The Joys of Working in an All Boys Middle School 2

I just finished my sixth and final class of the day (and by far the worse behaved class out of ALL of my classes). One of the students in the front row slept through my entire class. His head was down when I walked in, and he remained in that position for the 45 minutes thereafter. When class was finished and I was gathering my things, I looked up only to see this kid waving to me with a big sleepy smile as he said "Goodbye!" What a goof.

I've learned to pick and choose my battles in the classroom, and truthfully, I usually let the sleeping kids sleep. It's usually only one kid in about every four or five classes, so it's not that terrible. AND, I feel bad for these students. They are in class from 8:30am to 3:30pm (including school on every other Saturday) and then spend countless hours everyday after school--and deep into the dark hours of the night--studying, doing homework and attending academies to further study math, science, English, you name it. I know I average more sleep than these kids, so that's a battle I choose to ignore and instead let their poor brains rest for a short while.

As I previously stated, this particular class is the worst class to teach. They're first graders, and they are craaaaazy (they would laugh hysterically if I told them that, for some odd reason kids here get a kick out of it when you say the word "crazy"). There is one student in particular, who last week I pulled aside after class to tell him that he better shape up (he doesn't stop talking during class and NEVER does his work). Well, today he wasn't much better. HOWEVER, he gave me a good laugh and I tricked him a little into doing some work.

The kids were writing sentences about how they feel. They were to fill in the blanks to "I feel ________ because _____________." This trouble-maker kid was being obnoxious, as he usually is, so I went over to him to help him focus. He was all worked up about something and laughing at his friend who sits in front of him. When I walked over he was trying to explain to me that the kid sitting in front of him had farted. I knew what he was saying (though it was in Korean), so I asked him how it made him feel. A few seconds passed by and I could actually see his wheels turning... "Angry!" "Great!" I replied. So we then came up with the following sentences:

I feel angry because Won Chang farted.
I feel surprised because it smells bad.
I feel scared because Won Chang is sitting in front of me.

Being around boys is still fun, regardless of how much they piss me off ;)

*As per usual, things are happening here at school that I don't understand, and that I wasn't informed about. As I sit at my desk right now, a half hour from going home for the day, there is suddenly an impromptu teacher's meeting in the teacher's office... And I guarantee that nobody will tell me what it was about.