A teachers moans!

[happymerryberries]

Soory to moan but my last class of the day annoyed me a little. We have been doing some post SATS project work on the water cycle. We have put together some posters and I planned a lesson around the kids doing some resaerch, finding pictures for their poster and answering key questions.

Once they had done this I found some games liked to the water cycle, you answered a question and when you got it right you got to play a platform game. Once you died you had to answer another question.

I thought this would be some fun for them at the end of the lesson, say the last 10 minutes. They are a very low attainment class.

Well, all they did was moan about how 'boring' the game was. I had to log one girl out as she wanted to spenfd the time copying picture from the 'forever friends' website (they are 14 btw)

Ungreatful little toe-rags. I wanted to knock their heads together. Silly I know but honestly some of them think that school is just and extension of playtime.

Frustrating hmb; sorry I could never get my head round stuff like ths either. Bu, as someone one send, bet you could take them to lton Towers or Disneyland for the day and some would till go around cmplaining they were bored.

Hope tomorrow's lesson is more positive

awww hmb that rubbish. i don't know how you do it tbh - i really really dont.

bored? is that the mantra of today's youth?

fgs whats the matter with them? tell em a few 'when I were lass' stories

They just wouldn't believe you......

If it makes you feel any better, last year, for the end of a topic on the Greeks, I thought we'd have a Greek market day.(y6) Kids made things to sell etc. A group of five of them (class of 24) decided the idea was rubbish and destroyed what had been made during the break before the lesson. When confronted, told me that all my ideas were crap and that I couldnt make them do it. (I had previously told them that if they didnt want to join in, they could do comprehension instead!) Oh, and parents didnt care!!

I really agree with custy here. Respect to all you teachers, you are appreciated, honest.

Yeah, but what keeps you going is the fact that some kids, regardless of their awful home life and the fact that on the surface they have nothing going for them, are always enthusiastic, always polite, and always do their best.

I'm leaving mainstream

Ohh, where are you going? please tell me the gossip!

Good luck with your new job hercules.

Since leacing school teaching I have been much happier and far less stressed. Best thing I could have done for me. My new job is so nice, and rewarding and without the stress.

Hope yours will be too.

HB, I am so glas yuo are happy. And every time you write about how much less stressed you are I have to smile. Teaching prisoners is less stressful than teaching ina school!

What a state to have got in regarding the education of our kids eh?

hmb - thanks I did make sure that my headmaster knew that is how I felt, and it truely is. And I firmly believe that the reason for this is:

• smaller classes (when teaching I have no more than 10 in my room)
• fewer inspections and observations
• reduced paper work
• support from line managers, other teachers and the prison officers/governor

and most importantly..

• discipline procedures that ARE used and DO work

Mind you, as of next week I won't be teaching at all any more. I am just going to be doing my new advisor's job and no teaching - so that I can finish at 2:15pm two days a week and pick DD up from nursery again. (The other day I will work a full day).

Oh how I sympathise - and recognise the situation - and how MAD it makes me. Been there, done that, got the T shirt, so to speak....In part I feel I have made a rod for my own back - I try to play games regularly in class ( I teach French so there are plenty of possibilities) and generally speaking I think kids enjoy the subject as a result - but at the same time they get to EXPECT games EVERY lesson - and ONLY the ones they really like - and some classes regularly tell me that a given activity is boring when I've spent ages preparing it rather than just give them worksheets - and I just want to S C R E A M!!!!!!!
But instead I have instigated a regime with one class ( which was particularly bad) whereby anyone who says in anyway that an activity is boring automatically gets to 'study' the same topic but doing incredibly boring written exercises. Two of them were stupid enough to tell me that they'd enjoyed it ( the written work) out of sheer bravado - so I said 'great, you can do it all of next week too' - and woulnd't change my mind when they started to back down.
I just let rip at the class about learning being a 2 way street - but that I was the only one doing the travelling and that they had a choice - either a more positive attitude to what I'd planned - or THE ALTERNATIVE.( ie the crappy sheets)
I can't say that they've miraculously changed overnight - but nobody has told me an activity is boring since! [ grin]

ah- i sympathise - i would tell 'em straight " you think this is boring children, waiy till your next lesson and i'll show you what boring is!!!!"

at least they're not killing each other though !!!

Bayleaf at your not letting them back down. Tbh I have done very similar things with this class. Initialy they were very badly behaved and I wrote them into submission!

I'm doing the same with another class atm. I with they would just have a little sense! Sigh!

Question for you teach peeps. Soon to be putting my child into school for the first time. i am very keen on being very involved with his education but afraid as being seen as a pushy interfering parent. Where do I draw the line?

trixie1, you can see from my posting on the thread about helping in class that I think it's fab to have parents in with us. An especially good time to offer help is Christmas.
One thing teachers look out for is parents who just want to spend all day with their own kids so to ensure being asked back, try to avoid this. Not good for your little ones either!

thanks homemama,
Take your advice and will use it.

No happymerryberries shame isn't it- sad but true there are no simple answers - just trying to 'wear the b@stards down' by perseverence hoping against hope that one day they'll see sense - I often say to NQTs and PGCE students that the 2 things you need most are a sense of humour and eternal optimism .
I have a bottom set year 8 with far higher levels of e-numbers in their system than their IQs and I'm finding limited success by giving out vocab booklets on the relevant topic and everytime one of them does somethng stupid they have to stop taking part in the oral work/games ( most of most lessons as they'll never suceed at written work sadly...) and copy however many items of vocab I specify into the back of their books. Nothing changes their basic behaviour patterns - but it makes a marginal difference!
Shame we're not allowed stun guns...