First Day Back at Work

I don’t like middle schoolers today.  They suck.  They don’t listen.  They don’t understand.  So then I speak in French and they understand me.  And then they choose not to listen.  Repeat.

This is what happened for my first hour of teaching at the middle school.  I gave them directions, repeated two times and they still don’t understand.  So then I tell everyone LOOK AT ME, I look like an absolute idiot because when I speak I act out everything I say so they understand.  I explained to them that everyone needs to look at me so that they can understand and they still don’t do it.  What dumb dumbs.  Why do I want to be a teacher again????

So I survived the middle school and then I had two more hours at the high school.  Hour 1 at the high school…HELL.  Compared to how much the middle schoolers annoyed me, this class annoyed me times ten.  They were so impolite.  They wouldn’t stop talking at all, so like I was taught, I did not speak over them but I waited until they stopped talking.  Well guess what, they never stopped talking.  I got to the point that I was so frustrated and didn’t know what to do that I started disciplining them in English.  I wrote the word disrespectful on the board (they understand everything better when it is written) and explained to them that I will tell their teacher and the principal because they are being so incredibly rude.  They saw that I was frustrated (even if they didn’t understand me) and shut up for a little while, but of course it didn’t last long.  I haven’t told their teacher yet but they better believe that I am going to have some words with their teacher.  I will not be treated like that, I do not get paid enough.  I even told them I am not giving them homework, exams, or grades and this class is meant to be fun but if they are going to act like this, I will give them real work to do.  Ugh, by the end of the class I was fed up but I had another course right after that I totally didn’t want to teach.  (Disclaimer-there was one boy who was participating in class and actually doing his work and I thanked him after class).

Now for my second class.  I had a class of about 12 girls and they reminded me why I want to be a teacher.  The girls were so nice, were interested in what I had to say, and actually voluntarily participated. It was the first time that I met this class so it was the day where they asked me any kind of question they want to get to know me.  They asked me tons of questions about myself, Americans movies, schools, students, everything.  And the best part was that they actually listened to my answers and had more questions by the time that I even finished me answer.  It was amazing.  These girls who are actually motivated and interested are the reason that I want to be a teacher.  They had passion and charisma and it is so refreshing.  This class almost made me forget how bad my other two classes were in the morning.  Sometimes I forget why I want to be a teacher and then students like this come along and make every drop of frustration disappear.  And it is for these students that remind me why I chose to be a teacher instead of a doctor, lawyer, or business women who make much more money than I ever will.