Teaching Boys.......

[DianaB]

Sorry, I did leave out their ages. They are kindergarten and first grades. Glen cut out 2nd grade in order to make my class smaller and easier to handle. Ha!!

The boys are bused in so there's usually not a parent involved. There is a guy at church that I can call and he'll take the boy into the adult church. That might work. I think that he also gives the boy a talk as well. A lot of parents send their kids to just get them out of their hair for awhile. Usually the ones that cause the most trouble have the saddest home life. Thanks for all of the ideas!!!

[Marilyn]

Oh, Diana, I can sooooo relate. I've been teaching off and on, but most of the time since I was in college. I've taught pre-school thru junior high girls. Never really had a much of a problem until last fall. I was teaching 1st - 3rd grade, a class I'd been teaching for 4 years, and really enjoyed. It was like I'd found my niche. Anyway, three boys were promoted into the class. One, Parker, has emotional problems. They thought he was autistic when he was a baby, but he has improved immensly since then. He interacts well, but has a short attention span. You have to keep getting his attention or he'll drift off. He really liked me and we got along well. Another, Kirk, is a sweet little boy, but he likes everything to be in a pattern. You have to do the same things at the same time during the class, or he gets frustrated. If he doesn't have time to finish something, he'll cry if we don't stop the class and give him time to finish. Then there is Manny. Even though I know his mother is a strong disciplinarian, he acts like he has no discipline. If he doesn't want to do something, he'll turn into silly putty and slink to the floor. He says unkind things to Kirk and Parker when he doesn't like something they do or say. Overall, he's a very very disruptive factor in the classroom. You put the three together and it can be overwhelming. I tried having Rex in the classroom with me, and it didn't help much. I tired having Manny's mother in the classroom, and he is better when she is there, but she needs to be in her own class.

I taught this class for two quarters and finally had to tell the deacon over the youth education that I couldn't do it any longer. I've never had to give up on anything like this before, but they were reducing me to tears. I had to admit that I'm just not the person for the job. They found another lady who is like a drill sargent and she seems to like the class and is very firm with them. More power to her.

I'm now teaching 4 & 5 year olds. There are three girls in the class, and we are having a blast. One of the girls is Kirk's little sister, and I see some of the same traits in her, but they are a dream compared to the boys. Sometimes we just have to admit that we aren't the right one for the job and let someone else take the reigns. In my case, this all worked out for the best.

Diana, so hope that things work out for you. I do feel your pain and frustration. Hugs!!

[DianaB]

I knew that you'd understand, Marilyn, since you also teach in church. I also teach a Sunday School class that's about the same age, but mostly they are kids raised in church with parents that are there. I was running about 6 to 8 kids until we had promotions and now I have any where from 1 to 3. It's a really nice class now and I'm not fustrated with so few.

It doesn't help that the boys are allowed to run willy-nilly all over everywhere right before class on Wednesday. I'll try a few more times and see how it goes. I've never really wanted to teach boys but Glen needed the help and I'm feeling pretty good with the new meds that I'm on so I thought that I could tackle teaching them. I was so excited about some ideas that I had but last Wednesday night has really taken some of the excitement out of me. We'll see what happens.......

[judy]

Sadly, Diana, children from not so great homes tend to respond to the drill sergeant type of teacher Marilyn gave her kids over to. They need a lot of structure, and they are used to adults being harsh with them. They sometimes just don't know how to react to kindness, so they ignore you.

You really don't seem like you have that drill sergeant in you!

[Marilyn]

Diana, so hope things work out better for you this next Wednesday evening!!

One thing that I left behind when I switched classes is my prepared material. Our material repeats every 4 years, so I had worked up the 4 years worth of material, with each quarter in a binder organized by weeks, and we were just starting to repeat. It was so nice, because I already had all the visuals and other required materials assembled in binders and ready to go. Since I've changed to 4 & 5 year olds, I'm starting all over again with the 4 year program for them. My predicessors in this class did not retain the prepared materials. We're working to coordinate the teachers so that everyone uses a binder system to capture this material so we have it ready to go in the future. Teaching elementary and below is lot of work, we spend hours preparing for a 45 minute class.

[judy]

Lesson plans are the bane of every teacher's existence Marilyn! A good lesson plan takes so much work! When I started teaching high school, I spent the first year writing up my lesson plans. I really never went out. I was using a word processor at the time, and it just crashed after that year!

I never really redid my lesson plans after that. The cut and paste method is wonderful, and worked very well for me. There was always something to add, change , reword, etc., but that is just not a big deal. I just dumped my science lesson plans before I moved. I did keep my health lessons, and I think I still have some of my English lesson plans in a box somewhere.

Have you asked the people who taught the 4 and 5 year olds for anything they still have? It would be hard to believe that they just got rid of everything, unless they were never going to teach again!

There are some wonderful online sites that have good lesson plans. Have you tried looking around?

[DianaB]

Marilyn, I understand your fustration with the lesson plans. My daughter, Dae Lynn was the teacher before me and she gave me the website address that she'd been getting ideas from. It's been really helpful. There is cirriculum but it's difficult to use and you have to work to gain badges. It's not like my Sundy School lessons at all. Everyone knows that teaching these boys is hard and are giving me ideas. My daughter, Amy, is helping with some things as well.

This week will be better......................I hope!!!!

Judy, I'm sure that you're right about what it takes to make the kids listen to you. A man would be better suited to teach this class and we do have several......but they just want to help, not teach. I know that I don't show it on here but I really do have a drill sergent inside of me!!!

It'll work.....just say a prayer for me!!!