email: teacher mean!

Subject: iron fist!
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:42:11 +0000
dear mom and dad,

the weather was sort of warm the other day! i walked to school and actually took off my jacket! grandma is putting in some extra time in prayers for me, tell her thank you!

thanks for the concern, dad, but i think i got class discipline going alright :) i've been strategizing class discipline since i started to just LOOK for a job abroad. i was super worried b/c ive never had to deal with more than 3 or 4 students at a time, but ive found that the rules i used for those 4 works well for when im dealing with 10-15 so long as i pay attention.

the boy that always asks me about bad words: i used the stern voice with a "final warning" and threatening a D in class participation after telling him one time already to stop the side talking. i dont do the "this is the third time im telling you, please stop" thing, they get ONE chance and then that's it. i never ask or say please, i always order/tell. not to be mean, but they're children and need to be told what to do.

i do a good stern voice, i dont even yell, b/c it's scarier when Teacher gets right in your face with a low voice and tells you to straighten up. i learned that one in training! well, from a colleague in training, they didnt teach us to do that, but whatever, it works. ive only had to do it three times in all my classes? and this is week 4? i think dressing proper does it too. the school tells us to dress business casual for the first and last three weeks of the term, but i do it every day. i really do think the kids respect me more, and it keeps that professional distance. or maybe my own attitude is more professional when i dress proper. either way, things is okay, i love all my students, even rude-ass little johnny. he knows who's boss.

this is another thing i really like about working at this school: you really are a teacher here. other schools like mine, these Hogwans, people pretty much just play with the kids all day; which can be fun but i imagine exhausting! especially after teaching 6 classes a day, a separate set of students each class? i only have two sets of kids a day and my classes are 3 hours long but they dont feel like it at all. three hours is up before i know it, and i can really see who leaves class having learned something that day... which is ALL of them, of course, b/c they're so smart and im such a good teacher.

i'd read about another teacher, he worked at a school called "Wonderland" and he was really angry and blamed the school for how shitty the job was, he actually "pulled a runner" and just didnt show up to work one day, the school would later find he left korea and went home. i think his anger is in the right place (being mad at the school) but he needed to spread some of that responsibility around. he complained that the kids (they were small, under 10 yrs old) would steal stickers and pogs from his desk and hit him in the face and pull on his beard and the hair on his arms. sorry for you, buddy, but im thinking to myself "that's what you get when you dont lay down the law from day one." he only stayed around 6 weeks before he left. not that im a pro, and of course other teachers dont agree with me, but for me, my own personal rules have not yet failed me:

• 1. never touch the students, not even to play. no hugs, no pats, no thumb wrestling, nothing, not even handshakes. that sort of affection is one they should be getting from home, not in the classroom. i dont want them ever to think of me like a Mom or a friend, but as the Teacher and hopefully as a mentor. i want the students to keep the illusion that i am all powerful teacher and have respect and keep their distance.
  


• 2. never sit at the desk the whole time, always walk around the classroom looking over shoulders. you can make sure they're working, quell any distractions, and use it to give praise and let a student know they have the right answer on something.
  


• 3. know every students name, even if you have to do a little review/game at the beginning of class to remind you of the names (which i still sometimes take the first 3 min of class to do). this way the student knows you know who they are and that you're watching them (you can say, "Johnny, that is enough." which is way more effective than, "you, in the blue shirt... stop that.") and on the plus side, this works with class morale and praise, too. when im asking a question of the class and someone gets the answer right, i can say, "Yes, excellent Jonny, the answer is four." or "Yes, Johnny, perfect, you have the grammar in that sentence perfect."
  

wow sorry, i didnt mean this to be an email about "sha's classroom etiquette!" just wanted you to know that i know a lil' something. some comes from the tutoring and teaching back home, and some are tips from growing up in the Cur------household, of course. Mom, you'd give me spankings but that didnt stop me from messing up the next day, or even the next hour! and Dad, you never laid a hand on me but i never dared to even get close to falling out of line. yup, that strong silent approach is effective! ~sha