Frog Teacher and the automated classroom of insanity.
Fun first... my week later.
The saga begins...
I was teaching my favorite class of 6 7 year olds and was reviewing phonics and we had been goofing around. It's a tiny class on the third floor of my school sort of in no man's land. One other teacher on the floor and no windows looking into the hall. We were having a great time, but this fly flew in front of my face and the kids were laughing, then it almost landed on my cheek. I pretended to snap at it with my teeth and the kids hollered, then it looped, right in front of my nose, I snapped at it again. Well, even the mosquitoes here are more skittish than Canadian house flies... faster, too. I snapped at this bloody fly and it disappeared, I felt little pin pricks in my mouth and then my tongue had a tingly spot... uh-oh. My kids were looking all around. My eyes went wide and I licked my hand, there he was, kicking and rolling in the slick of saliva from my tongue. No sooner had I said, "yuck!" had I heard, "Teacher!" and turned to see Vincent skidding on the floor and my bottle of Iced Tea flying at my head. I caught the tea, took a swig and went to the bathroom. Well, the kids were off the hook, I left the bathroom door open and they could hear me spitting and gagging and they were completely incoherent with laughter. I was having some fun and actually didn't really care about the fly, I had eaten worse but I never intended to actually catch the fly.
The students settled down and I asked if they had any questions. Nancy asked, "Frog Teacher, may I please go..." Well, it was about another two minutes before anyone could talk and sit straight again. I signed her homework book, "The Frog."
...The end.
Well, it's been a hectic week and I don;t know where to start. Keith tested some kids in my class and he picked two of the slow ones, yes, I'm pretty sure it's not "random". They tested poor, so on Thursday, he came in to show me some ways to review in my other Tues Thurs class, those kids were better but had the same problems. He had asked me to grab some flash cards with clothing pictures on them, which I already had. When he was reviewing, he asked for the rest of them and I told him that was it. I had asked the girls for more and was told they didn't exist. Keith looked at me like I was full of crap and went to get the cards himself, I offered but he was pissed that I didn't have them because the girls had just finished making them and I should have had the new set. Well... the "NEW" set was the one I had and the missing flashcards never existed, that was the end of Keith's assistance to me. None of the classrooms having magnets on the whiteboards to hold flashcards up didn't help either, I had a few in my box that I had bought. He left muttering under his breath about the school falling apart and none of it was aimed at me. Then, today, he came into my afternoon class and tested my kids and they were ok, but needed some work. Then Andy was going to pull some kids out of my afternoon class and Keith was going to watch my writing class.
I decided to prep my kids for the test, but he never came, too busy. Whatever, we had a blast. Keith pulled a kid out of my writing class and sent her back up with a note saying she was great, but a few mistakes, at least he was happy with one of my classes. It pisses me off that he charges like a mad bull every 8 months but does no monitoring in between. By the way, this "random" testing started on Tuesday and so far, has included ALL of my classes (except the one Andy was too busy for) and none of the other teachers'. Whatever, I think I'm finished for now, got some stuff to pick up on but their phonics are fine now, so much for October's problems. If he would provide some constructive criticism and not be the China Shop Bull, things may be smoother for everyone... however tyranny also has it's advantages... if you're the tyrant. In the midst of things, I DID look at some other jobs, I start on Monday for 2 of the 3 I looked at if I had decided to change places. No, I was just sniffing around, I have been out of the job loop for about a year and a half, so I just wanted to see what's out there. I would lose about CAN$3 / hour if I switched, but could work in a small town about 15 minutes from Kaohsiung in a valley between mountains in the fresh air... mmmmm.... fresh. However, everyone I know who has been here for a while wants to work at my school, so I must be looking ok.
The saga begins...
I was teaching my favorite class of 6 7 year olds and was reviewing phonics and we had been goofing around. It's a tiny class on the third floor of my school sort of in no man's land. One other teacher on the floor and no windows looking into the hall. We were having a great time, but this fly flew in front of my face and the kids were laughing, then it almost landed on my cheek. I pretended to snap at it with my teeth and the kids hollered, then it looped, right in front of my nose, I snapped at it again. Well, even the mosquitoes here are more skittish than Canadian house flies... faster, too. I snapped at this bloody fly and it disappeared, I felt little pin pricks in my mouth and then my tongue had a tingly spot... uh-oh. My kids were looking all around. My eyes went wide and I licked my hand, there he was, kicking and rolling in the slick of saliva from my tongue. No sooner had I said, "yuck!" had I heard, "Teacher!" and turned to see Vincent skidding on the floor and my bottle of Iced Tea flying at my head. I caught the tea, took a swig and went to the bathroom. Well, the kids were off the hook, I left the bathroom door open and they could hear me spitting and gagging and they were completely incoherent with laughter. I was having some fun and actually didn't really care about the fly, I had eaten worse but I never intended to actually catch the fly.
The students settled down and I asked if they had any questions. Nancy asked, "Frog Teacher, may I please go..." Well, it was about another two minutes before anyone could talk and sit straight again. I signed her homework book, "The Frog."
...The end.
Well, it's been a hectic week and I don;t know where to start. Keith tested some kids in my class and he picked two of the slow ones, yes, I'm pretty sure it's not "random". They tested poor, so on Thursday, he came in to show me some ways to review in my other Tues Thurs class, those kids were better but had the same problems. He had asked me to grab some flash cards with clothing pictures on them, which I already had. When he was reviewing, he asked for the rest of them and I told him that was it. I had asked the girls for more and was told they didn't exist. Keith looked at me like I was full of crap and went to get the cards himself, I offered but he was pissed that I didn't have them because the girls had just finished making them and I should have had the new set. Well... the "NEW" set was the one I had and the missing flashcards never existed, that was the end of Keith's assistance to me. None of the classrooms having magnets on the whiteboards to hold flashcards up didn't help either, I had a few in my box that I had bought. He left muttering under his breath about the school falling apart and none of it was aimed at me. Then, today, he came into my afternoon class and tested my kids and they were ok, but needed some work. Then Andy was going to pull some kids out of my afternoon class and Keith was going to watch my writing class.
I decided to prep my kids for the test, but he never came, too busy. Whatever, we had a blast. Keith pulled a kid out of my writing class and sent her back up with a note saying she was great, but a few mistakes, at least he was happy with one of my classes. It pisses me off that he charges like a mad bull every 8 months but does no monitoring in between. By the way, this "random" testing started on Tuesday and so far, has included ALL of my classes (except the one Andy was too busy for) and none of the other teachers'. Whatever, I think I'm finished for now, got some stuff to pick up on but their phonics are fine now, so much for October's problems. If he would provide some constructive criticism and not be the China Shop Bull, things may be smoother for everyone... however tyranny also has it's advantages... if you're the tyrant. In the midst of things, I DID look at some other jobs, I start on Monday for 2 of the 3 I looked at if I had decided to change places. No, I was just sniffing around, I have been out of the job loop for about a year and a half, so I just wanted to see what's out there. I would lose about CAN$3 / hour if I switched, but could work in a small town about 15 minutes from Kaohsiung in a valley between mountains in the fresh air... mmmmm.... fresh. However, everyone I know who has been here for a while wants to work at my school, so I must be looking ok.
posted by Colin at 2:37 AM
2 Comments:
Nice to see another post, it was funny, thought-provoking, and refreshing, keep it up, and (we) would love to see more pics
Big fan of "The Frog"
Reg
Just love your blog...You are so descriptive, I feel like I was in your class when you swallowed the fly..Remember the book "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, she swallowed a spider to catch the fly..." Where you just feeding the spider you already have in you???
Breta
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