Teenagers....

Yesterday's last class was horrible. The kids ignored me when I came into the room, wouldn't sit down, kept talking and then started asking if they could leave. Didn't want to be there..."can I go have a cigarette?" I had worked very hard on the lesson, and Istvan Suba had reviewed it and and made suggestions for alterations it to make sure it was at their level. I stumbled through constantly telling them to be quiet, asking for input, etc. So after class when we went to lunch, Istvan asked me how it went and I told him -- well, these are his homeroom kids. So he was angry and when he saw them today, he was going to kick some @ss. He said a lot of this was not my fault, rather the fault of the prior Angolul Lektor, as he did not even try to teach the kids, but just let them sit and visit or let them out early!!! What a situation to follow!



So, I was determined that I would be in control today, as I know how it is with teenagers....if they see a weak spot, they go in for the kill! I had six classes today, and they all went great! I started each one by letting the students know that I am required to give them marks (grades) and that I would be doing that. I think they just thought today, but boy, did it work! They dug right into the lessons and participated and presented very well! Don't know if word had already gotten out about the other class, or if my telling them they would be graded was enough, but whatever it was - success!



Last night, the dorm teacher informed me through David that since I am a full-time teacher, I must teach two classes at the dorm during the week! Well, I was already thinking this would be fun, but I was a bit put-out by being informed this way. A full-time teacher is assigned to 22 classes and I have only 19 right now. Don't know if they will come up with something else or not for the last class! So, I will now do small classes on Monday and Wednesday nights at 6:30 for the kids in the dorms. Think I will just keep it as a very informal opportunity to chat, as the kids really need to learn to say things that they aren't spoonfed from the books.

This seems to be typical communication. On Monday there was a concert - opera - performed for the school during one of the class periods. The whole school attended. I did not know until the students were lining up to go! (I didn't have a class that period, so it didn't really effect me.) On Wednesday, I didn't have a first period class, but didn't know this until I went into the teacher's room and when I said I was heading to my class, one of the other teachers said, "Oh, there is no 9th grade class first period today." Don't know if the communication is poor because I can't understand the chatter in the teacher's room, or if only a few people know things anyway! Actually, this was something I read about in another teacher's blog -- so it isn't just this school.

I must now search the internet for Rihanna and My Chemical Romance so I know what the music is that the kids are listening to and I can chat them up!