Gulf Conflict

Among School Children

1)

When Julio is talking to the last years fifth grader about how she is strict and what you have to do in her classroom. To me that tells me that Mrs. Zajac expects and demands a lot from her students. Wanting to be a teacher this quality in Mrs. Zajac is aspiring to me. She wants her students to succeed in her class along with installing certain qualities to carry over into the next grade and also into the work place when the time comes. She wants her students to have discipline and good work ethic to use in any situation they might be in with their future endeavors.

When all the children were not respecting the music teacher after all of her cries of sit down now! The Mrs. Zajac walks in and said "I don't think some of you heard get in your seats" I thought that was absolutely great. It showed how much respect and disciplined the students were with Mrs. Zajac and not the music teacher. This shows me how to run the class room with my students in the future.

2)

I think Clarence was like me in many different ways. He was a troubled child with problems. He craved for attention and his way of getting this was by acting out. These actions left Clarence in trouble all the time and not doing the work he needed to learn the material put in front of him. When I was in school I was the same way about wanting attention because I really didn't get it at home because of my three brothers. It's pretty hard for both of my parents to work full time and be active enough to keep up with us. So I acted out in school and was constantly in trouble. He needs to be treated a little different in many situations at school so he wants to do better act better and just work harder.

When Clarence knew he might have to go to the Alpha class he started to work harder and the work looked promising. I would have kept Clarence in the classroom and just tell him that if he doesn't keep up this work he will go to the Alpha group.

Since Clarence really showed no improvement through out the year I probably would have done something else than to send him to the Alpha class. I think once he goes to the Alpha class he would not be able to improve enough to be able to return to class. I know from experience when I was in fourth grade I went to a special dyslexic class and we worked so hard on spelling out vowels and how to read the letters better that I didn't get many of the skills that other students received in grammar and other subjects. I had to play catch up for about five years. I hope Clarence can improve and get to were he needs to be.

3)

I never really considered that teaching a class could be a roller coaster of emotions. It must be difficult for teachers to see students who have academic or social needs that are not being met. I never thought about how much it must hurt teachers to have to send students to special programs. For instance, when Mrs. Zajac had to send Clarence to the Alpha remedial program. Or students who come to school and do not have lunch money or parental support to assist them in being success in school. It seems as if Mrs. Zajac not only had to fight with students to get them to complete their work, but she could not get any support from parents. She tried to get Clarence's mother to sign his homework to encourage his mother to get more involved in his school work.

Another thing I realized is the attachment you can feel with your students in the classroom. Like the emotions that develop such as the feeling between Judith and Mrs. Zajac. To know that students are aware of the emotions which are in the classroom between the students and teachers is scary but still comforting in the fact that it is amazing how you act frustrated with a student they might say forget it. If you then encourage the student he hopefully will try harder the next time on what he needs to do. Reading the book made me realize that you can play a big role in a student's life down a bumpy rode.

4)

In the book where the students didn't mind the music teacher because she let the roll right over her. Right at the beginning of class Clarence stands up and mocks her and she does nothing. After that it just gets worse by most all the students in the class just acting up. This shows me that you just have to be very stern with your class and you can not let the children control your emotions. The teacher has to do what they have to do to control the situations as they arise. I will remember this because I will not let my students walk all over me. They will respect me enough with strict rules to work at what they have in front