Surely she should have established her authority with the guys who lead her into the classroom first, not let them introduce her etc. She also looked scared to start with, and would have been better not too.
Joanne | (203.166.96.237) | Monday, 6 May 2002 8:12:16 PM
When she started to get angry this only made the students worse eg they started jeering her comments and only got louder and rowdier. She also snapped at a girl that was previously quiet and behaving herself which then got the girls back up.
Sally | (203.54.171.172) | Thursday, 9 May 2002 2:51:36 PM
I agree totally with Joanne, she started to alienate these girls from her when they had done nothing wrong
Melissa | (129.78.104.176) | Monday, 13 May 2002 2:41:12 PM
Ms Milano should not be so patronising in her responses to the difficult situation. She puts the whole class in the same derogatory category by referring to them firstly as bad five year olds and then as animals.
She needed to establish her ownership of space right from the beginning. She sat down and let the boys lord it over her right from the start. She coyly smiled and played with her hair when she realised the mistake of double entendre in her words. The girls were put offside when she disregarded the request by one of them to be called by the shortened version of her name. Etc. Perhaps she could have approached the roll taking in a more flexible way in order to learn a bit about her class individually. If she wasn't sure how to pronounce the Vietnamese name, she could have asked and then avoided the mispronunciation which fuelled the others' jokes. If I was Ms Milano, I would have pretended to forget something important and ask to use the boy's phone. Then I would say, "trickedya" and give it back at the end of the lesson.
Danielle Smith | (129.78.104.147) | Monday, 13 May 2002 2:45:51 PM
Firstly I would not yell to the class that they are behaving like a pack of animals. This only made them behave like "animals". Ms Milano seems to behave quite vunerable which makes the students believe she is an easy target. She has no control over the situation & yelling does not seem to help.She needs to establish her responsibility as a teacher by treating her students as people rather than kids & showing respect, for example when Rose told her she preferred to be called Rose , Ms Milano ignored her. It seems so far she has no classroom management & takes things too much on a personal level. She also needs to approach her classroom a bit more relaxed.
Joanne | (203.166.96.235) | Monday, 13 May 2002 8:22:16 PM
Considering what we learnt in Mon 13th class, I would have been waiting out the front of the class with some self control or tried harder to gain control as I entered. I liked the 'nagging' and 'repetitive' one-way communication idea of talking in a positive voice eg to say sit down, bags off desk, put the phone away etc.Even though the voice is positive I think you still have to have an element of control in your voice which Ms Milano didn't. I agree the roll could have been tackled differently. She could have asked students in the beginning to tell her if they like shortened versions of there name or pronunciation differences to let her know and be a little less stressfull over the roll taking procedure. It seemed that the roll was more important then getting class control which I wouldn't do.
Libby | (144.134.104.230) | Tuesday, 14 May 2002 6:21:37 PM
I would have stressed!!! this would be my worst nightmare! However, i would have been in the class early, i would not have called them five year olds, or animals. perhaps dropping books on the desk to get their attention. i would not have let them clean the board, and perhaps, in a situation where it was racially tense, it would have been better to have the class working on something, even a start-of-year-test if necessary, and spoken to each kid individually and quietly about the pronunciation of their name, and what they preferred to be called. i would then collect the test, and continue with the class.
Sally | (144.139.11.161) | Thursday, 16 May 2002 1:42:57 PM
Since Ms Milano was at a staff meeting, I don't think she could have been in the class before the students. I think she should have entered the class demonstrating a bit more authority, not letting the boys introduce her etc. Ms Milano should have told the boys to sit down straight away and then perhaps asked someone else to clean the board. Ms mIlano should have introduced herself to the class, not just write her name on the board. She could have then asked peoples names instead of calling them out. Ms Milano should never have tried to humiliate the class or display how much they had upset her. She should have definately addressed the racism issues when they arose and laid the rules for her classroom.
Sally | (144.139.11.161) | Thursday, 16 May 2002 1:53:56 PM
Since Ms Milano was at a staff meeting, I don't think she could have been in the class before the students. I think she should have entered the class demonstrating a bit more authority, not letting the boys introduce her etc. Ms Milano should have told the boys to sit down straight away and then perhaps asked someone else to clean the board. Ms mIlano should have introduced herself to the class, not just write her name on the board. She could have then asked peoples names instead of calling them out. Ms Milano should never have tried to humiliate the class or display how much they had upset her. She should have definately addressed the racism issues when they arose and laid the rules for her classroom.
Sally | (144.139.11.161) | Thursday, 16 May 2002 1:58:56 PM
Since Ms Milano was at a staff meeting, I don't think she could have been in the class before the students. I think she should have entered the class demonstrating a bit more authority, not letting the boys introduce her etc. Ms Milano should have told the boys to sit down straight away and then perhaps asked someone else to clean the board. Ms mIlano should have introduced herself to the class, not just write her name on the board. She could have then asked peoples names instead of calling them out. Ms Milano should never have tried to humiliate the class or display how much they had upset her. She should have definately addressed the racism issues when they arose and laid the rules for her classroom.
Gemma | (203.191.196.5) | Sunday, 19 May 2002 4:08:09 PM
Although your first class would be very daunting I do believe Ms Milano could have done a couple of things differently. Firstly, although she may have lacked confidence and been nervy she could have acted confidently. I believe that if you can convincingly act confident, people including students will believe you. Secondly, I think she should have asserted her authority from the start, it seemed to me that she let the class take control when it should have been her doing it. I agree with Melissa when saying Ms Milano's responses under pressure patronised the students, she could have dealt with this differently and if she had of taken control from the outset this comment wouldn't have even been necessary.
Gemma | (203.191.196.5) | Sunday, 19 May 2002 4:12:05 PM
Although your first class would be very daunting I do believe Ms Milano could have done a couple of things differently. Firstly, although she may have lacked confidence and been nervy she could have acted confidently. I believe that if you can convincingly act confident, people including students will believe you. Secondly, I think she should have asserted her authority from the start, it seemed to me that she let the class take control when it should have been her doing it. I agree with Melissa when saying Ms Milano's responses under pressure patronised the students, she could have dealt with this differently and if she had of taken control from the outset this comment wouldn't have even been necessary.
Gemma | (203.191.196.5) | Sunday, 19 May 2002 4:16:37 PM
Although your first class would be very daunting I do believe Ms Milano could have done a couple of things differently. Firstly, although she may have lacked confidence and been nervy she could have acted confidently. I believe that if you can convincingly act confident, people including students will believe you. Secondly, I think she should have asserted her authority from the start, it seemed to me that she let the class take control when it should have been her doing it. I agree with Melissa when saying Ms Milano's responses under pressure patronised the students, she could have dealt with this differently and if she had of taken control from the outset this comment wouldn't have even been necessary.
Gemma | (203.191.196.5) | Sunday, 19 May 2002 4:21:07 PM
Although your first class would be very daunting I do believe that Ms Milano could have done a couple of things differently. Firstly, although she may have lacked confidence and been nervy she could have acted confidently. I believe that if you can convincingly act confident, the students will believe you.
Daria | (210.8.232.5) | Monday, 20 May 2002 12:46:52 AM
In contrast to Ms Milano, I would try to find out more about the students that I'm going to teach, to be more confident and calm, and to show more respect . Also, I would never call my class 'a bunch of animals'and talk over students, because that makes the situation even worse.
Daria | (210.8.232.4) | Monday, 20 May 2002 12:50:34 AM
In contrast to Ms Milano, I would try to find out more about the students that I'm going to teach, to be more confident and calm, and to show more respect . Also, I would never call my class 'a bunch of animals'and talk over students, because that makes the situation even worse.