I agree 100%

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2003 : October : 26

I agree 100%
By applesnwine

Those kind of numbers are crazy. I started out as a sub, aiming for a middle school language arts position. What I saw in middle schools scared the hell out of me. One day I was in a class with 45 Esol students! They ran
all over me. It was horrible.
I admire you for even hanging in there as long as you have.
In my case, I switched strategies. I saw the crazy classroom sizes in middle schools and decided instead to pursue elementary education. I'm now teaching 21 kindergarten students. It's tough -- yes, believe it. I thought by choosing kindergarten I would have an easier time controlling them. But

I am on my toes all day long. And the parents are worse than the kids. One day I had to flee the school and be escorted out a back exit because one of the parents was coming to scream at me about her child's report card.

I wonder when our society will finally understand that until class sizes get smaller, the quality of education will not improve?

My class is probably twice as large as it should be because most of my kids are reading below grade level and they are at risk. They need far more attention than I can provide. There is very little teaching in my room. It's all discipline, and get in your seats, and sit down, and be quiet. I feel like I'm not a teacher, I'm a corrections officer. This is not what I had in mind. It's my first teaching job so I'm still on the learning curve. Even so, I'm a little disillusioned. I just hope next year I can switch to a school with fewer discipline problems. I'd rather have 21 well behaved kids than 12 out of control kids. You know?