I have one 7th grade student who is extremely smart, but he also is extremely active. I truly believe that he gets bored in class a lot because he is so smart and the information comes too easy for him. I feel he should be in an advanced class that I could challenge him more. I may modify his assignments to be more difficult in the future. He is extremely bright.
But as I mentioned, along with that, he is very active and often creates distractions and acts up in class. Well, the other day he dropped the F-word in class. I was rather taken aback by this, but I asked him what he said. He kind of sidetracked around the question, but then I told him to stay after class. After class, I asked him for his Mom's phone number so I could call her and tell her what happened.
I called his mom and told her what happened, she was very apologetic. I had actually met her already, at open house. She was very nice and we had a nice conversation. Other teachers have had problems with her because they said she acts like she doesn't understand English when they talk to her. But when I spoke with her, she understood everything I said.
After school that day, she actually came into my class with her son to speak with me. Again, I started explaining to her what happened and what he said. The student started to speak up and make an excuse for what had happened and his mom just looked at him and said something in Japanese, and he shut up and became very reserved. I thought this was very funny because I will often have to say this student's name 4-5 time before he listens to me, but when Mom says something, he becomes very quiet and reserved.
It was amazing how different he acted around his mom. Everything was short and simple yes or no answers and he was very respectful. After speaking with other teachers, this seems to be common in Japanese students. They have a great deal of respect and obedience for their parents and family elders, but not so much for authority of other adults.
Aaron
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
That is interesting too, because I thought they respected their teachers.
It's a little hard to describe with this student. His disrespect is either not listening the first few times he is told to do something or simply walking around looking for things to do.
I truly believe he would be classified as "Gifted and Talented" in the states, but the school does not have the resources to provide him with an advanced program at his grade level. When he gets to High School, there is an advanced track that will lead him to Calculus his Senior year.
In my opnion, most of his disruption stems from being bored with the work and not having enough to keep him busy. He is very smart and the class is moving too slow for him, so he finds other ways to entertain himself. Having said that, other ways to entertain himself should not include cursing.
Post a Comment