I'm a no-bull**** person...(rant)

[amolitor]

Your job is to hammer knowledge into the heads of the people who sign up for the course. Put your big person pants on and figure it out.

Yes, they're horrible. So were you when you were 20, albeit in different ways.

 

[limr]

This is a very interesting thread especially since I'm currently packing a U-haul and heading to Winnipeg for a teaching position at a technical college.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to approach my first day as a teacher and I always come to the same conclusion. RESPECT. It's been my moto for a long time and that is how I plan to run my classroom. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to present it. I think it will be one of if not the most important presentation of the course as that where you establish the rules and guidelines for the class. Have to say I'm nervous as hell and extremely excited!

Any tips for a first day?

Don't smile!
Okay, you can probably smile It's important to be firm without looking like you're trying to hard. If the students can sense that you're barking too loud, they might think your bite isn't that bad. So now is not the time to be earnest and overstate things - just be very matter of fact about your rules without laboring the point.

They will test you, of course, and those first few tests to your authority will be the most important. It's hard to be inflexible if that's not your natural inclination, but it's better to be very strict at the start. You can always bend a little towards the end of the semester, but if you do so too quickly, they'll take advantage of that.

Put the most important rules in writing. They're going to forget a lot of that first day, but if you have very clear written guidelines, you can always tell them, "Check your syllabus. This has been clear from the start of the semester."

Be overprepared. If it's a three-hour class, plan for six. Until you get used to the classroom, your judgments about timing might be a little off. If you're over-prepared then you can handle it when you unexpectedly get through your lesson plan halfway through the class - you can just go to the next day's lesson plan.

Good luck!

 

[o hey tyler]

You are feeling the effects of the "Me me me" generation. Rampant in anyone under 30 these days. Lazy, think their **** don't stink and expect to be rewarded for little to no effort. Now imagine trying to hire any of these "professionals" for a position! p.s. I am 32.

I'm under 30. Whatchu trying to say?

Come at me bro. COME AT ME.

 

[TheFantasticG]

29 myself. Worked 2-3 jobs at any given time to put myself through tech school. I can't imagine putting 10x more money into my education then acting as described in the OP.

This is a very interesting thread especially since I'm currently packing a U-haul and heading to Winnipeg for a teaching position at a technical college.

Good luck. I went to a tech school in 2004-2005 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for electrical/HVAC residential, commercial, marine, industrial. Been doing that from July 2005 to March 2013 in the oil field. I'm training people now. Never thought I would be doing this. Funny where life brings you.

 

[ffarl]

One word: Parenting. As I sit and ponder the decline of modern civilization (and I often do) I always come to the conclusion that it's down to parenting.

OP, you're right, it's not your job to teach people basic manners and work ethic. That should have been done years before. Same with any basic skill. A parent should be keeping an eye on what a kid learns at school and supplement where necessary. They should be shown the value of doing something for themselves instead of calling roadside assistance, or a plumber to do something basic.

I watch my sister threaten my nephew with "Santa isn't going to come", or whatever BS instead of getting off her butt and taking care of business and it kills me. That's where it starts.

That said, you CAN take the opportunity to make a difference, maybe in one or two of them. As a former restaurant owner, I had kids working there that I saw a good heart in but a bad set of circumstances. I even tutored a few before their shifts on some basic stuff. But the rest, you just have to chalk it up to a problem that started way before you got involved or it'll break your heart.

 

[The_Traveler]

Okay, you can probably smile It's important to be firm without looking like you're trying to hard. If the students can sense that you're barking too loud, they might think your bite isn't that bad. So now is not the time to be earnest and overstate things - just be very matter of fact about your rules without laboring the point.

They will test you, of course, and those first few tests to your authority will be the most important. It's hard to be inflexible if that's not your natural inclination, but it's better to be very strict at the start. You can always bend a little towards the end of the semester, but if you do so too quickly, they'll take advantage of that.

Put the most important rules in writing. They're going to forget a lot of that first day, but if you have very clear written guidelines, you can always tell them, "Check your syllabus. This has been clear from the start of the semester."

And make them sign a copy that they have read and understand..

 

[IByte]

Siiiigh....I miss private school. In those days, if the nuns had the board of education in their hand. Every one would listen.

 

[The_Traveler]

This is a comment on FB from someone I know

"I am spoiled, over-privileged, I have been given everything anyone could ever want- but at least I made the most of it."

from her father

'You were only given things that were useful to you. You got music lessons, but not a car; you've been to Indonesia, but not Cabo; a fancy computer but no fancy clothes."

 

[texkam]

Have a Snickers bar.

 

[runnah]

You are feeling the effects of the "Me me me" generation. Rampant in anyone under 30 these days. Lazy, think their **** don't stink and expect to be rewarded for little to no effort. Now imagine trying to hire any of these "professionals" for a position! p.s. I am 32.

I'm under 30. Whatchu trying to say?

Come at me bro. COME AT ME.

I think you know what I am saying, you 48%'er!!!

 

[frommrstomommy]

I personally love when people gripe about their pay check when they obviously knew damn well what their pay would be when they accepted the position. And to take onto that, who takes a 75% drop in pay and agrees to an hour fifteen commute all in one go?

 

[Tiller]

I personally love when people gripe about their pay check when they obviously knew damn well what their pay would be when they accepted the position. And to take onto that, who takes a 75% drop in pay and agrees to an hour fifteen commute all in one go?

+1

There have always been bad students. Nothing has changed.

 

[IByte]

First of all, sorry to bring all this negativity here, but I've been pretty damn frustrated lately, need to see if I am the one who's not thinking straight.

I do fail them. I am not easy on grades. Guess what? They don't seem to care. The system here makes it hard to kick a student out because of poor performance. I remember when I was in college, 3 no-shows means you get kicked out of the class. Here, one of my students hasn't showed up for two months without official leave notice. Nothing's happening to him. Our tuition fee is peanuts compared to what I had to pay when I went to school in the US. The parents pay for their tuition fee here. They don't feel it, college is easy to get into. To think that these are the "cream of the crop" because they are all the top scorers in the national exam, to think that they are supposed to be the smartest and brightest, the hope of the country's future.... I really should be considering immigration.

Nope it's better to vent on the internets under a cow than facebook. let it out and it's been a very good dicussion.

 

[limr]

So now teachers aren't allowed to discuss how underpaid they really are? We're supposed to just suck it up, take what we get and not ever say a word?

Got it.

 

[runnah]

So now teachers aren't allowed to discuss how underpaid they really are? We're supposed to just suck it up, take what we get and not ever say a word?

Got it.

Whatever I know you guys just goof off on your short work days and long summer vacations.