5 4 3 2 1 SILENCE!

Since I have been back there have been lots of new rules in Katie Madam's lessons and so far (touch wood) they seem to be working. For the first time I really feel like I have stepped into the role of teacher: outlining the objectives on the blackboard; giving praise, extension work and most importantly stickers to the well behaved pupils; and not being afraid to get angry when I need to. In one of her letters, a friend gave me some advice - "remember don't be afraid to shout and also consider the fact that disappointment from a teacher is often a lot worse than the fear of being told off" - so I am working on my disappointed face too.

Originally the three 2nd classes were proving the most challenging, especially 2nd C which has students aged 6 to 11 and all of them are new to Sri Chaitanya this year. Part of the problem was probably that I had about thirty students sat on the floor in a tiny room with no space to move between them, and also the fact that they were all so excited for my lessons. Now, I am almost glad that they don't have benches, and I am slowly managing to harness their energy and enthusiasm into positive learning. On the first day back to school, I attempted to make the children sit boy-girl-boy-girl, compared with their boys on one side, girls on the other side. I almost gave up when they screamed, giggled, outright refused and one girl even cried. However, after two or three lessons of repetition with the other teachers wondering what on earth I was doing, and a compromise of half a row of girls and the half a row of boys and so on, I finally began to notice some progress. Teamed with that I have a new rule. I put my hand in the air and count down five four three two one on my fingers. When I shout silence everyone has to put their hand over their mouth and anyone talking has to stand up with their hands on their head. The children seem to love it! It works so well that I have even managed to do conversation classes with one boy and one girl asking each other questions in open pairs across the classroom without any fuss! As a reward I taught the children 'Simon Says' (although maybe I should have called it 'Katie Madam says' because the teachers keep asking me who Simon is). Now they know that if they are well behaved, we will play a game at the end of the lesson and, as mean as it sounds, I make any naughty children stand outside and watch so they know what they are missing out on!

With my 3rd classes I have taken a different tack, although I may brave a new seating plan with them too at some point. After one particularly unproductive lesson with the boys running riot and the girls chatting, I decided a punishment was in order. So without addressing them I wrote on the blackboard 'SPELLING TEST ON FRIDAY' along with the words I wanted them to learn. Then I just stood at the front of the classroom waiting for them all to notice me. After what seemed like forever, they grew quiet, so I said very softly, "write these words down and learn the spellings for homework, there will be a test on Friday". Well Friday came and it was clear that not many of them had learnt the words. But we managed to do the test with very little talking or copying. Whilst they completed the classwork, I marked their tests and I decided that 7/10 and above were good scores, whereas 6/10 and below was unacceptable. Trying to explain this was a struggle. Although it felt wrong, I ended up splitting the class into 'passes' and 'fails', because it was the only way I could make them understand. With the 'fails' sat at the front, I made someone write down their names and told them that their homework was to write each word out ten times. Of course, only three students in all of the classes which I asked actually completed the homework. So I made the ones who hadn't sit at the back of the classroom writing the words out thirty times whilst everyone else played a game. Never knew I could be so mean, but hopefully they are slowly learning what leads to a punishment, and what merits a reward.

On the first day back to school, I walked in to 4th B to find everyone crowded around a boy's bag making such a racket that they didn't even hear me come in and there was no standing up, saluting, shouting, "Good morning madam". As much as I don't like that little ritual, I was cross that they hadn't registered me and taken their seats. In my ever stronger Indian accent, I shouted, "All of you sit down!" and when they didn't respond I tried, "Guh-chun-di, now!" in my angriest voice, which provoked a response of "ma'am ma'am, no ma'am". Eventually some of them realised that I was really cross and slunk back to their seats. I turned back to the group of boys still crowded around the bag giving them my 'get in your seats now stare'. Next thing I knew, a giant cockroach about as long as my hand scurried out and shot through the classrooms. I accidentally let out a scream in shock and the whole class laughed. I guess it served me right for not listening! Aside from that, the 4th class lessons have been much better. I used the same techniques as with 3rd class, but they seem to have a greater effect. One lesson when the boys were misbehaving, I rewarded the girls by letting them play 'Noughts and Crosses', whilst the boys wrote their sentence, trying to make the point that good work leads to games, but bad behaviour leads to silent working. In another lesson I let individual students go up to the blackboard and play 'Noughts and Crosses', which worked well because everybody concentrated once they clocked onto the reward for finishing. Today, as a plenary, I managed to incorporate the lesson into 'Noughts and Crosses' by making the students answer a questions before they were allowed to mark on the grid. Think it could be time to think of a new game soon though!

So as you can see I'm finally beginning to overcome some of the disciplinary problems. Even though the teachers tell me everyday that I should at least pretend to beat the children, you could say that I am beating the beating!

 

I've have a few messages with tips and ideas about different aspects of teaching, so if you do have any advice, guidance, or even questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.