Student Art Show

Its been an incredibly busy week. The biggest change to mention is that I'll be working mornings starting on Wednesday. Over the weekend, DaeEun and I went to a children's art show. Several Poly students had pieces of art in the show, and I took pictures of their work. I have posted the pictures below. The picture of the girl is Julia, a third grader at Poly. She is standing next to one of her works of art.

monsters part 2

As a teacher, I feel bad that I did not take the high road on Wednesday. I promised myself I would do better by not letting tonight's class resemble the events of Wednesday night's. The high road did pay off in more ways than one.

Every Friday, I give vocabulary quizzes as a way of wrapping up Monday's lesson. All of my students can expect a quiz, and in case they forget, I remind them at the end of Wednesday night's class that they should expect one. My reasoning is two-fold: to help them keep perspective on the impending Friday class, and to eliminate any excuses of accusing me of an oversight on Wednesday. I usually allow exceptions for my younger students, but certainly not for my older ones.

Two of the three seventh grade students are prepared for the quiz. The other, the rudest one, who shall be known as Jane, says she was not prepared. I ask why. She says that she was not here for Monday's lesson, so she didn't know. I say that she should be okay as long as she studied the meanings in the book, and that she did the homework. I ask if she heard me say on Wednesday that there will be a quiz today. She says that I said no such thing. Lie number one. I ask did you think there would not be a quiz today. No response. Silent lie number two. I administer the quiz. The other two students race through it so as to not forget the words they crammed right before the quiz. Jane puts her head down, and doodles on the quiz paper. I notice and ask her why she is not doing the quiz. No response. I think about the higher road. That meant a higher power.

I leave the classroom during the quiz and knock on Chang's, the director, door. I inform him of the situation and he calls Jane out of class. Jane is out of the classroom for fifteen minutes, and the class runs smoothly during the time she is gone. She returns as I explain the homework due next time. After I explain the assignment and answer a question about it, the class is over. I stay behind to ask Chang about Jane.

Chang says Jane did not say much during their talk. He says he told her that he doesn't want to ever be called on again for talking to her. He gives me his assessment of her situation. I tell him the story of Wednesday night, and he gives me advice about how to proceed. He suggests that I do not take any form of insolence, regardless of how many classes are left. He further suggests that a good strategy for dealing with unruly children who feed off of each other is to apply a "divide and conquer" approach. I should call them out of the classroom individually. He states they are much more vulnerable and more likely to cease any disrespectful and disruptive behavior afterwards. I thank him for his advice.

I feel like I have another teaching weapon in my arsenal. I can't wait to test it.

middle school monsters

Sometimes I feel like the title, "Middle School Monsters" is the perfect euphemism to describe a few of the middle school students I teach in the evenings. To be specific, I abhor the last class I teach on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The class of three seventh graders (two of which are girls) resemble the type of teenage defiance, arrogance, and rudeness I remember from my own middle school experience. Tonight is a prime example of why the euphemism fits.

Wednesday night is grammar class, and I normally check each student's previous grammar homework for errors or mistakes. If a student does not do their homework, then I record the missing homework. Once the student misses three assignments, a letter to the parent is sent home, after four, then a phone call home. If a student does half the homework, then I normally record it as a half assignment not done, yet this is entirely at my discretion according to the head teacher. I try to be fair and generous with all my students, especially if they are well-behaved and sincere.

I checked the first student's grammar homework. Most of it is done; I think about letting it slide. She does not have her Monday's homework assignment either. I record it as a full mark, giving her three. The defiance begins, and asks me why a full mark. I tell her because she does not have her homework complete, and she does not Monday's. This silences her for now. I move on to the next student -the rudest one.

When a student is absent, their responsibility is to have it the next time they come to class. The second student was absent. She did not have Monday's homework either. Her excuse was that once a due date for homework is past, then she is no longer responsible for it. I put her in check, and record it as a full mark. The defiance begins.

A writing part of her grammar homework is incomplete, and I ask her about it. She says that I am mistaken and suggests I look again. I say the directions run contrary to her interpretation of the assignment. She asks me why should she write it. I tell her that grammar rules are useless if not applied, and asked if she ever used the rule in her writing. She says no. I ask her about another part. She says that she did not understand it. I ask her if she understood that part when we covered it in class. She says no. I then ask why she didn't ask me any questions at that time. No response. I toy with the idea of giving two marks.

The third student's homework is complete. He doesn't speak much in class, only when called upon to answer a question. I always find him in the library looking at books during break time. He never sits in the classroom when he doesn't have to be in there, and he is always the first to leave when class is finished. Sometimes I think I can understand some of his reasons.

I start tonight's lesson: direct/indirect quotes and business letter writing. Silence as usual. After I complete the lesson, the first and second student show that they are still fuming by asking me more questions that imply inconsistency about the way I record incomplete homework assignments. I elucidate my reasons. Not good enough. I begin to lose my patience with the way their impudent line of questioning. Instead of taking the high road as any mature teacher would, I fire back with a remark that shows disrespect can be a two-way street. My comment silences them.

Just five more classes, then I'll become a kindergarten teacher again. I will mainly teach kindergarten science. I can hardly wait!

it's that time again

The end of the academic year is quickly approaching and that means writing comments on the report cards! Normally I wouldn't mind writing comments for students, but when its for 100+ students, then I mind just a bit. Sadly, I have resorted to writing a patterned general comment that is slightly modified for the individual student. I guess I must sacrifice creativity for productivity. For the curious, the template is posted below...

(Student) has shown steady improvement in (his/her) grammar, vocabulary, and writing abilities over the past semester. Transitioning to the next grade should be easy for (him/her) if (he/she) continues to work hard. Good luck next year, (student)!

Yet, I can't use this model for all of my students. For the students who have consistently done poorly on their work, I have to write individual comments. An example is written below...

Over this past, David's quality of work and participation have steadily declined. David must learn that if he is to improve, then he must actively use English as much as possible. I wish him the best of luck in the next year.

I have more report cards to write, but I am almost finished.

Happy Lunar New Year's!

This week is the Lunar New Year's and I get Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday off this week. Unfortunately, I was not able to make any kind of travel plans during this time because I had to be at work on Monday and Friday, which significantly limits the possibilities of any extended traveling. I have decided to stay put.

Today, I met Stephen in Seoul and we went to two bookstores. I was looking for more graphic novels by Craig Thompson. For my birthday last year, Matt sent me Carnet de Voyage, which is an illustrated account of Thompson's trip to Morocco and various countries in Europe. The drawing style and reflections expressed by Thompson are strikingly similar to Matt's. After finishing the novel, I wanted to read more of Thompson's work. Unfortunately, I could not anything by him, however I did pick up other books.

The first book I picked up is Identity by Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. After reading the back cover, my intuition was telling me that maybe its time to read another Kundera book. The last two books I read were Angels and Demons and Deception Point both written by Dan Brown. I've found that Brown seems to use the same plot devices to create his stories, and that each succeeding novel is a refinement of the previous novel's plot devices. The Da Vinci Code is by far his best achievement in his refinements so far.

The second book I picked up was more for the laughs; it's called Making out in Korean: From Everyday Conversation to the Language of Love. Stephen and I were having too much fun reading through some of the expressions found within its covers. He picked up a copy for himself too. I think we will text message each other some of the choice phrases in the book as a kind of recurring inside joke.

The third book's title is Spanish for Dummies. Recently, a part of me really wants to learn other romance languages while I am here in Korea. I was torn between Spanish and French. Spanish won because its overwhelming practicality was all too evident. I'm not sure how much continued effort I'll put into this endeavor, but I guess time will tell.

Tomorrow Dae Eun and I will spend the day together.