Res school

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Home : 2004 : October : 10

Res school
By BD

My wife and I taught on a reserve in BC last year, and this year we are teaching grade six in Manitoba. We are job-sharing. I work until noon, and my wife works in the afternoon. It is working out well, and I highly recommend
it. We had the idea because we have young children, and we want to be home with them, however, I recommend job-sharing to everyone. There is always someone to bounce ideas off, you don't get burned out as quick, and you have someone to be strong in the areas you are not and vice-versa.
We have really enjoyed the communities, and we find that we feel so much safer here with our

children than we did in the city. We find that we have a lot of freedom in how we teach, and that the townsfolk and coworkers are wonderful people. It is the rudeness and non-compliance of many students that I find challenging. They are lovable kids, and, outside of school, they are the sweetest, and most fun. In school, however, there is a general 'dis the teacher' mentality. We are trying to work around, get over, get through or just ignore this dynamic. So far we have made a little ground, but it is 'two steps forward and one step back'. I would suggest you ask potential employers for a copy of their discipline policy to see if you can expect much 'back up' from the office. We have had issues of hitting, insults and disruptive behaviour daily. We have support this year, but last year was tense because there was little support from the admin. and yet we were expected to take students back in our class 10 minutes after they had told us to F-off.

This year, class management is our first priority. At least until we can manage to do more fun things that require some participation and interaction without risking pandemonium.