Teachers in the tkd’ers

Ange, I noticed that too. Lots of educators on here. I taught HS Biology for 35 years, retired, and got pulled out of retirement to teach Jr. College anatomy and Physiology under sort of emergency circumstances. Am now in my second year of the “emergency”!

I’m goofy with mine all the time (can’t be at first of year, or they think they can get away with murder!). I’ve been known to show a funny kitty video at the start of class, just to get everyone in a good mood. Have even dressed up as Dr. Seuss during past reading classes (not just the hat, but bow-tie and gloves!). At least with the little ones, you can sing to them and they think you have the voice of an angel. Try that with middle-schoolers? No way! They’d laugh you out of the building and probably put you up on You Tube, to boot!

I teach languages to all ages – French to reception, Year 1, 2 & 3 classes, and German to Year 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 in other words from 4 years old to 18 years old. I did 25 years in state comprehensives (over here you get less for murder!) and am now starting my 6th year in a wonderful private school. In a two year break between the two “sessions” I did supply work, principally two terms in a boys comprehensive on a maternity cover. Apart from those two years I have worked full time virtually all the time. Has 7 months maternity leave when I had my daughter but that’s all.

Hi Polly’s Mum – Would you mind explaining the UK school system? I’ve been here for nearly 9 years and I still haven’t gotten it straight! Reception, infants (which is not for actual infants), upper, lower, comprehensive, public (wihch is really private school), state, GCSE’s (formerly O levels), A levels…? There seem to be so many different types of schools and different names – I get so confused! Plus, Year 1 must be equivalent to kindergarten in the US, since Year 13 is equivalent to 12th grade / senior in high school in the US.

Thanks!

Let me tell you about my first day this year. I teach 7th grade Language Arts (that’s grammar and usage as opposed to Reading, which is taught by someone else) and am the sole ESL teacher on a campus of just less than 200 6-8 graders (fortunately we only have 1 student this year who really doesn’t know English at all).

Before school started, I said that there was good news and bad news about this year: the good news was that, unlike last year, I would not have to teach a 6th grade class. The bad news was that I would be teaching last year’s 6th graders!

Early in the year last year, I and the rest of the Lang. Arts/Reading department came up with a nickname for that group of kids: the Demon Spawn from Hell (or DSFH for short). They were immature, undisciplined, and ear-splittingly noisy. The teachers at the Elementary that shunted them off to us gloated well into December that they were now on our campus and “no longer their problem.”

Therefore, I decided this year that I would take no prisoners, starting on day one. I spent 2 days the first week laying down the law, accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation and a list of pet peeves slipped in last yearthat would be absolutely VERBOTEN: tweezers, cosmetics, foodstuffs, and (worst of all) the backpacks they came in. I did my best George S. Patton imitation (without the foul language), or so I thought.

Afterward, in private, I met with my “man on the inside” of that group, my youngest son “Bear,” who is in one of my classes. You know what he said they were saying about me?? I quote “They say you’re a lot nicer this year than you were last year.”

AR-R-R-R-R-R-R-RGH! No matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to be b**chy enough!! Strange, Hubby thinks I’m plenty b**chy (lol)!

All teachers should read this poem by Roger McGough

The Lesson

Chaos ruled OK in the classroom

as bravely the teacher walked in

the nooligans ignored him

hid voice was lost in the din

“The theme for today is violence

and homework will be set

I’m going to teach you a lesson

one that you’ll never forget”

He picked on a boy who was shouting

and throttled him then and there

then garrotted the girl behind him

(the one with grotty hair)

Then sword in hand he hacked his way

between the chattering rows

“First come, first severed” he declared

“fingers, feet or toes”

He threw the sword at a latecomer

it struck with deadly aim

then pulling out a shotgun

he continued with his game

The first blast cleared the backrow

(where those who skive hang out)

they collapsed like rubber dinghies

when the plug’s pulled out

“Please may I leave the room sir?”

a trembling vandal enquired

“Of course you may” said teacher

put the gun to his temple and fired

The Head popped a head round the doorway

to see why a din was being made

nodded understandingly

then tossed in a grenade

And when the ammo was well spent

with blood on every chair

Silence shuffled forward

with its hands up in the air

The teacher surveyed the carnage

the dying and the dead

He waggled a finger severely

“Now let that be a lesson” he said

Roger McGough

Thanks, Pollys Mum!!!!! That was a fantastic explanation of how the school system works here.

I have heard some of my friends say that their kids were in ‘infants school’, and I got the impression that that equated to primary school? Would that be just the lower grades?

Another interesting thing about the system here is that kids are able to leave school at 16. For them, the important thing is to have passing grades in their GCSE’s. I guess that this is sort of equivalent to getting a high school diploma in the US, in that that is the minimum educational qualification that employers generally look for. Kids who do leave at 16 will either then go on and do some sort of vocational training, or just go straight to work.