Monday, September 8, 2008

OUT! OUT! OUT!!

"Keluar!"
I raised my voice despite the fact that it was puasa time, and Muslims were supposed to be patient. Well, patience is one thing, being irritated on purpose is another thing. And friends, you know how loud I can be, right? I mean really really LOUD!
I was teaching Sejarah Form 4..FYI, starting 2004 almost 3/4 is about sejarah Islam.. and I was going thru' the answers for the Penilaian paper with the class.. coz they did quite badly.
There're about 10 Indians in the class, including an Indian girl. Disliking Sejarah is fine but when they're talking loudly in Tamil and disrupting the lesson, I couldn't take it anymore. You may pelempang little kids if they misbehave but 8 Indian lads taller than you? Despite repeated warnings and instructions to keep quiet or talk softly, they continued their loud chatter in Tamil while I was trying to explain the concepts of Perjanjian Hudaibiyah etc to the others who were listening. (I'm getting good in Sejarah Islam, hehehee).
Finally I walked over to them, told them to get out of the class if they don't want to study. They became quiet but nobody moved a muscle. One had the nerve to snigger nervously. I was challenged and I was ready for battle.
"Out!" I thundered. Nobody moved.
I grabbed a school bag and took it to the door, put it on the floor outside the classroom. That did the magic. One by one, the whole group stood up and left the classroom in a huff. They didn't stand outside the classroom but walked off to the staircase. Someone in the class clapped.
The whole class had a peaceful time for the remaining 10 minutes of the lesson. FYI it was not the first time the group disrupted the class during Sejarah lessons, just because they don't like it. Previously their behaviours were tolerated but I guess there'll be a time you say enough is enough. There are a few Indian students who did not join the group and were follwing the lesson closely so you can't say this is a racial thing. They had bullied the former teacher whose class I took over but I'm not gonna let their bad behaviours continue.
I took down the names of those who walked out (2 stubbornly stayed away from class until I left) and reported to the principal. The new PK HEM took it seriously and there're gonna be further action until we wipe out this type of disciplinary problems in school. Disrespect toward the teachers. Disrupting lessons. Indiscipline. Refusal to do written work in class. That should be about 15 demerit marks.
This morning the cuplrits were extra polite in class. They must have been 'cloroxed' by the Big Boss and PKs in school.
I dont touch them. I dont even scold them. I just grab their bags coz that's the only thing I know that they care about.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really tabik you Yeoh! But i dun think i can do like that coz there are more than half of my students who dislike English and disturb always. If i chase them out, there'll be only 6 or 7 left in the class. The reason they dun like is bcoz they think their tuition teacher is far more better than us.So, since they love to spend their parents money, then i can't do anything. I just go in and teach and come out. Those who dun hand-in their books, i just write their names in buku pemantauan.But be careful Yeoh! Some students hold grudges and some are super-sensitive...

Anonymous said...

I Tabik u too Aliya but i dun think u gonna do the same thing if u r in my school. I'm sure u dun want a new design appear on ur car,by unknown artist hahaha...

hyhpat said...

sigh... even today i was driving back home after school praying to God to give me strength to carry on with this line of work! seriously!:P alya, it's such a coincidence that that was the exact word that i uttered to some malay boys in my 1G (3rd last class). my fikiran terbantut already: talk to them nicely, they all panjat kepala; be harsh a bit, they all tunjuk muka and tunjuk lagak! sigh, students these days. so biadap towards teachers that it has become a norm in my school that they just walk out of class at the last bell ring without thanking the teacher. mind you, this is just one of the milder examples. so why the heck are we teaching till we muntah darah and suffer high blood pressure, and the worse is you see them smirking their @$$es off behind your back? i only have one answer to that: because it's our job and that's why we care for their education and learning (even when they don't care for theirs). i hate myself for caring... :p

Anonymous said...

wow hebat u Alia.I just got my timetable.This week i don't have to teach and enter the class coz all my students (from last 3 classes) was on holiday as UPSR was on. so relaks je .

Anonymous said...

hyhpat, i understand the feeling that u had gone thru and are going to feel it in the future. in our position, we cant do anything except carry out our duties as best as we can. there is always some 'good reasons' behind all these problems created by our students). Take care.

hyhpat said...

seems that Raya is really around the corner. can really feel it in the (school's)air. everyday, "BOOM!!" goes the firecracker in the school's compound. almost always me and my Form 1 students would jump up sekaki into the air. was teaching my 1A during 5th period (upper Form's recess) when all of a sudden "KABOOM!!" a few minutes later, saw three Form 4 students running towards the school gate with a few prefects in hot pursuit. two of them got caught and was taken to the discipline room, the busiest room in the school. heh heh.. one jumped the grilled gate flawlessly and ran off towards some apartment blocks. too bad he didn't take part representing M'sia in the recent Olympics, or he would have gotten gold easily.

ALIYA said...

Hi everyone.. been quite busy due to Ramadhan etc. Don't worry, I always make sure I park my car near the guardhouse and in public view. So far so good.. my viva is still safe, heheehee.
Yes, reggie. That's one reason why I prefer to teach in rural school coz they really rely on teachers to teach them.

Boon Yew said...

Dear frens,

After 2.5 months, I think all of us have come down to the real world. Your experiences are just part of what could be worse. On the second week of my returning to my 'alma mater', I almost killed a boy. In a Remove class, I tried to teach them BM when I went for relief. I wrote answers on the board and asked them to copy from the board. One boy took his friend's book to copy from it. I got annoyed and took his friend's book away and asked him to copy from the board (I don't think my writing is that bad at all!). As I turned around he shouted in Hokkien, "I don't know what the COCK WRITING you're writing!"

I turned back and gave him a tight slap across his face but he stupidly turned his nose to my palm and I slammed his nose making it bloody. That quietened the whole class :-). Until today, no more nonsense with me everytime I went in for relief.

I went to see the boy after his nose had dried and consolled him. Talked to him till he cried out of guilt. Two days later, his mother met me and I told his mother of the duty of the school and a teacher to help parents educate their chilkdren to prepare them to face the society and a whole lot of BS till the boy's mother too brokedown and cried.

Hmmmpphh... Satisfied. Managed to make both mother and child cried out of guilt. My PK Ko-K was shocked that they both ended up crying instead of like other parents going home angry.

Incident 2

Yesterday, 12 Sept 2008, I was walking down the stairs to the staff room to get home when a boy walked along side me and said that one gang of students are waiting for him in a lane behind some houses outside of the school gate because he was attacked and faught with another classmate earlier and had reported to the HM and had caused his attacker to be sacked from school this coming week. He's just 15, thin, quiet, mild, and at times jovial (from the last class of form 2 and academically not promising at all but with pleasant manners). Another boy were actually escorting him to the place of rendevous. It was just like in CSI! Tha boy that the other boys sent to escort this boy was a huge boy almost the size of Faizal with the height of Daniel!

What to do? I asked this small boy to go into the staff room with the pretext that he's being reprimanded. I then asked the huge boy to follow me to the office to give me a hand. Confronted the huge boy in front of the Disp Head and told him to get off not to meddle in it or he'll be expelled as well (he's been twice suspended, a third will get him out). I went back to the small kid and had no choice but to escort him home. He on his bicycle and I on my C70. Oh, this small boy lives above my apartment.

This is my 'alma mater'. A temporary juvenile prison.

More gory stories to come. Of teachers, students and administrators...