I have 7 children in my class this year that are ESL, or English as a Second Language. My first installment of "kids say the darndest things" will be based on just my ESL kids from this school year. I might be able to post as many as 10 of these segments once I get into things I've heard over the past five years.
First off, I have a little boy who talks like he's 40, even though he's only 4. The following comments are from him:
(In Spanish) Thank God my mom got me these new shoes without laces. I was getting tired of sitting out at recess for playing with my laces during class.
(In Spanish, directed at me) You have a big head, and I will paint it red, yellow, and blue.
(In English) Him: Mr. Lucas, I need to peep! Me: You need to pee? Him: Jes, I need to peep!
I also have another girl, and she sits by me at lunch and peppers me with questions like "que es esta?" (what is this?) and "como se dice" (how do you say?) because she wants to know how to say things in English. She's learned straw and plate and table and milk, etc. etc. etc. That being said, la cuchara in English is a "poon" rather than a spoon, and el tenedor in English sounds suspiciously like F$#^ rather than fork. She may say something like "Where is my fork and spoon?" and it sounds more like "Where es me F#!&ing poon?" It's actually really cute.
The same girl took awhile to catch onto English, so at the beginning of the year, when I asked her how she was doing, she responded with "mi mamá está en mi casa", or "my mom is in my house". Again, this is really, really cute when it happens, even if your question is never answered.
I think my favorite so far was my little boy who was talking in the hallway, which is something we are not allowed to do when we are walking. I asked him "Izaiah, why can I hear your voice?!?" He jumped at the sound of his name, and then looked down quickly. He was upset about being in trouble, but I wanted him to answer me, so I asked him again... "Izaiah, why can I hear your voice?" Still looking down at the floor, and beginning to tear up, he quietly responded, "Because you have ears." He wasn't trying to be sassy, it was just the logical answer to my question. I laughed about that one for about three days :).
Friday, February 25, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Treated Like A Woman
I've already listed ways that I'm treated differently at school because I'm a man, both negatively and to my benefit. Despite these differences, I must admit that the longer I work with all of these women, the more I'm treated as, well, a woman. For instance, how many men do you know that have been to a baby shower (apart from maybe one for their own child)? I've been to two in the last year. I'm asked for honest opinions about weight, hair, and clothing. I'm included in the gossip that goes on throughout our school, and I'm quite sure I'm gossiped about as well. I started noticing these things a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until this school year that I knew I was truly "one of the girls". A coworker was walking past me in the hall, and moving pretty quickly. She did not have her kids with her, and seemed to be in a hurry, so I asked her if everything was okay. Without slowing down, or even saying a word, she simply held up a tampon in front of my face before hurrying down the hall into the girls' bathroom.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Advantages to Being a Male Pre-K Teacher
There are a few distinct advantages to being a male pre-k teacher. For me, the most important advantage is appearance. I don't deal with a lot of pressure to keep up my appearance. I often go weeks at a time without shaving, and I only cut my hair 2-3 times a year. People often comment on me "growing out my beard". I don't grow out my beard, I'm just too lazy to shave. It's also worth noting that I'm currently wearing a 10-year-old pair of Dr. Marten's boots, and the left one is held together by yarn. It helps that I'm not trying to impress anyone, but do you think a woman could get away with something like this without being talked about?
Another advantage to being a male pre-k teacher is something that I actually confirmed by reading a study recently: women work harder to take care of men in traditionally female professions. It's the opposite in traditionally male professions, where men often see women as threats. At my school, I think the women see me as more like a mascot. Being a male, my coworkers are more patient with me, and more willing to let me slide when it comes to things. Being a male, I feel it is important to be visible around the school, and I do my best to provide some attention to as many kids as I can, even those from other classrooms. I do this because so many of them are not getting male attention at home. One side effect of this is that I might walk past a classroom who is going down the hall and have 17 kids screaming my name when they see me. You have a perfectly quiet class one minute, and the next minute the whole class is talking and screaming. Teachers don't get nearly as upset about it as you'd expect. I think if I was a woman it would be a bigger deal. I'm also pretty outspoken at times about things I don't agree with, and people don't get upset with me like they might if others said them.
Being a male, I have a HUGE advantage when it comes to classroom management. Year in and year out I have one of the best behaved classes in the school. My first year my kids were terrible, but that was because I still didn't know what I was doing. I learned a lot from my assistant that year, and haven't had a bad class since. It helps that my current assistant is very good with classroom management/discipline as well. This year we have a class that I can honestly say I believe would walk all over a good portion of the other teachers at this school. I owe the majority of my success in the area of classroom management and discipline to being a male. I even have several teachers that bring a child or two out of their rooms to me from time to time to straighten them up. Having a deep voice is a big help when you work at a school where corporal punishment is not allowed.
Another advantage to being a male pre-k teacher is something that I actually confirmed by reading a study recently: women work harder to take care of men in traditionally female professions. It's the opposite in traditionally male professions, where men often see women as threats. At my school, I think the women see me as more like a mascot. Being a male, my coworkers are more patient with me, and more willing to let me slide when it comes to things. Being a male, I feel it is important to be visible around the school, and I do my best to provide some attention to as many kids as I can, even those from other classrooms. I do this because so many of them are not getting male attention at home. One side effect of this is that I might walk past a classroom who is going down the hall and have 17 kids screaming my name when they see me. You have a perfectly quiet class one minute, and the next minute the whole class is talking and screaming. Teachers don't get nearly as upset about it as you'd expect. I think if I was a woman it would be a bigger deal. I'm also pretty outspoken at times about things I don't agree with, and people don't get upset with me like they might if others said them.
Being a male, I have a HUGE advantage when it comes to classroom management. Year in and year out I have one of the best behaved classes in the school. My first year my kids were terrible, but that was because I still didn't know what I was doing. I learned a lot from my assistant that year, and haven't had a bad class since. It helps that my current assistant is very good with classroom management/discipline as well. This year we have a class that I can honestly say I believe would walk all over a good portion of the other teachers at this school. I owe the majority of my success in the area of classroom management and discipline to being a male. I even have several teachers that bring a child or two out of their rooms to me from time to time to straighten them up. Having a deep voice is a big help when you work at a school where corporal punishment is not allowed.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Disadvantages to Being a Male Pre-K Teacher
I'm a pretty typical guy, despite my line of work. This means that I am not organized, and I am not artsy. All teachers need to be organized, and Pre-k teachers need to be artsy. I work around these two obstacles daily. My assistant is both organized AND artsy. For this I am grateful.
As I've said before, I'm a pretty typical guy, despite my line of work. That being said, I am MORE than capable of peeling wallpaper off of the walls in a bathroom. Naturally, I'm self-concious about this issue. So, with that explained, let me explain the restroom situation at my school. We have ONE lounge restroom, with ONE toilet in it. We have two boys' rooms, with ONE adult toilet between the two of them. We also have two girls' rooms in which i do not enter. So, I have a total of TWO toilets in the entire school that I can use. One of those toilets is shared with like 96 women. The other is in the boys' restroom, but during the school day teachers are constantly taking their classes to the restroom, so it's not safe either. If I really need to use the restroom, I try to wait until classes let out. This way I know that teachers aren't going to walk in on me. Unfortunately, the female janitor in charge of cleaning the restrooms usually comes in shortly after school lets out, so I'm never really safe. Yes. This is a disadvantage. I'm expecting to develop intestinal problems any day now.
On a more serious note, being a male teaching this age group has one very frustrating disadvantage. People who do not know me often question my desire to teach. People often expect the worst from a man who surrounds himself with children. I'll be the first to admit, I WOULD BE SUSPICIOUS if my pre-k child had a man for a teacher. It's a natural worry, and I do all that I can to make parents feel at ease. I don't take the girls to the restroom, I don't take any child to the restroom alone, I stay on the computer during naptime away from the sleeping kids, etc. etc. Although I would never do anything to a child, I still do what I can to assure my parents. Fortunately, I've been blessed to have understanding parents who've been willing to let their children stay in my class, and I believe they're happy with the results. My classroom next year will include two younger siblings of past students of mine.
It's hard to keep a low profile. I'm a minority times three at my school. I'm one of two men out of about 100 employees. I'm white, while only around 20% of our staff is white. Finally, I'm under the age of 30, which means I'm one of only 6 or 7 employees this young (in fact, I'm the 2nd youngest teacher on campus, even after five years here). What does this mean? It means everybody notices me. Say I get special permission to leave early from the principal. What happens? People notice. Say I order a pizza and have the delivery driver meet me at the back door. What happens? People notice. Say I drink a coke to wake up a bit before class starts, and then have to run to the restroom at 9:30 and then again at 11:00. People notice. When I'm absent, people notice. When I get irritated at something somebody says at a meeting, people notice. Sometimes you just want to lay low. Fortunately enough, I can be a bit of an attention-hog, so it usually doesn't bother me too much.
I get asked to move things. A lot. Of course I don't mind helping, but you still get tired of lifting this shelf and putting it here, or that shelf and putting it there. Several times a year I'm asked to move something heavy, and I can honestly say I don't mind. I'd be lying, however, if I didn't admit to dreading our teacher workdays a little bit.
So, as you can see, it's not always easy being a man in a woman's world. Tomorrow I'll list a few of the advantages to doing what I do.
As I've said before, I'm a pretty typical guy, despite my line of work. That being said, I am MORE than capable of peeling wallpaper off of the walls in a bathroom. Naturally, I'm self-concious about this issue. So, with that explained, let me explain the restroom situation at my school. We have ONE lounge restroom, with ONE toilet in it. We have two boys' rooms, with ONE adult toilet between the two of them. We also have two girls' rooms in which i do not enter. So, I have a total of TWO toilets in the entire school that I can use. One of those toilets is shared with like 96 women. The other is in the boys' restroom, but during the school day teachers are constantly taking their classes to the restroom, so it's not safe either. If I really need to use the restroom, I try to wait until classes let out. This way I know that teachers aren't going to walk in on me. Unfortunately, the female janitor in charge of cleaning the restrooms usually comes in shortly after school lets out, so I'm never really safe. Yes. This is a disadvantage. I'm expecting to develop intestinal problems any day now.
On a more serious note, being a male teaching this age group has one very frustrating disadvantage. People who do not know me often question my desire to teach. People often expect the worst from a man who surrounds himself with children. I'll be the first to admit, I WOULD BE SUSPICIOUS if my pre-k child had a man for a teacher. It's a natural worry, and I do all that I can to make parents feel at ease. I don't take the girls to the restroom, I don't take any child to the restroom alone, I stay on the computer during naptime away from the sleeping kids, etc. etc. Although I would never do anything to a child, I still do what I can to assure my parents. Fortunately, I've been blessed to have understanding parents who've been willing to let their children stay in my class, and I believe they're happy with the results. My classroom next year will include two younger siblings of past students of mine.
It's hard to keep a low profile. I'm a minority times three at my school. I'm one of two men out of about 100 employees. I'm white, while only around 20% of our staff is white. Finally, I'm under the age of 30, which means I'm one of only 6 or 7 employees this young (in fact, I'm the 2nd youngest teacher on campus, even after five years here). What does this mean? It means everybody notices me. Say I get special permission to leave early from the principal. What happens? People notice. Say I order a pizza and have the delivery driver meet me at the back door. What happens? People notice. Say I drink a coke to wake up a bit before class starts, and then have to run to the restroom at 9:30 and then again at 11:00. People notice. When I'm absent, people notice. When I get irritated at something somebody says at a meeting, people notice. Sometimes you just want to lay low. Fortunately enough, I can be a bit of an attention-hog, so it usually doesn't bother me too much.
I get asked to move things. A lot. Of course I don't mind helping, but you still get tired of lifting this shelf and putting it here, or that shelf and putting it there. Several times a year I'm asked to move something heavy, and I can honestly say I don't mind. I'd be lying, however, if I didn't admit to dreading our teacher workdays a little bit.
So, as you can see, it's not always easy being a man in a woman's world. Tomorrow I'll list a few of the advantages to doing what I do.
Monday, February 14, 2011
How Do You Do It?
There are two questions that I get all of the time... "How do you handle working with all of those women?" And "how do you handle working with all of those three-year-olds?" Here are my answers to each:
How do I handle working with all of these women? Most importantly, I have a supportive wife who is able to handle the fact that I go to work every day with almost 100 women. In college all of my classes were with all girls, and all of my study groups, and all of my internships. I know it was hard for her at first. Imagine going to you the college library and seeing your husband sitting at a table studying with 5 or 6 girls. Now imagine that occuring constantly over three years of education courses. I know at times it was hard on her, and I worked hard to make sure she knew she could trust me. I must have done something right, because she's still around, and I'm lucky to have her. Apart from her support, there are other things that are important when working with all women. The scientific studies claiming that women who spend a lot of time together have their menstrual cycles at the same time is no myth. Every month there are a few days where there seems to be more tension around campus. During these times I do my best to lay low. Staying out of conflicts is CRUCIAL to my survival. If the women turn against me, I'm in big trouble. I also do my best to provide sound advice to my friends at work. I've essentially become "one of the girls", but I can provide insight into the male psyche, and from time to time I dispense a little advice.
How do I handle working with all of these three-year-olds? That's easy... I'm the world's biggest three-year-old. I have fun every day at work. I've found the perfect job: I get to play everyday at work, and I get to make a difference in children's lives when I do it. There is the occasional day when I don't feel like going to work, or I'm not in a good mood, but thankfully those days are few and far between. I've also been blessed to have a long line of wonderful assistants who have helped make my job easier. The assistant I have now could easily teach the class herself. She's been working with children for 30 years. That type of experience is indespensible. All in all, it's tough to complain when you have a job that you love more days than not, especially when you factor in the wonderful schedule. I love it!
How do I handle working with all of these women? Most importantly, I have a supportive wife who is able to handle the fact that I go to work every day with almost 100 women. In college all of my classes were with all girls, and all of my study groups, and all of my internships. I know it was hard for her at first. Imagine going to you the college library and seeing your husband sitting at a table studying with 5 or 6 girls. Now imagine that occuring constantly over three years of education courses. I know at times it was hard on her, and I worked hard to make sure she knew she could trust me. I must have done something right, because she's still around, and I'm lucky to have her. Apart from her support, there are other things that are important when working with all women. The scientific studies claiming that women who spend a lot of time together have their menstrual cycles at the same time is no myth. Every month there are a few days where there seems to be more tension around campus. During these times I do my best to lay low. Staying out of conflicts is CRUCIAL to my survival. If the women turn against me, I'm in big trouble. I also do my best to provide sound advice to my friends at work. I've essentially become "one of the girls", but I can provide insight into the male psyche, and from time to time I dispense a little advice.
How do I handle working with all of these three-year-olds? That's easy... I'm the world's biggest three-year-old. I have fun every day at work. I've found the perfect job: I get to play everyday at work, and I get to make a difference in children's lives when I do it. There is the occasional day when I don't feel like going to work, or I'm not in a good mood, but thankfully those days are few and far between. I've also been blessed to have a long line of wonderful assistants who have helped make my job easier. The assistant I have now could easily teach the class herself. She's been working with children for 30 years. That type of experience is indespensible. All in all, it's tough to complain when you have a job that you love more days than not, especially when you factor in the wonderful schedule. I love it!
Why I Teach.
I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do with my life when I was a junior in high school. I was fortunate enough to end up in a mentoring program where I had the opportunity to go to a local elementary school three days a week for an hour to spend time with disadvantaged kids. I initially signed up for the program for the chance to get out of class for an hour every day, and also to hang out with some of the pretty girls in the program, but within a couple of weeks I was hooked. I was in this program for two years, and by the end of the first year I knew I wanted to teach. I dealt with children as young as five, and as old as 11, and I enjoyed my time with every child, but I knew that I wanted to work with younger kids. It just happened to work out that when I graduated college, the first interview I got was with a local Head Start. Being a man, I had an advantage during the interview process, and within two days I learned that I had gotten a job.
What to expect.
In this blog I'll share funny stories from teaching, and also about what it's like to be a man in a woman's profession. This blog is a result of an excellent inservice that my school district provided. I originally made a silly blog just to satisfy the requirements of the course, but over my lunch break I decided that I could actually use this blog to share some of my experiences in the teaching field.
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