When I heard I was being placed in a boys school I couldn’t believe it. As a linguist I spend a lot of university teaching time thinking about how to engage and enthuse boys in what is essentially a feminine subject, so you can imagine that I went in the first day with a fair amount of trepidation. However, I have to admit to having been very pleasantly surprised with how much I’ve enjoyed the process of teaching just boys.
For a start, I’m teaching German. Boys seem to very much prefer German to French, but I haven’t yet reached a definite conclusion on why that could be. Theories include the fact that German is more logical (these boys are quite geeky and love maths), that French is a more feminine language or that there’s something about the teaching of the two subjects that makes the difference. Anyway, the boys do seem to enjoy it and (so far) will go along with most of what I tell them to do.
For another thing, the wonderful thing about teaching boys is that they don’t hold a grudge. Even if you give them the bollocking of a lifetime they forgive you for it, even going so far as to still like you half an hour later.
I also like the fact that uniform misdemeanors are easy to correct. Do up your top button, tie your tie properly, tuck in your shirt – these are easy and straightforward commands to follow. There’s no dithering about what it an ‘acceptable’ length for a teenage girl’s skirt or how much make up is too much. This is good, from a purely practical standpoint of course.
But what I like the most is the pure joy of being around boys. They are straightforward creatures, they’ll tell you the truth if you’re daft enough to ask, they get stuck in to what ever you put in front of them and all they need to create settled lessons is a good run around at break and luch time.
At the moment I’m loving it – but I’m seeing a less well behaved class tomorrow, so I might feel differently after this.
Well, ok, not really. But I did teach my very first whole lesson today – from beginning to end, entering the room until being dismissed, they were my class. I enjoyed it very much. I think they did too, and more importantly, I’m pretty sure they learned something. We played with flashcards. I love flashcards. Perhaps that’s a sign I’m in the right job. 
Just being cautious though, you must remember that this is a particularly nice year 7 group, and I also saw the year nines today (though I didn’t have to attempt to teach them anything at least) and they gave me the biggest headache. They call me stupid names, they won’t shut up and seem to have no concept of what’s appropriate. They aren’t the hardened hooligans you see in other schools, they are smart, energetic boys in need of an attitude adjustment.
I can’t help but feel critical of the teacher, who is very relaxed with them. I don’t want to, because I’m not the experienced one. I worry that my adopting a more authoritarian style will be seen as an insult to this teacher. I think that the thing is that the teacher’s style works well for her, but it blatantly won’t work for me. I can’t have casual lessons, I think they need boundaries, and when it’s my turn I’ll just have to do the best I can to deal with them. The problem is that I take them over very soon (next week even) and I haven’t thought of a solution yet. Bill Rogers calls it the establishment phase – the time in which you make sure the class knows what you will and what you won’t stand for. I’ll just have to try it and see.
And at least I’m seeing the year sevens again tomorrow.
As has been pointed out to me a few times I haven’t updated very much recently. I have been astonishingly busy however (everyone who’s experience the dreaded PGCE will understand) and that will have to be my excuse. I’ve also started up another blog on behalf of my course mates, so that has been occupying a lot of my time.
I’m actually having a lovely time though. Teaching is really appealing to me, the high of teaching them something successfully is just unbeatable, and I’m quickly developing thick skin when dealing with the nightmare pupils, I have to keep reminding myself that it’s nothing personal and that it’s a good thing that they’ve already given me a nickname! It doesn’t stop me from repeating frequently that I could cheerfully throttle each and every one of the little brats though!
Next week I go in full time, as opposed to only 2 days a week, so this will be when I learn to manage my time properly. The frequency of posts on this blog should a fairly accurate guide to how well I’m doing that.
On a slightly more cheerful note, Chapati has recently added me to a very interesting looking blogging project. The current theme is teachers, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it, as I’m always interested in adding to my teacher blogroll.
Well, erm, today I didn’t plan well enough for my little bit of teaching, and as a result it didn’t work out all that well. Oh well, you live, you learn.
