Comments | vanityfair00: I had an epiphany this week

vanityfair00

I had an epiphany this week

Jan 11, 2013 16:47

But first some background information. I'm on a 6 day schedule at school. I see my students every 6th day for 55 minutes. This is not enough time to learn much by the way but while it's great that they have foreign language at my elementary school it still isn't valued as highly as it ought to be. I'm working on that, but as the 3rd Spanish teacher ( Read more... )

teaching, spanish

Comments 9

deeble January 12 2013, 02:08:25 UTC

Clever! I hope it continues to work.

vanityfair00 January 12 2013, 13:21:39 UTC

I hope so too!

sophierom January 12 2013, 02:53:48 UTC

That's a rather brilliant insight, and I admire your flexibility. Out of curiosity, how many students do you have in your classes generally?

I saw an NPR blog post on Jared Diamond's new book about traditional societies (this is related to you, I promise), and the post was celebrating the way that people in many traditional societies often have to learn several languages before they are adults (usually, according to this article, because trade with neighboring groups requires it). Maybe you should purchase a copy for your superintendent. :-) (There have also been articles recently on how bilingualism may help ward off Alzheimer's and other forms of cognitive decline. This is a public health issue!)

Seriously, I wish you luck advocating for more time. Do you have an opportunity to go into other classrooms and work with teachers on joint lessons, or do you only have the time or opportunity to have the kids come to you?

Again, good luck!

vanityfair00 January 12 2013, 13:32:05 UTC

Most classes are 20 to 29 kids. But as I'm sure you know it only takes one child to ruin a lesson. Apparently the last Spanish teacher was not so good at management and would call the behavior specialist several times a week to come and remove kids. I was told from the beginning to not call him if I could help it all so twice this year so far ( ... )

arynwy January 12 2013, 04:33:40 UTC

Behavioral issues seems to be the standard roadblock to teaching, or at least that is the impression I'm getting from ALL of my teacher acquaintances. I do not envy you at all.

Your solution was rather clever and I'm glad it gave you noticeable results. I wish you success in 2013.

vanityfair00 January 12 2013, 13:34:51 UTC

Thanks! Yes the classroom management part is the hardest and is complicated by my weird schedule. I do have some success stories - one girl who at one point was rolling on the floor yelling "I hate Spanish class!" now gives me hugs in the hallway and is a perfect angel in class.

moldypotatochip January 13 2013, 15:35:38 UTC

Sorry to hear about the problem kids in your class. I have some classes that feel like that, too... One of them is the last class in the day after 3 classes of teaching the same lesson. I think it helps that I am teaching it the 4th time although to be honest that particular class never does as well as the first classes I teach. However, I'm thankful that I teach them last because I'm able to start the class knowing exactly what to do. If it was my first class I think it would be even worse. I know where you're coming from and maybe teaching them after the other classes will make a big difference.

vanityfair00 January 13 2013, 16:03:11 UTC

although to be honest that particular class never does as well as the first classes I teach.

There is a direct correlation to a class not performing well and a class that has behavior problems. If they're not on task and listening then of course they aren't going to do as well.

The main difference I am finding between the US and Japan is that special ed students aren't segregated here. A lot of my students that are on medication (or who aren't but probably should be) here would be in a separate class or separate school in Japan. The majority do just fine and some are even excelling in Spanish but I have a few who we are still trying to figure out what works best for them.

moldypotatochip January 14 2013, 03:36:15 UTC

The class I am talking about is a special case because their homeroom teacher left the school back around May or June on a leave of absence, eventually quitting. The school has tried to find a replacement but since Japanese teachers are not directly hired by the school the board of ed was finding a teacher and I guess the replacement they found also did not come to the school. So even now, this class does NOT have a homeroom teacher. They have different teachers for different subjects. It's a real discipline nightmare in all subjects but there are two or three kids who are always talking. They don't listen and they don't try to complete the activities at all. So they distract everyone else and there isn't a lot we've been able to do. We had an absolutely terrible class on Friday and I got permission to have the vice principal or other higher up teacher come to watch the class so that the kids will behave better ( ... )