Diary of a schoolteacher: Why risk burnout when the brats won't remember you? [Independent.ie]
- Published: 13 April 2011
Like everyone else in teaching, I have a rogue class that I cannot teach anything. The first time I encountered them they refused to give me their names.
No point on calling the deputy principal for help as I'm not allowed to leave them unattended, and if I send one of the retrogrades out to fetch him, the brat will either disappear for a smoke or the DP won't be anywhere to be found.
There's always at least one nice, polite, gentle kid in these criminal fraternities. Maybe a kid with a learning disability but who is smart and decent in every other way.
He or she often wears really thick glasses, has an English accent or is Polish.
You want to scream at them, no, you want to switch on the fire alarm and jump out the window and head for the hills on this glorious sunny April day as they tell you their name is Steven Gerrard or Jessie J and then they fall around laughing as if this is the wittiest thing you will ever hear, but you decide to stay put.
That innocent kid with the English accent who has been to elocution lessons because she was born without a soft palate, she's sitting there in a clean and complete school uniform, book open on the right page, waiting for you to impart knowledge onto her.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
