Kids these days!

Oh my, what has happened to kids these days?! I went to work today as a substitute teacher at a summer day camp organized by CICS (I've totally forgotten what that stands for... oops). My first class was with Grade 8s and 9s and then the second class was with grade 6s and 7s - both in the area of Mathematics. I enjoy math. I'm a geek. I never really understood quite how much of a geek until today. Or maybe it's just that I've hung around other engineering geeks for about 5 years now and so liking or enjoying or at the very least understanding math has become a sort of expectation for me from other people. I know, not realistic - I'm sorry I didn't have a very diverse range of friends in University :S.

My grade 8s and 9s were complete BRATS! WOW! At first, I thought, these kids are so small and wimpy looking. Can they possibly be in Grade 9? They looked like they are in grade 5! Maybe my perception is changing as I get older. I thought they were innocent enough and wouldn't be a handful at all but once more kids started showing up, they started getting rowdy. As usual, there were the keeners who pay attention and answered my questions about the lesson but then there were the smart asses who pretended like they knew everything, answered my questions by mocking me and then continued to bust out the cards and say, time to play Big 2! UGH! It didn't help much that I didn't know what the usual routine for these kids was or that there wasn't really much schedule or structure to their lessons to begin with. Apparently the camp is run weekly so today was the last day for some kids and therefore they didn't care to do work. And for some kids, they'd be returning next week so they were torn between doing work and going along with the 'bad kids' - peer pressure. Anyhow, I finished up my lesson alright and tried to get them to focus on the assignment BEFORE playing games but of course who listens to the sub?! They took out battleship and then cards and made a lot of noise. One boy out of 12 kids actually asked me for help with the questions. I was glad to sit with him and explain the questions - I work so much better one on one. I think being a tutor is more my thing :P. Anyhow, upon recess time, the other kids were so wrapped up in their games that they didn't want to go outside. I finally had to be "mean" and take their cards away until they would listen and go out for some air. One of the girls - actually the ONLY girl - called me a b*tch! Honestly! For that, when they finally got outside, the owner of the cards asked me for the cards back and I said no. They were to be outside to enjoy the fresh air, not to play cards. And besides, they had already gotten their 20 minutes of card playing indoors. The guy sulked away. I walked by the "cool group" hanging out on the grass under the trees and heard the girl call me names again - both in English and in Cantonese. I wonder at whether this girl is just trying to look like a "bad girl" in front of the boys - you know, to increase her appeal. Geez. I know girls are mean in middle school and high school but I always thought they were at least nice to the teachers - even if it were a sub.

I talked to the other teachers and apparently they also had difficulty controlling these kids. So I didn't feel so bad at getting pushed around.

My next group was so much better. They were a little rowdy but all it took was "SHHHH!! Lesson's starting!" And they were quick to learn the lesson and they asked meaningful questions - such intuitive kids! I gave them the "If you guys pay attention to the lesson and you finish the assignment then you'll have the rest of the time for free time" spiel and they bought it. I was really happy with this class. I have often been told that I'm a bad teacher. I get fed up easily and I'm bad at explaining - probably the worst combination to have for a teacher. But today with this second class, they understood everything I taught!!! I was patient, I tried several methods of explanation until they got it and they reciprocated! Ahhhh what a feeling of satisfaction! I've entertained the idea of becoming a teacher before and maybe it's something I'd still like to pursue in the future. I know at least what grades I'd like to teach and which to stay away from. :P It doesn't make sense to me that Grade 9s need to be disciplined but Grade 6s are just fine. Somewhere along they way, they become undisciplined.

Hmmm too bad I didn't consider doing this earlier this summer. I think the one thing that I didn't like about subbing - besides being called nasty names and not really knowing what in the world was going on - was that I couldn't get to know the kids better. I think a good teacher should be able to inspire kids to learn but as a sub, I found it really difficult to do - I'm sure there are subs out there who can make it happen but I haven't found that out yet. That's okay though, I'm just a newbie :D