Our morning as teachers
It was Teachers' Day celebrations in the girls' school on Thursday and the practice in their school is that PVs (Parent Volunteers) take over the teaching duties for the early part of the morning to let the professional teachers sleep in a bit - although I'm not sure if they actually slept in or ended up still waking at the same time worrying that their class of rowdy girls were being handled by untrained amateurs.
It was my second attempt at doing this - last year I tried, but backed out last minute because I wasn't feeling too well (partly due to the anticipation of having to manage a class of 40 screaming girls). Celest volunteered for this once in 2012, and she vowed not to do it again - which I am glad she forgot. So this year we partnered to manage one class - so they gladly gave us two. Such generous souls, these people in the PV committee. :)
For the first hour, we were placed in a Primary 5 class which were large made up of Nicki Minaj fans, some of them looking slightly like her, at least three danced like her, and one definitely managed to sing like her. It felt like we were in a brightly lit (until one of them flipped the switch) disco filled with rap music and raunchy MTV videos (from YouTube) flashing on the screen - we are brought into the new world of early teenage hormones and pop music. Celest stared and me and said "this is not right". I looked out of the closed window (this class was somehow air-conditioned and placed in a corner of the school away from the other classes) and knew that if the principal walked by, we (as in Celest and I) would get into trouble and be sent to detention. It felt like we were back in school as students again.
If you were asking why this class was air-conditioned and placed in a corner of the school away from the other classes, we were wondering the same thing to. Someone hinted to us that this class was the "naughty" class. To be practical, if you're going to be playing loud music and screening inappropriate Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga videos, you'd probably want to use a soundproof air-conditioned class and have it away from the other classes so that the word doesn't get out. Perfect.
We let the girls practice their dance routine, skits and arrange their class for the ensuring mini-concert for their teacher when she arrived later (which we didn't get to see - I hope it went well). Hardly anyone touched the bit of art paper we gave out, which was supposed to be the main activity the girls were to be working on during the hour the PVs took over.
We tried to maintain discipline and ensure that all the girls were participating in at least one of the many non-art related activities which were simultaneously taking place - it was like a funfair. There was even a mini-buffet spread with snacks, soft-drinks and other goodies - it is amazing how they managed to get all that into the classroom, past security.
Many girls wanted to go the toilet, get outside the class (which was strange since the air-conditioner was turned-on) or find excuses to skip the ACES (All Children Exercising Simultaneously) dance session later. I found out there was politics going on when some girls complained to me that the "dance group" had already practiced a hundred times and didn't allow the "skit group" a chance to polish up their act - and it didn't help that the class monitor was in the "dance group". Talking about class monitor, she became my best friend as I found that she was my most effective resource to get things moving:
Me: Class! Keep quiet!!
Class: (no reaction - continued chattering away)
Me: Class monitor, come here. Please get the class to keep quiet.
Class monitor: OK. Class! Keep quiet!!
Class: (became quiet)
I call this leveraging authority.
Luckily time passed by quickly and soon, we found ourselves in a Primary 2 class. What a relief in terms of the noise level, at least at first. When I got to the class (I had to bring the P5s down to the hall, which in itself was a challenge - while Celest went to fetch the P2s up), Celest was comforting a sobbing girl - I later found out that her classmate either 1) said sometime nasty to her or 2) insisted that she couldn't have the pink origami paper and forced her to take the blue one. I introduced myself and proceeded to walk around the class like a boss, telling them how best to decorate their art pieces to achieve the best results. It was good to be the only one walking around and I think that is the way most paid teachers would prefer to conduct their classes too.
The girls were kind, obedient and to a certain extent, paid attention to what I said. I still remember some of those inquisitive faces, cute and curious staring up at me trying to figure out what I was saying. When I told them that they could decorate the board with messages, around fourteen of them ran up, went straight for the drawer where the teacher kept her markers and proceeded to take them all out.
From what I hear, this is quite a common reaction and we were briefed (warned) that many of the girls would want to do this and that it was ok. So we stood back to let the artistic creativity flow. Given there were more than a dozen (I could be exaggerating, it was a bit of a blur) students trying to get their bit of the board, there was bickering and shoving - but it turned out fine.
When it came time for the teachers to "appear", all the girls promptly dived under their desks while one of them ran to the switches to turn the lights and fans off. They did this repeatedly about 5 times, and each time I went and turned them back on telling them that there was still 15 minutes to go. On the plus side, they got lots of practice and I even made them rehearse screaming "Happy Teachers Day!" which I think Celest didn't approve of.
I learned several things that day:
It was my second attempt at doing this - last year I tried, but backed out last minute because I wasn't feeling too well (partly due to the anticipation of having to manage a class of 40 screaming girls). Celest volunteered for this once in 2012, and she vowed not to do it again - which I am glad she forgot. So this year we partnered to manage one class - so they gladly gave us two. Such generous souls, these people in the PV committee. :)
For the first hour, we were placed in a Primary 5 class which were large made up of Nicki Minaj fans, some of them looking slightly like her, at least three danced like her, and one definitely managed to sing like her. It felt like we were in a brightly lit (until one of them flipped the switch) disco filled with rap music and raunchy MTV videos (from YouTube) flashing on the screen - we are brought into the new world of early teenage hormones and pop music. Celest stared and me and said "this is not right". I looked out of the closed window (this class was somehow air-conditioned and placed in a corner of the school away from the other classes) and knew that if the principal walked by, we (as in Celest and I) would get into trouble and be sent to detention. It felt like we were back in school as students again.
If you were asking why this class was air-conditioned and placed in a corner of the school away from the other classes, we were wondering the same thing to. Someone hinted to us that this class was the "naughty" class. To be practical, if you're going to be playing loud music and screening inappropriate Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga videos, you'd probably want to use a soundproof air-conditioned class and have it away from the other classes so that the word doesn't get out. Perfect.
We let the girls practice their dance routine, skits and arrange their class for the ensuring mini-concert for their teacher when she arrived later (which we didn't get to see - I hope it went well). Hardly anyone touched the bit of art paper we gave out, which was supposed to be the main activity the girls were to be working on during the hour the PVs took over.
We tried to maintain discipline and ensure that all the girls were participating in at least one of the many non-art related activities which were simultaneously taking place - it was like a funfair. There was even a mini-buffet spread with snacks, soft-drinks and other goodies - it is amazing how they managed to get all that into the classroom, past security.
Many girls wanted to go the toilet, get outside the class (which was strange since the air-conditioner was turned-on) or find excuses to skip the ACES (All Children Exercising Simultaneously) dance session later. I found out there was politics going on when some girls complained to me that the "dance group" had already practiced a hundred times and didn't allow the "skit group" a chance to polish up their act - and it didn't help that the class monitor was in the "dance group". Talking about class monitor, she became my best friend as I found that she was my most effective resource to get things moving:
Me: Class! Keep quiet!!
Class: (no reaction - continued chattering away)
Me: Class monitor, come here. Please get the class to keep quiet.
Class monitor: OK. Class! Keep quiet!!
Class: (became quiet)
I call this leveraging authority.
Luckily time passed by quickly and soon, we found ourselves in a Primary 2 class. What a relief in terms of the noise level, at least at first. When I got to the class (I had to bring the P5s down to the hall, which in itself was a challenge - while Celest went to fetch the P2s up), Celest was comforting a sobbing girl - I later found out that her classmate either 1) said sometime nasty to her or 2) insisted that she couldn't have the pink origami paper and forced her to take the blue one. I introduced myself and proceeded to walk around the class like a boss, telling them how best to decorate their art pieces to achieve the best results. It was good to be the only one walking around and I think that is the way most paid teachers would prefer to conduct their classes too.
The girls were kind, obedient and to a certain extent, paid attention to what I said. I still remember some of those inquisitive faces, cute and curious staring up at me trying to figure out what I was saying. When I told them that they could decorate the board with messages, around fourteen of them ran up, went straight for the drawer where the teacher kept her markers and proceeded to take them all out.
 |
| Our Primary 2 class messed up their board, just for their teacher. |
From what I hear, this is quite a common reaction and we were briefed (warned) that many of the girls would want to do this and that it was ok. So we stood back to let the artistic creativity flow. Given there were more than a dozen (I could be exaggerating, it was a bit of a blur) students trying to get their bit of the board, there was bickering and shoving - but it turned out fine.
When it came time for the teachers to "appear", all the girls promptly dived under their desks while one of them ran to the switches to turn the lights and fans off. They did this repeatedly about 5 times, and each time I went and turned them back on telling them that there was still 15 minutes to go. On the plus side, they got lots of practice and I even made them rehearse screaming "Happy Teachers Day!" which I think Celest didn't approve of.
I learned several things that day:
- Primary 2 and Primary 5 girls are just 3 years apart but being in their classrooms would be like living on Earth vs Mercury
- Teachers must dye their hair very often because there is no other way
- Children these days are very different from our time - they are more inquisitive, observant and intelligent, meaning they are waiting to conquer you if you do not engage/manage them and are not willing to strangle one or two as a sacrificial example
- As with any management role, look for the people (class leaders in this case) whom you can leverage power from