Job Discussion Forums

[Jetgirly]

I think I mentioned it before, but if I "kick them out" there is no guarantee they will stay at the desk I place for them in the hall. Usually, they will walk off campus and go over to Starbucks or KFC. If I kick them out and make them go to the office, there is no waiting area for them to sit in if an administrator isn't around (and usually they aren't). The students will just stand in the office until the secretary gets sick of her space being invaded and then the secretary will send them back to the classroom. If I am going to kick them out I want them to either continue working at a desk in the hall or be discussing their behaviour with an administrator, not just running free.

[tvik]

your job as a teacher should be to ensure a effective learning enviornment inside the classroom. what they do outside is not your problem. you're not going to reform them, just let them know that inside the class they can't do what they do outside of class.

[mapache]

this relationship sounds so sado-masochistic - life is too short and we aren't paid enough to try to teach people's spoiled brats in this cultural caste system

find another job - teach adults or at a private English school where they enforce discipline. I dump my private students immediately if they are kids with no manners no matter how much their parents pay - they are bad for my health

[jmzdiva123]

Thank you for writing this post. I have had saved it to my favorites to remind myself that I am not alone. I worked with some tough kids back in the States but I can tell you that they are absolute dreams compared to the spoiled children I work with now. There is no discipline, no detention, suspension or anything else at the school because it inconveniences the parents. The grades are altered to make the parents happier; it is a total farce. My job is basically to fill out wrkbook pages with the students despite the fact that the school prides itself on providing an active bilingual learning environment. I can tell you endless stories of things that you had to be there to see. My best friend came to visit me and insisted on spending the day at the school because she didn't believe that some of these things existed in a formal educatinal system. I can't wait to get back home to the kids with behavior issues in the States.

What I have used to cope is to travel to as many towns and to see and experience as much of the culture as I can and breathe often.

Pride yourself on sticking with it and surviving. It speaks to yur dedication and your ability to persevere. Good luck!

[Jetgirly]

I'm finished! I (barely) made it out alive, and with my final paycheque in hand. My contract expired on Friday the 20th. I confirmed with the director of the school at least five times that I could pick up my final paycheque on that day. The most recent confirmation came on Wednesday. I repeatedly told him that I would be leaving the city, for good, immediately afterwards. Surprise! When I went to pick up my paycheque, they told me that it would be impossible to get it to me before I left. Impossible. It was out of their hands. Then, they told me they actually couldn't pay me because I didn't have the curriculum project I had been assigned. They didn't even ask for it! It was on a disk in my purse! I refused to leave their office until I was paid as promised. I created a bit of a problem, as it was report card day and there were lots of parents and students waiting to talk to (bribe, probably) administration. Four hours later, the paycheque (aka cash in hand) materialized. I wouldn't have left without it, but there were a few moments throughout the day where I thought I would still be sitting in that office as they turned off the lights and closed the doors. The other Canadian teacher failed the daughter of the director because she cheated on every major assignment (her classmates wrote them for her... in their own writing!), then she (the teacher) handed in the plagiarised work and handwriting samples to the program coordinator, and I think that he may have been angry at both of us about that.

So... it's all over, I'm off for a little break then it's back to Canada on Canada Day! I am still trying to write a letter to my university that articulates why this placement is so ridiculously inappropriate, but I think that over time I got so used to feeling shitty about what was happening at the school that I can no longer capture the essence of teaching at this prepa. Visually, I think it would look something like Maybe I can just send them an email full of unsmiling smileys.

[hlamb]

Good for you for sticking it out! May your next school be so great that you can't compare the two!

[leslie]

Bye

[Oreen Scott]

Here's an idea. Print off this thread and give it to your university.

You've been very articulate.

I feel your justifiable indignation.

As General Patton said, "When I die I know I'm going to heaven because I've been to hell and back."

Welcome back, you've been through hell.

[tvik]

actually i think it's a great experience. like basic training in the army

[Prof.Gringo]

[Jetgirly]

It's the end of June and I'm finishing up my second year of teaching in the public system in Canada. There are big cuts at my board but I've been spared for next year! This year I've been involved in a pilot program in which I've taught an all-male group of students with severe learning disabilities all day, every day. I teach all of their classes! These are teens who have been in and out of residential treatment programs for their behavior, who are being reintegrated into "normal" schools from intensive learning disability intervention programs, who have virtually no ability to self-regulate... and while it's been an exhausting year, it hasn't been nearly as frustrating as my time in Mexico. I've felt like I've been working in an environment that takes learning seriously, I've had parents on my side from Day One, my teaching team is doing some really innovative work, and the students expect to be assessed based on their mastery of curricular outcomes (as opposed to how much their parents paid).

I may not have had a lot of experience when I worked at the prepa in question... but two years later it's even more obvious to me that what happened at that school was a result of the school and community culture, the apathy of administration, and the disinterest of parents. It wasn't about my teaching.