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I'm sure at times we have all had a teacher who is not so great at his or her job. He may be uninterested, mean, or just doing it for money. Unfortunately, I am a pretty shitty teacher.
I teach Catholic beliefs to 4th graders at a local parish, and I'm really bad at it. I don't believe in Catholicism, I'm tired every single time I teach (it's at 5:15 on a Monday night after I've had a full day of school and 2 clubs before it), and I'm really inexperienced at it. And last Monday, it was really hard for me. My co-teacher was out sick, and I had to handle seven 4th graders by myself. Normally, this would've been very easy. However one of my students is incredibly disruptive.
He's not a bad kid, despite being disruptive. As far as I can tell, his dad isn't really in the picture and he has at least some combination of learning disabilities (dyslexia, ADHD, ADD, bad eyesight, etc. contribute to the fact that he's reading at around a first grade level). It's hard enough as it is for most people to try and fit in, but he's at a disadvantage just from having trouble with school. So to make up for it, he tries to be funny and get attention all of the time. I'm terrible at handling this though and I wish that I could help him learn how to read better, but it's not my job. I am not even close to being a teacher; I'm a junior in high school.
But this past Monday was incredibly difficult. I got a bunch of really tough questions to answer honestly to a bunch of fourth graders. Among them, some of the highlights were: Can a man and a man or a woman and a woman get married? Why were Adam and Eve naked? Did Adam and Eve have kids? Why do people go to Hell?
Explaining this stuff to people that still don't even grasp the concept of sex fully is hard. Trying to honestly explain to them the difference between stories in the Bible that are interpreted literally and those that just teach lessons was pretty challenging too. I had to explain everything from how the Catholic Church views it, but I didn't want to be crass or offensive at the same time.
The other incredibly challenging part of my "job" is classroom management. First, the kid with the learning disability ended up calling one of my other students a ginger. Ginger really isn't that insulting of a word, but considering there are people that got the crap kicked out of them for being ginger I basically had to tell him to stop before it escalated any further. Since this really didn't do anything, the kid then proceeded to make fun of his autistic brother. This immediately caused the "ginger" to cry. Now I was stuck in a shitty position and I didn't have anyone to help me or cover my class. I yelled at him and told him to go into the office which he immediately ignored and decided to go hide in the bathroom instead (I'm pretty sure the kid with the learning disability was pretty embarrassed and didn't want to go to the office).
It ended up not being too big of a deal, but I still feel like a pretty shitty teacher in general. I can't manage my class, they're not interested in what they're learning, and I just don't have any good ways of making them care about it or forcing them to suck it up like a teacher at school could do.
 
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Teaching is hard and not everyone is meant to do it. Like any other skill, there are those who are naturally gifted at it. Most of teaching though, from what I've seen as a student, comes from learning on the fly and adapting. DarkPlasmaBall would be a person I'd PM about this, he's a successful teacher.
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mightyatom is a teacher too i think, or some other red i cant remember the name of. I know he's a ginger guy. I think, and definitely lives in japan, i think. I may have two of them confused, im thinking of a teacher and a business man.
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Manifesto is a teacher I think, not Mightyatom.
It's not only your fault. Kids become harder to manage the later it is. 5.15 is late for 4 graders, they are tired and very often just hungry enough to have an attention span of about 3 seconds.
(I'm a dentist so I know handling kids. I always recommend parents to take children and difficult ones in particular) as early as possible in the day, makes my job a lot easier.)
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Micronesia is a teacher as well, as far as I know.
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I'm a junior in high school.
Am I getting this right? How old are you, 16? You're not supposed to be good at this, people go to uni and it still takes them years to get really good at it (especially classroom management, which is apparently one of the most difficult parts).
You probably should not be teaching 4th graders on your own, especially not stuff you don't even believe in yourself. It's not really clear what the normal setup is: are you mostly helping out for a qualified teacher, or is it two high schoolers? If there's usually a teacher there and you had to cover for them there's no reason why you should do a normal lesson on your own. Have the teacher come up with a lighter lesson when he's not there, mostly some games.
If you're both teenagers, well I question the value in that. If you're not a Catholic I don't see how it could be useful for either you or the kids.
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On March 02 2014 05:56 hypercube wrote:Am I getting this right? How old are you, 16? You're not supposed to be good at this, people go to uni and it still takes them years to get really good at it (especially classroom management, which is apparently one of the most difficult parts). You probably should not be teaching 4th graders on your own, especially not stuff you don't even believe in yourself. It's not really clear what the normal setup is: are you mostly helping out for a qualified teacher, or is it two high schoolers? If there's usually a teacher there and you had to cover for them there's no reason why you should do a normal lesson on your own. Have the teacher come up with a lighter lesson when he's not there, mostly some games. If you're both teenagers, well I question the value in that. If you're not a Catholic I don't see how it could be useful for either you or the kids.
Yeah, I'm 16 (turning 17 in May, not that it really matters though  ). It's usually another junior and I teaching the class. It's not very long, considering it only lasts for 1 hour, but it's just difficult to keep them under control. I also have no time to prepare lessons, but it's just basically reading out of a book and explaining the hard stuff to them. It's not complicated or involved stuff, but it just requires having an understanding of the material. A lot of people don't really understand a lot of what they believe, so having someone that knows everything they're talking about is kind of helpful for the kids and the parents.
I do it mostly for volunteer hours and for extracurricular activities, but it's still kind of rewarding to teach kids. I just suck at it lol.
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Thanks for the shout-out, docvoc 
Hey MtlGuitarist97, a few questions for you and your job as a catechist:
1. Why are you teaching? Easy money? No other job opportunities? Because it's good experience and a step in the direction of your ideal future profession? Just to get volunteer hours on your college applications?
2. How do you reconcile teaching Catholicism with not being Catholic? Do you just answer questions and teach the way you figure Catholics would explain the faith? Do you think you do a better (or equal or worse) job than those catechists who are actually Catholic?
3. Do you have any other experience teaching or tutoring, or working with little kids (especially those with special needs)?
You guys are 16, so I'm not particularly surprised that you're having some trouble managing a classroom (even if it is only seven students), especially one with special needs. Quite frankly, if a student really has special needs, an uncertified high schooler shouldn't be put in charge of him (no offense, but it's a legal and safety issue). So regardless of your faith, I'd venture to say that you're not particularly qualified to deal with a disabled student. Hell, I know many professional educators (including myself) who still have a hard time dealing with disruptive children and overall classroom management. The hardest part of teaching primary and secondary school children- by far- is the classroom management. Knowing the content ahead of time is rarely a problem; it's getting the kids to sit down, shut up, and get engaged which takes far more work!
Here's my advice to you: If you don't want to become a formal educator in the future (teacher, professor, educational coach, etc.) and this job is causing as much stress for you as you're letting on, then I recommend finding another job. For the time being, your job as a religious babysitter primarily needs to consist of making sure no students are being bullied first, with the religious content coming second.
On a completely separate note, I'd feel like a hypocrite if I were teaching religious views that I personally disagreed with, unless I was just explaining the history or allegory or some other view that I could reconcile with my personal beliefs. I feel like all of these things (classroom management, disagreement with the curriculum, other "more important" work that's also on your plate before and after this job, etc.) are compiling to make you resent this job. And perhaps legitimately. But that's not particularly healthy or smart for you or the students you're teaching.
Being an educator can be an unbelievable opportunity, but I think you need a little more experience and a little less on your plate at the moment.
EDIT: micronesia is a teacher too
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On March 02 2014 06:08 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 02 2014 05:56 hypercube wrote:I'm a junior in high school. Am I getting this right? How old are you, 16? You're not supposed to be good at this, people go to uni and it still takes them years to get really good at it (especially classroom management, which is apparently one of the most difficult parts). You probably should not be teaching 4th graders on your own, especially not stuff you don't even believe in yourself. It's not really clear what the normal setup is: are you mostly helping out for a qualified teacher, or is it two high schoolers? If there's usually a teacher there and you had to cover for them there's no reason why you should do a normal lesson on your own. Have the teacher come up with a lighter lesson when he's not there, mostly some games. If you're both teenagers, well I question the value in that. If you're not a Catholic I don't see how it could be useful for either you or the kids. A lot of people don't really understand a lot of what they believe, so having someone that knows everything they're talking about is kind of helpful for the kids and the parents. I do it mostly for volunteer hours and for extracurricular activities, but it's still kind of rewarding to teach kids. I just suck at it lol.
Well, if you enjoy it that's different. I'm guessing you ARE religious (otherwise WTF?) so can't you just get away with saying what you believe? Maybe avoid issues where the difference in theology is too obvious?
I'm not religious, so I wouldn't know, but is the difference between different christian theologies so huge that a 10 year old would notice?
edit: I mean for the most part. I'm not really saying you should try to force your own beliefs on them, I just feel like for the most part there might be little difference between the two. Is that incorrect?
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1. Why are you teaching? Easy money? No other job opportunities? Because it's good experience and a step in the direction of your ideal future profession? Just to get volunteer hours on your college applications?
It's an unpaid position. I do it for volunteer work and because it is rewarding. I had to go through RCIA to attend my current school (Rites of Catholic Initiation for Adults or something to that effect) and I the person that taught it sacrificed a lot of his time to teach me. I don't believe any of it, but there's enough that I enjoy about theology to teach younger people about it. As a very minor point, it also helps make me seem more Catholic and less atheistic, which is a major bonus because I have to act like a Catholic for another year or so.
2. How do you reconcile teaching Catholicism with not being Catholic? Do you just answer questions and teach the way you figure Catholics would explain the faith? Do you think you do a better (or equal or worse) job than those catechists who are actually Catholic?
I have a pretty strong background in Scripture (much stronger than most Catholics), a pretty strong background in theology (much stronger than the average Catholic, about on par with a decently educated Catholic), and a very strong background in Church history. I think using those qualities I can explain certain aspects way better than the average Catechist, but I do have problems when it comes to explaining the practicality of certain points.
For instance, when the kid basically asked me if it's ok to be gay, I answered in regards to the legality of it and then answered about what the Catholic church teaches. I think most Catechists would've immediately responded with what the Church thinks. Since I come from the viewpoint that it's perfectly fine and acceptable, I had a harder time immediately saying that it's not what the church teaches. I also don't have the experiences of someone who's older and may be a parent or have lived what they're teaching, but it's not that big of a deal imo.
3. Do you have any other experience teaching or tutoring, or working with little kids (especially those with special needs)?
I tutored my mom's boyfriend's son for a while in algebra/earth science, and I basically taught my brother a lot of his introductory biology, but aside from that and helping my friends understand what we've learned I don't have much experience in tutoring or teaching.
Here's my advice to you: If you don't want to become a formal educator in the future (teacher, professor, educational coach, etc.) and this job is causing as much stress for you as you're letting on, then I recommend finding another job. For the time being, your job as a religious babysitter primarily needs to consist of making sure no students are being bullied first, with the religious content coming second.
Maybe I came off too whiny. It doesn't cause me that much stress usually; last Monday was just particularly bad. It's mostly that on Mondays I'm exhausted by the time I finally get home, and after having a class like that I am emotionally strained as well. The other issue that I didn't really go into in the blog is that there are other underlying issues in their conflict. The kid with the learning disability basically ended up telling me that the other kid ("ginger") calls him gay and says that he has no friends and told him to go fuck himself. I found that pretty surprising considering they're 4th graders, but I can't say that it's unheard of. I basically tried to explain to him that there's nothing I can do about what he's doing at school, and that it's just my job to make sure everything goes smoothly at the Church and that they understand what they're learning. He basically nodded and told me he understood and didn't seem to be that mad at me.
The only other thing that I guess I should point out is that the public school system is failing this kid. He's not getting any extra attention despite the fact that it's 100% obvious he has a learning disability. He's not getting any aids, he's not getting any extra help, he's not getting extra time to learn stuff. He ends up getting made fun of by everyone else and takes his frustration out by disrupting class all the time and trying to make people laugh by abasing himself. I feel bad for him, but it's really the school system's fault for not doing anything to help him.
And yes, I do feel like a hypocrite but I never explain how I feel about a situation. I try to take the most liberal (yet acceptable) path when answering questions. I basically follow the Pope Francis route and say that it's not my place to judge someone else's actions, which is more or less true according to Catholic beliefs.
Well, if you enjoy it that's different. I'm guessing you ARE religious (otherwise WTF?) so can't you just get away with saying what you believe? Maybe avoid issues where the difference in theology is too obvious?
I'm not religious, so I wouldn't know, but is the difference between different christian theologies so huge that a 10 year old would notice?
edit: I mean for the most part. I'm not really saying you should try to force your own beliefs on them, I just feel like for the most part there might be little difference between the two. Is that incorrect?
I'm an atheist, but I know enough about the various Christian denominations to understand that they have quite a bit different between them. One of the major things that I think every Christian denomination fails to really emphasize is the necessity of doing good works. Some sects (for instance Lutherans) basically straight up reject the need to do good works to be saved. Regardless of whether or not this is true, it certainly makes society a better place and makes the kids more selfless if they choose to give to charity and volunteer.
Anyway, I'm not in a position where I can quit for this year. I've only got about 6 classes left (maybe less if we get anymore snow storms lol), and I can basically put up with this for now. It's just kind of a pain in the ass considering how much stuff I have coming up within the next 3 months 
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I teach in a university and teaching kids is out of my depth. Don't worry about it too much, it's just a hard thing to do.
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yeah no shit teaching his hard when u cant make students fail the class that they need.
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On March 02 2014 08:41 MtlGuitarist97 wrote:Show nested quote +1. Why are you teaching? Easy money? No other job opportunities? Because it's good experience and a step in the direction of your ideal future profession? Just to get volunteer hours on your college applications?
It's an unpaid position. I do it for volunteer work and because it is rewarding. I had to go through RCIA to attend my current school (Rites of Catholic Initiation for Adults or something to that effect) and I the person that taught it sacrificed a lot of his time to teach me. I don't believe any of it, but there's enough that I enjoy about theology to teach younger people about it. As a very minor point, it also helps make me seem more Catholic and less atheistic, which is a major bonus because I have to act like a Catholic for another year or so. Show nested quote +2. How do you reconcile teaching Catholicism with not being Catholic? Do you just answer questions and teach the way you figure Catholics would explain the faith? Do you think you do a better (or equal or worse) job than those catechists who are actually Catholic?
I have a pretty strong background in Scripture (much stronger than most Catholics), a pretty strong background in theology (much stronger than the average Catholic, about on par with a decently educated Catholic), and a very strong background in Church history. I think using those qualities I can explain certain aspects way better than the average Catechist, but I do have problems when it comes to explaining the practicality of certain points. For instance, when the kid basically asked me if it's ok to be gay, I answered in regards to the legality of it and then answered about what the Catholic church teaches. I think most Catechists would've immediately responded with what the Church thinks. Since I come from the viewpoint that it's perfectly fine and acceptable, I had a harder time immediately saying that it's not what the church teaches. I also don't have the experiences of someone who's older and may be a parent or have lived what they're teaching, but it's not that big of a deal imo. Show nested quote +3. Do you have any other experience teaching or tutoring, or working with little kids (especially those with special needs)?
I tutored my mom's boyfriend's son for a while in algebra/earth science, and I basically taught my brother a lot of his introductory biology, but aside from that and helping my friends understand what we've learned I don't have much experience in tutoring or teaching. Show nested quote +Here's my advice to you: If you don't want to become a formal educator in the future (teacher, professor, educational coach, etc.) and this job is causing as much stress for you as you're letting on, then I recommend finding another job. For the time being, your job as a religious babysitter primarily needs to consist of making sure no students are being bullied first, with the religious content coming second. Maybe I came off too whiny. It doesn't cause me that much stress usually; last Monday was just particularly bad. It's mostly that on Mondays I'm exhausted by the time I finally get home, and after having a class like that I am emotionally strained as well. The other issue that I didn't really go into in the blog is that there are other underlying issues in their conflict. The kid with the learning disability basically ended up telling me that the other kid ("ginger") calls him gay and says that he has no friends and told him to go fuck himself. I found that pretty surprising considering they're 4th graders, but I can't say that it's unheard of. I basically tried to explain to him that there's nothing I can do about what he's doing at school, and that it's just my job to make sure everything goes smoothly at the Church and that they understand what they're learning. He basically nodded and told me he understood and didn't seem to be that mad at me. The only other thing that I guess I should point out is that the public school system is failing this kid. He's not getting any extra attention despite the fact that it's 100% obvious he has a learning disability. He's not getting any aids, he's not getting any extra help, he's not getting extra time to learn stuff. He ends up getting made fun of by everyone else and takes his frustration out by disrupting class all the time and trying to make people laugh by abasing himself. I feel bad for him, but it's really the school system's fault for not doing anything to help him. And yes, I do feel like a hypocrite but I never explain how I feel about a situation. I try to take the most liberal (yet acceptable) path when answering questions. I basically follow the Pope Francis route and say that it's not my place to judge someone else's actions, which is more or less true according to Catholic beliefs.
You sound pretty informed and would probably make a good teacher if you pursued it as a career. You clearly care about the students, which is great. Managing a classroom of kids takes a lot of hard work, which is typically something that high schoolers can't handle and don't have experience with. It's very easy to get frustrated with your situation, but it's more important to focus on the good parts of your job and the situations that go well
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Noway I could ever teach somebody something I don't believe in myself, or have good grounds for believing it, especially something like religion... As for the questions : the only reason they were hard to answer were because you had to answer them within a set of beliefs that were forced upon you, that makes the questions hard to answer.
Now, I don't want to give too much advice regarding how you should treat the kids since I'm nowhere near a teacher but I noticed that an authoritive and reliable father-like figure usually keeps a class quiet. (there is a professor at my Uni where no one dares speak a word. You can simply 'feel' the pressure coming from such a person - no one is going to fuck around with this guy, but at the same time he is reliable on an intellectual level : his lectures make a ton on sense, and he tries to get students to think for themselves.), however I feel like one should always provide a rational explanation; not sure how effective this would be on the kids you are teaching, but I feel like for me that was what seperated the good teachers from the bad : someone that can make sense, that has wits and gives rational explanations; that kind of person I can respect.
Don't know if I made much sense - I have no experience in teaching, but those sets of qualities is what I always appreciated. Being serious about what he does - but not too serious about himself, being knowledgable - but not claiming there to be absolute knowledge, and being just and authorative - but not while disrespecting those he tries to correct.
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My worst learning experience was during my 1st year at uni where my calculus lecturer was a guy from Nigeria who received his doctorate here, but can barely pronounce words from the English vocabulary correctly.
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Just want to say this was a really interesting blog. If I was a teacher I might be tempted to experiment with some methods of keeping kids under control, like maybe having special desks with dividers so they couldn't really interact with their peers; they could only see forward and respond to the teacher. For the particularly disruptive kids, you could have a "safety bar" that prevents them from getting up and doing all sorts of things . But I guess you can't do that
Also I think kids like watching movies, I know I did. Maybe if you find a documentary they can park themselves and watch it, I'm sure there are lots of informative ones. Assuming they fit with the lesson plan...actually that sounds like a bit of a headache to figure out.
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I taught English for a year when I was in China. You can't expect everyone of your students to be perfect. What I can tell you is concentrate on the ones who will learn, but simultaneously give your disruptive students an equal and fair chance to answer a question you ask them. If it seems that said student is unable to answer the question, discuss it with his or her parent after class. That's all you really can do.
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I'm not a teacher but I did get taught bible stuff when I was like 8 to 12. I'm not sure how strict your program but considering they are hiring someone as young as you would lead me to believe that there is some room for your own interpretation. My idea would be to dumb it down a bit. Those kids are probably really tired so let them lay back a bit while you tell them a story from the children's bible or show them a video. It's what my teacher did at the time and through his (pleasant) stories I actually have a pretty decent knowledge of the bible. Safe the "you will go to hell if (insert sin)" stuff for when they are older.
Also, if you have moral issues with questions like gay marriage just say 'the bible says' so you don't have tell them about your personal beliefs.
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EPT
