One day down…
First day as an intern is now under my belt. High school sure has changed since my day…and some things have stayed the same. My school is huge by my standards, at around 1700 students covering grades 9-12. (My own high school was about 1000 students for grades 9-13.) There are all sorts of new policies on exemptions from exams, late submission of assignments – even down to washroom breaks (one per month per student). Absenteeism seems to be a big issue. Attendance for all four grades was ranging between 88 and 91% for September, and folks seemed satisfied with this. In pretty much every class there was somebody who was either suspended, or had stopped coming to class or had massive amounts of detention. Have kids really gone that bad? Was my class/school that good? Are schools just over the top on punishment and discipline now?
I also find the whole NB way of “streaming” grades confusing. Technically speaking, there is no division in grades 9 and 10. But for grades 11 and 12 they have stream 1, 2, 3, and 3M. Stream 1 is the most “advanced”. Streams 1 and 2 are for students going to university. Stream 3 kids will never go to university – their diploma is not the same as streams 1 and 2. Stream 3M (the ‘M’ is for modified) is for kids with various special needs who can’t handle the full dose of 3M (NB has a policy of inclusion for all “needy” students). In addition to these modified classes, special needs kids can end up in one on one help in the resource center (if they are severally affected) or in a regular classroom (if more mildly affected) with the teacher being responsible for adjusting the curriculum, lessons, assignments and tests to meet that student’s needs. So in a class with four “accommodated” students (their term), a teacher could end up having to plan and mark five different lessons. Pretty daunting.
And while I say that technically there is no division in grades 9 and 10 (i.e., theoretically, students have until grade 11 to figure out what stream they want to take), the school filters students in the “appropriate” stream at these grades as well, and then informs the student whether they will be able to cut it in stream 1 or 2 or 3 at the higher grades. My first reaction to this is that is smacks of arrogance and robs students of their independence. Who wants their future decided based on what a grade 9 or 10 teacher thinks of them? Apparently it used to be that kids had to decide in grade eight whether they wanted university-stream courses or not. As I said, it’s since been moved to grade 10, but teachers want to return it to grade 8.
Anyhow, I am observing two grade 10 math classes (pseudo stream 2s) and a grade 11 math class (stream 3 – full of “troubled” kids). My teacher is very interventionist – he rules the classroom tightly and brooks no disagreements. Lots of moving talking students around, speaking sternly and direct instruction (not a lot of drawing explanations out of students). That being said, the classes were relatively well-behaved, the students seem to respect him and his authority, in particular the stream 3 kids, who I think like him because he treats them as regular students. But it will certainly be an effort to try out any different kind of classroom management theory in his room!
Supervising teacher is quite nice, if opinionated and strong-willed. Also ambitious – he’s been teaching 6 years and is already trying to get on the principalship track. Runs the lunchhour detention centre. Coach of the varsity boys soccer team. Running a research project.
Anyhow, I survived – even managed to answer a couple of questions from students. At least I wasn’t like one of my colleagues. Her class got so out of control her teacher’s face turned red trying to get them to quiet down, but couldn’t. My colleague stood up and said, “Mr. Blank, can I say something? If this were a university class, the professor would just walk out the door and give up. You would all receive Fs and would have to pay $500 to take the course over again. This behaviour is unacceptable and when I’m in from of this classroom I expect it to be very different.” Pretty ballsy and, I thought, a bit presumptuous. But apparently the teacher was more grateful than annoyed and the students gave her a round of applause and behaved better for the rest of the day. I have no idea if they were actually being bad. This is the same girl who was absolutely mortified and beet red in the staff room. Apparently some teachers were telling war stories (as always happens) about two students of the opposite sex who were fooling around with each other at the back of the classroom…another had a story about a student masturbating at the back of the room. “I just couldn’t believe they were having a conversation about those things!” The girl lacks a bit of exposure to earthy dialogue, me thinks.
So…one day down, two more observation days to go…then two months of teaching! Still worried about classroom management and discipline, especially with the czar of discipline as my supervisor. Fairly confident I can teach the material, if everyone is listening and watching. I’ll let you know how it goes!
I also find the whole NB way of “streaming” grades confusing. Technically speaking, there is no division in grades 9 and 10. But for grades 11 and 12 they have stream 1, 2, 3, and 3M. Stream 1 is the most “advanced”. Streams 1 and 2 are for students going to university. Stream 3 kids will never go to university – their diploma is not the same as streams 1 and 2. Stream 3M (the ‘M’ is for modified) is for kids with various special needs who can’t handle the full dose of 3M (NB has a policy of inclusion for all “needy” students). In addition to these modified classes, special needs kids can end up in one on one help in the resource center (if they are severally affected) or in a regular classroom (if more mildly affected) with the teacher being responsible for adjusting the curriculum, lessons, assignments and tests to meet that student’s needs. So in a class with four “accommodated” students (their term), a teacher could end up having to plan and mark five different lessons. Pretty daunting.
And while I say that technically there is no division in grades 9 and 10 (i.e., theoretically, students have until grade 11 to figure out what stream they want to take), the school filters students in the “appropriate” stream at these grades as well, and then informs the student whether they will be able to cut it in stream 1 or 2 or 3 at the higher grades. My first reaction to this is that is smacks of arrogance and robs students of their independence. Who wants their future decided based on what a grade 9 or 10 teacher thinks of them? Apparently it used to be that kids had to decide in grade eight whether they wanted university-stream courses or not. As I said, it’s since been moved to grade 10, but teachers want to return it to grade 8.
Anyhow, I am observing two grade 10 math classes (pseudo stream 2s) and a grade 11 math class (stream 3 – full of “troubled” kids). My teacher is very interventionist – he rules the classroom tightly and brooks no disagreements. Lots of moving talking students around, speaking sternly and direct instruction (not a lot of drawing explanations out of students). That being said, the classes were relatively well-behaved, the students seem to respect him and his authority, in particular the stream 3 kids, who I think like him because he treats them as regular students. But it will certainly be an effort to try out any different kind of classroom management theory in his room!
Supervising teacher is quite nice, if opinionated and strong-willed. Also ambitious – he’s been teaching 6 years and is already trying to get on the principalship track. Runs the lunchhour detention centre. Coach of the varsity boys soccer team. Running a research project.
Anyhow, I survived – even managed to answer a couple of questions from students. At least I wasn’t like one of my colleagues. Her class got so out of control her teacher’s face turned red trying to get them to quiet down, but couldn’t. My colleague stood up and said, “Mr. Blank, can I say something? If this were a university class, the professor would just walk out the door and give up. You would all receive Fs and would have to pay $500 to take the course over again. This behaviour is unacceptable and when I’m in from of this classroom I expect it to be very different.” Pretty ballsy and, I thought, a bit presumptuous. But apparently the teacher was more grateful than annoyed and the students gave her a round of applause and behaved better for the rest of the day. I have no idea if they were actually being bad. This is the same girl who was absolutely mortified and beet red in the staff room. Apparently some teachers were telling war stories (as always happens) about two students of the opposite sex who were fooling around with each other at the back of the classroom…another had a story about a student masturbating at the back of the room. “I just couldn’t believe they were having a conversation about those things!” The girl lacks a bit of exposure to earthy dialogue, me thinks.
So…one day down, two more observation days to go…then two months of teaching! Still worried about classroom management and discipline, especially with the czar of discipline as my supervisor. Fairly confident I can teach the material, if everyone is listening and watching. I’ll let you know how it goes!
posted by Mr. G. at 6:08 p.m.
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