Respect..

Jessi

New member
Aug 22, 2002
6
0
0
Hi there,

I am arriving from the UK very soon to teach 7th grade in a bilingual school - I can't wait!

However, people that I have spoken to have told me that teachers are not very well respected - one example given is that if a pupil drops their pencil on the floor they expect the teacher to pick it up for them!

I find this amazing! Is it the case that teachers are treated like this? If so, I think I need to prepare myself... I don't want to start off on the wrong foot!

Thanks for you reply if anyone has first hand experience,

Jessi
 
Last edited:

Pib

Goddess
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
20
38
www.dominicancooking.com
Huh?

That is silly. Someone was pulling your leg. And I have first hand experience, both as the daughter of a teacher and a product of the Dominican education system.
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
13,884
495
83
Jessi said:
I find this amazing! Is it the case that teachers are treated like this?

I don't have personal experience, but I do know a number of people who send their children to schools in the Dominican Republic, both Dominican and private, and they sure don't expect teachers to pick up pencils dropped by their children.

7th graders can be a handfull and it is entirely possible one of them might be disrespectful enough toward a teacher to tell her to pick up his pencil (I am not talking specifically about the DR, but about 7th graders), but any teacher who let a child push them around that way doesn't belong in a classroom.

Assuming you are a self respecting professional, if you ever have real reason to think this is how it would be in a school where you are planning to teach, you would be well advised to make other plans. That is no place for you.
 
Last edited:

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
514
113
Bull! Pick up my pencil??

Yeah, kid, right!....


Not to worry.

Lots of teachers are well respected, although this occurs mostly in the Private Sector since the Public Sector have been reduced to poverty status over the years and are expected to work ridiculous hours for RD$5000 a session, or si I understand.

And let me add, to be fair, that there are local icons in education. I know that PIB's mom is known to generations of people from her hamlet. In Salcedo there are two or three....Each town has at least one. But most are old and about to retire.....

HB ;(
 

Jessi

New member
Aug 22, 2002
6
0
0
Phew!

Thanks for your replies :)

I think maybe I have been slightly exaggerated to! Thank goodness - also, the school I am going to is wonderful by all accounts. Anyway, I hope I will be an excellent teacher and earn the respect not only of the pupils, but also of you guys.

Thanks again, I'll be checking in again soon

Jessi
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,504
5,932
113
dr1.com
my wife has a small private school in Jarabacoa and any child who tried to get a teacher to pick up a pencil they dropped would learn a lesson in responsibility and manner very quickly and if they didn't learn they would be gone, gone, gone. Children everywhere are more or less the same and my experience with Dominican Children is that they are perhaps a little more respectful of adult authority than your average American, Canadian or British adolesents.
 

MaineGirl

The Way Life Should Be...
Jun 23, 2002
1,879
89
0
amity.beane.org
Jessie, here's some advice you didn't ask for, but hopefully when the kids see you mean business, respect will come naturally, and they will learn to love you to pieces.

Be overly prepared, keep them on their toes, smile when you give your instructions, let natural consequences occur.
"You dropped your pencil?"-teacher
"Yes, I can't do my work unless you pick it up!"-brat
"That's probably true!"-smiling teacher, who keeps on teaching

Also, tell the kids what you will do. Not what you want them to do.
"I will except work handed in on time, typed, in the proper format, etc."
"I will begin teaching when the class is quiet."
"I've started lecturing today from page 45."
"I'll let you out for lunch when the room is straightened out."

Another good technique is to give the kids choices. Who wants to be in a class that has a dictator? The choices must be ones that YOU can accomodate. NEVER give a choice that you can't live with. In a worst case scenario (discipline problem) you can say "Would you like to call your parents or shall I?"

And one exceptional trick I have learned is to assign TWICE as much homework. When the kids moan and groan, smile and say, "Oh, don't worry, you only have to do the odds or the evens. Your choice. " Or, you can tell them, "Oh, pick the 5 hardest and don't do them." etc. etc.

So you can't give that kind of choice? "You write your answers on the front or the back of the paper. You can write in cursive or in print." Easy choices, right? Kids love to have a choice!

One last thing: in tough cases, with kids who don't seem to care and do a lot to disrupt your teaching time, make a conscious decision to notice three things about them throughout the week.
"I noticed you always eat lunch with your little brother." Smile.
"I noticed you like to play basketball." Smile.
"I noticed you have very good handwriting." Smile.
This usually helps crack a hard case.

Like I said, keep them on their toes! And keep smiling!

(These techniques come from a course called "Teaching with Love and Logic"...I recommend it to any teachers on the board.)

MaineGirl (not really in Maine, and not really a girl :) )
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
18,948
514
113
Heck, most of that would work in a College class, too....

thanks...

HB
znaika.gif
 

Jessi

New member
Aug 22, 2002
6
0
0
Thanks

Those tips are great! I will look up that book, too.


book2.gif


Thanks again, Jessi
 

Tony C

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
2,262
2
0
www.sfmreport.com
One of the drawbacks of Living in the DR is that you wil be surrounded by some of the most Spoiled, disrespectful children found anywhere on the planet. That is one of the reasons I don't live there anymore. If I did I would have snapped one of those brat's neck by now!

Tony C.
 
H

Hadrian

Guest
A spoiled child may certainly be annoying, but who is really to blame for the childs actions?