Secondary Thinking about becoming a teacher

[azreal]

The primary educator of students in their parents, the role of educators is secondary. Therefore, we could do the best job at educating in schools but it could be futile if what is being taught at home is counterproductive to what is being taught in school.

I moved up north to start my teaching career and just before school started I was doing my shopping at Woolies. I noticed a young child chucking a tantrum and his mother seemed to lack the skills to control him in any way. She said "Just wait till you start school, they're gonna teach you some respect."
Unfortunately this attitude that the school will fix everything is becoming more and more common.

 

[Gibbke]

Teachers should never be afraid to get on the phone and talk to the parents. Great parenting skills or not, the vast majority of parents do want what's best for their kids. Some can get a bit narky, but that's a small risk, and they probably do that with everyone they talk to anyway, so whatever...I've been lucky, because the only negativity I've ever experienced in two decades has been one family I was calling from the withdrawal room, telling them their kid needed to be picked up as he started suspension!

 

[El Dubya]

As a teacher, I so far have found the most respectful and hard working students to be asian.

What do you teach? I think that's a huge generalisation, some of my Asian students are total ratbags (in a fun way, not an actually bad way).

Teachers should never be afraid to get on the phone and talk to the parents. Great parenting skills or not, the vast majority of parents do want what's best for their kids. Some can get a bit narky, but that's a small risk, and they probably do that with everyone they talk to anyway, so whatever...I've been lucky, because the only negativity I've ever experienced in two decades has been one family I was calling from the withdrawal room, telling them their kid needed to be picked up as he started suspension!

I hate calling parents, at my previous low socio economic school a lot of parents took any contact from school as an attack or as a precursor to DHS intervention, which was occasionally the case. You can imagine how much fun they were to talk to.

 

[CrazyDon]

I've taught all levels of Primary and I have never had to talk to their parents about lack of completed homework or effort in the classroom. You get your jokers, but I found that my Asian students are very respectful to their teachers (not to say that others aren't).

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

How has everyone first 3 weeks gone?

I hate the beginning of each year with a brand new cohort of students. Trying to establish an effective classroom routine, implementing rules and behaviours. Once you have gotten through the first 6 weeks, it becomes much easier but I'm ready to strangle some of them.

Starting at a new school is the pits.

 

[Gibbke]

Started this school last year. A cyclone destroyed the music dept and some other buildings a few years back, believe it or not, and the previous teacher pissed off, so 2014 was a rebuild after a few years without the subject at all. I didn't have a full load, so I was given English and a couple of pastoral subjects...like the last two schools, the first year was a bit harder with the kids wanting to test me out all the time, but it's been smooth sailing this year...they've got new targets, I guess...!

This year, all music, except a single English lesson on Monday and Pos Ed on Wednesday with an easily intimidated Y7 class...own my boat and an arsenal of rods, got our house build approved...looks like we're staying for good dodging the crocs here in barra country...!

 

[RUNVS]

How has everyone first 3 weeks gone?

I hate the beginning of each year with a brand new cohort of students. Trying to establish an effective classroom routine, implementing rules and behaviours. Once you have gotten through the first 6 weeks, it becomes much easier but I'm ready to strangle some of them.

Starting at a new school is the pits.

Admittedly I am only in university but I have been told that it is best not to strangle the students. Of course in saying that one of my lecturers said to us that we will "literally" touch our students hearts so I guess I am not going to a great university so the advice not to strangle the students might not be accurate either

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

Admittedly I am only in university but I have been told that it is best not to strangle the students. Of course in saying that one of my lecturers said to us that we will "literally" touch our students hearts so I guess I am not going to a great university so the advice not to strangle the students might not be accurate either

Yeah strangling them and by them, i really mean 2 or 3 boys isn't a good idea.

 

[RUNVS]

Yeah strangling them and by them, i really mean 2 or 3 boys isn't a good idea.

I have heard from a high school teacher that years 8 and 9 are the worst to teach as it is a combination of the teenagers hormones kicking in and also them realising that years 8 and 9 don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For me at least when I was at high school by year 10, and definitely by year 11 most of the students were a lot more mature.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

I have heard from a high school teacher that years 8 and 9 are the worst to teach as it is a combination of the teenagers hormones kicking in and also them realising that years 8 and 9 don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. For me at least when I was at high school by year 10, and definitely by year 11 most of the students were a lot more mature.

Generally speaking of course; 11 year olds to 15 year olds boys are royal pains in the backside. Then they start to mature. 90% of girls are really good as they mature younger.

And work doesn't stop on Sunday. I was just on the phone to my principal and 7 am tomorrow morning, we have to appoint a deputy replacement for 4 weeks. It never ends and i missed the first round of the dunk comp.

 

[Gibbke]

10's by a street...!

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

10's by a street...!

Worst or best?

 

[RUNVS]

10's by a street...!

Year 10 or aged 10?

 

[Gibbke]

Grade 10. Bigger, boisterous, but not quite realising that they're in the big half of school yet...if you ever have to take them through a SET plan, the cluelessness is breathtaking (but I won't be too harsh - I know I wasn't any different at 15...!). You tend to get sucked in a bit...voices broken, bigger kids who've just about reached full size, and you think you're in a room of young adults, especially if they've started off quiet...and then it all can disintegrate in seconds in a mushroom cloud of immaturity and arrogance...! You just have to have your teacher face on at all times...they're still kids under all that...

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

Do parents teach manners and respect anymore?

Some days, I don't think so.

I don't how but I have this twelve year old kid who finds everyway to get under my skin. He makes my skin crawl and just gives me the shits. Everyday he will answer back, he will make smart arse comments and just annoy the living s**t out of me.

I'm sure the other kids hate it as well but hes the alpha male and can control many of them.

 

[Gibbke]

If you're a male teacher in a HS, no boy should ever enjoy a stay in the alpha position when you're in the room...!

Quiet authority, and setting an example the kids find cool while still getting the job done properly (and not at the expense of the girls and those boys not even close to being an alpha) is always the most desirable option. This can take more than one lesson, so sometimes winning the war means taking a few hits in battle...

In a fix, though, boys need to be put in their place. We need it, because that's how we function. We're a bit like dogs - give the dog his place in the chain, and everything makes sense...leave him to sort through it with no help, and he becomes a dick. Bringing a boy down can be good, because he learns how to function with other boys, learns a bit about saving face in the pecking order, all the s**t we put up with and inflict on ourselves as adults.

So a couple that have worked for me with typical white Aussie boys:
"Are you trying to make yourself look cool in front of your mates at my expense?"
"Are you showing off?"

For Pacific Islanders, who usually come from a different, much more regimented family dynamic than Aussies:
"Are you disrespecting me?"
"What would your elders/parents say about the way you're acting towards me/in class today?"

Frame it as a question, make sure you've specifically stated the rule they're breaking in there somewhere, bring it out of them and make them stumble (because any adult should be able to outwit a kid), and let them bow out gracefully under ther own steam - it's a battle of egos, and theirs' are a little more fragile, so severe embarrassment can be counter productive. Just enough to let the kid know he's got no hope of beating you without looking like an idiot, and even if he's getting a cheap laugh, the fact you haven't lost it and/or have given him a clear statement that if it keeps going there will be inconvenient sanctions, will help greatly. Chest thumping at the kids, teachers losing it, anything that isn't typical teacher behaviour, and you've just given the little hyenas a lame antelope...if all this fails, then if you've remained calm, you can then use schoolwide disciplinary procedures...

Ok, that's boys...haven't got a f###ing clue about girls...!

 

[AFDogs]

About a month in and gotta say I'm enjoying it and have handled it better than I expected. I treat everyday as it comes, with fresh challenges and new experiences.

My kids are great (Grade 6's) although they have started to test me as of late, for the most part they are a good bunch that don't have attitude (the number one thing a teacher HATES). So when you tell them off, they listen. I didn't have that last year, when I had my Uni placement at a low-socio economic school and a mentor teacher who had no control over the room.

I find myself forgetting A LOT. Small things like the roll, cash books, sending notes home. It's easy to lose track of these things when you are so focused on the teaching. Mathematics has me a little worried, some students work at an extremely low level while others are working at a Year 9 level. I am having slight difficulties in this regard, and it has been something I have been working on as much as possible. Have a great Leading Teacher in the room across from me who is extremely supportive. He runs his class like an asylum and his kids are extremely well behaved which does frustrate me a little because I make comparisons to my own.

Any suggestions for Maths teaching would be extremely welcome - it is kind of the major thing that is bugging me lately.

 

[hufus]

I have just found out in the last three-four days that the course I applied for (a fancy-pants dip ed) was full and so they've shoved me into the B.Ed programme instead, doing combined first and second-year courses. Which would be a challenge but one I'd be OK with, except... In three weeks I'll have my first placement, teaching maths (which I haven't taken for more than a decade) to primary school students (who I was intending to have zeeeerrrooo contact with) once a week. I know the maths won't be too much of the difficulty, but basically the course I was doing had no placements until two weeks in November or something, and that was in a secondary setting, and I'm kind of shitting myself.

There's a lot about it all that's a bit messy, given that I'm doing it through the BEd, like having overlapping placement windows etc., but I'm more or less excited about it, and it does allow me to teach prep to 12, even if I was only really interested in Secondary. It's just... placement, three weeks into my studies, seems like it might be a bit terrifying.

Am I worrying too much, or not enough?

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Do parents teach manners and respect anymore?

Some days, I don't think so.

I don't how but I have this twelve year old kid who finds everyway to get under my skin. He makes my skin crawl and just gives me the shits. Everyday he will answer back, he will make smart arse comments and just annoy the living s**t out of me.

I'm sure the other kids hate it as well but hes the alpha male and can control many of them.

This is where the strangling comes in.

Simple fact is, teenagers are s**t to deal with (no different to how we were, only they have different tools to be tools with). Anyone who decides to teach in a high school is taking a huge risk with their mental health.

 

[AFDogs]

I have just found out in the last three-four days that the course I applied for (a fancy-pants dip ed) was full and so they've shoved me into the B.Ed programme instead, doing combined first and second-year courses. Which would be a challenge but one I'd be OK with, except... In three weeks I'll have my first placement, teaching maths (which I haven't taken for more than a decade) to primary school students (who I was intending to have zeeeerrrooo contact with) once a week. I know the maths won't be too much of the difficulty, but basically the course I was doing had no placements until two weeks in November or something, and that was in a secondary setting, and I'm kind of shitting myself.

There's a lot about it all that's a bit messy, given that I'm doing it through the BEd, like having overlapping placement windows etc., but I'm more or less excited about it, and it does allow me to teach prep to 12, even if I was only really interested in Secondary. It's just... placement, three weeks into my studies, seems like it might be a bit terrifying.

Am I worrying too much, or not enough?

You're not alone. I have students who operate at a Year 9 level and some that work at a Grade 1 level. Just make sure you have something planned for higher and lower students and be thorough with your demonstrations.

 

[shammersting]

First year out of uni and doing agency work in Melbourne tho only had a handful of days this year thus far. Everyone says term one not to expect much but from experiences does it pick up much?

 

[Gibbke]

Harass the schools you want to work at, and make friends with the ladies in the office. Years ago, schools would have a file of supply teachers on cards, and whoever was at the front typically got the next call. I literally asked for them to move me to the front, and I went from having done three days work all year up until May (in 2001) to being contacted almost every day for the next year and a half! These days it's all computerised, so I'm not sure if there's an equivalent request you could make, but it doesn't hurt to announce yourself to the people who have to have that part of the job done by ridiculous o'clock every morning...

 

[superfraser]

I've worked as the Daily Organiser in a large school for a few years.

It will pick up. Term 2 and 3 are always the busiest terms.

The best way to get consistent work is through an agency, but they take a significant portion of your pay.

Walking into a school and asking to speak with the Daily Organiser, resume in hand is a great way to get a lot of work at a significantly higher rate. When speaking with the Daily Organiser ask them if they use an agency or not. If they do, they're very unlikely to call you.

You need to take every day of work you can get. Once you're in, you're in. But as soon as you're out of sight, you're forgotten.

When the Daily Organiser is making phone calls at 6AM, they want to hear "Yep. I can work." so they can continue with the rest of their duties, if you're refusing to work, they'll call the next person.

Further than being available, you want to be flexible, you want to be capable, you want to be thorough.

You'll quickly pick up a short term contract if you're competent. Generally, that'll lead into more the next year. And eventually, into an ongoing position.

 

[shammersting]

Cheers, thanks guys.

 

[Hudu Gurusingha]

Hi everyone

So I'm still thinking about giving up my s**t job in OHS/Injury Management to get into teaching. Anyone who thinks dealing with teenagers is hard, try dealing with fraudulent workers comp claimants. Have been getting calls almost every day to do relief work so there seems to be a lot out there. Just got offered a week of PE work this morning at a school around the corner.

Anyone here doing relief at the moment in Perth?