Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hank the Iconoclast]

I'm sure many of you out there are suffering with your third grade middle school students and I'm no exception. So here's the situation:

This semester, I decided to find an easier textbook for my middle school students. At three of my schools, it seems to work great. I can make activities from the lessons and do speaking exercises to get them excited or at least engaged in the lesson.

However, at my main school I teach third graders twice. The situation is getting progressively worse because I have a co-teacher that is totally not involved. I have students that will outright ignore me for the whole class period. There are about 27 students and I would say that 9 of them are involved. I have told my co-teacher about this situation and he tells me not to worry about the discipline.

I took the initiative and came on here to find some of the methods you guys use. I have a reward and punishment system but they don't care if they are punished or receive any reward. They scoff at the worksheets I give them and won't participate in the speaking activities because they are busy chatting away with their friends. I have sent some of the students to the principal's office but they would come back the next week and act the same way they did as before.

A lot of these kids are going to vocational school next year and I am just afraid that is impossible for these students to learn anything from me. I am just trying to make baby steps with some of them but I am just ignored from the very beginning of class until the end. Today, I was so frustrated that I gave up my activity and played Hangman to finish up the class.

Another issue is that my students lose the worksheets I give them. I pull all of my material out of books that I think are appropriate for their level but most of the students just lose their worksheets and I have to spend all of my time making copies. I am fine teaching my own lessons but these kids just don't give a damn about anything. I am pushed to the point of not caring anymore and just saying this class is a loss. Any advice?

[Adobe]

My sympathies, i face a similiar problem(in fact it is almost a mirror image). Try offering them 'time off' if they participate/try behave you give them five minutes to rest at the end of class(adjust up or down as you see fit)...worked fairly well with my third graders the last two weeks. Best of luck to you, and let us know what happens.

Adobe

[hauwande]

the reality is that our classes in these middle schools mean absolutely zero. that is...zero.

can you imagine back to when you were in middle school 3rd grade? what if you were studying german and could not understand any of german and the german teacher was rattling off to you in german the whole time.

then a co-teacher said to you. "these german classes are different to all your other classes. they are here only because of the govt. there will be no tests for these classes and they count for nothing at all on your semester grades."

that is reality and what we are dealing with...

i make the classes as interesting as possible, but mine are in all likelihood no better than yours. i have students who tune out and some that are into it. i do my best and teach to the ones who want to learn and participate. i ignore the others...

some things have no answers. so i stop wasting energy looking for them...

[Dome Vans]

Hank, sounds like a bummer for you. It's difficult to know what to suggest because all classes are different and what might work for one might not work for another.

Usually the first thing to do is to move them away from their friends. Check with your co-teacher and arrange the new seating so that they are not sat with any of their friends. If possible if the tables are in two's put a boy and a girl together, but not near any of their friends. Be tough about this. Take a photo to make sure that you have a record of where they are sat, so that they don't move the next week. That to me is the most logical first step, especially if they're talking.

If there's nine that are willing to work then you have a minority that can be turned into a majority with a few steps. These are suggestions to bring a few more into the working stage. They might work, they might not.

Maybe split the group into 4 teams. Colour teams. In each group have a mix of the good students and the bad ones. Have a star chart for each group. Tell them that the group with the most points at the end of the month will each get a gift. Give the groups points for good answers, effort, homework, finishing worksheets, team work, good behaviour. Be very generous to start with so that teams build up points easily then you can take away points as necessary. Be very vocal about teams doing well and make them aware of how their team is doing. Make them compete against each other. Hopefully you'll start to bring a bit more self policing into the classroom which is usually more effective than you telling them off. As I said this may not work but I think it's very positive on your part that you're slowly trying to sort the class out which seems to be the way with PS.

[Hank the Iconoclast]

At one of my schools, the school has zero problems with discipline, they have five-six different groups with something similar to a star chart. Each group has five different skill levels and there is a point system for good behavior and participating in the classes. My classes at those schools are great. I have tried something similar to that but the logistics of pulling it off is a nightmare.

I did a seating chart last class but without the help of the co-teacher and I don't know their names, so it's hard to enforce. I think I am going to try again and give a pop quiz next week to see whether or not they understand the material. Those that do well on the quiz will be placed accordingly.

I would love to get my co-teachers at my main school see what my other co-teacher has done. We have a real professional relationship. Thanks Dome for the suggestion, I will give it another go.

[Dome Vans]

With the seating chart and photos you can number the seats 1,2,3,4,5,6 starting from the left and working back. Then ask the students to write their korean names on a sticker. Collect them in and then stick the name next to the relevant number seat. So now you have a quick reference for their names.

I had one particularly bad student who played up a couple of weeks in a row. I warned her then I wrote her korean name up on the board in the corner so everyone could see it. As soon as it went up she shut up. Mind you this was a 6th grade elementary class so a level 3 might be a bit different, but it's worth a shot. Maybe even say that if the name goes up then the whole team loses points. Do it calmly, don't make a fuss about it, just coldly write it up saying they knew what would happen. May work...worth a shot.

That's part of the problem, some schools are a joy to teach and then there's the others that just seem to be badly run from the top-down. Which really doesn't help you. Good luck Hank!

[Hank the Iconoclast]

bump. I want to keep this topic going for those who teach third grade middle schoolers.

[hauwande]

hank, you may have misunderstood the nature of my first reply, so i will share with you what i do in the public middle school...

i have a few 'main topics' such as "describing people".

from there i break the topic down into parts such as:
*physical appearance
*personality
*hobbies and interests
*jobs and everyday activities.
so if you are compiling a full description of a person, these 4 catagories would cover just about everything.

i have vocabulary lists and grammar lists and phrase lists( depending on the level) for each catagory of the 'main topic'

different classes are made up of games, drilling exercises, writing exercises and speaking and listening drills that relate to the catagory.

i take my time teaching the catagories so that the students can learn.

each catagory can take up to 3 weeks to teach.

when the topic is covered, the students work in groups (actually 80% of my classtime is done with the students working in groups. only 20% or so is individual work) and complete a project. this is presented to the class as a speaking activity.

1 review class is them given before i move on to the next topic the following class.

now, there is always a points system. i score points for teams according to their contribution to the class. each team has a team captain that is one of the higher level speakers/readers in the class.

after 1 month i give a little prize to the team with the most points; such as ramen etc...

i keep the energy lively in the class and the activities ticking over...

what i wanted to say in the first response is that: THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THOSE WHO WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIRD GRADE...you will never involvve everyone... the best you can do is to be as "up" as possible for those interested and focus on them. the better i am at that the more students become involved, but in the third grade there are always those who are "too cool for englishee class".

dont sweat that - nothing to do with you at all...

[Yu_Bum_suk]

This year my grade 3 MS studtents have also been a bit of a disappointment, especially compared to last year's, which were the best year of MS I ever taught. I haven't had to deal with classes that are out of control but maintaining their attention has been quite a challenge. The math teacher who teaches those grades has been telling me the same thing, interestingly enough. I think I might really start cracking down after I get back from break. What I've found in the past is that having the homeroom teachers on your side - and the students knowing this - is really important. It might sound old-fashioned but certain students need to be afraid of the consequences of misbehaviour or they'll just spoil the classroom atmosphere. That doesn't mean they have to be afraid of the teacher or making mistakes, but they need to know that your material is to be taken seriously. Another very useful thing is to arrange with the teacher who writes the exams to have a number of questions based on material you've covered in your lessons put on the tests. Some students may not see the long-term value of trying to learn English communication in your 45-minute lesson, but will if they think it's 10 or 20% of their exam. Sad, I know, but true and effective.