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shawner88
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 8:59 pm Post subject: How do you slack off at your school? |
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| I fold the newspaper and put it in my handout folder. When I give out a word-search puzzle, I sit down, open my folder, and read the paper. The students or anyone looking in the window think I'm diligently reviewing lessons. |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Everyone slap his hand, now. "BAD teacher. Don't waste little Hyun-Ji's precious time. You reflect poorly on the entire ESL establishment." etc. etc. C'mon Gord. You know you want to! |
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kimcheeking
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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| slacking is unprofessional as well as unbecoming of a good teacher. I don't slack. |
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justaskdan
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Location: Me in Pohang - Oct 20th
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| I make the Kids teach me Korean, they even give me tests the next day! |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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| kimcheeking wrote: |
| I don't slack. |
This comment is not a fact. What YOU judge as productive in the classroom may very well not match someone else's definition of productive (including your director's). So, you cannot say with certainty that you do not slack. You may be a good teacher, but you are not infallible, and therefore certainly make errors in judgement from time to time about how best to utilize class time/what best to teach the students, in which case you are indeed slacking (not getting maximum productivity from the lesson). |
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crazylemongirl
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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My kids no when they're getting their 'slack' lesson as I give out stars and when they make it to XXXstars they have a video/snack/game party. It's a pretty cruisy lesson, which I will ocassionally take marking into if I feel the need.
CLG |
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justaskdan
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Location: Me in Pohang - Oct 20th
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Ah Corporal always the voice of reason. KK works at a University, I'm sure he could be prone to slack if he taught 10 rich 13 year old boys that could care less if they were learning English or not. |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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| I fail to see what difference it makes where KK works. He is human and therefore his views on how he is teaching are subjective. When he thinks "I'm not slacking", someone else may be disagreeing with him. Does that matter? Perhaps not to him. |
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kimcheeking
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Corporal wrote: |
| kimcheeking wrote: |
| I don't slack. |
This comment is not a fact. What YOU judge as productive in the classroom may very well not match someone else's definition of productive (including your director's). So, you cannot say with certainty that you do not slack. You may be a good teacher, but you are not infallible, and therefore certainly make errors in judgement from time to time about how best to utilize class time/what best to teach the students, in which case you are indeed slacking (not getting maximum productivity from the lesson). |
Making an error in judgement is not the same as slacking. Slacking is purposefully "teaching" in a substandard manner. I did not claim to be infallible and that every lesson I conduct goes off without a hitch. Of course that does not happen, as you rightly pointed out I am human.
As the original poster pointed out, this is slacking.
| Shawner the slacker wrote: |
| I fold the newspaper and put it in my handout folder. When I give out a word-search puzzle, I sit down, open my folder, and read the paper |
Giving your pupils an activity and then not even bothering to monitor them is a severe lack of professionalism. I am always watching and monitoring my students. I keep them active and learning with a variety of activities that tap several different learning styles. I furthermore educate my students in learner styles and strategies so that they can better take control of their own learning.
Leaving students to do their own thing while the teacher sits or observes unobtrusively is a good thing as students sometimes need to work without the teacher peering over the shoulders. However giving them something to keep them occupied while you read the newspaper, a book, or take a nap is just plain wrong.
I repeat. I do not slack and I challenge anyone to observe one of mylessons and call me a slackard. It will not happen. I am 100% engaged in my lessons and aware of everything that is going on. Every action that I take in the classroom is calculated for the effect it will have on the lesson and students.
I am a professional - not a slackard. If you are a slackard I can not imagine that you will ever move out of the hellwon life. I started in a hellwon, but I kept my professionalism and have moved into a university position. I have been at the same universtity for the last 3 years and am one of the top teachers (not the top). Professionalism goes a long way in teh world and particularly in this country. |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| kimcheeking wrote: |
Slacking is purposefully "teaching" in a substandard manner. I did not claim to be infallible and that every lesson I conduct goes off without a hitch. Of course that does not happen, as you rightly pointed out I am human.
As the original poster pointed out, this is slacking. |
Ah, then we are disagreeing on the definition of slacking. Slacking to me is merely NOT purposefully teaching. Or teaching less actively than usual. I don't see anything wrong with giving your students an activity that is a break from their usual routine while you do something else. Evidently you do. I think the OP was either trolling for the usual "you are a terrible teacher" responses, or he was being refreshingly honest about his teaching.
But I think you take your job too seriously, so I doubt if we'll agree on most issues regarding teaching. |
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kimcheeking
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Corporal wrote: |
| But I think you take your job too seriously, so I doubt if we'll agree on most issues regarding teaching. |
How could you take your job too seriously? I'm not jsut talking about teaching? I mean any job. When I do something I do it 100%. By doing your job well and professionally you can have self-respect. If I do sub-standard work I can not have any self-respect. I also have low esteem for anyone who produces shoddy work of any kind.
Good enough = lazy |
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Corporal
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2003 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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You're entitled to feel that way of course.
BUT,
good enough = good enough. No more, no less. I don't think anyone has any business calling someone else a lazy teacher, a slacker, or unprofessional, based on a few lines they write on a messageboard. If you want to say it about yourself, that's one thing. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 12:22 am Post subject: |
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ah yes, a little bickering hijinks the topic at hand.
While I have no tips or stories of slacking- although i should- I would just like to add this: how hard is it NOT to slack when you get no feedback whatsoever from anyone? I've been at my hogwon for a year now, and I have never had a single comment about my teaching. At first I did put a lot of effort into it, but the last 3 months or so I haven't. Pretty hard to get motivated when it seems no one cares how I do. I've become bored, run out of ideas, and not sure how to "spice" things up for both me and my students. So yeah, that's how I slack, by not finding new methods of teaching and not putting in as much prep time. As for the actual class, I feel too guilty if I don't pay attention to my students the entire time. Doesn't mean I'm always teaching them though  .
But what the hey, I'm outta here in about 20 days. |
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kimcheeking
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| Corporal wrote: |
You're entitled to feel that way of course.
BUT,
good enough = good enough. No more, no less. I don't think anyone has any business calling someone else a lazy teacher, a slacker, or unprofessional, based on a few lines they write on a messageboard. |
Perhaps that is true, but a lot worse goes on on this board and you know it.
One final thought on the subject. Do you (everyone -not just Corporal) want to be the teacher who brings the standard down or do you want to be the teacher that brings the standard up? I prefer to be the latter. |
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shawner88
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2003 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| While I have no tips or stories of slacking- although i should- I would just like to add this: how hard is it NOT to slack when you get no feedback whatsoever from anyone? |
I agree. As long as I've been in Korea, I've gotten no feedback, good or bad, about my teaching. All of my bosses past and present care only about keeping the kids enrolled and collecting the moola. As long as my kids are happy, which they are- they absolutely love word search puzzles, my boss considers me an outstanding teacher (Shawn good. Shawn best teacher). Not only that, but the parents don't even care! I teach the parents in the evening, 8 of them, the only class I take seriously - well, sort of (they just want to socialize and go out to dinner together once a week). They told me just to play with their kids and make them happy, not to worry too much about their English because, after all, they're just kids. Have fun, they say. The whole system is whacked. Also, in my school, I only teach each class of kids once a week. This is so my boss only has to pay for one foreign teacher. This means it is impossible to make steady progress as I only see each class once every 7 days. The teacher before me played games with them every time and everybody loved him, boss included. I'm expected to do the same, or whatever I want. The Korean teachers are responsible for making progress with them. Therefore, it is obvious that I'm only in the school for show, that what I do educationally is not important at all. I'm the American teacher with a BA in English Education from New York State University...that in itself is enough for them. So, if they don't take me seriously, I feel no incentive to take my job seriously either.
By the way, I'm hoping to hear more slcaking stories than arguments. If you don't agree with slacking, make a new post about what a great, responsible teacher you are... |
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