feeling like I'm home.
Wednesday I had one of the 'literacy ladies' come to teach my 10 Mindil class about a writing process they use here called TXXXC. My 10 Mindil class can be moody some days, and super fun other days, so the likelihood of it being successful was a real crap shoot. All the kids have strong personalities, and though they are a class that I work the hardest to teach, they are also probably my favorite. She and I agreed that we would team teach the class. I couldn't have asked for a better result. She introduced the topics, and then I picked up. We taught so well together. And better yet, the kids responded. It was definitely hard to get these kids to care about writing quality paragraphs, but they did it! (Well most of them.) I also have one particular student in 10 Mindil (I've written about him before) who approached me in class Wednesday. He pulled out his wallet and showed me a little piece of paper folded up. "Miss, I wrote down all 30 of the human rights from that declaration we learned about and I carry them around in my wallet." He looked so proud. I thought it was so cool. This isn't a kid who always values school, so to have him personalize something we learned in class like that was awesome. Another moment to celebrate is one that I had with my 9 Kirra class last week. Ooo. These kids are a tough bunch and I don't think I have had one moment where I have had every kid's sincere attention. Last week I did. I introduced shell shock in our lesson about the medical impacts of World War 1 and trench warfare. Back in high school - I'm not sure what Ansbach teacher showed it, maybe Mr. Plummer? - but I was shown an old video of people suffering from shell shock. It stuck with me. Watching the people shake, flinch, involuntarily move their mouths, etc was incredibly fascinating to me. I've tried showing my Year 9 class old black and white documentary type videos before and they flopped... every... time. I decided I would try.... again. This time, though I would try with a YouTube clip of the very same video I had watched. So, I introduced shell shock, told them about having watched this video when I was their age, and pressed play. I didn't watch the video. I watched the class. They were quiet. No one was laughing. No one played on their phones or on their fidget spinners. And then when it was over (about 6 minutes later) one of my most behaviorally difficult kids said, "Miss?" Then he got uncomfortable looking like he wanted to ask me something that might not be OK to ask. Hesitantly he went on. "Isn't marijuana legal in your country?" I explained that in some places in the states certain kinds of marijuana was legal. I could see he was thinking. He said "I saw a video of a guy that shook like that on Facebook and he smoked pot and it went away. Does pot help things like shell shock?" The teacher part of me was elated. This kid was making connections. I couldn't have asked for more. Score! Let's see. Something else to mention relating to the last post is that I mentioned I had to have the head teacher come in and talk to my class about their behavior. Culturally that was very awkward for me. For me, it was admitting that I could not get control of my class which feels like a weakness. Here though, and I'm determined to get more comfortable with it, it is actually really normal. Apparently head teachers go into classrooms all the time to remind students about behavioral expectations. When I talk to my two head teachers about them coming into my classroom to correct behavior it is as if it is the exact opposite of an inconvenience. Like it is totally and completely normal. They also said that it is completely normal to send kids to them if the kids are acting up. In Alaska, I send kids to the office, but you can't do that here. Here you have to deal with the behavior in class (detention, putting them in the corridor, call parents, etc.). I always felt like I was inconveniencing head teachers by sending them my naughty kids because they were teaching classes. By the end of this week, I'd sent two, and boy did classroom behaviors start to change. Positive Sound Bites from School (PSBS - ooo that sounds catchy!) 1. One of my year 8 students makes it a habit of asking me about every other day, "Hi Miss! How'd you sleep?" 2. Both my 9 Kirra and 10 Mindil class think my attempts at saying "G'Day Mate" with an Aussie accent are heading shakingly pathetic. 3. Two of my 10 Mindil boys told me that I had to stay next year so that I could teach them again. 4. My Year 8 class got me off task in the way my AK kids always loved to do. They think they are so clever when they do it, but little do they know that I'm in complete control. All of it always relates back to what we are learning in class. I had so much fun watching my Year 8s as they 'worked' me. Loved it! 5. I work with a Canadian here who I enjoy talking to as we both have similar accents. My ears enjoy listening to him talk, as weird as that sounds. 6. They have a system here where you can lose your 'prep' periods or off periods if they need you to cover or sub in another teacher's class. I was assigned to sub in the music teacher's class for a period and it was amazing. I watched a group of students play amazing music. They were so talented. 7. One of my tough, tough 10 Mindil boys, upon coming back from the toilet, asked me if he could go sort uniforms for another teacher who was in the corridor. "Wait a second." I said (with a bit of mocked attitude and a slight smile on my face). "You have done no favors for me at all this period and now you want me to do YOU a favor and let you go sort footy uniforms?" "Um, ya Miss. But wait, If you let me go, then I won't be in class, and that's kind of a favor." He was trying hard! "For 5 minutes? Bob (not his real name), there is only 5 minutes of class left, that's not much of a favor." "Ya, but Miss, I won't be in class tomorrow because I'll be at footy and that'll definitely do you a favor!" Done deal! I laughed and agreed. Out he went. Happy. Now Tom told me that my last post also didn't talk enough about our Hunter Valley trip. But I think I'm done for now. This has been a lot of writing today. The kids and I are sitting down to their first viewing of Back to the Future, and I'm signing off for now.
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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