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Problems, problems

from blackborder.com

I've got a really difficult class (or two). I would like to write about it in order to share my problems and ask for advice, but also because I don't think there is enough blogging about problems and failure.

At the moment I am experiencing the frustration of battling with a couple of my primary classes, trying to get control. The very idea of having 'control' feels like something I don't want and that I don't agree with, philosophically speaking. A couple of my students, when asked to move to a particular place, have decided that it is amusing to do it in the style of a soldier, demonstrating their feelings towards being treated in such a way (you know, asking them to move one by one or in small groups, or stand in lines or circles, the normal stuff).

Rather than being angry at this, although it is annoying in a difficult classroom context, I DO actually think it is funny. I appreciate their humour and I recognise the need to rebel. Unfortunately however, I am the teacher who is attempting to get the class (there are around ten of them), to be quiet and listen to my instructions, follow my examples, do what they are told and carry out the activity that I have prepared for them. The problem is, I seem to spend the hour not getting very much of this done.

I have two classes that are problematic, one after the other, so the by the second hour I'm feeling less than 100%. The first are 6-7 years old and the second are 8-9 years old. We use the Bugs books, from MacmIllan and these classes are Bugs 2 and Bugs 4, although we've only just received these from the publishers, which I don't think has helped matters.

We are teaching these classes in a state school and so our time and control of the situation is limited. For instance, there is no break between the classes, one goes and another arrives. The classrooms we are in have single desks separated into rows and have other children's folders, bags, jackets and pencil cases in or around them. The teachers whose classrooms these are can be touchy about their things or the desks being moved and in general, it feels distinctly like somebody else's space (though fortunately the teacher who I share the room with has been very friendly and accommodating).

The children are not taught in their own class groups, they sign up like they would for our in-house academy classes, but we go to teach them in their school classrooms. As a result, some of the children are taught in their own classrooms, but most are not. I think only one of my students is in her own classroom. However, the single biggest issue for me is that we teach these children during their lunch break. They have a morning of normal classes and then either come straight to English class, before having their lunch, or go to lunch before coming to class; then return to their tutors for further lessons. I know how I would have reacted at school if my parents had signed me up for an extra class that took away valuable 'running-around-like-a-lunatic' or sticker swapping time. So I feel for the little blighters, really.

My main issue is that I have yet to experience a lesson in which things have gone to plan. I know full well that plans need to be flexible with YLs, but still, SOMETIMES, things are supposed to go well. I have reflected on things I have tried, decisions I have made and the needs of the students, but so far my forehead is feeling the effects of the proverbial brick wall.

Routines are essential (according to just about everything written on the subject) in the YLs classroom. I have been attempting to establish routines for approximately one month now. A couple of things they liked, but they got over-excited, so I had to cut those out. I tried an opening song with actions, but this was ruined by some boys taking the piss after it had taken me a good few minutes to get them into a circle in the first place. I felt that I needed to establish some control (that word again) over the start of the lesson, so that in future lessons they might settle faster and we might get more things done.

Boys - possibly a part of the problem. There are more boys than girls in both classes. This is too many. Girls make better students: they sit down and draw or colour, they sing songs, they do actions and dance and are generally better behaved. Of course, this is half the problem with schools. They are not designed for boys, hence the exam stats and higher levels of failure and expulsion. If I could take the boys outside and coach football in English, we'd probably all be happier.

The lack of control and time issues are such that even switching on the computer in order to get a CD playing, or writing the names of the students on the blackboard (Chalk. I hate it), is a challenge, because as soon as my back is turned somebody is doing something they shouldn't. I wanted the names on the board so that I could give them ticks for good English or good behaviour and remove them, or threaten to remove them for bad behaviour, although this is a system I've never felt comfortable with (I'm reflecting a lot on this and whether to use them or not and how, so I hope to blog about it in the future). Anyway, I haven't been able to get any ticks up there in the first place for some of them and they don't seem to care whether they've got any ticks or not. I suppose that threats need to escalate and parents need to be contacted, but I'd much prefer to sort things out without it coming to that, though I doubt that's going to happen unfortunately.

As a result, the other day I had our DoS come in to help out for the first few minutes while I got sorted, so that I could hopefully get the class off to a good start and at least establish a couple of routine introductory activities. This started off reasonably well with the students involved in an activity with him at the back of the room, but then when they were asked to go to the seat with their name cards on (they made these in an earlier lesson), some of them just picked up the card and went somewhere else, others came to me and complained, one boy ripped up his card and another hid under a desk at the back of the room. It isn't as if they have established seats anyway. Most of them have moved around in previous classes, but I wanted to group them more closely and have certain students nearer the front.

These children are eight years old. I have never previously had children of this or any age be quite as rebellious and it isn't pleasant.

I had been focussing on the fact that it was all my 'fault' and my responsibility to sort it all out. I had been trying to cover my bases in order to be in control of the stages at all times and so that stages would merge and my attention could remain on them all the time. I wanted them to sit at the seat with their name, then I would ask each one of them to come to the front and stick their name to the board, then I would give everyone a tick for getting through this stage. I would then ask them to come to the front to do an introductory activity to practice the alphabet and then sing an alphabet song from the book. Then I planned to settle them by getting them to their seats and practicing the lexical set of school subjects that we have been doing, using flashcards. Following that, I wanted to create teams, stick the flashcard pictures and the words to the board in two separate grids and have them try to pick out the pairs as a competition.

What happened, of course, was the disaster of the seating arrangements described earlier. Having finally got them sat down, in a slightly flustered state, I glanced at my plan to see what I was supposed to be doing next.

'Form a circle at the front of the class for the alphabet revision activity' it said, or something like that.

My brain processed this slowly as I was exhausted already and I was being observed, albeit very informally. So, according to my plan, I should get them up again to the front of the class and try to do this.

I thought, 'No'. I am not going to get them out of their seats now, because I am fairly sure that it will be an unmitigated disaster. Therefore I did a really dull seated alphabet drill, but at least they stayed in their seats and most of them did actually repeat the letters of the alphabet. Then I played the song as they sat in their seats, I pretended to sing along (I didn't really know it very well, unfortunately) and some of them tried to join in when the A, B, C bit came along.

This, I thought, is a pile of crap and my boss is watching from the back of the room. I don't think I've felt like that since making a mess of a grammar focus on my IHCYL course about 5 years ago. In my more positive moments I look upon this as a challenge that I must face up to and in which I hope to succeed. In less positive moments, I can't sleep, feel stressed and worry about long-term failure. But there you go...

Feedback and advice gratefully accepted!

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