Korean Job Discussion Forums

kimcheeking · Guest

See this Thread about slacking in the classroom. It did not seem to get as many people admitting to being slackards as Shawner88 was looking for and it turned into more of a debate about slacking vs not slacking.

Anyhow I want to know how many of you consider yourself good professional teachers - this is not referring to paper qualifications because as we all know qualified teachers are not always good teachers even though they should be.

How do you feel about working with slackards and co-workers (can't call them teachers) who are very unprofessional in their demeanor and appearance?

What are you personally doing for professional development? or do you even see a need for it?

KK

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

kimcheeking · Guest

Zyzyfer · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 3:29 am Post subject:

I think I do okay for lacking so much experience. What really gets me down in my current job is that I teach the same exact lesson up to 13 times, and for a while, when the lessons were parallel between 7th and 8th graders, I was teaching it 22 times. This really killed me my first semester and corrupted what ability I do have, and it took me realizing that I was boring myself before I walked into half of my classes and changing how I approach it to feel like I'm finally getting somewhere.

Another big problem is that I'm an over-aimer. I'm also easily disappointed and get pissed off when a lesson flops, even if I had 3 great ones before it.

The biggest problem, though, is not having a nurturing environment for a teacher. In this aspect, my old hakwon job, which wasn't anything special at all, was far superior. This middle school job almost has a time-clock punch card feel to it, except that I'm expected to be Super Teacher when I'm on the clock. People are unfriendly to me, yet expect me to be friendly and outgoing, and they want me to improve my lessons, but won't let me observe how lessons should be taught and how classes should be disciplined. I'm learning from scratch, no books, no special courses. Just me and my goal.

kimcheeking · Guest

Zyzyfer · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 4:37 am Post subject:

purrrfect · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 5:12 am Post subject:

How professional am I? Well, it depends where you look on the timeline of my life here. I used to work in a hagwon, where teaching was basically a joke. No one ever really prepared, and the boss didn't really care so long as the mothers were happy, so the bar was really lowered, and there was no real motivation to do a good job preparing classes. Also, I taught several classes each day, with about 5 minutes between classes, and each one was with a different book or different sections of a book. If you consider how much time it takes to plan a quality lesson, the hagwon schedule was basically a set-up for bad or unmotivated teaching.
I'm teaching adults right now, most of them lower-intermediate to advanced level. First of all, the fact that they have reasonably good level of English means that I have to be prepared; if I'm not, they notice. But I don't prepare more just because of that. I think I'm much more suited to teaching adults and I enjoy it much more. By the end of my first year, I was really sick of being a glorified babysitter. I really enjoy teaching my adult students, and it's so different from teaching kids. Before, I used to hate going off to teach, but now, walking into the classroom actually puts me in a good mood (most of the time). So I suppose a teacher's level of professionalism really has to do with how much they actually like what they do. So in conclusion, I give much more thought into my teaching now and I care a lot more about doing a good job.

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

I get results, so I consider myself a pro. Boys middleschool, 38 per class. I keep my lesson plans dead simple but include opportunities for the brighter kids to show their stuff. I recycle a lesson 8 times but I've learned the group personality of each class & make adjustments. Emphasis on fun & friendly.

I also teach teachers, 2 or 3-hour weekly conversation sessions. They grumbled at first about my relaxed style but eventually bought into it, & now most of them can speak spontaneously & unselfconsciously on any topic. They take some pride when they attend conferences & clearly outshine their colleagues from other districts.

I hook them with my mantra of 'no homework, no tests, no stress.' It's a challenge to come up with fresh, stimulating, useful material, but that helps me keep seriously engaged too.

SuperFly · Joined: 09 Jul 2003 Location: In the doghouse

I had high hopes when I started working for Halla. I trained at their Yon Su Won and developed listening tests, speaking and reading comprehension skillsets, spent months preparing and all was for nothing. All my guys and gals ever wanted to do was hang out and talk about current events, go out to eat every thurs night and get toasted afterwards.

Slack? I don't know if you call it slack when you start to lose your perspective and begin to look to follow your dreams elsewhere...the whole affair just put me in auto pilot. I did everything I should have been doing but my heart was elsewhere. We had good debates, most of them had studied in Canada or Evil America so it wasn't hard for them to speak, just hard to get them to speak... Confused

My Kwa Jang and Teri Nim were both very cool guys and spent many weekends enjoying their company in really nice places. Of course they were also getting plenty of English practice but I was also enjoying myself and even though I would try to pay for meals when we went on trips, they fought me over it. Later I learned the trick is to pay the owner before the meal even starts if you want to beat them to it. Wink

William Beckerson · Guest

I dont know what "professional" is, but using the posts in this thread asmy guide:

Caring about my students' ability to use the language I'm supposed to teach them? Sure.

Feeling like a failure when some of them just dont get it, or dont want to get it? Yup.

Doing the best I can in a job I'm not trained nor educated for? Of course.

Trying to make like I'm an actual teacher instead of a glorified baby-sitter? I fail here.

Wearing a tie? The Devil's yoke, that is!

Going out of my way to find reasons to feel superior to the rest of the jerks working a hagwon job? Nope, I fail again.

kimcheeking · Guest

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

Zyzyfer · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 6:04 pm Post subject:

Bekrsun: I don't get it. How does trying to see if I've got the mettle to be a teacher or not make me into someone who's trying to prove their worth against others? Frankly, I don't give a flying *beep* about anyone else and whether they teach well or not.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

I do my best given the circumstances as I outlined in my last thread.

I think the thing about the other teachers is that can sap any will to do more when you come against 'why do you bother. the director doesn't care, the kids don't care. why create more work for yourself when you can just sit back and pick up your pay cheque.' Also I could get the kids to fill in their books and play cards for month in most of classes and I don't think anyone would notice

CLG