Thursday, September 15, 2011

I don't get it

You know what, today was actually a good day overall. I was told first thing (though it would have been nice to know yesterday, but this is Hungary) that 9d is away for the day on a class trip. Well ok. I enjoy that class, but I'm not complaining about getting an unexpected 45-minute break in my day! And I see them four times a week as it is, so they're not starving for my attention, I promise. 9a was great; we did a few different reinforcement activities for what they've been learning in their grammar classes. 12d part one was also great. Actually I think I won several of them over today, yay for building rapport! And actually had one student stop to talk to me after class was over. So going into my unexpected 45-minute break 4th period, I was feeling quite confident. Well, 5th period certainly helped to get my ego back where it belongs. This was 12d part two. There are just no words to describe how annoyed and frustrated I was with about five boys in that class today. It's like they entered the class having decided not the listen to me for whatever reason. I mean these classes are 45 minutes, really 40 minutes of actual instruction after all of the housekeeping at the beginning and end of class. You can't make me believe that 18 year olds are incapable of focusing for 40 minutes. I might cut some slack for the 9th graders. Boys that age, in particular, can be squirrely, but I don't mind it. They are generally very easy to refocus and not at all malicious. These older kids today almost seemed to have an agenda with me, and I don't like it. It will end now. I am pretty chummy with their homeroom teacher, and he will certainly be notified of their behavior. I am looking for all of the help I can get with this part of 12d and one part of 10d, but it almost seems like I am powerless in some of these situations. I am a teacher, but I'm not. I'm not sure what my recourse is when students are misbehaving in the moment. I know to tell their homeroom teacher and/or English teacher, but this cannot happen until after class is over. Well I will talk to some people tomorrow and see what can change for the future.

That class was a bad note to end on, and has left me with a bad taste in my mouth heading into tomorrow's lessons. I think I have decent plans in place, and these classes are generally fine with me. I have my first trip outside of Koszeg planned! I leave tomorrow afternoon for Budapest, and God willing, I should arrive there around 8pm. I am really looking forward to some good company, good food, and good times!

No comments:

Post a Comment