Posts Tagged ‘Teaching’

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Teaching is Worth It!

October 5, 2011

People who don’t know me well assume that I fell into teaching because it pays my bills.  They look at a male primary teacher and think that I must have been low on choices to pick a profession that the average man wouldn’t opt for in a million years.

Their impressions are all wrong.  In fact, I did have choices, but all I wanted to do was to teach.  It’s hard to explain to those who associate teaching with low pay, long hours, high stress, immense pressure and classroom management headaches.

I read a brilliant piece by student teacher Stephanie Vincent, entitled ‘Why I Really Shouldn’t Be a Teacher‘. She lists 3 reasons why she shouldn’t go down the path she is going – the workload, lack of recognition and the challenges stemming from difficult parents.

Yet, with all those detracting factors, she is very happy with her choice:

By becoming a teacher I will be lucky enough to spend every day doing something that I’m passionate about. From the first day of my teaching practicum I felt as though I had entered a sacred world, and I can confidently say that I want to spend my future there. Quite simply, I love teaching and children.

Luckily, I don’t seek recognition or a prestigious job. I want a job that excites me. Every day students remind teachers why they teach. This was made clear to me throughout my practicum experience. When I was able to connect with students or when I saw students’ eyes light up when they finally understood a difficult concept, I felt deeply rewarded. Students are why teachers teach.

But what about those difficult parents I mentioned? Although I have not yet had to deal with upset parents, I did deal with an upsetting experience. I worked with one student in particular in a one-on-one setting, and we developed a close bond. During my practicum her entire life was essentially flipped upside down, and she reached out to me. It was devastating to know what she was going through. I was helpless and questioned my ability to deal with it. I discussed my fears with my teaching associate, and as always, she was amazing. She reminded me that, as a teacher, I could help this student. Teachers are in a unique position in that they can provide every child in their class with a positive environment, for at least part of their day, and show them that someone cares.

Suddenly those three reasons I talked about above for not becoming a teacher seem far away. I cannot think of anything that I would rather do. I want to learn how to teach so that I can spend every day with students and so that we can learn from each other. Each and every student brims with energy and unrealized possibility. I want to help them release that energy and realize their potential. In the end, teaching is the most rewarding and enjoyable job anyone can do.

This was just a pleasure to read.  There is so much negativity surrounding this great profession, it is a joy to read from a passionate and driven teacher.  I wish Stephanie all the best during her training and beyond.  She presents as the type of teacher you’d want looking after your child.  She reminds disillusioned teachers that if they don’t feel the same way as she does, they should perhaps consider a change of career.

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Posted in Inspirational Teachers, Teacher Training, Teacher Welfare, Teachers Salary, Teachers Stress | 2 Comments »

Truant Teachers

October 2, 2011

I remember getting very little in the way of useful advice during my teaching degree.  One of the worst and most irresponsible pieces of advice came from an English lecturer who said that we were going to get a generous amount of sick days per year and it is his recommendation that we use them all up whether we’re sick or not, because “we either use them or lose them.”

It says a lot about what our instructor thought of the profession.  Unfortunately, my instructors mirrored the disillusionment felt by many teachers all over the world.  Take the story of Kulvinder Billan for example:

A teacher of Indian-origin ‘played truant’ for two years by forging fake sick notes, but escaped being sent to prison.

Kulvinder Billan, 31, forged half a dozen sick notes and a letter from a leading doctor so he could get out of teaching at Weston Favell School, Northampton, Dail Mail reported today.

A court heard he was paid 33,000 pounds a year but could not face returning to teaching after being off work with stress and as a result his pupils were left with no consistent teaching and school had to shell out about 7,000 pounds to hire part time staff.

I personally hate taking days off.  I am not a control freak, but I must admit that I strongly prefer teaching lessons I have planned for.  The thought of others stepping in and taking my class makes me reluctant to take a day off.  I also find that the class often fails to adjust in the days after I’ve come back from sick leave.  They often take a few days to settle back into gear.

What is your view about sick days?  Do you subscribe to the “use them or lose them” policy?

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Posted in Truancy | 5 Comments »

Turning a Blind-Eye to Terrible Teachers

September 28, 2011

One seldom reads an article about an inspirational teacher, because such things are not considered newsworthy.  You do, however, read about the incompetent teachers who abuse the trust bestowed on them.  Today I read of one such teacher.  A teacher so destructive and irresponsible, one wonders why it took so long to get rid of her:

Roslyn Holloway, who taught at the Lord Silkin Trust Secondary School in Telford, Shrops, threatened to use the bizarre ritual to drown the unnamed student if he didn’t stop misbehaving in class.

In a series of other incidents, the special educational needs teacher tore the hair out of a pupil’s skull after he did not stop talking in class while she also engaged in sexual-based conversation with another.

A General Teaching Council panel was told that she struck another different boy on the forehead with the heel of her hand in the school corridor, referred to him as an “idiot” in front of his classmates and threatened to bang his head on the table.

She was formally cautioned by police for battery, for the hair pulling incident involving one of her students in November 2009, but failed to notify her employers, which breached her employment conditions, even though they were aware of caution.

The assult left the student with a red mark and a lump on his head.

Holloway, who taught students aged 13 at the school from September 2003 until her suspension in January last year, also racially abused other pupils by calling them “black boy”, “Pepsi Max” and “ginge” during class.

I am sympathetic to some of the teachers condemned by the media.  I understand that teaching can be very difficult and I am aware that it is hard to keep ones emotions in check when chaos in the classroom ensues.

But I have no sympathy for this woman if the allegations against her are indeed true.  What I do have, is a very important question:

Why did it take so long for a teacher who transgressed in so many blatant ways to be deregistered?

It is unbelievable how meek the initial response was:

After the parents of two children complained that they had been left “distressed”, she was counselled by her bosses to change her methods, which she failed to heed.

So when you get a spokesperson saying the officials place “the safety, health and welfare of its students first”, I don’t believe them for one second.

As far as I’m concerned, this story isn’t merely about a volatile and unprofessional teacher, it’s about a system that takes too long to respond to serious incidents.  The “blind eye” approach might work in the general workplace, but we are talking about young children here!

More needs to be done to detect such teachers before the damage is insurmountable.

 

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Posted in Child Welfare | 1 Comment »

Education vs Self-Expression

September 21, 2011

Last week, my colleague and I taught the most wonderful creative writing lesson.  My colleague wrote the beggining of a sentence on the board  – “As the ball bounced higher and higher …” and we told the students that they had 10 minutes to write a story of their choosing starting with the words on the board.  We told them that we weren’t going to correct spelling, grammar, paragraphing etc.  We just wanted them to have a go and let their imaginations steer them in the right direction.

Everly child bar none wrote frantically.  Those that lack certainty, didn’t.  Those that struggle with composing letters and information reports lapped up the lack of protocols and structure that this activity offered.  Why was this simple lesson such a success?  Because it allowed the students to express themselves.

Curriculums and educational trends have made it harder for teachers to help students find themselves.  It has continued to downplay the importance of The Arts in favour of skills and concepts that many of our children will never use.  The Fibonacci Sequence might be fascinating, but who decides that this is more important than a clay modelling session?  Since when did single-celled organisms have a greater importance in a child’s life than the chance to perform to an audience?

Nowadays the emphasis is on memorising facts, studying for standardised tests and rote learning.  Even when the system purports to be encouraging self-expression it’s often a sham.  The system dictates what literature the students study, how they should think and what they should be feeling.

I remember telling my teacher when I was a student that I was bored by Robinson Crusoe.  You should have seen the look on his face!  He asked me how I could be bored with such a classic.  I told him that I wasn’t interested in reading page after page about details.  I wanted tangible feelings I could connect with.  My teacher was astounded.  He reminded me that Robinson Crusoe was one of the most popular books of all time.  I wanted to reply that Jurassic Park was one of the most popular films of all time, but thought better of it.

There are a multitude of kids who are simply not adjusting to the style of education offered.  So what do we do?  We tell them to smarten up and pull their finger out.  We remind them that if they don’t adjust their potential will be wasted and their career prospects will be hampered.  What if it isn’t the “spoilt” children’s fault they are not thriving at school?  What if it’s actually the narrow-mindedness of the system?

The fact that the writing session was 10 minutes and no longer was key to the success of the lesson.  According to my colleague when they are given more time their work suffers.  It reminded me of a great scene from the film Six Degrees of Separation.  Donald Sutherland recounts how whilst the Grade 1 and Grade 3 teachers at his childs’ school weren’t able to extract great artwork from the students, the Grade 2 teacher was responsible for a classroom of art geniuses.  He confronted the teacher to ask her what her secret is, and she replied that she knows when to take the brushes out of their hands.

The reason why we need to take the pencils out of their hands after only 10 minutes, is that up until that point they haven’t had the time to think beyond their natural instincts.  If we let them continue they would slowly stop writing out of instinct and start writing to please their teacher.  They would consider the structure that teachers have been duty bound to impart to their students (such as containing a problem, resolution and foci).  This very structure leads to boring, formulaic writing.

Our students are crying out for some structure and routine in their lives, but by the same token, they are also crying out for an opportunity to express themselves.  We are all different and sometimes society doesn’t give us the freedom to express it.

It’s time to take the brushes out of our students’ hands and let them show us what they’re really about!

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Posted in Teaching Methods | 3 Comments »

One-in-Five High School Students ‘Learn Nothing’

September 20, 2011

There is a 1983 film entitled Teachers, which while universally panned by critics and eventually bombed at the box office, stands as one of the most accurate portrayals of schools caught on celluloid.  Starring Nick Nolte, the film is a satire of American Government High Schools.  Those not familiar with the way a school runs found it over-the-top, unfunny and irritating.  Whilst the film is badly made, it contains some insights and observations that are perceptive, extremely funny and just as relevant today.

There is no better example of this than the fact that the school in the film is being sued by a former student that was allowed to graduate without being able to read or write.


Now contrast that scene with these findings:

The UK is falling behind international rivals because one-in-five children “learn nothing” throughout their secondary education, according to the head of Britain’s top private schools’ group.

Figures show that almost one-in-five pupils left primary school this summer without reaching the standard expected of the average 11-year-old in reading. Some one-in-10 boys had the reading skills of a seven-year-old or worse.

Perhaps what worked most against the success of the movie Teachers was that it was too clever and too accurate for its own good.

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Posted in Education Matters | Leave a Comment »

Making a Difference

September 6, 2011

I just read a brilliant piece by Charles M. Blow from the New York Times.  Blow was driven to write the article because “he wanted to celebrate a group that is often maligned: teachers.”

What touched me so much about his piece was his account of Mrs. Thomas, a teacher who he described as changing the direction of his life.

The first teacher to clear those hurdles in my life was Mrs. Thomas.

From the first through third grades, I went to school in a neighboring town because it was the school where my mother got her first teaching job. I was not a great student. I was slipping in and out of depression from a tumultuous family life that included the recent divorce of my parents. I began to grow invisible. My teachers didn’t seem to see me nor I them. (To this day, I can’t remember any of their names.)

My work began to suffer so much that I was temporarily placed in the “slow” class. No one even talked to me about it. They just sent a note. I didn’t believe that I was slow, but I began to live down to their expectations.

When I entered the fourth grade, my mother got a teaching job in our hometown and I came back to my hometown school. I was placed in Mrs. Thomas’s class.

There I was, a little nothing of a boy, lost and slumped, flickering in and out of being.

She was a pint-sized firecracker of a woman, with short curly hair, big round glasses set wider than her face, and a thin slit of a mouth that she kept well-lined with red lipstick.

On the first day of class, she gave us a math quiz. Maybe it was the nervousness of being the “new kid,” but I quickly jotted down the answers and turned in the test — first.

“Whoa! That was quick. Blow, we’re going to call you Speedy Gonzales.” She said it with a broad approving smile, and the kind of eyes that warmed you on the inside.

She put her arm around me and pulled me close while she graded my paper with the other hand. I got a couple wrong, but most of them right.

I couldn’t remember a teacher ever smiling with approval, or putting their hand around me, or praising my performance in any way.

It was the first time that I felt a teacher cared about me, saw me or believed in me. It lit a fire in me. I never got a bad grade again. I figured that Mrs. Thomas would always be able to see me if I always shined. I always wanted to make her as proud of me as she seemed to be that day. And, she always was.

In high school, the district sent a man to test our I.Q.’s. Turns out that not only was I not slow, but mine and another boy’s I.Q. were high enough that they created a gifted-and-talented class just for the two of us with our own teacher who came to our school once a week. I went on to graduate as the valedictorian of my class.

And all of that was because of Mrs. Thomas, the firecracker of a teacher who first saw me and smiled with the smile that warmed me on the inside.

So to all of the Mrs. Thomases out there, all the teachers struggling to reach lost children like I was once, I just want to say thank you. You deserve our admiration, not our contempt.

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Posted in Inspirational Teachers | Leave a Comment »

Dealing With the Abusive Child

September 6, 2011

A number years ago I had a very difficult student who possessed a huge temper.  His volcanic-type eruptions usually came with a tirade of expletives, threats and thrown classroom items.  In short, the class and even some teachers were intimidated of him.

One day, in my first year of Primary teaching, I made him upset.  I can not recollect what I did, but you can be rest assured that it was very minor.  He was extremely livid with me and let me know all about it in a letter in which he threatened to beat me up.  In this letter he also cursed repeatedly, claimed that I treated him worse than the other students and it also contained other threats.

He left the note on my desk to read, which I did soon after he placed it on my table.  Although a bit shaken by the emotive language and violent imagery, I maintained my calm and instantly decided that he was looking for a reaction from me.  I figured that he wanted me to be angry or emotional in some way, and if I was, he would get some satisfaction from that response.

Instead, I pinned his letter on a noticeboard behind my desk in the company of thoughtful cards and messages I’d received from students.  There, front and center, amongst all these colourful “Thank You” cards, was his malicious letter.

I’m not certain how long it took him to notice the letter up there, but what I do know is that the next time I looked up at my noticeboard the letter had disappeared.  In its place was a new card, written by the same kid, thanking me for teaching him and helping him with his work.

Clearly this method wont work every time.  But I still think there is great value in keeping calm, avoiding the emotional payoff of getting angry or making threats of your own.

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Posted in Child Development, Classroom Management | Leave a Comment »

Bullying Parents Should be Severely Punished

August 16, 2011

I don’t understand why parents can’t be subject to the kinds of consequences their children are for bullying and harassment.  Parents who set up internet groups and Facebook pages to spread untruths about their childs’ teacher should be punished for their actions.  Anything from a warning to in the most serious offences expulsion of their child from school is appropriate.

Some may think this is a bit harsh and that children should not be penalised for the deeds of their parents, but bullying is a very serious offence and schools that take it seriously reap the rewards by maintaining a safe environment.  Schools are too dismissive of parents who bully teachers.  Teachers often feel marginalised and lacking of support.  The statement that bullying of any kind will result in strong penalties is essential to delivering the best outcomes from an academic and social standpoint.

Bullying like this should not be tolerated:

Teachers are the latest group found to be at risk of cyber-bullying, according to a recent report.

The study by Professor Andy Phippen found several instances where teachers had been targeted for abuse by social media users on websites such as Facebook and Twitter.

One head teacher interviewed for the study said she had a breakdown and was left feeling suicidal.

The headteacher suffered a year of abuse by a parent at her school who used a Google group to post libellous untruths about her and her school. “I eventually had a mini breakdown in the summer holiday, needing an emergency doctor to be called out as I had become suicidal,” she told researchers.

The message should ring loud and clear – Either play by our rules or find somewhere else to send your kids!

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Teacher Welfare | 1 Comment »

Meet the Classroom Management Guru

August 11, 2011

Below are two clips from a film made by Australia’s behaviour management guru, Bill Rogers.  I think all teacher’s will find this useful regardless of experience.

Clip 1

Clip 2

Please share these clips with your colleagues.  I’ve attended a Bill Rogers seminar and found it very useful.

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Posted in Classroom Management | 2 Comments »

Teaching Perfectionists

August 5, 2011

I recall a lesson when I was fresh out of University, when I was  substitute teaching in school in Newcastle.  I was to give out colouring-in sheets to a Grade 1 class.  The teacher had supplied me with only 2 or 3 spare sheets for those that made an error.  Colouring-in sheets, whilst not of any obvious educational value, is a great babysitting device.  Most kids love them because they do not involve any thinking or grading and most teachers appreciate the fact that students can do them both quietly and independently.

On this occasion one of the girls came up to me and asked me for a replacement sheet.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Can I have another sheet?  I messed up this one.”

She presented the sheet to me and I was immediately struck by how beautiful it looked.  Her worked showed striking attention to detail and great care for staying within the lines.

“But what’s wrong with this picture? It looks fabulous to me.”

“It’s terrible.  I made a big mistake.  Look, I went out on the lines.”

Even with her pointing to the spot where she trespassed the line I had to squint to see the infringement.

“You don’t need another sheet.  This is fine.  I wouldn’t even call that a mistake.”

“But I never go out of the lines.  Mum told me never to colour out of the lines.”

I don’t know what got into me, but I instinctively gave her a new sheet and asked her to go out of the lines multiple times – this time on purpose.

You should have seen the horror in her eyes.

Then I turned to the class and announced that the class do the same thing.  I said I was looking for work that featured colouring out of the lines. The class just stared out in confusion.

“C’mon it’ll be fun.  Let’s colour out of the lines!

And all of a sudden they started doing as I suggested.  And they loved it!  They laughed, coloured with energy and abandon and enjoyed comparing their imperfect work with others.

The girl in question saw her classmates having so much fun making mistakes, she too went back to her desk and revelled in this weird but cathartic exercise.  We even sang a colouring out of the lines song.

I don’t know whether I did something constructive or destructive, but I can report that the class looked so much more relaxed and happier when mistakes were acceptable and perfection was bypassed.

Teachers tend to allow the perfectionist to continue their habits.  This is because perfectionists are a pleasure to have in the classroom.  They take their studies seriously, try their best at all times and listen attentively to instructions.

But the problem is perfectionism is extremely unhealthy.  Parents often laugh it off and say, “She get’s that from me.  I’m a bit like that too.”  But is it really a joke?  Perfectionists are on a hiding to nothing because the goal they aim for is impossible to reach.  The inevitable consequences of perfectionism is that they never get the satisfaction of their efforts or accept people’s praise because all they can see is what they didn’t get right.

I am all for studious, hardworking students, but not at the expense of their right to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and the joy of basking in their achievements.

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Posted in Child Development | 2 Comments »

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