teacher’s learners

let them take responsibility

November 24, 2009 5 Comments

When I was younger, I often hear older people say “kids are different these days” and that always connotes something negative. Now that I am an adult, I also have the same opinion on children of today– they are quite different from how we were. And yes, I also mean that in a negative way.

Back then, when a child did something bad and teacher says “I want to talk to your parents,” it is enough to make that particular child feel guilty or make him/her think about all the punishments the parents/teachers could do to him/her. Then the child will try to behave better to sort of even out what he’s done.

So if my generation is worse than my mother’s generation and the generation after my generation is worse than mine, then that could only mean that the behavior of children humankind (because they will be adults later) is deteriorating. Why is this so? It is because the times change. Many would blame it to popular culture and media but I don’t like to go into that now.

I have a class in a private Volkschule (primary school) here in Austria. I go there once a week to give them extra English lessons. In one of our lessons, two of the six boys started fighting out of the blue. It turned out that these two kids have a long history of previous fights and of not liking each other in general. It wasn’t easy but I manage to break up the fight and then I told them, with all the calmness that I could muster, that what they did is wrong. I also told them that I would like to speak to their parents. To my surprise, none of them seemed to care. One of them even suggested that he’ll call his mother immediately.

After the class, I managed to have a word with their mothers. I talked to them separately and I am really disappointed on how these mothers see their kids’ behavior. Both mothers claimed that it could not have been the fault of their kid. They told me a lot of things that made me further conclude that they (the mothers) also don’t like each other.

I honestly don’t give importance on who started the fight or whose fault it is because it was obviously both of them. It is bad enough that these kids don’t care what they do in front of a teacher but parents who don’t let their kids take responsibilities for their (kids’) actions could only mean worse. Parents like these are not helping in the positive development of their childrens’ personality.

I am not saying that they should beat their kids until they’re blue or that they make use of grounding or any other form of punishments. I just wanted them to talk to their kids and explain that they did something wrong and that they shouldn’t do it again.

The role of teachers in children’s development is great and some would even claim that the teachers have more influence on children than parents actually have. Still, we could all agree that parents have influence on their children and no matter how big or small that is, it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Parents letting their children take responsibility for their actions is directly teaching them discipline, respect and responsibility.

Based on this experience, I hope that these two particular mothers and other parents like them could learn some sense on how to use their influence on their kids.

Filed Under: teacher's learners, teacher's thoughts Tagged With: discipline, parents, personality development, resposibility

waterloo: names

October 8, 2009 10 Comments

I admit I am not good with names.

During my practicum in the Philippines and during my one year teaching stint in China, I didn’t bother remembering the names of all my pupils. Having 50 children in a class and having at least four classes a day made it almost impossible to remember everybody. I believe it is but normal for a teacher who is in similar situation not to remember each pupil in her/his class.

Back in the Philippines, I was able to remember some names and usually they belong to the best and the worst pupils. I don’t play favorites or undesirables but those who stand out in the class i.e.; those who are probably too weird, too smart, too slow, etc. for my taste, usually find a way to my long term memory.

In China, it was simply IMPOSSIBLE. First and foremost, they have Chinese names that are too difficult to pronounce and remember. And if they decided to adopt English names (solely for the English teacher’s benefit or it could also be because they can’t have their Chinese names mispronounced over and over again), be prepared to have five Marys, about seven Johns, nine Adams, and 15 Lucys in the class. Also, I don’t know it if just me or it’s a common phenomena to all foreign teachers in China, but it’s like all Chinese children look alike. Imagine going in a classroom and doubting whether you already had this class or not because you look at their faces and they just look like those who were in your previous class but you are definitely in a different classroom. Get it? This happened to me a lot of times in China.

breaktime Here in Austria, not remembering ALL of your pupils’ names is a CRIME. Having a minimal number of pupils in a class, teachers here are sort of expected to remember each pupil—not for life but at least for the whole school year.

The biggest class I have is the one with nine pupils and although I know based from experience—not just with pupils but also with acquaintances— that I am bad with names, I haven’t yet failed to remember my pupils’ names. This could be because of their minimal number but I think the biggest factor there is the fact that kids here look so different from each other. Some have blond hair, some have green eyes, etc. The diversity is just so wide. And also, some names are quite striking for me—Birgit, Chonger, Hani, Karin, Jens (Yens), Walter (Val-ter), Georg (Gay-org). Names like those are not too easy to forget.

Filed Under: teacher's learners, teacher's life Tagged With: names, pupils

when pupils behave badly

August 28, 2009 4 Comments

I’ve just read the book “A Child Called It” by Dave Pelzer and although I find most of the things in it unbelievable, I was not able to stop myself from being so moved by the story. I’ve read the book in one sitting and in that one sitting; I felt pity, anger, deep sadness and then relief. I am not sure why I am so affected but it could be because I’ve got my small share of physical abuse in my childhood too. Not from my parents, mind you, but from my grandmother whose obsolete principles on disciplining a child lay on corporal punishment.

Dave Pelzer was physically abused by his own mother in ways unimaginable to me. I didn’t know that a human being—a mother at that, is capable of doing such things to her child. How could she? The story implied that Dave’s mother has some alcohol problems and that she was also physically abused as a child. But still. How could she?

theboycalledit So anyway, Dave’s teachers came in and saved him from his abusive mother. This is where I realized once again how important for us, teachers, to understand our pupils. Dave Pelzer was the school enemy number one. He was not only delinquent but he was also unkempt and stinky so nobody likes him. If it’s not because of that one substitute teacher who cared, he would have died in the hands of his mother or he would have end up being a criminal.

When pupils begin to behave badly at school, let’s not judge them immediately. We, as teachers, should try to understand why they are behaving like that. Dave was stealing food from his classmates. He didn’t do it for fun. He did it because he needed to survive. He was not fed enough at home so he thought of ways to feed himself. Who would’ve thought of that?

When our pupils behave in a disturbing way, let’s try to reach out to them. Let’s be mindful of their school marks but let’s not forget about their individual personalities because it is only when we understand our pupils that we are able to help them with problems they might have beyond our classroom walls.

Filed Under: teacher's learners, teacher's thoughts Tagged With: books, child abuse, learners, physical abuse, pupils, teacher