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4 CASES : Poland, East Asia, Ups and Downs of Self-Esteem Help, Language of Sport

POLAND, EAST ASIA

A new year! A new Year 7 class 'to mold into the system! A gentle introduction to Asian Studies. Year 7s are usually keen to put work in their books, keen to use their new coloured pencils, glue, scissors, whiteout and can rarely rule a margin without asking you, the teacher (individually of course!) how wide it should be. Don't disappoint them.

Lesson! I take down a list of names to try and learn a few quickly. I notice that there are 2 girls sitting together who happen to have older sisters in the school, one a cooperative junior and one an uncooperative senior. I make no comment so that I'm not accused of prejudging these new students. The two girls talk non-stop.

I start outlining the course and why we do it and I have a handout for the class to work on. This enable me to take a quick walk around the class and to offer positive comments -; (to look at the standard of the students' work) all tactics to help the Year 7s want to come to school the next day, and more importantly, want to come to my lessons.

Throughout these 'warm fuzzy' techniques, the 2 girls discuss aloud how 'boring' everything is. I ignore it.

By the end of week 2, these students are becoming more disruptive. They both through the work with us care taken and encourage 2 more to do the same. I try to discuss the work with them to see if they're being challenged. They have no answers and no interest in the work. Very rapidly, they are trying to become 'the cool group! I have still refrained from being too negative.

Year 7 Camp - here is my chance to see these girls in a different light, where maybe I can be particularly positive, pretend to them that I'm not noticed their adverse behaviour (I've ignored much of it to date.)

Unfortunately, they are now trying to become 'the cool group' in the whole year of Year 7 where everything is 'childish and boring'. They're looked up the paper and found out what's on at the local cinema on camp night (now, they are watched even more closely!) They are the group that ridicules most of the acts at the concert; they are the only group that is incapable to put on any act at all and they occupy the loudest table in the dining room. They claim to have had items stolen fro their room (all found later where they cleaned up!)

Back at school - assignments are handed out (with emphasis on East Asia.) I discuss progress with the students. All seem to be working but one of the group is going to do her assignment on Poland because her Polish mother his 'plenty of information'. I explain, not too negatively, that Poland is not in Asia and I offer he suggestions. She becomes very 'huffy'. They cut up thin maps, write on each other with Texta, fail to do homework and generally see how far they can go. I separate them.

During the next fortnight,

• one of the students improve out of sight.

Do I allow her to return to her friends who have still not improved?

• one of the students decides to move her chain constantly throughout the lesson. She is asked politely, to refrain from doing this. She sings instead -; aloud and out of tune!

What do I do with her?

• the third students calls out rudely to her friends, now scattered around the classroom. (the rest of the class is working very well and trying to pretend these 4 students don't exist - all except one girl who is still trying to be a fifth member of the group but so far rejected by the other 4.)

Can I ignore the 3rd student?

• the fourth students (Polish mother) roams around the class to her friends to borrow a pen, coloured pencils etc. Without them, she cannot work. Other girls nearby don't want to lend their belongings to this group. I know that if she doesn't do the work now, albeit roughly she'll never do it.

Do I care?

Lisa was a new student in Year 9 in September. She was given a "buddy" to help her integrate. Usually this programme worked well within the school, for the buddy would introduce the new girl to others in the year so that eventually it is hoped, the student would find her own friends.

Lisa arrived with an empty book for Geography. I knew nothing of her background and despite requests for information was unable to find out anything. This in itself was not a problem, for at least it gave Lisa "a fresh start" in a different school. 

Lisa sat with her "friends" in the second row for the first couple of weeks. She appeared "moody" and was not very communicative about what she'd done at her past school, other than answer, "geography." She certainly wasn't prepared to participate in any class "shy" or "threatened" or both. During the next couple of weeks, she moved around to a different group, but still she would not participate.

I had tried to

- get her to read from the text (only one sentence!)

- get her to summarise notes -; she copied (printed) the whole paragraph. When questioned, she told me that sometimes she liked to print. 

- get her to work with a partner (everyone was pair off.)

All tactics failed. Her book work was neat and she'd copied her partner's summaries. Again, this is not unusual for a student who wanted "to do the right thing.' 

By week 5, Lisa was sitting on her own. She was aggressive towards other students, she was unwilling to do anything that didn't involve copying down work, but otherwise, she was quiet - often a bonus! She'd just her head down and pretend to sleep. If challenged, she could be rude, aggressive, surly or put on a look like thunder. Sometimes when this occurred she'd leave the room in a hurry. One day she banged the wall so hard with her fist that she bruised it badly. 

The other students, whilst they like the change of dramas unfolding in the classroom, were unhappy that they had to do what they were told.

I asked Lisa to read. She refused. I politely told her that I'd hear her read at lunch time on her own. (This appeared to the others to be detention.) She failed to appear. 

Next lesson, I asked Lisa why she'd failed to appear. She 'forgot'. I assured Lisa that I'd not forgotten (the class was satisfied that I was treating them equally!) - and that I'd hear her read at the end of the less, which ended on lunch bell. Lisa bolted - literally -; and left the school grounds.

Lisa failed to appear at school for 6 days. Her mother covered her for her absence. 

Suggest how you would cope with her return knowing that the rest of the class was waiting to see what happened. 

The solution:

I decided to seek to help of the STLD teacher. Lisa was tested and the results showed she could neither read nor write even a simple sentence. She had been 'putting on' a brave face to front the class. She had devised techniques to bluff her friends and her teachers to cover up her basic inadequacies. Learning to read was very traumatic for her; she became more frustrated, because she now had to learn new strategies to get out of the classroom; she was violent towards other students, she verbally abused other students, she could be rude and outspoken and on a couple of occasions arrived drunk at school. She injured herself by punching her wrist through a glass panel or against a brick wall.

Yes, Lisa did gain a School Certificate; she usually calmed down with an enormous amount of encouragement and putting up with 'difficult' behaviour as she vented her frustration. She left school at the end of Year 10.

You have taken out 30 students on a school excursion. You've given instructions about where students are to get off the train. You are the only teacher on the excursion and you're due at a pre-paid performance within 20 minutes of getting off the train. When you check the numbers away from the very crowded platform, you discover you are 3 students short. You wait 10 minutes and still they haven't turned up.

Options: 

You've been on playground duty in a large area of the school grounds. An accident occurs at the opposite end of the area. You know nothing about it until the following day when an irate parent turns up and accuses you of 'failing to prevent the accident' and 'negligence of duty.' 

What do you do?

I'd prepared a whiz-bang introduction to Year 12 Production -; Case Study: Rice. I was keen to get the class interested and asking questions and I discover that not one of the 22 students has any idea of what rice comes from. Suggestions included : a tree, a bush, a shrub, a plant like a sweet pea, a plant like a peanut, wheat.....I've come in at level way above their knowledge base. To prove to me that they weren't the only students who "don't know this basic fact," to quote me, they surveyed their friends at another school, only to find that 2/11 had any idea.

  The Language of Sport

Wendy was in Year 10. She constantly went out of her way to be noticed. Everyone knew Wendy. She'd live with he dad for years but was currently living with Sam, the boyfriend. She was classified "rough" by many students but she had many redeeming features. In class, she did the minimum amount of work, usually when pressured. She was a great source of 'local' knowledge.

On sport afternoons, Wendy was often picked up at the gate at lunch time. She did detentions but still felt the afternoon with Sam was preferable to sport. She did fancy herself as 'a softballer' however, so I talked her into playing Grade Sport for the school. She was keen to gain recognition for this. The team had been through the 'Code of Behaviour' and Wendy was keen to win.

The opposing team was batting. Their teacher was coaching them and refereeing the match. Wendy antagonised the opposition as they hit the ball and tried to run to first base. An unfair decision was given and an argument broke out, between the ref. and Wendy. The game continued with the rumbling verbal abuse continuing. Thin girls applied the same tactics to Wendy's team. Then Wendy hit a home run; the ref. was sarcastic and commented "smart arse!" Wendy retaliated by calling him a "gay fuckwit!" He demanded that she be withdrawn permanently from Grade.

As the teacher in charge of Wendy's team, - what would you do?

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