Friday, March 03, 2006

For those down days.....there is always an up!!!!

Tuesday...I had two awful lessons. As a teacher I sucked BIG time ...and the kids were running rings around me. My classroom management and assertiveness was rubbish. That got me really depressed and thinking...will it be like this always??? BUT.....

the next day...I went in to the classes KNOWING that I needed to work on these things...which I did....and the lesson went really well. I have now come to realise that second year pupils DO not follow instructions very well, nor can they work through a work booklet very well either. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that you need to demonstrate what you want the kids to do...and have work booklets to reinforce it. I felt much more in control of the class...and as a result the kiddywinkles got much more work done and the lesson was more of a success.

After today....only 5 more days of my second placement...I can hardly believe it. It is a pity...because I have just began to feel comfortable in the school and I am building up a rapport with my classes. It is a real shame...I won't be at this school for my probation year, because it is a fantastic department..

Red wine night tonight with my friends!!! Can't wait

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lesley I think that you would totally rock as a teacher! Just remember the golden rules - watch your wardrobe and drink plenty!!!!!

Anonymous said...

As a 15 yr old boy, I want you as my teacher,coz mine are all really old and hackit

Bob Hill said...

All your teaching career you will have bad days and good days. It's called life.

You have learnt a valuable lesson early on. Pupils often misbehave because they really do not know what it is they have to do with the material, be it a worksheet or whatever. However make it too simple and they will get bored.

Duncan__ said...

I've found that S2 are the most difficult year group. So don't take it personally. (And remember ... red wine will always make it better :-) )

Anonymous said...

Some of your pupils commenting on the blog now ;)?

LesleyJ said...

Pupils commenting on my blog....I hope not.

Christine McIntosh said...

The very words "work booklet" make *me* want to misbehave! Remember - they can do them when there's no-one to interact with. I'd always go for the interaction unless I absolutely had to do something boring myself - like filling in reports or profiles or whatever. Otherwise I'd be in there mixing it with the kids - keeping them off their dreary old workbooks ..... ;-o

The Music-Maker said...

I find that 2nd year are rather awful too. They are comfortable with their surroundings and some of them feel they can misbehave because they know they are not taking the subject a Standard Grade Level. Wee buggers eh?

On my last placement, I had two second year boys get into trouble with knives... quite an eye-opener, coming from a small town!