Utterly Exhausted

SO yesterday was another day of casual teaching for me......Wasn't one of my best and I walked out of the school completely exhausted.

It was supposed to be a half day of teaching in the afternoon (12-3), however in the morning I received frantic phone-calls from the office ladies informing me that I was misinformed and in fact it was supposed to be (9-12). From what I could gather from the lady on the phone, this confusion occurs frequently.

I knew that I was on Kindergarten so i prepared some activities and headed on in. However, when I arrived, I was informed that I was in fact on a 4/5 class. 'Not to worry' I thought, "I have my nifty usb with me surely there will be something on that'.

Luckily however, this particular afternoon, another teacher taught the students music and drama. Problem being, this did not give me an opportunity to introduce myself to the students and get to know them (or their names).

I generally find that when you know a students name, behaviour management is easier because you are able to quickly get their attention. 

It is for this reason that I struggled during the 20 mins in the afternoon that I had alone with them. The students were supposed to be silent reading but completely disregarded me. I tried using presence, raising my voice, eye contact, praising other students and all the other stuff you learn at uni, but none of it worked. As a last resort, I had one student tell me the names of all the students in the class (discreetly). 

Once she had sat down, I announced to the class that I had a list of people who were being disrespectful and had been off task for the majority of the afternoon. I explained that I would be handing this list to their classroom teacher at the end of the day for him to deal with tomorrow. I furthered this by saying that students who from this point onwards demonstrated respect to both myself and their peers and displayed on task behaviours would be able to have their name crossed off.

Surprisingly, this seemed to work for several of the troublesome students. I therefore tried to be extra positive with these students as I had been so negative towards them prior. 

I really dislike being so negative towards students and at uni they tell you for everyone negative comment, give three positive...... yesterday this was extremely difficult. I suppose the next step for me is to develop some stronger behaviour management techniques.

Fingers crossed.... because I now have a 4/5/6 class today (at a different school).