RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

In May, I was told that teaching the 2nd and 3rd year middle school kids how to read large numbers was too easy for them.

Guess who can't read the large numbers that are part of the lesson we're doing now.

I would say that a good twelve-twentieths of my grade three middle school students still mix up "12" and "20"

I see what you did there.  But the remnants of the math teacher in me wants to point out that you should reduce that fraction to three-fifths.

Well, I wouldn't want to oversimplify things and come across as patronising. 

I remember my dad's favourite mathematical expression when talking about politicians or people he didn't like, and that was 'he knows three-fifths of fcuk-all'.  The answer being?

We used to say "Square root of bugger all".

Also, "She doesn't have a click."  A click being 1/60 of a clue.

Co-T: *when referring to prepositions of place on/in/under* We don't say "Where is the pencil?" We say "Where is a pencil?"

No.

No ranting today.  It's friday.  I only have 3 classes on Friday.  First period is free.  The weather is seasonably cool and nice.  (So I'm told.  Expats said last night Sept is usually still pretty humid most years.)  Either way, it's Friday.  Nothing to complain about here.  Happy Friday everyone!!!

I wish my idiot co-teacher would stop telling students to open their books to "paygee 35." If you can't pronounce 'page' then you shouldn't be teaching English.

I wish my idiot co-teacher would stop telling students to open their books to "paygee 35." If you can't pronounce 'page' then you shouldn't be teaching English.

Eat ijuh aw pensheel.

I wish my idiot co-teacher would stop telling students to open their books to "paygee 35." If you can't pronounce 'page' then you shouldn't be teaching English.

could be worse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILkAY58If9Q&t=154s

I'd like to preemptively rant about how my coteacher is going to give the kids the answer to whatever warm up I decided to do tomorrow.

It happened. If you don't think your kids can unscramble the word 'tree', that says something about your abilities. Or maybe he just wants to show off that he's so good with English??? I don't get it.

This and last week have been horrible. It's like there's an infection.

I don't know all of the details, but apparently the student body has been especially rebellious within the last month or so, and the powers-that-be have been cracking down. As a result, attitudes are bad and tensions are high, and all of that bullshit has been bleeding into my classes as well.

It isn't anarchy or anything, it's really only around 1-3 students per class, but these students have been getting into aggressive arguments with teachers and attempting to discredit them in various ways. Which means, as a foreigner, they feel like they can get right up in my face, and they have... and my coTs have been too shocked by the students' actions to react at first (they don't seem to realize that bigotry starts young and that it's a runoff from the people they're exposed to on a regular basis, namely family and friends).

It was no big surprise to me, I've been in Korea long enough to expect it from a certain type of personality, and I know how to handle it. I just wish my coTs did and that they didn't all think that Korean students aren't capable of this kind of behavior, lol. Seriously, teenagers aren't adults, yet, their mental and emotional maturities are still developing, so I'm not sure why it comes as a surprise whenever their behaviors sometimes reflect that, or why some teachers can't realize when the kids are purposely trying to upset them by using any means necessary.

I'm both aggravated and tired, not so much at the students as I am at how the school is choosing to handle them. Makes my job harder.

No ranting today.  It's friday.  I only have 3 classes on Friday.  First period is free.  The weather is seasonably cool and nice.  (So I'm told.  Expats said last night Sept is usually still pretty humid most years.)  Either way, it's Friday.  Nothing to complain about here.  Happy Friday everyone!!!

You're in the wrong thread.



Just kidding, have a good weekend.

We could always whinge about the lack of ranting.

It always blows my mind what some of the kids will raise their hand for here.

  Teacher, the student sitting next to me has a 1.5cm rip on the last page of their textbook.

  Teacher, the eraser fell off of Minho's pencil.

Okay? The hell do you want us to do about it? hahaha You're in grade 4, figure it out.

I teach 3rd and 4th grade with the homeroom teachers, and all year I have been trying so hard to get the kids to raise their hand without screaming when they volunteer/answer a question. It's been going pretty well and a lot of the kids understand these days that if they want me to call on them they have to raise their hand quietly.

Today one of the 4th grade teachers completely destroyed all progress I made with his class. I had quite a few volunteers to answer a question, and while I was calling on a student I could hear the homeroom teacher telling the kids where he was standing to yell, "ME ME ME!"  So now these kids start shrieking at me and I'm standing there resisting the urge to sink to the floor and cover my ears because they were so loud. I'm not going to reward the loud kids for overpowering the quiet (and usually better behaved) students who are also eager to answer questions but can't get a word in edgewise because of the little brats who are screaming.

I received a 10% warning (which lead to me being muted) for "Posting in the wrong thread" (several weeks after i made the posting i might add).  I just noticed someone else today had their topic moved as it was in the the wrong thread, yet they have no 10% warning.  Where  is the consitency?

As i am being moderated, this more than likely will not be posted!

I received a 10% warning (which lead to me being muted) for "Posting in the wrong thread" (several weeks after i made the posting i might add).  I just noticed someone else today had their topic moved as it was in the the wrong thread, yet they have no 10% warning.  Where  is the consitency?

As i am being moderated, this more than likely will not be posted!

I had exactly the same issue, 2 weeks after posting the thread.
It was regarding the computer skills of my CTs.
Apparently, posting it in the 'Open Discussion' thread warranted a warning, it should've been in the 'Contract in Job' thread... With the ambiguity of thread titles I can think of it being appropriate in at least 4 different threads:

Open Discussion
IT
Life in Korea
Contract and Job

I messaged the admin and haven't received a response... Perhaps I should wait 2 weeks? That seems to be their usual reaction time, maybe they use IE.

I'm not going to reward the loud kids for overpowering the quiet (and usually better behaved) students who are also eager to answer questions but can't get a word in edgewise because of the little brats who are screaming.

I'll try to avoid picking on the students who are showing out/making a scene until they calm down but my CT always makes comments like "so-and-so really wants to answer..." like nudging me to choose the loudest over the ones who are actually following my rules.

I just straight up tell my little rugrats that I will not choose anybody who is yelling. They know the rules (even if they don't always follow them): raise your hand quietly or be ignored forever! 

I'm not going to reward the loud kids for overpowering the quiet (and usually better behaved) students who are also eager to answer questions but can't get a word in edgewise because of the little brats who are screaming.

I'll try to avoid picking on the students who are showing out/making a scene until they calm down but my CT always makes comments like "so-and-so really wants to answer..." like nudging me to choose the loudest over the ones who are actually following my rules.

I just straight up tell my little rugrats that I will not choose anybody who is yelling. They know the rules (even if they don't always follow them): raise your hand quietly or be ignored forever! 

Kyndo,

Have you ever had any kind of professional development on "engagement"?

One of the first things we were taught in teacher training: raise hands=bad, no raise hands=good.

There are obvious answers as to why, but have you ever considered other ways to keep the entire class engaged, rather than just a few students?

I'm not going to reward the loud kids for overpowering the quiet (and usually better behaved) students who are also eager to answer questions but can't get a word in edgewise because of the little brats who are screaming.

I'll try to avoid picking on the students who are showing out/making a scene until they calm down but my CT always makes comments like "so-and-so really wants to answer..." like nudging me to choose the loudest over the ones who are actually following my rules.

I just straight up tell my little rugrats that I will not choose anybody who is yelling. They know the rules (even if they don't always follow them): raise your hand quietly or be ignored forever! 

Kyndo,

Have you ever had any kind of professional development on "engagement"?

One of the first things we were taught in teacher training: raise hands=bad, no raise hands=good.

There are obvious answers as to why, but have you ever considered other ways to keep the entire class engaged, rather than just a few students?

Yes indeedy-do.
 I definitely have.
And it's because my lessons are so darn awesomely engaging that I consistently have 30 super engaged students competing with each other to answer questions that I need to enforce some kind of volume control! with SO much engagement going on, I'm worried that if I don't add some kind order, the (super engaged) chaos will cause the administration to think that we're engaging in some kind of riot.

Just because some students aren't jumping up and down and screaming doesn't mean they're not following along: some kids are just naturally quieter than others. They deserve a chance to show their proficiency as well.
As your teaching classes have undoubtedly mentioned, having students raise their hands in class is only bad if it limits student participation. My issue is that everybody is raising their hands (they *all* want to participate) and some are, in addition to raising their hands, screaming etc.

I like noise, but there *is* a limit. Be quiet while raising your hand or else be ignored forever and ever amen.
 

Great.

Ever tried plickers or a similar form of a "clicker"?  Random name generator or other to take bias out of the selection process?

what a con these so-called food banks are. i deposited a packet of dried squid there last week, and when i went to withdraw it today i was told it was gone.

1) The understanding we entered into to share our materials on this website was that they would be freely available to other members.
2) Even right now, the front page proclaims "sign up for a free account to have access to lesson plans" (see attachment).
3) I have posted hundreds of PPTs containing probably thousands of images, many of them copyright of powerful media companies.  When this was a free site, an "educational use" argument is easily made for use of this IP.  Now that it's behind a paywall, not only is Arsalan on the hook, so am I, even though I won't see any money.
4) I don't have any choice but remove materials that I feel may now infringe someone's copyright. I'm going to wait a week or so first, to see if any policy changes are forthcoming.
5) There is also, as anyone able to read for comprehension should understand, a strong objection to the manner in which the paywall was erected.  Any number of ways of raising money could have been implemented, from a donation frame a la wikipedia with a set goal, to a leveled service with limits according to, say, volume of dls--pay a premium for more ppt downloads.

So, over a week has passed and still no word from Aslan and no sign that the pay wall is coming down. How long are you willing to wait Mr. C? I'm wondering if I should make this a priority for myself...

Ever tried plickers or a similar form of a "clicker"?  Random name generator or other to take bias out of the selection process?

Unfortunately, having 2000+ students makes keeping track of names a no-go, but I do have a few pretty decent systems of randomized choosing:
For example, I have a stuffy (this month its a pikachu I rescued from a claw-machine contraption) which I toss to some student randomly. Occasionally I then let them toss it to the next student, who will then get to volunteer an answer. It's pretty random, and best of all, it's super fast, fun, and doesn't require any kind of technology.

But I think we're discussing 2 very different things: you're concerned with the randomization of student selection, while I was talking more about getting students to not give me nose bleeds every time I need a question answered.

I agree that there are many great alternatives to "teacher-picking-amongst-raised-hands" to ensure that it's not the constantly the same students who are chosen to participate.