Well - I finally think I have experienced the ever so famous "awfully behaved British school children". I was doing a General Cover (Religion) in a Catholic Secondary School today.
I'll start with the good part of the day: The school is very close to my house, about a 30 minute walk. Also good, I got rave reviews from the Head of Religion Department! (Keep in mind, I have never taken a proper "Catholic Religion" course a day in my life.)
The bad part of the day: 8:45am - 3:10pm.
Now, as a P.E teacher, I often yell and speak loudly throughout the class (pretty standard for any P.E teacher). I have never lost my voice from it. Today, in the Year 8, 9 and 11 classes that I had, I have never, EVER yelled so much. It wasn't so much discipline yelling, it was trying to get the class in order yelling, stopping students from calling each other 'N' words, amongst other lovely words, and of course the old paper and rubber band trick, OH yes and don't forget the checking your cell phone while pretending to look out the window trick. I definitely burnt more calories today in a tiny classroom than I ever do in an entire gymnasium during a full day of P.E! There was absolutely no regard for authority. The 60 minutes I spent with these children became less about the material, and just simply, behavior management.
Although it was tough and extremely trying on my patience, it was a really great learning experience for me as a teacher. Unfortunately society, generally speaking, are not exercising as much of that great parenting as they should be. Mind you, there were a few good children, but they were of course lost in the chaos.
I also received my first "pre-booked assignment" for tomorrow. I am returning to Wheatly to teach at the same school I was at last week, for a General Cover and Geography - should be interesting!
It seems that a bug or some sort of sickness is going around, as the calls are coming in more and more this week for me (which is great), but I too seem to have caught the nasty head cold bug. It's always when you are sick that you want your mama to come and take care of you!
That is all for now - time for tea and bed for me!
