RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

(Based God, please tell me he's not talking about me. )

Lol a former student of mine was definitely the best at English in his class but he was also the worst behaved.  Mostly I think he was bored/hormonal (same class as a student who couldn't read English at all... so... ) so I tried my best to balance things and keep him engaged but he was still kind of a butt. 

Is it just my classes, or do the boys always seem way moodier than the girls?  (mostly middle school but also some elementary as well)

It's not just you, the boys are moodier in different ways tho. If they're bored or angry I find they just shut down completely. They just decide to give up immediately. It's either "i assume I know this, thus I don't need to pay attention" or "I'm too angry that Jinsu has a cooler spinner than me so I need to let everyone know I'm angry by giving everyone the silent treatment.
The girls on the other hand shut down by weeping until they get attention from their friends. But I haven't had nearly as many girls do that.

I find it interesting how some of the biggest bullies in my classes are also the biggest try-hard nerds. It's rarely the athletic kids who pick on others at my schools. It's the kids who are middle-class and above average academically who who constantly make fun of the kids who are less academically inclined.

The nerds are the rockstars in this culture.

"Getting a job at Samsung Electronics" is the life they all dream of.

In a way, if you're going to have bullies, wouldn't you rather they earn that status for their academic, rather than physical, prowess.

Revenge of the Nerds, anyone?

Interestingly enough, my butthead student was not only the best at English, but he was also the best athlete in school (till he graduated). Lol

(Based God, please tell me he's not talking about me. )

Nah, I don't think I would have an itching urge to backhand you if I met you. 

The Gobshites very seldom post on this thread actually. They prefer to post out there in the other threads where they can troll fresh, young naive meat.

(Based God, please tell me he's not talking about me. )

Nah, I don't think I would have an itching urge to backhand you if I met you. 

I dunno. You might. You haven't seen my smile.

Yesterday all my classes cancelled. Normally that would go on the happy sh!t megathread i know. But why were they cancelled? Because some students went to a sports day thing somewhere else. The kicker.... 3 of my 4 classes yesterday were grade 4. And no grade 4 students went to the sports thing.

So now I am wondering if there is another reason behind class being cancelled. As normally most teachers send their students to me regardless of if my coteacher is here or not.

Why is it whenever one of my classes is canceled for whatever reason, it gets re-scheduled? I've got classes pushed back to two weeks from now. Aren't the students instead missing those classes they would have during the re-scheduled times? Is my class that important? Is having a little time off for homeroom teachers (because lets face it, they never come to my class) more important?

How can the fact that the door will slam when the windows are open still come as a shock to the people in my office?

I find it both strange and frustrating how schools will negotiate with students regarding their classroom behavior. It's just bizarre to me how much power and control they give kids here.

I mean, I get it. Many schools have their hands tied thanks to the way the system works here.

But I don't get how telling a student that he can sleep in class in order to prevent him from skipping the class altogether is helping anything in any way. All it does is send a bad message to the rest of the class and makes it more difficult to prevent other students from also putting their heads down. It's so stupid. It would be better to keep the problem student in lockdown in an empty classroom, if you're really going to let him do his own thing.

In a way, if you're going to have bullies, wouldn't you rather they earn that status for their academic, rather than physical, prowess.

Revenge of the Nerds, anyone?

Lol that movie would trigger so many people if it came out today. It had rape, sexual crimes, racism, and other negative stereotypes 

I find it both strange and frustrating how schools will negotiate with students regarding their classroom behavior. It's just bizarre to me how much power and control they give kids here.

I mean, I get it. Many schools have their hands tied thanks to the way the system works here.

But I don't get how telling a student that he can sleep in class in order to prevent him from skipping the class altogether is helping anything in any way. All it does is send a bad message to the rest of the class and makes it more difficult to prevent other students from also putting their heads down. It's so stupid. It would be better to keep the problem student in lockdown in an empty classroom, if you're really going to let him do his own thing.

I had that discussion with a teacher earlier this semester. I was marking students that sleep from minute one of class all the way through as absent because in my mind, they might as well be absent. I would prefer it actually, because of exactly what you said- it's a bad example to the rest of the class that it's ok to just go right to sleep as well.

Revenge of the Nerds, anyone?

Lol that movie would trigger so many people if it came out today. It had rape, sexual crimes, racism, and other negative stereotypes 

S**t. This always happens.  You see something in disjointed fragments over the course of several days on Comedy Central while channel surfing during summer vacation TV binges in the naiveté of youth and you think it's slightly amusing at the time, but you're too innocent to realize there's a bunch of horrible, oppressive adult material floating just above your head. There's a guy named Booger; what nine-year-old wouldn't chuckle at that?! I'm not a bad person! (I'm a horrible personㅜㅜ)

I tried watching Austin Powers the other night with my wife and all the sexual stuff made her uncomfortable. I wasn't bothered by it, but I was bothered by Elizabeth Hurly's constant roll-your-eyes-with-a-smirk response to all of his aggressive advances.

A couple weeks ago I saw In & Out was an option on her parents 셋톱박스 and remembered it fondly. She wants to watch happy, not-stress-inducing movies these days and I thought we could give it a shot (Not sure what it is about all the '97 movies). I thought it might also give her a more positive view of homosexuality, but even *that* movie was full of gay stereotypes that wouldn't fly in popular culture today.

I ain't 'triggered'.  I just found it genuinely unamusing.

Only Pee Wee's Big Adventure is safe anymore

I find it both strange and frustrating how schools will negotiate with students regarding their classroom behavior. It's just bizarre to me how much power and control they give kids here.

I mean, I get it. Many schools have their hands tied thanks to the way the system works here.

But I don't get how telling a student that he can sleep in class in order to prevent him from skipping the class altogether is helping anything in any way. All it does is send a bad message to the rest of the class and makes it more difficult to prevent other students from also putting their heads down. It's so stupid. It would be better to keep the problem student in lockdown in an empty classroom, if you're really going to let him do his own thing.

The whole negotiation thing kills me!

Today, one of the naughtier 4th grade kids came in with 2 of those annoying spinner things. Last class he did zero works and was trying to distract everyone. Today, to my relief, he chose to sit on his own but then started playing with the spinners. When I went over to ask him to open his book I kindly asked if he would put the spinners in his pocket. He ignored me so I put one of them in mine (after several attempts). I told him if he listened well and completed the activity in the textbook he could have it back. Of course he kicked up a stink to the coteacher. Instead of just agreeing with me she put it to the whole class. "Do you think student 1 should have his spinner back or do you think he should do hs work and then get it back?" I don't give a monkey's what the other kids decide, this is undermining me not only with one student but the entire class. Luckily the rest of them are good kids and agreed with me but that's not the point. My decision should not be up for negotiation or a general class discussion!

The whole negotiation thing kills me!

Today, one of the naughtier 4th grade kids came in with 2 of those annoying spinner things. Last class he did zero works and was trying to distract everyone. Today, to my relief, he chose to sit on his own but then started playing with the spinners. When I went over to ask him to open his book I kindly asked if he would put the spinners in his pocket. He ignored me so I put one of them in mine (after several attempts). I told him if he listened well and completed the activity in the textbook he could have it back. Of course he kicked up a stink to the coteacher. Instead of just agreeing with me she put it to the whole class. "Do you think student 1 should have his spinner back or do you think he should do hs work and then get it back?" I don't give a monkey's what the other kids decide, this is undermining me not only with one student but the entire class. Luckily the rest of them are good kids and agreed with me but that's not the point. My decision should not be up for negotiation or a general class discussion!

Emma, I hear you.

I hope that most would have had this conversation at the beginning of the school year with their coteachers (I'm sorry orientation is no longer covering this basic/essential topic).

In English class at my school, we simply have a "no-spinner" policy (they know not to bring them to class).  If we see one, we will take it and keep it until the end of the day for a "first offense".

Thankfully, it has never gone beyond that.

Best of luck, as rarely anything positive comes from being undermined.

The whole negotiation thing kills me!

Today, one of the naughtier 4th grade kids came in with 2 of those annoying spinner things. Last class he did zero works and was trying to distract everyone. Today, to my relief, he chose to sit on his own but then started playing with the spinners. When I went over to ask him to open his book I kindly asked if he would put the spinners in his pocket. He ignored me so I put one of them in mine (after several attempts). I told him if he listened well and completed the activity in the textbook he could have it back. Of course he kicked up a stink to the coteacher. Instead of just agreeing with me she put it to the whole class. "Do you think student 1 should have his spinner back or do you think he should do hs work and then get it back?" I don't give a monkey's what the other kids decide, this is undermining me not only with one student but the entire class. Luckily the rest of them are good kids and agreed with me but that's not the point. My decision should not be up for negotiation or a general class discussion!

Emma, I hear you.

I hope that most would have had this conversation at the beginning of the school year with their coteachers (I'm sorry orientation is no longer covering this basic/essential topic).

In English class at my school, we simply have a "no-spinner" policy (they know not to bring them to class).  If we see one, we will take it and keep it until the end of the day for a "first offense".

Thankfully, it has never gone beyond that.

Best of luck, as rarely anything positive comes from being undermined.

Don't get me wrong, I actually love my coteacher (we've worked really well together the last 2 years), and most of the time this particular child. But I do not love those spinners. It started off that all the kids suddenly had them one day and since then they've kind of disappeared. I guess it was my unlucky day that he turned up with two and I just needed to vent! 

I find it both strange and frustrating how schools will negotiate with students regarding their classroom behavior. It's just bizarre to me how much power and control they give kids here.

I mean, I get it. Many schools have their hands tied thanks to the way the system works here.

But I don't get how telling a student that he can sleep in class in order to prevent him from skipping the class altogether is helping anything in any way. All it does is send a bad message to the rest of the class and makes it more difficult to prevent other students from also putting their heads down. It's so stupid. It would be better to keep the problem student in lockdown in an empty classroom, if you're really going to let him do his own thing.

I understand the message it sends to the class is not a good one but in the end maybe it's about keeping that kid out of trouble.  If they're not in class sleeping what are they going to do?  Out on the street up to no good probably.

Spinners are meant to focus kids' attention


on spinners.

I find it both strange and frustrating how schools will negotiate with students regarding their classroom behavior. It's just bizarre to me how much power and control they give kids here.

I mean, I get it. Many schools have their hands tied thanks to the way the system works here.

But I don't get how telling a student that he can sleep in class in order to prevent him from skipping the class altogether is helping anything in any way. All it does is send a bad message to the rest of the class and makes it more difficult to prevent other students from also putting their heads down. It's so stupid. It would be better to keep the problem student in lockdown in an empty classroom, if you're really going to let him do his own thing.

I understand the message it sends to the class is not a good one but in the end maybe it's about keeping that kid out of trouble.  If they're not in class sleeping what are they going to do?  Out on the street up to no good probably.

Here's the thing, though, whenever this particular student is truant, he always hides out in an unused classroom. To sleep.

I originally thought the same thing you did, that it was just about keeping the student out of trouble, but it's not. The school just wants him sitting with the rest of his class so that he doesn't get counted as absent. He's already been held back a grade due to truancy in the past, so it's honestly just about keeping him on track this year so that they can get rid of him next year. He's not learning a damn thing, though. So I guess he gets auto-passed with shit grades but not if he skips too many classes.

I understand that it's not an easy situation with the way Korean schools are run, but it's still frustrating. I feel like they could set up a system for problem students to do classwork and not be counted absent just because they're not sitting with the rest of their classmates. If they can't control the student, then the parents really need to be made to deal with it. The school can only do so much while the parents wield way too much power over it. Gawd, I wish they'd overhall the school disciplinary framework and give the teachers more ****** autonomy.