kevinsensei ([info]kevinsensei) wrote,
@ 2008-03-07 15:40:00
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Entry tags:teaching

Elementary School USA pt 2
I had a kid cry today. I told the kids that if their regular teacher was feeling better on Monday then she would be back teaching instead of me.
One boy was like "NOOOOO! You can't go. Your math explanations are so easy to understand. I'm finally getting it! And now this happens...." (;_;)

The kids were really struggling with fractions on the day I walked in. I took em through it from the beginning. The class as a whole seemed to really get a lot out of it. One girl was like (insert sassy voice) "Fractions are so easy now. I can't believe I thought this was hard!"

I learned all their names, and even their voices. I could be working with one student and hear another one messing about and call them out without even lifting my head, turning around or missing a beat. That was pretty cool. "So when you multiply the bottom part of the fraction by 3, *Jonathan do your work please* you have to multiply the top part by 3 as well, that's the rule."

I do wonder what this gig must be like year-round though. I imagine it can't be all fun and games, can it? hmmmm....


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[info]wendye
2008-03-07 09:20 pm UTC (link)
So when you multiply the bottom part of the fraction by 3, *Jonathan do your work please* you have to multiply the top part by 3 as well, that's the rule."


that is REALLY funny, although I don't ever remember any subs actually teaching when I was a kid.

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-07 09:26 pm UTC (link)
The teacher left them some workbook pages to do while she was out. However, when they started working on the assignment, all the kids started crying out "I don't get it!" So I was like "ok, let's take it from the top".

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[info]vulgar_shudder
2008-03-07 09:32 pm UTC (link)
Kevinsensei to the rescue :)

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-08 04:14 am UTC (link)
haha - yeah, right? lol

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[info]madlovescience
2008-03-07 10:04 pm UTC (link)
Wow, they love you! :D

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-08 04:14 am UTC (link)
I don't know that I could have made that strong of an impression in two days, but they really seem to have taken to me.

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[info]madlovescience
2008-03-08 04:25 am UTC (link)
I think kids that young might respond differently to male teachers, because for that age group, most teachers are female, so you sort of broke the mold of what they assumed a teacher to be like, and that made you stand out. Once you established that you weren't mean and could actually make them understand something difficult to them, you were a winner. I remember my third grade teacher was like that, so a strange theory that is true, or was I a strange kid? hmmmmm... it could go either way. It's also unusual in my memories at least, for a sub to do anything but hand out busywork, too, so your teaching skills and paying attention to them as individuals must have helped a lot.

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-08 04:34 am UTC (link)
Good points. I did actually give them lots of individualized attention during "worksheet time". I physically crouched down to their level and worked with them individually on problems that they were having.

Oh yeah, and female teachers. I think I saw ONE other male teacher (that wasn't the PE teacher) in the entire school. I was in the teachers lunchroom and was like "Daaaaang, whassup babies?!?" Well, not really but I literally was the ONLY man in that room for my lunch period. I suspect the ladies were used to a little man-bashing during their lunch because it seemed oddly quiet at times. The background conversation would build to a certain point, then suddenly an awkward silence.... lol.

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[info]madlovescience
2008-03-08 04:40 am UTC (link)
I think it's a remnant of the days when teaching, especially young kids, was considered a feminine profession. It's a stupid idea, like how kids are preconditioned to equate nurses with women and doctors with men, even though there are equally talented people of both sexes in both professions, but in this case, having the gender ratio against you might have helped by differentiating you.

Seriously weird that they didn't talk to you at lunch though, wth is with that?

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-08 04:51 pm UTC (link)
Oh no, people talked with me at lunch. I was just referring to how some of the conversations at the other tables were going.

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[info]thorny_rose
2008-03-08 03:02 am UTC (link)
Some teachers and students just...work. Sounds like a nice gig, though.

How'd you make it so easy for them to understand? :D

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[info]kevinsensei
2008-03-08 04:18 am UTC (link)
I am used to having to explain the bejeezus out of everything. This comes from my Japanese elementary school EFL experience. Think of the most basic explanation of anything.... then make it even simpler. Assume they know nothing. That's basically how I taught it. From the sound of things, they looked like they needed it.

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