Amy’s class
Midway through week 3 the Executive staff met and assigned the classes. Just as the children were eager to find out what teacher they had for the rest of the year so too was Amy excited to finally be meeting her class in week 4. She was assigned a composite class; year 4/5, this cross stage class had 24 students; 14 boys and 10 girls. It seemed that life at PHPS was not meant to be easy!
Amy believed in collaborative learning and on Friday afternoon after the final bell she (to some of the other teachers’ surprise) rearranged the desks and she finally got to unpack the resources that she had bought. She hung bright and colourful posters and soon some of the Year 3 and 4 teachers began to drift into Amy's room. They were curious as to where their students from last year had been placed. “I could NEVER control my students if they were sitting this way” said one. Another seemed almost angry that Amy would do anything so bold. Had she made a mistake? She did not think so.
“Oh, you have Katie! You'll just LOVE HER. She really enjoys being the teacher's helper. Why, she can almost run the classroom if you have to step out.”
“Oh good. You have Sally she doesn't do anything except read, read, and read. You will just love her. She NEVER talks, and you almost have to MAKE her get out of her seat when it's time to go somewhere else. Her mother insists that she’s ‘gifted’”.
“And look, you have Jack. You’ll have to watch him Amy, he likes to run away, he usually just goes home and if he does his mother will ring us and try to bring him back to school. Sometimes the Principal will go and get him but he has a habit for finding and making trouble.”
“You’ll have to do some extra work with Dale he joined us last year, DOCS removed him from his mother and he is living with his maternal grandparents now, he’s about 18 months behind in his outcomes” said the Year 3 teacher “that’s about the average though isn’t it?” said the Year 4 teacher … Amy was distressed at the dismissive nature of these comments she may be a recent graduate but she knew that Aboriginal education is everybody’s business.
“Oh no, you have Sam! Poor Sam! You know he has Aspergers don’t you? You do know how to handle children with this syndrome don’t you?” Amy didn’t answer. She was tired of being treated like a first year pre-service teacher instead of a graduate and colleague.
On and on went the comments. Amy made a wild guess that she had a group of students who would fit “a normal curve”. The comments did not bother her too much because her university lecturers and past Professional Experiences and Internship had instilled in her the belief that “every child is different”.
Amy’s supervisor also came into her room at the end of week 3 she too wanted to talk to Amy about her class and in particular Sam. Sam’s mother had been to the school and informed the principal that she and Sam’s father had separated over the summer holidays and that Sam was not dealing with this new domestic arrangement. Apparently it was not an acrimonious separation and there was a court order in place and Sam’s mother had full custody.
Midway through week 3 the Executive staff met and assigned the classes. Just as the children were eager to find out what teacher they had for the rest of the year so too was Amy excited to finally be meeting her class in week 4. She was assigned a composite class; year 4/5, this cross stage class had 24 students; 14 boys and 10 girls. It seemed that life at PHPS was not meant to be easy!
Amy believed in collaborative learning and on Friday afternoon after the final bell she (to some of the other teachers’ surprise) rearranged the desks and she finally got to unpack the resources that she had bought. She hung bright and colourful posters and soon some of the Year 3 and 4 teachers began to drift into Amy's room. They were curious as to where their students from last year had been placed. “I could NEVER control my students if they were sitting this way” said one. Another seemed almost angry that Amy would do anything so bold. Had she made a mistake? She did not think so.
“Oh, you have Katie! You'll just LOVE HER. She really enjoys being the teacher's helper. Why, she can almost run the classroom if you have to step out.”
“Oh good. You have Sally she doesn't do anything except read, read, and read. You will just love her. She NEVER talks, and you almost have to MAKE her get out of her seat when it's time to go somewhere else. Her mother insists that she’s ‘gifted’”.
“And look, you have Jack. You’ll have to watch him Amy, he likes to run away, he usually just goes home and if he does his mother will ring us and try to bring him back to school. Sometimes the Principal will go and get him but he has a habit for finding and making trouble.”
“You’ll have to do some extra work with Dale he joined us last year, DOCS removed him from his mother and he is living with his maternal grandparents now, he’s about 18 months behind in his outcomes” said the Year 3 teacher “that’s about the average though isn’t it?” said the Year 4 teacher … Amy was distressed at the dismissive nature of these comments she may be a recent graduate but she knew that Aboriginal education is everybody’s business.
“Oh no, you have Sam! Poor Sam! You know he has Aspergers don’t you? You do know how to handle children with this syndrome don’t you?” Amy didn’t answer. She was tired of being treated like a first year pre-service teacher instead of a graduate and colleague.
On and on went the comments. Amy made a wild guess that she had a group of students who would fit “a normal curve”. The comments did not bother her too much because her university lecturers and past Professional Experiences and Internship had instilled in her the belief that “every child is different”.
Amy’s supervisor also came into her room at the end of week 3 she too wanted to talk to Amy about her class and in particular Sam. Sam’s mother had been to the school and informed the principal that she and Sam’s father had separated over the summer holidays and that Sam was not dealing with this new domestic arrangement. Apparently it was not an acrimonious separation and there was a court order in place and Sam’s mother had full custody.
