New Beginnings

 

I am well into term 2.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that starting a new term in Australia is similar to starting a new year in Edmonton. I am very grateful for this new start because I really needed the chance to restructure the lessons. I have a much better understanding of how to get the students who misbehave to consider making better choices.

At the start of the term I had to reverse the environment from one that was completely out of control to one that is in control. All teachers learn in their first years that it is much easier to set high expectations at the beginning of the year than it is later on. Well… I guess I am lucky to have that lesson again 15 years later. I have insisted on the standards, been laughed at, and have given consequence after consequence. I have been phoning parents everyday, spending my lunches giving out detentions, and most importantly, having those important one on one chats with the students who consistently choose to distract students from learning.

Last week, I had a couple of teachers come in to watch my last block class. I was teaching the “challenge class” of Science 8. “Challenge” classes are Maroochydore’s version of Advanced Placement and these students tend to be more motivated and better behaved. Unfortunately, the class was not going well for me. The students were chatty and off task and I was horribly embarrassed to have colleagues see me struggle with a class that any other teacher here would find a walk in the park. After the class was over I asked one of the observers (my department head, Sharon) if she could give me any pointers on how to improve. She made a one-hour appointment with me for Wednesday.

I had mixed feelings about our meeting to discuss the lesson. I really wanted the feedback, and I felt ashamed that I was doing so poor. I have gained a fair bit of empathy for teachers who struggle. I listened very carefully to her advice and decided to give every recommendation a fair go – even if I didn’t agree with it. I went home feeling pretty low that day. However, there really is no point focusing on the negative, it really just makes one feel worse. Instead, I figured, I will do absolutely everything she advised. What was amazing was how well her suggestions worked.

I have learned that low-key interventions like proximity, desk tapping, name use, and eye contact are really quite useless at Maroochygore. Continuous lifeguard-like scanning is essential, especially when my attention is taken away giving one on one help. I have had to expand my mind to engage in several conversations at once. “OK, there’s 2 sodiums on the left and one on the right, so what can you do to balance them? Bryson, I’ll be right there, can you go on to the next question? Amber you need to go back to your seat please, Blake you still haven’t started the question, do you know what you are supposed to do? Adam, you need to stay in your chair. Josh, put that phone away and start on the activity please. Yes! Put a 2 in front of sodium chloride! Good job! Now compare the numbers of nitrate on each side…”. On Thursday during the last period of the day I had my most challenging class. I typically walk to this class with an adrenaline rush because I have never had any resemblance of control with these guys at the end of the day. Students jump out windows, run water all over the counters, throw paper, get in fights, and even throw chairs. However, after implementing Sharon’s advice, the class went really well. They were learning chemistry – almost all of them. Like a normal class! Sharon popped in to see how things were going and she looked at me with shock, whispering “have they been like this all class?” She made sure to tell the class how impressed she was with them and that she had never seen them like this before. I was so proud of them because these guys rarely get genuine praise. At the end of the day I made sure to find Sharon and thank her dearly for taking the time to mentor me. It was pretty emotional.

I often wonder how I will describe this experience once I get back home. How do I answer when someone asks “how was teaching in Australia?” The experience has been an evolution from having my spirit broken to accepting things as they are to small successes, and now big successes. I just hope that I can keep the momentum going.