Now that I've had 6 months of qualified teaching under my belt, I thought I kinda got the hang of it. I was right and wrong at the same time.
Last year, my kids were really quite passive and were very effectively conditioned to just be well-behaved. Plus they were also in Primary 4, so they had a year's worth inculcation of sky-high expectations on how to be good by their previous teacher. This lot, on the other hand, are a lot more opinionated and because they're really quite bright, give me a lot of suggestions and thoughts. Sometimes they're really good ("Miss Tan, why don't you appoint two people to help you carry your books? Our teacher did that last year." What a great idea! Thank you!) and sometimes, they're just plain funny ("Miss Tan, I don't think you should kill the ants on the floor…my aunty is a Buddhist. She says it's evil to kill things. We should love all living things." I didn't know how to respond to that).
All in all, they're really sweet and I think my classroom management skills are somewhat transferable to this bunch. Also, because they're the first class, I expected no trouble from them. I was wrong. There's this one particular girl in my class who seems to really hate me.
I was actually quite taken aback when I told her off one day in front of the class and what I got in return was a venomous glare, rolling of eyes and furious muttering under her breath. This has happened a few times mainly because she has consistently refused to complete her work in the stipulated time and instead, spends time doodling and writing letters. So I dished out the old, tried and tested 'warnings and consequences' trick, where I would give her 3 warnings and if she still didn't comply I'd have to tell her off (consequences). After which, I pulled her aside and explained nicely why she had to complete her work in time etc. You can imagine what I got back in return. A sullen glare.
It's been a real bee in my bonnet because I cannot, for the life of me, understand why she displays such vitriolic behaviour towards me. Coincidentally, she's a third of a triplet and her sister is also in my class, but is the exact opposite. I called her mum today, after receiving a note from her to call her, and found out a few things that this girl said to her:
She doesn't like school because:
1) She thinks I hate her. (That really hit me in the gut.)
2) She doesn't have many friends in this new class.
3) She feels stressed out that she's in a 'smart' class and won't get a chance to lead.
4) She feels stressed that her younger sister seems to be doing better than her, and bossing her around.
Also, she appears to have 'Middle child syndrome', where she feels inferior to her other siblings. Since all 3 are pretty bright, you can imagine what a competitive household it must be. Thus, my pointing her out in class really must have embarrassed her and coupled with all these extraneous factors, such as family background and disposition, caused her to react this way. I guess, at the end of the day, she wasn't really trying to be rude to me. It was just her coping mechanism for dealing with stress and embarrassment.
I should have seen that coming - I actually felt really bad that I hadn't managed to figure this kid out and help make her first week in school better. All that Social and Developmental Psychology study about birth order and class dynamics is starting to make sense now that I'm seeing it in action. Time to change tactics with this kid, looks like this class is going to be a little bit more complicated than I thought it would be. So now that I understand the root of this problem, I'll try to give her more leadership roles, have a chat with her about what I can do to make her feel more comfortable, and give her more chance to interact with her old friends so that she can ease into this new class. Also, I'll stop singling her out when she's not fully complying with my instructions - I'll have to choose my battles more carefully.
Next entry, I'll put up some pictures of my kids' work on adjectives and talk about the 'Yarning' game that I played with them to bond the class together.
