I am not upset, I just want to rant about it again (so pardon me if you complained to you before).
Young parents out there, paying that few hundred bucks to send your kids to tuition is not equivalent to improve in grades, without you doing your part as well.
I received a call this morning about the tuition centre administration receiving feedbacks from parents about me punishing their kids. This is how the story goes...
The number of students in my English class had dropped to seven students (down by about four students) in the recent months . And according to the statistics, this is the most number of drop in number of students among all classes for the centre. Based on that, the administration decided to call up the parents to investigate the reasons for stopping the tuition lessons for their kids (their profit had dropped mah, so must find out why). Apparently, parents said they paid for their kids to have tuition, not punishment (cannot touch their lil' darlings okay..).
So what punishments had I dispensed in the past (you might have read two earlier entries about it), from the horse's mouth:
1. Standing with fingers on lips - they continued to talk even while standing.
2. Writing lines - my student said his mum asked him not to write cuz its a waste of time.
3. Hiting of palms with ruler - they said not pain leh.
4. And recently, half-squats were rather effective.
I never support corporal punishments. And I tried the reward approach before I had to rely on punishment. What would you do if you students refused to bring/do their hw and make noise in class, disturbing the other students? Would you continue to let them be? And when you do that, how do you handle the parents who keep coming to you, complaining that their kids don't do their hw or improve academically?
Punishment is inevitable. You got to take control of these misbehaved students for the sake of other students, and for themselves. I want them to benefit from my lessons too. But sometimes, you don't expect students to understand logical reasoning, afterall, they are only P3 and P4. Its not their fault that they misbehave, their role models in life (mummies and daddies?) should advice them constanly. Yes, I have no choice but to resort to some effective punishment (ie. something that will deter them from misbehaving).
Actually I didn't start hiting the palm of one or two students until recently when I heard that they are very well-behaved in the Chinese class as the teacher will always hit their palms. So they are afraid of him. Btw, the Chinese teacher is much older than me, maybe thats why no parents dare to question him?
If your kids are well-behaved and do their homework, I don't think I'd want to punish your lil' darlings. But condoning their kids, and expecting results from me, parents put me in a very difficult position. I try to take a step back, and think that I shouldn't be affected by this. I should enjoy the 3 hrs lessons, and try to tackle the problems only once every Sat.
Dear Parents, thanks for your kind feedback, along the way threatening my job, which I'm paid only 17bucks per hour (cuz class less than 10 students) for a class of seven. Perhaps I am an incompetent tutor. If you have a better way of coping with your wonderful kids and achieving results, please let me know so that I can do a better job and make your money worth. Or why don't you teach your kids yourself or send them to other centres which can do miracles (Oh no, I think the administration will come after me again for saying this!)? If you really think I terror your kids, please send me packing. Knowing that I have 200 less buckeroos every month, I will make plans to tighten my buckle, and spend my Sat on the much needed sleep. Aiyar don't complain liao, I need to sleep already...
Young parents out there, paying that few hundred bucks to send your kids to tuition is not equivalent to improve in grades, without you doing your part as well.
I received a call this morning about the tuition centre administration receiving feedbacks from parents about me punishing their kids. This is how the story goes...
The number of students in my English class had dropped to seven students (down by about four students) in the recent months . And according to the statistics, this is the most number of drop in number of students among all classes for the centre. Based on that, the administration decided to call up the parents to investigate the reasons for stopping the tuition lessons for their kids (their profit had dropped mah, so must find out why). Apparently, parents said they paid for their kids to have tuition, not punishment (cannot touch their lil' darlings okay..).
So what punishments had I dispensed in the past (you might have read two earlier entries about it), from the horse's mouth:
1. Standing with fingers on lips - they continued to talk even while standing.
2. Writing lines - my student said his mum asked him not to write cuz its a waste of time.
3. Hiting of palms with ruler - they said not pain leh.
4. And recently, half-squats were rather effective.
I never support corporal punishments. And I tried the reward approach before I had to rely on punishment. What would you do if you students refused to bring/do their hw and make noise in class, disturbing the other students? Would you continue to let them be? And when you do that, how do you handle the parents who keep coming to you, complaining that their kids don't do their hw or improve academically?
Punishment is inevitable. You got to take control of these misbehaved students for the sake of other students, and for themselves. I want them to benefit from my lessons too. But sometimes, you don't expect students to understand logical reasoning, afterall, they are only P3 and P4. Its not their fault that they misbehave, their role models in life (mummies and daddies?) should advice them constanly. Yes, I have no choice but to resort to some effective punishment (ie. something that will deter them from misbehaving).
Actually I didn't start hiting the palm of one or two students until recently when I heard that they are very well-behaved in the Chinese class as the teacher will always hit their palms. So they are afraid of him. Btw, the Chinese teacher is much older than me, maybe thats why no parents dare to question him?
If your kids are well-behaved and do their homework, I don't think I'd want to punish your lil' darlings. But condoning their kids, and expecting results from me, parents put me in a very difficult position. I try to take a step back, and think that I shouldn't be affected by this. I should enjoy the 3 hrs lessons, and try to tackle the problems only once every Sat.
Dear Parents, thanks for your kind feedback, along the way threatening my job, which I'm paid only 17bucks per hour (cuz class less than 10 students) for a class of seven. Perhaps I am an incompetent tutor. If you have a better way of coping with your wonderful kids and achieving results, please let me know so that I can do a better job and make your money worth. Or why don't you teach your kids yourself or send them to other centres which can do miracles (Oh no, I think the administration will come after me again for saying this!)? If you really think I terror your kids, please send me packing. Knowing that I have 200 less buckeroos every month, I will make plans to tighten my buckle, and spend my Sat on the much needed sleep. Aiyar don't complain liao, I need to sleep already...
Comments
the parents prob wouldn't complain/ complain that much if these punishments were used by teachers in school (most of the time)...and i mean actual schools...not tuition centres...schools are seen as a place where kids are not only being educated in terms of knowledge but in terms of behaviour as well...
on the other hand...the job scope of tuition centres seen by parents is far less...tuition centres are meant to only improve the kids' grades...the knowledge side...not the behaviour...so u cannot really blame the parents for complaining...i mean...the purpose of sending their kids to tuition centres is to get their kids' grades up...so punishment is seen as a waste of time as well their money...
there is prob a need for the parents to understand the purpose behind the punishment...not a waste of their time/money...but is to ensure that the kids learn well in the desired environment...
not easy i guess....that's why i can't be a good tuition teacher...haha...
its a process right? not a check on a box, or a click of a button.
if they insist on looking at things on the surface, then too bad for me. cuz this world its money that does the talking. perhaps they are thinking, "you open tuition centre, of cuz u shd have a method to teach what, don't need to punish my son." finally, this will probably boil down to the fact that i'm not qualified in some sense. then i'll feel damm sorry for explaining myself.
It's harder to teach a class now. My friend told me that someone complained she used hand signals too much, such as when she cup her ears, it means "Can you answer louder", or tap her shoulders means "Gather around"...
i guess they are the ones who really suffer. i m lucky liao.