Problems with teachers.

cross_strike

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I really need some help!

In fifth year in my school, there were two higher level Irish classes. In my class, we covered all of the prose, poetry and An Triail, as doing some essays and some of the picture sequences. We were very confident in getting the course done by the mocks and having time for revision as well. At the end of sixth year, we were told that the two higher level classes would be merging. The other class hadn't finished An Triail or the poetry and they hadn't done as many essays, but we didn't feel like it would be a big problem. A bit of in-class revision wouldn't hurt after all!

When we restarted in September, we found out we would have the teacher from the other class. This teacher had never taken a higher level Irish class before, so I was pretty nervous.

Since September, I can honestly say I have not learned anything in Irish class. We spent 8 weeks (!) doing the second act of An Triail. We never did any secondary reading on it or discussed themes etc, we just read and translated it - little use to me!

During these eight weeks, myself and a few people from my class went to speak to the vice-principal about the situation. We explained to her that our plan for sixth year had been to focus on oral work and do one essay a week. While we didn't mind spending a little while on An Triail, we felt that eight weeks on one act was excessive. The vice-principal listened to us and told us that she had already received complaints and that something would be done.

The vice-principal had the teacher write out a work plan, which he/she stuck to for about three days before we fell too far behind to continue with it.

At the end of November, we went to the vice-principal again. At this stage, all of my class had been to talk to her about it. She told us she would take it to the principal. Another work plan was made, which was also soon dropped.

This week I went to a guidance counsellor to talk to him about the situation. He said he would bring it to the vice-principal and the head of the Irish department. Again, a work plan was made which has already been dropped.

This weekend, for homework I got 20 pages in Ar Aghaidh Libh (oral workbook) and 3 poetry questions. The homework load is like this all the time because we never get anything done in class. He/she treats us like a foundation class and does not allow ANY independent work in the class. What's almost worst is that he/she constantly makes mistakes grammatically and in terms of course content. He/she acts very unprofessionally when we correct him/her and often makes things up to try and make us believe he/she is right.

He/she has started targeting me now because I correct him/her. He/she put me in a corner down the back and asks questions only to me, often on things we haven't covered! The fact that we sit there in essentially dead time when we have so much work to be done is stressful enough with being personally targeted by him/her. My guidance counsellor told me that, realistically, nothing would be done about it, but it is really really affecting me. I get terrible stomach pains going to that class and it affects my learning throughout the day.

Does anyone have any ideas to help the situation?

spurious

Slightly OT, sorry, but I'm just wondering where your original teacher went? Are they in a position to take the class, or have they lost hours and left the school?

cross_strike

OT?

They're now taking a foundation level class

spurious

OT=off-topic.

Firstly, I think you've addressed this correctly by approaching the VP. Is there any possibility you could argue for your new teacher and the old one to swap?
It seems many of the problems would disappear if you had your old teacher back.

Muir

To be honest, at this stage I would advise you, and maybe some of the other people who aren't happy maybe get together after school to practice oral work etc. And if you can afford it possibly a grinds/revision course over the Easter holidays. A similar thing happened in my school & you're going to have to try and do your best to learn what you can & do as well as you can.

You need to try & not let the teacher stress you out so much that it's making you feel unwell. Just focus on doing your best.

cross_strike

That would be the ideal situation!

We've all been trying, but my vice-principal said they can't just tell a teacher that they're not capable of teaching a certain class, which I do understand. I had hoped at Christmas that they would work a little magic with the timetables so that suddenly my current teacher would not be able to take us, but no such luck!

What really annoys me is that last year, the teacher's original class all went to our VP to tell her that that teacher could not take next year's class and they were promised something would be done about it!

TheStook

You gave away the teacher's gender a few times, you might wanna fix it for some reason or other..

As for the class, that sucks, we all have a few bad teachers but he/she sounds terrible..

cross_strike

Muir, we've organised extra oral classes with another teacher, so I think that we'll be ok! Right now, it's the essays that are worrying me, as well as the stress in the class.

I am trying not to get stressed out, but the atmosphere in the classroom has become really tense and antagonistic - two things I do not cope well with!

therunaround

cross_strike wrote: »

That would be the ideal situation!

We've all been trying, but my vice-principal said they can't just tell a teacher that they're not capable of teaching a certain class, which I do understand. I had hoped at Christmas that they would work a little magic with the timetables so that suddenly my current teacher would not be able to take us, but no such luck!

What really annoys me is that last year, the teacher's original class all went to our VP to tell her that that teacher could not take next year's class and they were promised something would be done about it!

Do the foundation class have Irish at the same times as ye?

cross_strike

Thanks for letting me know! Head is melted right now :P

cross_strike

Yupp! All Irish classes are at the same time for each year.

Bazinga_N

cross_strike wrote: »

OT?

They're now taking a foundation level class

OT means Off-Topic

Have you tried asking this teacher for advice. You said yourself she was great and used to get everything needed done. I generally find teachers are usually the best people to speak to when you've issues in school. As long as you don't go to them straight away looking to bad mouth the other teacher. Tbh you're in sixth year, it's an important year and it's time to start taking some initiative. There's no point leaving weeks in between complaining about what's going on. It's your exam year, you'll soon run out of time!

Best of luck!

cross_strike

Bazinga_N wrote: »

OT means Off-Topic

Have you tried asking this teacher for advice. You said yourself she was great and used to get everything needed done. I generally find teachers are usually the best people to speak to when you've issues in school. As long as you don't go to them straight away looking to bad mouth the other teacher. Tbh you're in sixth year, it's an important year and it's time to start taking some initiative. There's no point leaving weeks in between complaining about what's going on. It's your exam year, you'll soon run out of time!

Best of luck!

Yeah we went to her before we went to the vice-principal the first time. She told us that she would normally never listen to something like that, but she knew that I was very passionate about Irish and that unfortunately there was nothing she could do! She was actually the one who advised us to go to the vice-principal. She also gave the current teacher notes to pass on to us, which the teacher tried to pass off for their own :P

We've picked up the pace of the complaints now! Wanted to give the teacher a chance at first, but now we know nothing's going to change with them!

ahnowbrowncow

So much hassle for such a useless subject. You say she never took higher Irish before but she was teaching it the other 5th year higher level class last year?

cross_strike

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

So much hassle for such a useless subject. You say she never took higher Irish before but she was teaching it the other 5th year higher level class last year?

Yes, our year group is the first time that teacher took higher Irish.

I don't think it's a useless subject, I love it. But I suppose that debate isn't something I want to get in to on this thread.

ahnowbrowncow

cross_strike wrote: »

Yes, our year group is the first time that teacher took higher Irish.

I don't think it's a useless subject, I love it. But I suppose that debate isn't something I want to get in to on this thread.

In fifth year in my school, there were two higher level Irish classes. In my class, we covered all of the prose, poetry and An Triail, as doing some essays and some of the picture sequences. We were very confident in getting the course done by the mocks and having time for revision as well. At the end of sixth year, we were told that the two higher level classes would be merging. The other class hadn't finished An Triail or the poetry and they hadn't done as many essays, but we didn't feel like it would be a big problem. A bit of in-class revision wouldn't hurt after all!

When we restarted in September, we found out we would have the teacher from the other class

Was she not teaching higher Irish to the other class last year and then the two classes merged and you got the other class's teacher? Maybe I'm picking it up wrong from the above paragraph.

Yeah it's not really valid to this discussion but I don't like Irish and dislike that it's compulsory but if you enjoy it, fair play.

cross_strike

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

Was she not teaching higher Irish to the other class last year and then the two classes merged and you got the other class's teacher? Maybe I'm picking it up wrong from the above paragraph.

Yeah it's not really valid to this discussion but I don't like Irish and dislike that it's compulsory but if you enjoy it, fair play.

Yeah, our year group was the first time they took a higher Irish class. As in, the other class had this teacher for fifth year and it was the first time this teacher had a higher LC cycle.

Oh I don't think it should be compulsory! It's a bit of a labour of love kind of thing and people who aren't interested in it just slow the rest of the class down.

therunaround

therunaround wrote: »

Do the foundation class have Irish at the same times as ye?

Well then magic time tabling is not required. Get the parents on to the boss, VP and board of management.

As a back up plan, if 15 or 20 of ye offered to pay the other teacher 2 or 3 quid each to take ye after school, it would be way cheaper than grinds

Sierra 117

cross_strike wrote: »

My guidance counsellor told me that, realistically, nothing would be done about it, but it is really really affecting me. I get terrible stomach pains going to that class and it affects my learning throughout the day.

I'd advise you get your parents involved. "Nothing will be done about it" is not something you should accept.

cross_strike

therunaround wrote: »

Well then magic time tabling is not required. Get the parents on to the boss, VP and board of management.

As a back up plan, if 15 or 20 of ye offered to pay the other teacher 2 or 3 quid each to take ye after school, it would be way cheaper than grinds

That could work! I don't even think she'd take our money tbh, she's that kind of teacher! Hopefully we can get her to agree to it now!

Is there a point in continuing to complain? Do you think something could be worked out?

RUSTEDCORE

cross_strike wrote: »

Hey guys,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I really need some help!

In fifth year in my school, there were two higher level Irish classes. In my class, we covered all of the prose, poetry and An Triail, as doing some essays and some of the picture sequences. We were very confident in getting the course done by the mocks and having time for revision as well. At the end of sixth year, we were told that the two higher level classes would be merging. The other class hadn't finished An Triail or the poetry and they hadn't done as many essays, but we didn't feel like it would be a big problem. A bit of in-class revision wouldn't hurt after all!

When we restarted in September, we found out we would have the teacher from the other class. This teacher had never taken a higher level Irish class before, so I was pretty nervous.


Since September, I can honestly say I have not learned anything in Irish class. We spent 8 weeks (!) doing the second act of An Triail. We never did any secondary reading on it or discussed themes etc, we just read and translated it - little use to me!

During these eight weeks, myself and a few people from my class went to speak to the vice-principal about the situation. We explained to her that our plan for sixth year had been to focus on oral work and do one essay a week. While we didn't mind spending a little while on An Triail, we felt that eight weeks on one act was excessive. The vice-principal listened to us and told us that she had already received complaints and that something would be done.

The vice-principal had the teacher write out a work plan, which he/she stuck to for about three days before we fell too far behind to continue with it.

At the end of November, we went to the vice-principal again. At this stage, all of my class had been to talk to her about it. She told us she would take it to the principal. Another work plan was made, which was also soon dropped.

This week I went to a guidance counsellor to talk to him about the situation. He said he would bring it to the vice-principal and the head of the Irish department. Again, a work plan was made which has already been dropped.

This weekend, for homework I got 20 pages in Ar Aghaidh Libh (oral workbook) and 3 poetry questions. The homework load is like this all the time because we never get anything done in class. He/she treats us like a foundation class and does not allow ANY independent work in the class. What's almost worst is that he/she constantly makes mistakes grammatically and in terms of course content. He/she acts very unprofessionally when we correct him/her and often makes things up to try and make us believe he/she is right.

He/she has started targeting me now because I correct him/her. He/she put me in a corner down the back and asks questions only to me, often on things we haven't covered! The fact that we sit there in essentially dead time when we have so much work to be done is stressful enough with being personally targeted by him/her. My guidance counsellor told me that, realistically, nothing would be done about it, but it is really really affecting me. I get terrible stomach pains going to that class and it affects my learning throughout the day.

Does anyone have any ideas to help the situation?

Firstly I must say that I am too busy to read your entire post but I see how concerned you are and how important this is to you, therefore you have nothing to worry about. 99% of what you learn is with your head in a book not listening to someone who is trained to dictate one. Remain motivated and Relentless and you will get whatever you want.


EDIT-I actually read it all
Here is how you handle the teacher.
1. If asked extra questions simply answer to the best of your ability, unless you want to fight back in which case I would ask him/her extremely difficult questions of my own in equal quantity.

2. He/she has no reason to put you in a corner unless you are distracting others. Debate this with him/her
Refuse to go to the corner and if he/she insists you must take the initiative and threaten to go to the principals office before he/she orders you to. You going to the principal to complain about him/her is extremely embarrassing for the teacher and when puts his/her livelihood at stake in their mind.You must demand equal respect from these people, if you have not done anything wrong do not sound apologetic when you talk. Speak about/to the faculty as if they are a waiter in a restaurant who repeatedly bring you cold food, you are in a school not a prison and they are employed to provide you with a service.

cross_strike

Sierra 117 wrote: »

I'd advise you get your parents involved. "Nothing will be done about it" is not something you should accept.

My PTM is next week, and I know my Mam is planning on speaking with the VP about the situation in class, I just don't think it will accomplish much!

cross_strike

RUSTEDCORE wrote: »

Firstly I must say that I am too busy to read your entire post but I see how concerned you are and how important this is to you, therefore you have nothing to worry about. 99% of what you learn is with your head in a book not listening to someone who is trained to dictate one. Remain motivated and Relentless and you will get whatever you want.

Thanks for your advice! Trying hard and have an extra oral class organised each week. Just quite difficult to finish a course by yourself as well as revise Irish and all my other subjects!

Sierra 117

cross_strike wrote: »

My PTM is next week, and I know my Mam is planning on speaking with the VP about the situation in class, I just don't think it will accomplish much!

Then you should have your mother speak to the teacher involved directly, especially if the higher-ups don't do anything about it.

cross_strike

Sierra 117 wrote: »

Then you should have your mother speak to the teacher involved directly, especially if the higher-ups don't do anything about it.

She'll be in with the teacher too! I would really love to see how that conversation goes :P I just think the teacher is too fixed in their ways to change their teaching methods!

Sierra 117

Maybe not, but it might stop them from targeting you in class.

cross_strike

Sierra 117 wrote: »

Maybe not, but it might stop them from targeting you in class.

Hopefully! I'm meeting with the guidance counsellor again, who is himself an Irish teacher. I know he's trying to organise it so that I just go to the library during Irish and work myself. If that works out it would be great!

You see, this teacher has a reputation for this kind of stuff. When I was last talking to my VP, she said a lot about people feeling threatened and not having confidence in their abilities... but I feel completely betrayed for her allowing it to continue!

RUSTEDCORE

cross_strike wrote: »

Thanks for your advice! Trying hard and have an extra oral class organised each week. Just quite difficult to finish a course by yourself as well as revise Irish and all my other subjects!

Please read my edit
I experienced teachers attempting to bully me and I give my advice in the edit.

spurious

Be very very careful about alleging bullying. This can easily turn into you being perceived as harassing the teacher and not allowing them teach the class. Health and safety at Work legislation covers it.

The VP is aware of the problem. It is their job to manage their staff, be it by offering retraining in classroom management to the teacher or rejigging the timetable or whatever. Leave them to do their job.

therunaround

cross_strike wrote: »

That could work! I don't even think she'd take our money tbh, she's that kind of teacher! Hopefully we can get her to agree to it now!

Is there a point in continuing to complain? Do you think something could be worked out?

Better chance of working if the parents apply pressure.
She might do one class a week for free, I do for maths, especially if she's not a permanent teacher and is trying to push for hours. 2 or 3 classes a week wouldn't be fair to expect it free.

One thing u need to be aware of is there may be politics involved eg teachers can have relations or friends in management so please don't put pressure on your old teacher to take sides .

In a nutshell this is one for the parents.

There was a similar thread to this last year

cross_strike

spurious wrote: »

Be very very careful about alleging bullying.
The VP is aware of the problem. It is their job to manage their staff, be it by retraining or rejigging the timetable or whatever.

I'm not calling it bullying, right now I'm just refering to it as targeting. For example, at the beginning of the year, I chose a seat right at the front of the class, because then I wouldn't be distracted by anything. As I said, the teacher makes a lot of mistakes, which I corrected, and eventually moved me to the back in a corner. If I put up my hand now about anything now, they manage to not see it. My pen leaked today and I spent the whole class trying to ask could I go get tissue to clean it up!

And I feel like the teacher is trying to make me feel stupid by asking me questions on things we haven't covered yet. Luckily, I have a pretty good standard of Irish, so that hasn't really worked out yet! But I'm going to keep an eye on it because it's getting very antagonistic.