Encourage the teacher...please?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

If the kids are playing and socializing with kids of their own language, they will have problems. These types of kids should be allowed to learn their native language, including writing, properly. They will be barely literate in any language, if they don’t.

I was 2 years older than your kids when first exposed to English. It was a bit of a problem in English class, but I had nonen of the problems your kids have as I already had good skills in my native language. Talk to some language experts and see waht tips they can give. Or they may say the same as I just did.

Back in the 1800s, immigrants got by never learning English!

22

Ruff, I’m student teaching a class of 36 10th grade Sheltered English Instruction kids. That is, they have Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), but they are still working on their Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALPS) - that is, the subject specific vocabulary and knowledge that would allow them to keep up in a mainstreamed class.

It’s tough. There’s no getting around it. By the time they get to this stage, they’re very suspicious of the whole system they’re being ground through, and gaining their trust is a big obstacle. I suspect it’s just as much so for your younger kids.

Have you had SDAIE training? Yes, it’s part of the alphabet soup of education and I can’t even remember exactly what it stands for, but the techniques, theories, and practices of SDAIE are incredibly helpful to Second Language Learners. The whole idea is to make sure that every lesson is relevant, grounded in their experience, and approaches the topic from several different directions. The paragraph writing you mentioned is a great start. You have to use tools that your kids are interested in. Worksheets don’t fall into that category.

23

Ruffian I admire what you are doing. I went to an elementary school that was 80% Mexican population. Alot of these children will learn to speak passable English and go on to be good people, all because of you. My high school valedictorian came to the US in the third grade speaking only Spanish.

One thing a fifth grade teach did, she had tried moving me around the class, I am a talker. She even tried putting me next to the boy who we hated each other, well I got him talking to me. She finally put me next to the girls who were having alot of problems with their English. Alma and Mary and I talked alot that year. They also learned alot of English and I picked up some Spanish. We were friend all the way through high school, which they graduated.

You obviously believe in what you are doing, that makes even this fruestrating time worth it. Keep at it.

24

Mom and pop andy are both teachers. Dad did middle school history (he recently retired). Mom teaches mentally retarded kids ages 18-21.

I distinctly remember this one day when I was about 11. At the time, I was at the same school as my dad, so he was my transit. That day, he was utterly furious, upset, what have you… completely shaken up. Turned out he’d had the day from Hell… and to make matters worse, so had my mother.

That night at dinner they were talking quite angrily about everything that’s wrong with the education system- the grading system, standards, parents, administration… everything teachers have a right to complain about.

I remember turning to them and asking, “If you hate it so much, why do you teach?”

Dad turned to me and said, “Well, I don’t hate it. There are bad days and there are bad years. Every once and awhile, though, you really change a kid for the better. That’s what makes it worth it.”

When you cut through all the bullshit and red tape, what it comes down to is that teachers are pointing kids in the direction of success and giving them a good kick in the ass. They might not make it… but you’re giving them a start.

Keep that in mind, okay?

25

Ruffian, 1000 apologies for heaping advice on you when that’s not what you need.

What you do is amazing, I have so much respect and admiration for what you do full time. Dealing with the standards, the parents, the bullshit must be hell, and yet you do it day after day.

Again, I’m sorry - I had some students where almost NOTHING worked - thought I’d share.

Hugs, support, jokes, etc. from me to you.

26

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English. :slight_smile: Yes, I’ve been trained, and I am CLAD certified as well. It is very helpful indeed, although nothing (unfortunately) is a miracle worker. Worksheets aren’t quite working, but they’re starting to be able to work.

pricciar, unfortunately all of the paragraphs were returned to the students. They weren’t for a grade, but were rather rewarded with “Corny Cash.” (Looonnnng story…basically, we have a mini-society, complete with salaried positions paid with classroom money, weekly class meetings, elections, etc. We are “Cornelius Island,” named by the students after Cornelius–our class pet and mascot corn snake.) The paragraphs were returned with the “monetary” reward attached.

sunbear, that is precisely one of the problems…my students speak English pretty much in the classroom only. At home, on the playground, even TV…everything else is dominantly Spanish (although I do have a few Filipino students, who speak Tagalog). As a result, I have an “English Only” rule in the class. I can’t disallow Spanish or Tagalog–that’s asking for a lawsuit–but I can just remind students “English only, please” when I hear other languages coming from their table groups. It’s actually a good thing–they don’t realize just how often they fall back on their home language.

Vocabulary is their biggest hurdle, and we’re working on it…one word of the day, one day at a time. :stuck_out_tongue:

Today was a better day. I had lunch with a couple of students, and I forgot how off they may be from the Standards and just enjoyed what good kids they are, and how they admire and appreciate me. I felt guilty for my frustrations, but even more than that, my frustrations paled in light of the polite, friendly, and gentle enthusiasm of the two boys who’d earned the privilege to have lunch in the classroom with me.

Like andygirl’s parents said, some days are bad days, and sometimes there are just bad years. but today…I was reminded why I got in this damn profession in the first place. Thanks, everyone. And magdalene, no worries, okay? :wink:

27

Laura,
I have nothing constructive to say, save this: Yours is the most noblest of professions…I constantly tell my own kids this. Without teachers, where would any of us be? To paraphrase something said earlier, I thank the Lord that I had the privilege of having dedicated teachers when I was growing up and I enjoy my life so much more for it.

Others have said it better, but let me echo: Hang in there. Stand tall. The reason you got into this field is the reason you will persevere: Compassion and the hope that this little planet of ours can be a better place with your gift to the children.

{{{Ruffian}}}

28

How are the kids today?

I think they’ll come around to learning. Maybe not in one year,but eventually.

29

How are the kids today?

Oooof.

There were two major discipline problems, and one resulted in a lengthy conference with parent and principal. It was effective and positive, but exhausting. The other was just blatant defiance that left my blood boiling, followed by that same student absolutely hyper happy trying to “make it up to me.” Ugh.

Aw, academically they weren’t too bad, but this is parent-teacher-conference week. As a result, I’ve been coming home around 7pm for the last few nights–I’ve been working 12-13 hour days. Most of the conferences are going well enough, but one parent is pissed off enough about the grades (Ds) her daughter’s getting that she wants to have a meeting with me, the principal, and the girl’s science teacher, who flunked her. When the mother asked what the grading policy was, I had to tell her that well…there wasn’t one. Mom was pretty defensive, and now sees me as suspect–I must be out to harm her daughter. It didn’t help that the aide who helped translate the conference seemed pretty peeved about the grades, too, and was almost accusatory in her questions…see, she is an aide to a primary grade teacher who grades in a completely different manner. Why are I grading the same way? Because there’s no fucking grading policy, and that teacher is NOT doing what was “suggested.”

The aide who translated my last conference (different person) said the whole grading thing is ridiculous…she sits in on different conferences and sees that essentially every teacher has their own way of grading. Some are grading effort–so they’re giving far more A-Bs . Some are grading based on the grade level the the student is at (for example, a fifth grading reading at a 3rd grade level might be given an A–but it’s a third grade A, yah follow?). This is what the parent was saying they’d seen for the daughter up to this point. And some are grading based on where the student should be, as I am (and as I thought I was supposed to); that “D” means “approaching grade level,” “C” is “on grade level,” “B” is “usually performing above grade level,” etc.

What a bunch of bullshit. I do look forward to talking this over with the principal and this parent…this lack of a grading policy leaves me looking incompetent, cruel, unsympathetic, and lazy. Every teacher doing their own thing for grades? This is freakin’ ridiculous.

30

Ruffian - Simple point of curiosity: Does what you teach (or how you teach) deal with code-switching? I don’t know much about teaching, but I know some about linguistic code switching, and I wondered if that is used as a concept in the teaching process…

(Code switching: using different language, content, word choice, accent or other linguistic ‘codes’ to identify or express one’s role/status/identity within a group. Hence, ‘I am Spanish’ at home, therefore I speak Spanish there, or ‘I am a member of the family and community’ back home, therefore I use my local accent there and drop it or soften it when I go elsewhere, or ‘My school is identified with English use’ therefore when I am in school OR with students from that school, I use English. Important distinction that sometimes gets lost is that code-switching is normal even within ONE language, and it isn’t a rejection of the ‘home’ language, dialect, or accent. It just eases communication within that particular group. Helps some people understand WHY they should use English, and when, and therefore makes it more sensible THAT they should learn it…)

Hang in there - sounds like a bumpy year. But you’ve definitely got what it takes.

31

“It didn’t help that the aide who helped translate the conference seemed pretty peeved about the grades, too, and was almost accusatory in her questions…”

Does not sound like fun. Seems like you need to finagle the best helpers possible to be on your side.

It’s been a while since I got graded,but the word “curve” used to pop up there a lot.

Usually the kids get tested (in some grades anyway), statewide, so there you get to see how your kids stack up, and there’s no arguing those scores.