Job Discussion Forums

[Sweetsee]

Good points Soba, always best to praise where and when it is most effective. Kids like to hear that they are doing a good job, new experience for them.

[Dilla-gent]

Hey Chinagirl, I guess I'm the OP? Original poster. OP...Original Posta, OP...Original Posta...
Yeah, I find the 2nd years and some 3rd years the most challenging. Some of them must have had a hard time when they were 1st years, so they have given up, and refuse to even try now. One 3rd year dude looks stoned all the time...must be eating Weedies for breakfast.
Some of my 1st years have some trouble and don't give much effort, but most of them are at least polite, and pretty obedient. 2nd and 3rd years are crazy. There are always teachers patrolling the hallways to bring the wanderers back to class. I don't know if most schools are like that, but I've been told my school is one of the worst in the city. But at least the students like me...even the delinquents...so far...

[chinagirl]

Hi Sweetsee,
Hi Dilla,

Sweetsee-

I teach 1 st and 3rd year at a private JHS east of Tokyo, so my situation is much easier than Dilla's - students are generally very well behaved. However, we do a see a huge drop in motivation with 3rd year students.

As far as praise goes, I like to use the word "thank you", a lot with the students instead of "good job." That shows them that I appreciate their attempt to do the work, or to answer a question, rather than give false praise.


The school year is still new... try to be firm, fair and consistent. Don't play favorites and have a sense of humor.

CG

[Dilla-gent]

Hi, for those people who have had the pleasure of being placed in a school with well-behaved kids, could you please tell me why you think those kids are well-behaved. I have a number of theories, but I would like to know how the school deals with discipline issues. From what I`ve seen here, there is a total lack of discipline, hence the crazy, fearless kids.
I realize that there are always going to be some SDs in every school, and I think that school is not for everyone. I know many people who didn`t do well in school, yet they are really smart, knowledgeable people, who lead reasonably good lives.
So, how do the "good schools" do it?

[ripslyme]

[ripslyme]

[bosintang]

I'm late on this thread but I'll post my thoughts anyways...

If you're just an ALT, nevermind. It's the Japanese teachers class, let them handle it (or not) the way they want to handle it.

If you're a teacher, with a shit-ass curriculum, oversized classes, and overblown expectations, well, good luck to you, but here are some thoughts anyways.

No praise, no rewards, no punishment -- Many teachers laugh when I say this, but I'm serious. All three of these only replace intrinsic motivation with external motivation in the good students, and only alienate the bad students even further.

Instead of praise: A real response is worth a million times more. "Oh, it *is* hot today!", "You like playing soccer? Me too!", "Oh really? You have *three* brothers? Wow!"

Instead of rewards: Present an engaging positive lesson. Show a positive attitude for your classes and be enthusiastic. Don't promote the "English is difficult" attitude, instead promote that every little bit of English they learn is "their" English, by whenever possible, making whatever little English they know meaningful. For instance, it can be amazing how some students can light up when they come to the realisation they can understand some simple pop song.

Instead of discipline: First of all, get used to the idea that JHS students are complex beings, and bring with them a whole basket of issues that may have nothing to do with you or your class. You are not going to change who they are, so you have no choice to accept them for who they are. Start every day fresh and expect good behaviour from your students. Express your dissapointment when a student misbehaves, but always treat them as important individuals, and never disrepect them. In other words, treat them as you want them to treat you. Most importantly, get on with your lesson.

[luckyloser700]

Good point, Bosintang. What a lot of people fail to realize about JHS students, especially the boys, is that most were able to get away with so much crap in elementary school without receiving any kind of punishment other than a good talking-to, that it's a real pisser for them to have to shape up and actually do things they don't want to do in JH. A lot of them lock up and can't deal with it, so they go on acting like f-ups. It's not really all their fault; Maybe someone should've started kicking 'em in their asses a little bit back in elementary school; who knows?
We can't change the way parents and teachers think here about raising kids (nor should we be all that concerned with trying to), but we can try to understand what these kids are going through.

[chinagirl]

Dilla-gent,

High-level private high schools and junior high schools are full of students whose parents have invested a lot of money in their kid's future. These parents have very high expectations of their kids, as well as the school. In addition, the teachers expect them to graduate and go to high level high schools and universities. These kids have been told that they will be successful from the time they were very young.

Parents, parents, parents. That may be THE major factor. After that comes good teaching. Good school leadership is also key.

So in my situation, this attitude pervades the school culture and thus I know I'm lucky that the worst problem that I see at my school is sleeping...the kids are exhausted as some of them commute over an hour to school each way, play sports, join clubs, and go to Saturday school.

As far as handling discipline, the homeroom teachers are VERY strict.

"Good" schools everywhere have high expectations of students. In addition to upper-class and middle class type situations, I have also seen really "good" schools with kids from lower socio-economic backgrounds in urban settings that were successful because of this kind of strong leadership and high expectations.

I've also worked in really awful schools with no discipline, so I've been there, too. Hang in there. Do your best to present interesting lessons and don't sweat what you can't change.

CG

[J-kun]