Oh my! Busy week! And it's not over yet.
But a good week, overall. I've met all but one day's worth of English kidlets, been quite complimented, quite annoyed, and I'm still able to wake up each morning with enthusiasm (don't you just hate us morning people?).
Let's see, I guess I should start with Monday. Monday was very easy, though I did work hard. I will normally have one class, in the first hour, but on the first day, we spent two hours with our mentor groups. I'm sharing one, a group of year 13s (the oldest kids at the school--prepping for uni).
Then I spent the rest of my day tackling my filthy room. A group of year 13s came in and helped, bless their little hearts. I could have hugged each and every one. They helped me do about half a day's work in an hour.
So, armed with a great attitude and a clean classroom, I started Tuesday with high hopes and expectations. I was not let down. I started with a year 10 class (14-year-olds) and they were wonderful. Quiet, respectful, wanting to learn music. I will see them three times each week. Love these kids.
My other two classes that day were good, as well. A little chatty but not too horrid.
Wednesday. Oy!
I started with a very chatty, very disrespectful group of year 9s (13-year-olds...what more can I say?). 10 minutes in, still no control, and they choose that moment to do the surprise fire drill. I thought, "Grrreeeat...there goes that class..."
After the drill, I had to send Little Mr. Instigator out to another class. He left my room, walked right by the room I was sending him to, and I wanted to scream. I have no way of calling anyone. But a kind teacher's assistant offered to chase him down. Don't know if she did, but he came back after a few minutes and I sent him out again. This time he did what I told him to do. Then and only then did I gain control of this class.
My second class was another year 9, and they had a nice group of 3-4 Little Mr. Instigators. Never did really gain control in there. I'll have to pull out some of my dad's old military tactics next week.
Third period (yet another year 9 group) was better. A bit chatty but no instigators--yet. Fourth period was a year 8 group, and I only gained control there when I started taking away minutes from their lunch. "Oh...too noisy in here, that's one minute in at lunch. Still too noisy, let's make that two minutes. Oh! We don't tell others to 'shut up,' that's 3 minutes..." and so on. They got to 12 minutes! I knocked it down to 8 because they were well-behaved the last 4 minutes of class. After lunch, I saw my wonderful year 10 group again. Ended the day on a positive note.
Today was 5 straight periods of year 7s (11, new to high school). They were pretty good. A couple of little noisemakers but they're still kinda scared of high school. I'm using that to my advantage.
I've taken on a GCSE music program for some year 11s. These are kids who want to study music but can't because the schedule doesn't permit it with other requirements. So I'll be meeting with them 2 days a week after school (extra pay!) to help them along. So people are singing my praises for taking that on.
Then...today!
One of the deputy head teachers came into my room during a lesson. I did some Musical Math with the kids, and then, before he left, he needed to make an announcement to them. He started to call out, "quiet please!!" but I stopped him and showed off by clapping a little rhythm. The kids automatically clapped it back and got quiet. Ha! First day they've known me!
So, after school, we had a meeting for new staff, and he was there. He publicly complimented me on these two things and told me he could tell other music teachers, out in the field much longer than I, and know they've never heard of these things before.
So yes, I am quite proud. I needed some compliments after yesterday!
We'll see how tomorrow goes. More year 9's and 8's (that I haven't yet met) and another meeting with the lovely year 10s.
Then, I can relax all weekend. It's all about reading--and not a serious bit of reading!!
Miss you all. Love and hugs to everyone...take care.
Cheers,
Meg
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