Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Fishead soup]

If you're working at a public school you should have a Korean co-teacher comming with you into every class . This is the person who is in charge of discipline and punishment. I'm taking from your post either the person has chosen to skip out. Get than person to come with you into the class from now on.

[tomato]

When I was in public school, the teachers of the monster fifth and sixth grade classes were out of the room the whole time.
I complained to the principal about that, but it didn't do a bit of good.

On the other hand, the homeroom teachers that I DIDN'T need breathed down my back and translated everything I said into Korean the whole time.

[NYC_Gal]

I love my 6th graders for the most part. Sometimes they can be monsters, but then I explain that right now they think they are big, but in middle school they will be babies. It quiets them down.

If not, I have a box drawn on the board. If my 5-4-3-2-1 silent countdown doesn't quiet them down, I draw a mark in the box. Above the box "6=BIG homework" is written. Big homework means that instead of small homework (writing the day's key phrases 10x in English, once in Korean), they have to write it 30x in English, once in Korean. They've never had to do the big homework yet

[MattAwesome]

I sent an email to my district head NT. whatever the correct term is idk. This is what he wrote back with. Hope it helps me and others!

Yeah it can be really tough. This where a good co teacher comes in handy. Try to have her/him more involved with the discipline. Just a few words of Korean can do wonders. If they won't or they suck. Then it becomes very difficult.

I have points I give out for each class. 0 - 5 points Each class they recieve points. Bad classes get 0 good get 5 with 1-4 depending on the class etc... I have a big board with all classes scores so they can see other classes and how well they are doing in comparison. That works for me. Cause if one student messes up it effects the entire class. And tell em why they are getting that amount of points. So the class can police themselves. At the end of every month i have a special day for the winner. Movie, snack, games etc...

Also don't be afraid to keep em after class. I'll keep mine and make em sit there five to 10 minutes. after the bell has rung. They hate that. Treat them differently I do it. If they are animals treat em like animals. No games, homework, writing are great. But don't forget to tell em why. Point out the bad students embarrass them in front of the whole class. Dictation is great way to punish.

Write up a list of rules. Translate it into Korean. Give it out to the classes. These are the rules and what happens if you fail at these rules. Being late, no homework, etc... One time I was so mad I gave every student in the class a English dictionary and told them to copy from this word to this word. If I heard talking that's one more word. You couldn't leave until it was finished. I had my co teacher call their homeroom teacher to tell em why they were still in my class after the bell if they didn't finish during class time.

These are just examples I try to run a tight ship. I expect them to act civil in my class. If they don't they get punished they know the rules. At first they fought a little but after a few weeks they knew and were better.

But your co teacher really has to get on board. As much as it sucks they have the final say. It shouldn't be that way but it is. If they don't wanna do it then your fucked cause its gonna be a battle. Which in turns makes your life miserable. Just sit down with your co teacher and discuss ideas to make the classes better. Most times they are reasonable they just don't know what to do and are to shy to say anything. And stick with the rules don't compromise if a student is late punish them even if they are a good student. It sucks you feel bad but no compromises. Really I'm here to teach not be their friend. The first few years I was more their friend then a teacher, and discipline sucked. But know I really don't care about them I'm a teacher and they are students.

[TheUrbanMyth]

"YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW!!!"


As I have said many times before that is how I've always run my classrooms (both elementary and middle school) and encountered very few problems whether sixth grade or 1st grade middle. Or any other.

Here's the game plan:

Have the class rules clearly established on the first day. Tolerate no deviation from them however slight.

Mouthing off, refusing to do the work..whatever it is.

Haul them up to the front of the class and make them kneel on the floor for 10 minutes. After class is over explain to them (in Korean) that the next time will be punished with kneeling for a full period. After that it will be every period you have the student for a WEEK. There's never been a "next time".

Or you could have them do push-ups. "Drop and give me 10 soldier!" (After the push-ups) "You call that a push-up? UTTER GARBAGE!!!! GET BACK DOWN THERE AND GIVE ME ANOTHER 10!"


If the choice is between harshness and your sanity...harshness wins every time.

If you come in all nice and smiley they're going to run you ragged.

The good news for those who are not natural sergeant-majors is that once the kids get used to this, you can lighten up.

It would also be a good idea to explain to the co-teacher said methods of discipline and should they object...tell them to handle discipline themselves because you're not screaming over top of 25 kids. In other words you are not talking until they are quiet.

[ahlu]

i don't have co-teachers for ANY of my classes except for 3rd grade which i don't need....

my 4th graders are horrible....hard to control and half the class doesn't enjoy english cause their homeroom teacher doesn't enjoy teaching it....it really reflects on their attitudes in class.