Wonmyeong School Wednesday - 6th Grade Terror Day

I am going to keep a daily journal of what is happening at my school because I want to figure out the most effective way to teach students in Korea. I will do my best to keep you informed of stuff that is going on.

My first class today was wonderful. They were attentive and nice. They listened to the lesson well and they participated with answers. Overall, the class had a very positive attitude towards learning and teachers in general. This is a complete contrast to my 2nd class, which was disruptive and utterly chaotic.

I could place the blame on myself, but I think it goes much deeper than that. The teacher maintains order in the class with a bell that he must ring insistently - like the students were dogs. I simply couldn't get the class to settle down until a student told me to ring the bell. After I rang the bell they listened for a second and then I they started up again.

My third 6th grade class was much better. The teacher stayed in the classroom, so there was more order. The class participation was minimal. I think the teacher had a double whammy effect. First she did maintain order, but she also embarrassed the students because they were too shy to speak in front of her. What is the perfect balance? I don't know, but I would like to find out.

I have one student in my Na Ri class that is very smart, but he is a smart aleck, show off smart. Kinda like David, but with a lot more confidence. He purposely speaks fast and he wants to impress me, but he is simply alienating himself from the rest of the class. He is a little asshole. Hopefully, he won't grow into a big one in the future. I think he will be humbled before he reaches university.

Well back to class now. 3rd Grade Nan Cho. Hopefully it will go well.

It went well. I have some very intelligent students in the class and they are very excited to learn. I played a game about what they like and they don't like and they were engrossed in the project - which is exactly what I was hoping for. However, I don't know what I'm supposed to do next week because the teacher actually wants the class to use the book. This is class Nan Cho.

I start teaching the adults today. I'm going to just do freetalking and not much teaching. I have articles for them to read, but I don't think it'll be too necessary. I think I can talk about myself and get them to tell me about themselves for 50 minutes. I'm only going to teach for 50 minutes. I don't have the energy to do an hour.

That's it for now. I have lesson plans to do. I haven't even thought about 5th grade yet.

Tomorrow I have all fifth and fourth grades. The same is on Friday.

Dan

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