After the break

[franceslievens]

Mr. Head isn't most well-known for his widely acclaimed communication skills. Au contraire! Yesterday we, world view course teachers, have fallen victim to his non-communication. Suddenly first grade turned into forth grade without any previous warning. In a bold movement I turned round and confronted Mr. Head with his shortcomings. Today I realised my anger didn't go unnoticed, and was probably about as bold as the Flemish courage to vote for the split of BHV. At least he has had his reminder that there are actual teachers behind the world view courses and that we are in fact part of his team – even though some of them forget they are there to teach.
The current Mr. Islam leaves it up to the other teachers (me and the girl filling in for the pregnant Miss Catholic) to tell kids off for talking in the halls. Today I took it upon myself to get his kids silently to their classroom, make them wait outside for my kids to take their stuff and then have them enter the classroom silently and stand behind their desk. Things went slower, but smoother than before. Mr. Islam just sat himself behind the desk, waiting for me to close the door. Probably things would get out of hand again from there on, but I seem to have passed the point where I care. If only Mr. Head would take up his responsibility and intervene.

Comments

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

He changed your classes without any advance warning? That's very bad management.

And Mr. Islam seems to think that he's only a teacher when he is in his room. There are some folks in our profession who turn a blind eye most of the time.

The kids aren't allowed to talk in the halls? That's a rule we don't have. Yelling, running and playing football are prohibited and strongly discouraged, but talking is okay.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

The not-talking rule came because the kids were yelling and pushing and pulling in the halls and on the stairs. Because they couldn't behave with simple talking, we took that away as well. In my other school they are supposed to go to their classroom in an orderly fashion, which means most teachers turn a blind eye when the kids talk behind their back. As long as they don't disrupt everything by yelling or talking too loud it's okay. Because I'm the only teacher with different pupils every hour I ask of them to keep quiet and don't talk, just to make sure we don't disturb the other classes.

I've got the feeling Mr. Islam isn't even a teacher in his room. I went to pick something up for my pupil and the kids were walking around in the classroom and talking loudly while he was sitting behind the desk. But since he teaches Islam we aren't allowwed to say anything about the content of his lessons...