I don't think the music group One Republic had in mind the Year 6 class I was sent to tackle today when they wrote that song. Also, know that the size of a child's apology on a sheet of paper does not directly correlate to how convinced (or not) I am at their sincerity or remorse for their actions. Clearly, that was not what this young man had in mind. He thought the bigger he wrote it, the less chance he would have of his regular classroom teacher telling him off when she returned. Speaking of which, I like this student's interpretation of the events that led to him writing this letter to his teacher. (You can see it better if you click on the photo.) Naturally, I had to annotate at the bottom (in green pen).
I do honestly enjoy going to this school, but this particular class seems to absolutely run better when there is a second adult (a TA) in the room to show attention to the few students who need the constant reinforcement. Otherwise it's a free-for-all and the majority of my time is spent playing crowd-control/babysitter rather than teaching the lesson. As a result, I end up feeling for those of the group who were penalized with less time for their task -- even if some of them busted their rears to STILL get their work completed. Good on them!
I guess it could have been worse...in fact, I know it could have been. Although I do admit it was a bit funny when the children returned after their dinner and when I entered the classroom they were worried that they had caused me to go into labour. I assured them I was well enough to remain with them until the end of the school day. I also assured them that any tricks they had used on me up to this point, I had already done myself at that age...and did a much more effective job.
A couple of the boys who gave constant guff every lesson were lucky enough to be the chosen ones and were held back from their assembly at the end of the day. (Is it any surprise that one of them was the author of the pictured letter?) I brought them both back up to the classroom with me so they could make use of all their excess energy to tidy the classroom, pick up all the rubbish and do odd jobs for me to prepare for the end of the day -- all in complete silence of course. I don't think it was as much fun as they previously anticipated.
Such a mean supply teacher! Shame.
2 comments:
This is classic!! (and you have beautiful handwriting)
Haha, thanks. Come to think of it...I should have had him edit/revise his own letter for mistakes and re-write it over and over until it was done neatly. I mean seriously...using 'i' instead of the proper 'I' when referring to himself...and NO punctuation?!
Shame, I don't think of the good punishments until after the fact.
Post a Comment