five and a half hours with fifteen five year olds = one nana nap at three thirty.
so i hung out with five year olds today. and i think i might have contracted nits. and it was so completely fabulous but so time warpy weird. cos of course i kept comparing it with homeskooling. like, i am so used to a skool day that looks like walking around the supermarket and pass me the pink pegs and the square box that starts with an S and who can find me the cheapest flour and now you're big let's split the shopping list and you can fill up your trolley and i'll race ya to fill up mine, and oh lookit we're home, so please can ya read a story with so-and-so and then let's make muffins and oops i can't find the cup measure so how many half cups makes two whole cups? and all that organic talk as ya go stuff.
but in the classroom... in the classroom... i forgot that ya have to manufacture all that. so i am having a bit of a conveyor belt reaction. cos of course the kids are so incredibly beautiful. it's just that some of them don't have mummies talking to them all the way around the supermarket. so the classroom is all hoops and jumping and numeracy and literacy and lists of box-tickness. spells h-e-a-r-t p-a-l-p-i-t-a-t-i-o-n. and also spells they're-all-on-the-same-page and could-someone-please-hoop-jump-them-twice-a-year-for-National-Standards.
didn't think i'd get this reacty. thought i'd just throw paint around. really not sure about career prospects then.
but in the classroom... in the classroom... i forgot that ya have to manufacture all that. so i am having a bit of a conveyor belt reaction. cos of course the kids are so incredibly beautiful. it's just that some of them don't have mummies talking to them all the way around the supermarket. so the classroom is all hoops and jumping and numeracy and literacy and lists of box-tickness. spells h-e-a-r-t p-a-l-p-i-t-a-t-i-o-n. and also spells they're-all-on-the-same-page and could-someone-please-hoop-jump-them-twice-a-year-for-National-Standards.
didn't think i'd get this reacty. thought i'd just throw paint around. really not sure about career prospects then.
posted by skatey katie @ 7:48 PM
6 Comments:
You know, I think about this kind of thing. I taught public school, and yet I so hated it for my sister-in-law (15) when she lived with us. That surprised me.
But you'll do great, I'm sure. In my experience, all new jobs have a 3 wk - 3 month honeymoon followed by a crash, followed by the "Oh. I can so do this!" phase. You'll get there. :)
It's early days yet - all new and awkwardy and a bit sharp around the edges. I agree with Sarah above... give it a few more weeks once the role has moulded a little more around you and you may be surprised at your own superbness...!
Oh I SOOOOOO get where you are at. I feel like I would either get dumbed down or I'd go insane back in the classroom fulltime.
Thinking relieving cos one can pretty much do what you want as long as you leave the classroom tidy when you go and don't mess up the reading books eh?
Otherwise take another year to study and do some practical art/art history papers and find yourself an art teacher's job.
OR do your ECE crossover training and then hangout with the little tiddlers painting and playdoughing and writing learning stories.
OR how about we start our own hanging out at the supermarket school and charge elevntybillion dollars each for people to send their kiddoes to our exclusive organic learning centre?
And remember that no matter how good a friend she is, someone else's classroom can never be your classroom. When you have your own space and your own kids, it's a totally different game.
You can jump through the hoops in a couple of weeks ( didn't I just do it for ERO and really, it's only formalising on paper what I already do in real life) which leaves another 38 to do it your way, in your contexts and in your time - or their time if you want to. I have 16-20 kids in my classes every hour of every day on 'individualised plans' and we make it work. You find ways, if it's really your passion (and I know it is) you'll make it work for you and for them.
And you know better than anyone that integrated learning is the way of the future and most of us are still catching up to where you are already at.
There will be a school and a classroom and a bunch of kids that are a perfect fit for you. xxx
Just be thankful that you're not teaching in the UK. 30 kids in the class, strict curriculum objectives and constant assessing and recording pupil progress to fill in stupid government forms and meet targets. OFSTED inspectors able to descend with 2 days notice to make sure that you are jumping through all the hoops and that the school is making more progress than last time. It's bloody hard work trying to sneak creative activities in while pretending to tick all the boxes.
Set the hoops on fire. If nothing else it will liven things up ;)
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