Midway through the week, I laid on my bed in complete frustration. The day has ended on a sour note with the junior classes I am teaching. I have so much to learn from the classes that I have most difficult with.
It is confirmed: I love control. But these two classes (Sponge 3 and Trampoline 3B) are quite the challenge. Especially the boys. I want productivity and participation; they want free time and, pretty much, not to be in class. But, by divine choice, we all are placed in the same classroom. Not appreciating much of each other at that current moment. To them, I’m just 50 minutes more ’til freedom.
The thing is, I don’t mind them at all. They, without a doubt, are very silly and energetic – and I can’t help but shake my head and laugh (internally, mostly) at the silly antics they make during class. But I need to get on with the day’s lesson.
So, there I lay thinking, “If I am able to communicate ‘FOCUS + WORK WELL + PARTICIPATE = leave early’, will they work better?” Will this be the solution to the issue on hand? I’m unsure. I often catch myself counting down the minutes of when the class finishes.
The day’s frustration (especially with T3B) was pointless and self-imposed. Why bother teaching a class that doesn’t want to learn? Why raise my voice to try to get their attention when it only lasts for a couple of seconds, and they don’t even bother to follow the instructions I relay to them? Also, to my realization, me keeping them in until the end of class as a form of “punishment” for not working as they are supposed to, isn’t much of a punishment to them, but rather – to myself.
The next day, I wrote on the board the following:
Follow the rules + Focus + Particulate = Leave early.
This got them to do better than the day before. However, I’m suspecting that their productivity is only possible because they were doing a writing activity. I wonder how it will be like for the other activities?
Also, me writing the message on the board has gotten me to realize: they have good reading skills yet really weak listening and speaking skills. And I have weak classroom management skills.
Bottom line: I HAVE SO MUCH TO LEARN.
Places And Spaces To Be In 