They're back

Yup. Had that class again today. Same story over again. Well...there were a few students trying to work but the usual suspects were out of control. I dread this class. There's no way to get them back. All I can do is put up with there crap for the rest of the year.

The tired update.

Hmmm... coming up on 2 months since my last entry. Aw well.

Well things have been interesting since my last entry. I've managed to get to the gym about twice a week on average which is 2 days less than I want. I always feel good when I do but it's tough to get in there.

I actually slept until 1:20 today. I was completely exhausted all week. I had one of the toughest days of my life on Tuesday. I don't know if it's because I was so tired what but every student I ran into seemed to be mocking me or giving me trouble. The day just seemed to be spiralling out of control culminating in a really bad class at the end. I actually had a chat with that class the next day and was honest with them. I told them I felt the were being disrespectful and that I, as a human being, felt I deserved better than that. I told them I had lots of respect for them and outlined all the things I'd done to try and make the class interesting for them which they had quite often tried to undermine. It was amusing to see them actually feel really bad. Then I had a Drama class with them on Friday and they were great! Maybe I finally broke through with this class! Hopefully. It' only took 9 months but hopefully they'll be better.

Exams are coming up. I never realized this puts teachers under immense pressure as well. You've got to make sure you're covering everything that's going to be on the exam, get them revision guides (revision = review in Canada). You've got to make sure you've covered all the bases in English to make sure they know how to write essays, stories, do comprehension exercises in poetry, prose....know their grammar and punctuation....and half of them won't. I have the bottom set for English and they're going to bomb these exams even if they do well at what I get them to do in class because I'm working on far more basic skills. The exams are set up to test all levels so these guys'll probably mostly get in the 50's for marks. Maybe some'll do well, hopefully.

Got in touch with my Grade 8 teacher on facebook! That was really cool. He's 24 years into teaching now - amazing. He was really great but he would LOSE it in class with frustration sometimes. I remember thinking "Why's he taking this so personally? We just don't want to do our homework." Now I get it. He was a pretty new teacher then so I assume he doesn't take it so personally now lol. Really great to talk to him though. He says he didn't think he could do it when he first started either. Sigh...ah well. Actually the incident this week reminds me of part of a book called "Teacher Man" by Fank McCourt (of Angela's Ashes fame). He was a teacher for 30 years in New York and he's asked for some advice from a New Teacher and he says "It's just you and the kids. Find what you like to do and do it. I didn't always like teaching but at the end of the day it's just you in a classroom with the kids." Or something along that line. It's true isn't it? Just me and them. Seems simple but it's not.


Looking forward to Babagenouche coming home! 13 days! Yay! It'll be so good to have her back here! Think of the savings on phone bills alone! I'll be picking her up at the airport and locking her in a closet or something so she can't run away again damn her! :)