Korean Job Discussion Forums

[onie]

This morning, I taught one sixth grade class renowned at my school for being the most misbehaved. I get through a forty-minute lesson dishing out the punishments like no tomorrow, but often to no avail.

Even in this class, there's one kid who just seems to be head and shoulders above the rest. During today's lesson, I instructed the class to complete a fill-in-the-blank exercise in their textbooks. This kid sits at the desk right in front of me, and up to that point I had ignored his doodling, his carving on the desk and the fact that his book wasn't even open. I asked him to open his book. He didn't. I asked at least two more times and he still didn't move. Eventually I raised my voice and he opened his book, but deliberately placed the torn cover of his book on the page that I had instructed the class to complete and continued doodling/carving/not paying attention.

I told him that if he wasn't willing to participate in the class that he was to go to the back of the classroom. Given that this wasn't the first time he's behaved this way, I raised my voice but he still refused. Instead he pointed out that his book was indeed open. At that point I threw his book and his pencil case to the back of the classroom. I dragged his chair there and told him to hold it. He just stood there, openly defiant and as soon as I turned my back to continue with the lesson, I heard him say "시발."

I gave him three choices: 1) Hold out your palms (I had a wooden drumstick); 2) Go to the teacher's office; 3) Go find your homeroom teacher. He refused to choose and instead began insisting that he didn't know what page to turn to. I told him that even if he didn't choose, I would be informing his homeroom teacher anyway, and returned to the front of the classroom. He spent the remainder of the lesson crying, glaring at me, repeating "시발" then calling me a son of a bitch.

After class, I told his homeroom teacher, who I assume disciplined him as I had hoped, because he came to my office during the next break and muttered: "Sorry." He was still crying and so I took him to the empty classroom and told him that I don't like yelling and handing out punishments just as much as he doesn't like listening to me yell and receiving these punishments. I really thought we'd had a breakthrough, because he promised that he'd behave in the future.

Then just now, I get a telephone call from his mother who wants to know what happened. She says, "I know he swore, but what happened?" I explained that he had initially refused to open his book, and that this wasn't the first time he'd ignored my instructions during a class. The kid is obviously next to her, because I can hear her asking if that's true. "He says he didn't know what page to turn to," the mother says. I point out that the rest of the class knew. "He says they didn't and they were asking him what page to turn to." Not true, I say. In the end, she says something along the lines of: "Oh, I see there was a misunderstanding."

In the end, she did apologise for the fact that her son swore, but I got off the phone feeling like I did something wrong. Thoughts on the situation?

[Mithrae]

Welcome to Korea. I had plenty of experiences like that. Whenever the Korean is completely, inexcusably in the wrong it's a 'misundersatanding', which of course implies that both parties were somehow in the wrong. When the foreigner is in the wrong, well you know....letters of apology, threats of being put on probation etc.

[Ramen]

[jpotter78]

[Colorado]

[onie]

This is my first year teaching (quite sure it will be my last, also), but I'm fluent in Korean so I when teaching classes alone, I will speak about 70% Korean, 30% English (necessary given the level of English at my school). When talking to this kid and later, his mother, I was speaking in Korean, but I guess it's a lot easier for her to chalk things down to a misunderstanding that come outright and say her son was in the wrong, especially when he's spinning a different story.

[Mithrae]

The kid knew exactly what you wanted him to do. He was being arrogant and defiant. You had to call him on it. I taught public elem. for several years. I know the type of kid you're talking about. You should have told his mother that 'No, there was not a misunderstanding. He knew what I was asking of him. He consciously and rudely chose to not do it.'

[jpotter78]

[onie]

Yeah, I'm not proud of the fact that I threw his things across the room, but up to that point these kids weren't taking me seriously at all. I'm in my early twenties, and when I taught that class with my co-teacher my role had somehow become closer to a friend than a teacher. So I was told I needed to show them that I can and will discipline them if need be when teaching alone, and in the end apparently I needed to explode for them to see that I'm not just going to smile and look over their misbehaving.

I don't know what it'll take for this kid to deflate his head and actually start coming to class with a better attitude. I know that that entire class behaves for their homeroom teacher who more or less rules the classroom with an iron fist. I've tried reasoning with them, and I've tried making lessons fun and engaging for them, but unless I start yelling and demanding silence, they won't bite. I don't really like this teaching environment either, but what can I really do?

[lifeinkorea]

[onie]

[Zulethe]

Yeah throwing the book and pencil wasn't a good idea.

We all deal with kids in our own way. You need to learn what the school will let you do and then what works.

I tell a kid to do something twice and then I kick them out of the room (some schools don't like this but mine understands).

If they refuse to leave, I then pick them up and remove them from the classroom in an extremely swift/kinda scary way but it doesn't hurt the kid.

They know who the top dog is.

[Ramen]

My advice to you is that you need to be persistent and consistent when punishing students. And don't just pick on one student. Punish as a group or the entire class even for individual wrong. Don't lose your cool.

Good luck.

[CentralCali]

[jpotter78]