Comments on: “Teacher, Johnny hit me!” – Not My Problem http://turklishtefl.com/2012/04/10/teacher-johnny-hit-me-not-my-problem/ Down into the rabbit hole of ELT in Turkey (and now China) Wed, 22 May 2013 09:09:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: turklis1 http://turklishtefl.com/2012/04/10/teacher-johnny-hit-me-not-my-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-62503 turklis1 Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:52:59 +0000 http://turklishtefl.com/?p=1528#comment-62503 Great example! Thanks Dave. Great example! Thanks Dave.

]]> By: turklis1 http://turklishtefl.com/2012/04/10/teacher-johnny-hit-me-not-my-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-62502 turklis1 Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:52:13 +0000 http://turklishtefl.com/?p=1528#comment-62502 Hi Dilek, I think the point you mention about having the time to handle such problems is a key issue for many teachers, myself included. While helping to teach children to resolve conflicts in responsible ways is a goal I think most of us have, it takes a lot of time and time is not something a lot of teachers have. Even for myself, I'm against punishments in the classroom, but when I've got 15 kids whose L1 I can't speak and things are falling apart, I just don't have time to settle all those issues appropriately. Sometimes we have to employ a lot of different strategies, even unfavorable ones to at least get to a point where we can try something else. Hi Dilek,

I think the point you mention about having the time to handle such problems is a key issue for many teachers, myself included. While helping to teach children to resolve conflicts in responsible ways is a goal I think most of us have, it takes a lot of time and time is not something a lot of teachers have. Even for myself, I’m against punishments in the classroom, but when I’ve got 15 kids whose L1 I can’t speak and things are falling apart, I just don’t have time to settle all those issues appropriately. Sometimes we have to employ a lot of different strategies, even unfavorable ones to at least get to a point where we can try something else.

]]> By: DaveDodgson http://turklishtefl.com/2012/04/10/teacher-johnny-hit-me-not-my-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-61656 DaveDodgson Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:17:12 +0000 http://turklishtefl.com/?p=1528#comment-61656 Always a tough one, especially when you haven't seen what actually happened. If you don't keep a handle on the situation, very soon you may have two groups of kids each shouting out their version of what happened! I had one incident in class today with two boys trying to snatch a pencil sharpener off each other which ended in both of their books being ripped... The first thing I did was to get inbetween them and I then got the rest of the class back in their seats and told them to get on with what they were doing. I had a quick word with both boys to tell them I wanted to continue with the lesson and I expected them to talk about it after class when they had calmed down. Thankfully, there was no more trouble and they were happy to make friends again at breaktime. Had I waded in shouting "what's going on here?" and "who started it?", I'm sure it wouldn't have ended so amicably... Always a tough one, especially when you haven’t seen what actually happened. If you don’t keep a handle on the situation, very soon you may have two groups of kids each shouting out their version of what happened!

I had one incident in class today with two boys trying to snatch a pencil sharpener off each other which ended in both of their books being ripped… The first thing I did was to get inbetween them and I then got the rest of the class back in their seats and told them to get on with what they were doing. I had a quick word with both boys to tell them I wanted to continue with the lesson and I expected them to talk about it after class when they had calmed down. Thankfully, there was no more trouble and they were happy to make friends again at breaktime.

Had I waded in shouting “what’s going on here?” and “who started it?”, I’m sure it wouldn’t have ended so amicably…

]]> By: the_seadreamer http://turklishtefl.com/2012/04/10/teacher-johnny-hit-me-not-my-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-61610 the_seadreamer Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:48:30 +0000 http://turklishtefl.com/?p=1528#comment-61610 Hi,your blog title took my attention;the reason is I'm a Turkish and a teacher.Your blog is interesting especially your observations about Turkey and Turkish people.I'm going to follow and read more. Yes,unfortunately this is one of the main problems we have to deal with in our classrooms.This year I'm woking at a primary school and my first two months have passed with handling with such these problems:( I think that the solutions change according to the sts and the problem.But mostly I say my students that time is very important and we are in the classroom to learn new things and I would listen these problems outside the classroom and they can write me about the problem if it's really serious.I believe that the students who are dependent on somebody need to solve their problems with the help of an adult.I used to have problems at school too but I used to prefer not complaining about them,I always solved them by myself and with the help of my peers.I think this is the process we have to teach our pupils how to be an indiviual or an adult. Hi,your blog title took my attention;the reason is I’m a Turkish and a teacher.Your blog is interesting especially your observations about Turkey and Turkish people.I’m going to follow and read more.
Yes,unfortunately this is one of the main problems we have to deal with in our classrooms.This year I’m woking at a primary school and my first two months have passed with handling with such these problems:(
I think that the solutions change according to the sts and the problem.But mostly I say my students that time is very important and we are in the classroom to learn new things and I would listen these problems outside the classroom and they can write me about the problem if it’s really serious.I believe that the students who are dependent on somebody need to solve their problems with the help of an adult.I used to have problems at school too but I used to prefer not complaining about them,I always solved them by myself and with the help of my peers.I think this is the process we have to teach our pupils how to be an indiviual or an adult.

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