RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.).

Nonsense. I taught a whole series of lessons on that same topic, and it was just fine. Sure, there were some kids for whom it was too difficult, but they were the same kids who managed to make it to middle school 3rd grade without learning how to count past ten or answer "how's the weather."

yeah, i'm not sure how this happens.

english classes several times a week, for years upon years, and they can't even answer, "what's your name?"

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.).

Nonsense. I taught a whole series of lessons on that same topic, and it was just fine. Sure, there were some kids for whom it was too difficult, but they were the same kids who managed to make it to middle school 3rd grade without learning how to count past ten or answer "how's the weather."

yeah, i'm not sure how this happens.

english classes several times a week, for years upon years, and they can't even answer, "what's your name?"

Keep in mind that every single person attends elementary school. We have this vision sometimes of teaching, this noble profession where we burrow into the minds of naive young boys and girls and impart our wisdom on them.

Bollocks.

Think about how many absolute morons you know, or meet on a daily or weekly basis. These people went to elementary school, too, and they knew EVEN LESS than they do now.

It's not easy to say, but some kids are absolute morons. Their fate is sealed.

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.).

Nonsense. I taught a whole series of lessons on that same topic, and it was just fine. Sure, there were some kids for whom it was too difficult, but they were the same kids who managed to make it to middle school 3rd grade without learning how to count past ten or answer "how's the weather."

yeah, i'm not sure how this happens.

english classes several times a week, for years upon years, and they can't even answer, "what's your name?"

When the emphasis is on the answer and not the process, the teacher, in order to speed things along, will tell the slower students the answers.  Certain students realise they can do nothing and be spoon fed.  The teacher sees a low student score as a black mark against her name, rather than a sign that the student has a weakness.  Teachers coaches the student in order to make her class look batter than it is.  Rinse and repeat for 10 years and then when they hit a uni class where the teacher will gladly fail them, they can't understand why they fail.

Keep in mind that every single person attends elementary school. We have this vision sometimes of teaching, this noble profession where we burrow into the minds of naive young boys and girls and impart our wisdom on them.

Bollocks.

Think about how many absolute morons you know, or meet on a daily or weekly basis. These people went to elementary school, too, and they knew EVEN LESS than they do now.

It's not easy to say, but some kids are absolute morons. Their fate is sealed.

I have students who are literally learning-disabled who can answer the basics. I don't buy that any student is just too dumb to do it. Different students will learn in different ways and at different paces, of course, but it's not impossible. The issue isn't ability, it's willingness and motivation.

Not gonna lie, I had plenty of classes when I was a kid where if I knew that not putting any effort into it wouldn't have had any consequences, I would've been the same as these kids. That's the problem we're facing here.

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.).

Nonsense. I taught a whole series of lessons on that same topic, and it was just fine. Sure, there were some kids for whom it was too difficult, but they were the same kids who managed to make it to middle school 3rd grade without learning how to count past ten or answer "how's the weather."

yeah, i'm not sure how this happens.

english classes several times a week, for years upon years, and they can't even answer, "what's your name?"

When the emphasis is on the answer and not the process, the teacher, in order to speed things along, will tell the slower students the answers.  Certain students realise they can do nothing and be spoon fed.  The teacher sees a low student score as a black mark against her name, rather than a sign that the student has a weakness.  Teachers coaches the student in order to make her class look batter than it is.  Rinse and repeat for 10 years and then when they hit a uni class where the teacher will gladly fail them, they can't understand why they fail.

yep. i wonder, does this happen in other subjects too?

I'm just really angry and frustrated by this whole situation:

- Having to redo lesson plans because these kids don't bother to pay attention
- My CT saying that teaching the word "Mammal" is too difficult. I get that vertebrate/invertebrate can be challenging, but not if they, ya know, actually listened. Not to mention her deciding it was too much because she didn't know the words
- It's a serious waste of time to lesson plan and be told "That's not gonna work."
- Her wanting me to give them Elementary level material just means they won't actually learn anything. At least I was actually trying to teach them something new. That's what teachers do, right?

I can't wait for the final speaking test. I wonder how many students are gonna fail on purpose this time.

yep. i wonder, does this happen in other subjects too?

According to my KTs, it does.

The lowest level students in my school are pretty much the lowest level in every subject. Most of them are sports kids or problem students.

There are a few exceptions, but most students who excel in other subjects normally put in enough effort in English to get high marks because, regardless of their personal feelings about the subject, they know that their English scores still affect which schools they'll get accepted into.

The ones that frustrate me the most are the ones who don't try, and the ones who score high on their written exams but don't score as well during their speaking exams because they don't take the performance portion of it as seriously and believe that they can coerce or sweet-talk me into giving them the grade they want.

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.).

Nonsense. I taught a whole series of lessons on that same topic, and it was just fine. Sure, there were some kids for whom it was too difficult, but they were the same kids who managed to make it to middle school 3rd grade without learning how to count past ten or answer "how's the weather."

yeah, i'm not sure how this happens.

english classes several times a week, for years upon years, and they can't even answer, "what's your name?"

When the emphasis is on the answer and not the process, the teacher, in order to speed things along, will tell the slower students the answers.  Certain students realise they can do nothing and be spoon fed.  The teacher sees a low student score as a black mark against her name, rather than a sign that the student has a weakness.  Teachers coaches the student in order to make her class look batter than it is.  Rinse and repeat for 10 years and then when they hit a uni class where the teacher will gladly fail them, they can't understand why they fail.

I watched this great video last night. It really illustrates the point. The Korean moms in the video say lots of "no no no no" and when the child doesn't get it after multiple tries, just tells them the answer. One mom even lies about telling her child the answer. As frustrating as it is, it's ingrained in most of them from birth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccricYPB7Zk

At least I was actually trying to teach them something new. That's what teachers do, right?

Perpetual Review.

What could go wrong?

People that take way too many f*ckin' pictures in tourist locations --

My massive hypersensitivity to caffeine.  Some days (mornings) I can drink 1/4 of a cup and be bouncing off the walls till 5.  Other days, I can pound the iced pouch-o-coffee after 2 PM, and sleep like a baby later that night.  It's either I'm fidgety from it, or it has zero effect.   

I have been at all of my schools for 3 years (4 schools). The previous Foreign English teacher left me with a high standard to maintain, and for the first two years I was teaching (no KET, just home room teachers) we kept the English level very high. THEN this year, my main school got a dedicated KET.... who does NOTHING. NOTHING. He just doesn't teach at all. He has had me skip chapters to make sure "we are on the same chapters as your other schools". I only have my students once a week at this school and I am the only one teaching any English classes. Last week we had to do months and days... "When is the _________? It's December 5th. Guess what my Grade 5s struggled to count past 10, and couldn't remember ordinals at all, so I have had to go back and review the grade 4 lessons with them and then try and incorporate that into the grade 5 curriculum. Same with my Grade 6s. So I asked the students what they do during their other English classes and they promptly broke out singing a one direction song.  They have learned a song. ONE. Apparently they started it last semester and "we are almost perfect" then the rest of the time they watch movies... English ones, with Korean subtitles. Now I find using songs a great way to teach, but .... just one song... ONE. Nothing else. They have forgotten how to count in English. Thank god this is almost all over for me. 

Some of you guys on here gave me advice to challenge my middle school students as a way to keep them engaged in the class. Well I tried, and my CT told me that it was too hard for them (I'm literally teaching animal kingdom vocabulary like mammals, reptiles, etc.). Oh but I bet you it wouldn't be if these scoundrels actually payed attention.

She told me I should give them something on the elementary level instead.

This is all so counter-productive! And now I gotta come up with another lesson for this week.

I used this same lesson at my lower level school just now, and it went just fine. My CT said it was good, even with some terms being a little difficult.

Now, I'm going to use a lower level lesson when I go back, and if one student says "Teacher, easy!" I'm gonna look at my other CT like

My massive hypersensitivity to caffeine.  Some days (mornings) I can drink 1/4 of a cup and be bouncing off the walls till 5.  Other days, I can pound the iced pouch-o-coffee after 2 PM, and sleep like a baby later that night.  It's either I'm fidgety from it, or it has zero effect.   

Same. It's the main reason why I have to water my coffees down. There's no such thing as a full cup of coffee in my world unless it's a blended drink. My go-to medium for that is cocoa, so my cup of "coffee" is basically 25% coffee and 75% cocoa and milk. If I drink too much caffeine (which is really easy for me to do), I'm no use to anyone because I'm 200% energy and 0% cognitive abilities. And I'll be up all night.

If I drink more caffeine before I realize I'm in this state, I'll end up with inflammation in my chest that won't go away for a couple of days. 

I used this same lesson at my lower level school just now, and it went just fine. My CT said it was good, even with some terms being a little difficult.

Now, I'm going to use a lower level lesson when I go back, and if one student says "Teacher, easy!" I'm gonna look at my other CT like

I'm already there. Samuel L. Jackson is basically my spirit animal at this point.

It really does come down to the attitudes of both the students and teachers. The kind of environment these kids learn in makes a difference.

My massive hypersensitivity to caffeine.  Some days (mornings) I can drink 1/4 of a cup and be bouncing off the walls till 5.  Other days, I can pound the iced pouch-o-coffee after 2 PM, and sleep like a baby later that night.  It's either I'm fidgety from it, or it has zero effect.   

Same. It's the main reason why I have to water my coffees down. There's no such thing as a full cup of coffee in my world unless it's a blended drink. My go-to medium for that is cocoa, so my cup of "coffee" is basically 25% coffee and 75% cocoa and milk. If I drink too much caffeine (which is really easy for me to do), I'm no use to anyone because I'm 200% energy and 0% cognitive abilities. And I'll be up all night.

If I drink more caffeine before I realize I'm in this state, I'll end up with inflammation in my chest that won't go away for a couple of days. 

I used this same lesson at my lower level school just now, and it went just fine. My CT said it was good, even with some terms being a little difficult.

Now, I'm going to use a lower level lesson when I go back, and if one student says "Teacher, easy!" I'm gonna look at my other CT like

I'm already there. Samuel L. Jackson is basically my spirit animal at this point.

It really does come down to the attitudes of both the students and teachers. The kind of environment these kids learn in makes a difference.

JV gets a pass (I think) but remember black emojis are in fact digital blackface. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyq6fTYxztc

Good to see licence payers' money going to useful causes.

(trigger warning, youtube contains historical blackface scenes which might traumatise you)

JV gets a pass (I think) but remember black emojis are in fact digital blackface. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyq6fTYxztc

Good to see licence payers' money going to useful causes.

(trigger warning, youtube contains historical blackface scenes which might traumatise you)

I do. Not sure how I feel about that video though. I think it depends on the context that emojis are used in. In this situation, I don't think it would be bad if a white person used that Sam Jackson gif.

I do. Not sure how I feel about that video though. I think it depends on the context that emojis are used in. In this situation, I don't think it would be bad if a white person used that Sam Jackson gif.

Eggie is being immaculately sarcastic.

Samuel L. Jackson is an icon. He's the one who mastered the word "motherf*cker" in the way that it was meant to be used and appreciated. His wild-eyed, no-nonsense facial expressions over anything ****** stupid is beyond reproach.

He's basically every teacher's kindred spirit. Once you hit level Jackson in your classroom, you can't really go back.

JV gets a pass (I think) but remember black emojis are in fact digital blackface. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyq6fTYxztc

Good to see licence payers' money going to useful causes.

(trigger warning, youtube contains historical blackface scenes which might traumatise you)

I do. Not sure how I feel about that video though. I think it depends on the context that emojis are used in. In this situation, I don't think it would be bad if a white person used that Sam Jackson gif.

I was really on the fence for a lot of that clip. Like, context is super important in gauging whether something is okay or not. And like, blackface is, in pretty much every circumstance, inappropriate and rude. It's just not necessary.

The biggest problem with that clip is the clickbaity 'black emojis and gifs are digital blackface' bit, but then at the end, she dials it waaaaay back and says, basically 'just think about why you're using this particular emoji or gif.'

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling people that they should at least just examine their reasons for doing something, or think about why they're doing it. And I think there would be a lot fewer crappy people around if people did just that.

I do. Not sure how I feel about that video though. I think it depends on the context that emojis are used in. In this situation, I don't think it would be bad if a white person used that Sam Jackson gif.

Eggie is being immaculately sarcastic.

"Immaculastic"