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Education

How do kids learn?

33 replies

beetroot · 28/04/2006 15:51

When the majority of the kids in the class are disruptive, and refuse to work?

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Moomin · 28/04/2006 15:55

short answer i think is - they don't on the whole. have just posted on your other thread, asking for details of your day's supply.

behaviour and classroom management is absolutely key i think to successful learning. obviously it doesn't help when you're a supply teacher as most kids will try it on with them, but there should still be a referral system in place to report disruptive behaviour. if the management is rubbish in a school, there is very little hope other than the strategies used and relationships formed by individual teachers

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 16:02

year 9 kids. saunter into class, shouting 'we are the worst group, we never do anything in this lesson'

You get the set stuff out, you hand it to them. They make paper airplanes or just simply ignore it.

Some sit adn make a half hearted attempt.

Most discuss sex and how much drink they can buy with 15 quid and how drunk they can be.

Kids wander in 20 mins late shouting.

kids start throwing things from outside through open window.

i calmly tell them to sit down, i raise my voice.

they do nothiung.<br />
towards the end I started to do a small drama style game ..which they responeded to vaguely.

Nothing to do with the lesson they were learning though.

Everyone sghsd when i mention the year 9 kids like they are a lost cause

No one pops over to make sure I am ok

Will I do it again...yes...but I will go armed with some of my own stuff!!

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hulababy · 28/04/2006 19:34

They don't on the whole.

I left teaching last year after being so demoralised by no longer teaching and just going to work to do classroom control. Year 9 was my class fromhell, quite literally My LEA Advisor (school in special measures and had no head of department, hence having him in once a week) head a heart attack within an hour of teaching my Y9 class :(

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Lara2 · 28/04/2006 20:12

OMG - how demoralizing is that?! I really feel for you - thank god I chose infants!!

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:24

hula, is this really the case in lots of schools? I did some supply in London at a school in speical meaasures and it was terrible. This was near but not as threatening.

I really want to go look at other schools and see what they are like now.<br />
Howevr I would not work full time in a state school...i want to teach not crowd control.

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PugDog · 28/04/2006 20:25

they arent all like that
the one i taught at wasnt like that

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:26

sorry pugdog? not sure iunderstand

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PugDog · 28/04/2006 20:26

state schools
arent all liek that
dont tar them all with the same brush

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PugDog · 28/04/2006 20:27

its me cod btw
off to eat
later!

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:27

sorry i understand now. i am sure they are not all liek that. thisd school, i think is a good school. the other kids i taught were fine.But those year 9s will not learn anything

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:28

agree should not gar all schools with same brush..and actually i like a challenge but not totally out of control kids

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hulababy · 28/04/2006 20:29

beetroot - not, just my last exoerience. Scarred me somewhat. The first school I taught in - top of the league, excellent school - was a different kettle of fish and I loved treaching there.

Management in a school is the whole key.

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:30

agree agree...want to go to antoehr school now and see how it can be,

school in tower hamlets was fabulous

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hulababy · 28/04/2006 20:37

Don't allow one bad experience to taint your views at this point. Give others a try and I am sure you will enjoy it.

My experience was very prolonged, with no mamangement support and no HoD about, and in special measures. Despite being a good (at the very minimum, according to every inspection and observation I have ever had) teacher, neither me nor the LEA Advisor could do anything for that Y9 class. There was not enough support in place so no matter what happened int he class, once it went beyond my level of discipline to go higher, nothing happened. Therefore the pupils continued and got worse. It went on for so long, and with no support, I made myseld pretty ill and now will no longer teach secondary ever again. This is a pretty extreme case I think now, I was just sounding off - definitely NOt all schools or all pupils are like this.

Oh, and Y9 are normally always the worrst year group regardless of school type - all those hormones.

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:47

Hula, I am not really. I will go back to the school BUT armed with my own stuff to get something done inthe classroom. I found it demoralising that i was a babysitter who had no control and couldnt earn respect. I know that I can teach and I will not let them get the better of me next time.

I look forward to going back.

I remember year 9s were awful when i used to teach so why woudl it be any different.

I was horrid to supply teachers!!

I hated RS

So RS and supply teacher is perfect time to fuck about......

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 20:48

oh and friday!

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roisin · 28/04/2006 22:32

Snap! I've had a week of cover in drama

Fortunately there were lots of extra Eng/Maths/Sci SATs workshops on for yr9s, so I only had to do 3 of the 7 yr9 classes: not my favourite year group atm.

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beetroot · 28/04/2006 22:41

id cover your drama

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supplyteacher · 29/04/2006 08:19

I always dread Y9 on my timetable. Y8 are not much better.

It is amazing how seemingly similar schools differ. I was teaching in one where the kids were so lazy - there was nothing that I could do to motivate them. They were uncouth, scruffy, unprepared for lessons, drifted into class over a 20 minute period. Their expectations for achievement were nil - Y11 didn't expect to get anything in their GCSEs, so they didn't think there was any point in doing any work. Other places, of similar SEC intake, were well run with pupils being reasonably respectful and able to be chivvied along.

I could never work in a comprehensive school full time, and my own kids won't be going to a comp. - I've seen what they are really like, even the "good" ones. I don't mind doing the odd day almost anywhere, but I am very choosy about where I will go back to, or where I will accept multiple days.

As for supply work, the quality of the lesson is very dependent on the work that is left by the teacher. A lot of teachers leave copying from the text book - and that is the worst kind of lesson, where the kids will chat, getting louder and louder, and very little of the work will be done. The best kind is where the kids have sevearal different tasks to do in a lesson, and you have to interact with them.

If you can get on the lists of some decent schools, supply work is a great way to get back into the profession. It's really beneficial to see how different schools operate, and what it is like in different subjects.

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daisychains · 29/04/2006 20:53

I was really interested to read this thread. From my experience, even covering in your own school for absent teachers can be a nightmare, particularly with Y9. At the moment, I am having to set the work for a non-specialist supply teacher as we have someone off, probably all term, who cannot be replaced, and am finding it so hard to set work that will inspire them! I really do feel for supply teachers - have done it myself and know how hard it is - there's nothing like being told 'we made the last supply teacher cry' from a bunch of 'proud-of-it'14 year olds!

good luck for the next time beetroot!

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ScummyMummy · 29/04/2006 21:02

I think teaching supply must be v hard. I remember rubbing hands with glee and expecting to be 100x cheekier and lazier when a cover teacher was taking one of mty classes in secondary school. Things didn't seem to have changed much when I was doing learning support in secondaries a few years back- the kids got delighted disruptive slacker grins on their faces as soon as they realised a supply teacher was in situ. Admire you for doing it, Beets, I really do.

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beetroot · 29/04/2006 23:37

They won't make me cry.

I just want to find ways of getting them to do something!

TBH I don't care if they are not doing the subject set, as long as I can find something for them to be interested in....

Am determined to find the key....

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ScummyMummy · 29/04/2006 23:41

well, good luck to you. Why don't you tell them about working with Madonna or something? Celebrity gossip crosses all age barriers!

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beetroot · 29/04/2006 23:56

SM, you know what I nearly did. But was not sure how to strat the convo. and also I am sure they woudl think 'yeah right what the fuck you doing here then!!'

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Jimjamskeepingoffvaxthreads · 30/04/2006 00:30

I had a school like this in Japan of all places (other schools I went had fab behaviour- but one... oh boy). I would start by confiscating magazines (the girls) cards and hello kitty combs (the boys!) and try to keep the noise level low enough so that the 5 who were interested could hear something.

I also hit on a couple of things that worked.

one: a lesson on animal noises. Even the bad boys turned their desks around and faced the front to learn than "a pig says oink oink". And then I discovered word-searches. They loved them, you could hear a pin drop.

Never found anything else that worked though!