The Lowdown on Teaching

So, a good friend and loyal blog-reader recently asked me to explain what it's like teaching here in Beit She'an.

I've been purposely scant on the details of my teaching situation and tried to give more highlights and anecdotes, rather than delve into the meaty particulars of my teaching placement in Beit She'an. 

I'm hesitant to really get into the finer aspects of my daily teaching experience since I haven't wanted to address point blank what is developing into an increasingly negative situation. Once I call it such, it's harder to cope with having nine more months to get through.  Plus, I wanted to take the high road and not descend to fingerpointing and announcing incompetentence. I've been trying my best to stay positive and focus on giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, as well as the opportunity to turn things around - which still could happen. However, in the meantime, my time spent here in the pursuit of teaching has been frustrating, to say the least. 

First, some background: I was assigned to a school whose English teacher is currently a long term substitute teacher, that is just as new to the school as I am. She has big shoes to fill - last year's English teacher was much loved, very respected and competent at what she did. She was able to hold order in the classroom, connect with the students and teach them English well. 

This is no easy task to accomplish when it comes to the Israeli school kids at my school. The politically correct way to phrase it is to call them "energetic", but that's a positive spin on their rippling energy that's tinged with bouts of violence, aggression, unwillingness to compromise and a general desire to just be wild and untamable. 

Maybe it has something to do with knowing that when they turn 18 they will head into the Israel Defense Force. There's an Israeli saying - "you can get your education back, but not your childhood"; so in the pursuit of fulfillment of their child-like wonder, the kids go balls to walls, full throttle crazy on a regular basis. This makes it very difficult for their teachers to achieve anything, least of all, educating them. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not actually sure that they even accomplish that. 

From what I've observed - and seems to be specific to my school - the teachers are typically women, who dress in the latest fashions and trends, wear high heels and nice makeup. In a county where you'd find yourself overdressed if you stepped outside of the dresscode of flip-flops and jeans, I'm not sure how school teachers became the epitome of the country's fashion palates. Maybe it developed as a survival response to the craziness that regularly surrounds them, by thinking that "if they're all crazy and don't give a shit, I might as well wear my 5 inch heels to school, since everything is going to hell anyways!" But this is my pure speculation. 

Anyways, from what I've observed, on a regular basis, some teacher is always screaming, some student is always talking back, both boys and girls punch each other, troubled students act up for attention, teachers struggle to maintain authority and dole out discipline or extreme measures, which entail a teacher pulling out her cell phone and calling the parents in the middle of class if a really bad student won't "Shek-et va shev!" (Be quiet and sit down!!!)

There's been only one time in a classroom where I've wondered if I am safe: from the moment I walked into the class, one little boy was highly volatile, capricious and could go off at the drop of a pin. He would instigate the other students and get them riled up, then play the victim with the teacher. It doesn't help that his mother is a teacher at the school, so he obviously knows that he can get away with whatever he wants with no real repercussions. He's clearly very troubled and can successfully manipulate himself away from any real consequences. In response to his behavior, the English teacher had moved him to sit next to me, but this did not reign him in and he really did not give any fucks. All of a sudden, another boy said something that sent the troubled boy leaping over the table to punch him in the head! The teacher had to haul him out of the classroom and he did not return back to the class. It was hard to watch and I'm not sure how I feel about the stopgap measures used to control this kid, while there's clearly a bigger problem that's being avoided here. 

Plus, having to adjust to this climate as well as seeing boys punch girls is hard to get used to. The girls can really hold their own and hit right back, but there's an American part of my mind that just feels that this crosses a line. However, I am not in the classroom to dole out discipline, nor be the moral compass, so all I can do is merely observe these interactions. 

So these are the conditions I face when I go to school every day. It's not exactly the cheery, welcoming environment that you'd find in America, to say the least. This makes me wonder if the students look forward to coming to school, or find it to be a rewarding experience. It troubles me that some kids who are really smart and clever are getting pushed down into the system and receiving very little recognition for how outstanding they are. 

Again, specific to my school, the level of English proficiency is very low. I can probably count on one hand the students that I could have a short conversation with in English. Most students are still struggling with letters, sounds and their understanding. The teachers are at a similar level of English, but ashamed to show this, so they don't converse with me much. This makes talking about even the most simple topics a challenge, resulting in making me feel isolated and unable to interact or convey anything. One day last week, someone locked me in the bathroom from outside and it was almost a relief to be stuck somewhere quiet and with the perfect out from awkward and strained interactions. I stayed there for a few minutes until another teacher chanced to unlock the door and force me back out into the outside. 

Obviously navigating this brand new world of Israeli school is not something I'm naturally succeeding at, so it would be wonderful to have an adept guide! In that respect, I'm left hanging, since the teacher who is assigned to host me has no idea what she is doing and astounds me daily at her level of ineptitude at teaching. In the first days, I was really open minded to her teaching ability and thought that she had been given a tough break - she seemingly has the know-how, experience and knowledge to teach English to children. But after her soaring rendition of Goldicock and the Three Bears (which I barely made it through without laughing) to a class of Special Education children, I've begun to think that she really has no idea what she is doing.

I think it's a two pronged problem: she's overwhelmed and struggling to adapt to a new school setting, as well as still getting a grasp on English. On top of that, I've been thrown into the mix and she has no idea how to utilize me and use the volunteer resource that I present. My first couple of weeks have been spent shadowing her through the four to six classes that she teaches a day, occasionally correcting her spelling and supplying a legitimating factor as she attempts to be an authoratative figure. She does this by asking me in front of her classes if she is teaching the English right  and obviously since she is trying to hold control of the class, it's difficult to call her out and say "snake isn't spelled s-a-n-k-e" or  "there's no such word as pophotoes" or "the plural of woman is not womans" because I don't feel comfortable calling her competency into doubt in front of the kids she's trying to teach. But this is tough when I see the students copying down her mistakes in their English notebooks. I suspect that the students are picking up on her lack of ineptness and that's one reason why they act up so much. Her response is a lot of yelling and a disporportionate amount of time and effort goes into maintaining order, rather than productive learning. What lessons she does manage are typically unimaginative and lack any energy. It's funny since when we do have a brief discussion on lessons afterwards she'll express that she really believes in games, music and a number of different approaches in learning, however, I have yet to see that in action. I'm beginning to see that she's much more talk than action and really lacks on any follow through. 

In terms of interactions and expectations with me, she's given me very little to go from. I told her from the get-go, that I was here to make her life easier in whatever form that might take. But she had no suggestions on what that might look like, or what form it would take. In fact, I would have no idea that my experience was so lackluster if it wasn't for meeting the fantastic English teacher from the previous year. She had a plethora of teaching experience with ITF fellows and upon meeting her, she asked if I had introduced myself and been able to begin interacting with the kids, which is how it was done in previous years. My first days were the exact opposite: the English teacher proceeded as business as usual and tried to ignore and tone down the fact that I was in her class. She made no introductions about me, even though every student was curious about my name, where I was from, age and why I was there. A month later, there are still students asking me these things. I also received no tour of orientation of the school and till this day, I'm still finding out where certain rooms are, or have no idea which class is where. 

This has all come to a point where the substitute teacher's struggles and inconsistencies are being noticed by more than just me. The principal asked the veteran English teacher to come in and provide some support and guidance. This Monday, she joined us in the classroom and singlehandedly spearheaded dividing up the class into different groups for each of us to work with. So today for the first time, I got to take a group of students work with me on their English! It was a lot of fun to finally interact with them, see their English level, play some games and learn some Hebrew from them! 

But this also really revealed to me how there is a real lack of expectation and execution, as well as a frustrating amount of miscommunication taking place. The substitute English teacher does not follow through on any preparation and clear lesson plans and does not take responsibility for it. 

As you read this and have your own thoughts, I don't want you to think that this is the norm. Not all schools, teachers or students in Beit She'an are like this. The other ITF teachers at other schools all work with very capable and intelligent English teachers, who are excellent and really great at what they do. They have great students and are being utilized and working hard. 

Also my issue is being addressed and should not be allowed to continue this way. My coordinator has gotten involved and is aware of the situation and I believe it will not be continuing in this vein. The concept is that I'm here to provide a supportive English teaching resource and if it isn't used in this location, it will be elsewhere.

When I go into school bright and early tomorrow morning, I'm optimistic that the situation will be different. Between my coordinator and the veteran English teacher, expectations have been laid out and I hope a new leaf will be turned over! Hopefully it's not too late to hit the restart button!