obca87 (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} obca87) wrote,@ 2008-05-16 18:44:00 |
|
Giving tests to adults ain't easy
So I have two night adult school classes: these are students completing their GED. I gave what I thought was an easy test to one of the classes. I hand out the tests, reminding students not to talk, and they go to the races. After like 5 minutes, I happen to look up and see a girl looking down at the chair next to her. After further investigation, I go over and see on the chair next to her, she's put her notebook, opened to just the page she needs. Mind you, the entire test is basically a vocab test. So I take her test and tell her to leave.
This is when all hell brakes loose. She starts yelling at me (the same phrase, over and over again in Krioulu) and when I try to explain, she simply changes the phrase and keeps yelling that over and over again. It's late, I'm tired, not just that night, but in general, of people trying and successfully taking advantage of me and not respecting me because I'm not from here. So I do the stupid thing and start yelling back. She tells me that she'll leave when she finishes her test, I tell her that she's leaving now. I should have stayed calm. I shouldn't have raised my voice. I should have just kept her test and told her to leave. But I didn't do any of those things.
I left the class to get another teacher. During day school, the other teachers always have my back and have helped me to control the students a lot. They seem to understand my situation and always, always, always have my back. Stupidly I assumed it'd be the same at night.
The student's basic argument was, that since she'd only written her name on the paper, she wasn't cheating. In my head, having an open notebook sitting next to you and looking at it is cheating.
The other teacher came in, heard her side of the story, and then told me to give her her test back, without hearing mine. I was SUPER angry at that teacher. Even though I'd asked him in for his opinion, I was like "Is this your class? I saw her cheating, she needs to leave." and then he was like "Well, she says she wasn't cheating, and she DID only write her name." Since I now have no authority, I give her her test back. The other teacher leaves, I huff around for a bit (I throw her notebook at her, just in case she needs to use it (I know, another thing that even now, I'm super duper embarrassed about). I then go to the front teacher's desk and cry quietly. While that was probably the least professional thing to do, I thought that they needed to see how their behavior affects me. I'm a person too, and if you are going to blatantly disrespect me, live with the tears.
The class quieted down for a bit. After I was through crying, I got up and walked around, to try to help them. I wrote an apology in their language, and mine, on the board, saying that if I wished to be treated as a professional, I need to act like one, and acting like one does not include yelling at a student. They said it was okay. I also caught the teacher as he was leaving. I apologized for my behavior, and he said I didn't need to, but I could tell it helped a lot. Outside of class I also apologized to the girl, who still insisted she was innocent.
The next day I saw another student from the class. She'd been sitting behind the cheater and saw what happened. She said that I was right, and had I been a Cape Verdean, I wouldn't have got treated in the way that I did. It was nice to be backed up by someone who was there.
So I have two night adult school classes: these are students completing their GED. I gave what I thought was an easy test to one of the classes. I hand out the tests, reminding students not to talk, and they go to the races. After like 5 minutes, I happen to look up and see a girl looking down at the chair next to her. After further investigation, I go over and see on the chair next to her, she's put her notebook, opened to just the page she needs. Mind you, the entire test is basically a vocab test. So I take her test and tell her to leave.
This is when all hell brakes loose. She starts yelling at me (the same phrase, over and over again in Krioulu) and when I try to explain, she simply changes the phrase and keeps yelling that over and over again. It's late, I'm tired, not just that night, but in general, of people trying and successfully taking advantage of me and not respecting me because I'm not from here. So I do the stupid thing and start yelling back. She tells me that she'll leave when she finishes her test, I tell her that she's leaving now. I should have stayed calm. I shouldn't have raised my voice. I should have just kept her test and told her to leave. But I didn't do any of those things.
I left the class to get another teacher. During day school, the other teachers always have my back and have helped me to control the students a lot. They seem to understand my situation and always, always, always have my back. Stupidly I assumed it'd be the same at night.
The student's basic argument was, that since she'd only written her name on the paper, she wasn't cheating. In my head, having an open notebook sitting next to you and looking at it is cheating.
The other teacher came in, heard her side of the story, and then told me to give her her test back, without hearing mine. I was SUPER angry at that teacher. Even though I'd asked him in for his opinion, I was like "Is this your class? I saw her cheating, she needs to leave." and then he was like "Well, she says she wasn't cheating, and she DID only write her name." Since I now have no authority, I give her her test back. The other teacher leaves, I huff around for a bit (I throw her notebook at her, just in case she needs to use it (I know, another thing that even now, I'm super duper embarrassed about). I then go to the front teacher's desk and cry quietly. While that was probably the least professional thing to do, I thought that they needed to see how their behavior affects me. I'm a person too, and if you are going to blatantly disrespect me, live with the tears.
The class quieted down for a bit. After I was through crying, I got up and walked around, to try to help them. I wrote an apology in their language, and mine, on the board, saying that if I wished to be treated as a professional, I need to act like one, and acting like one does not include yelling at a student. They said it was okay. I also caught the teacher as he was leaving. I apologized for my behavior, and he said I didn't need to, but I could tell it helped a lot. Outside of class I also apologized to the girl, who still insisted she was innocent.
The next day I saw another student from the class. She'd been sitting behind the cheater and saw what happened. She said that I was right, and had I been a Cape Verdean, I wouldn't have got treated in the way that I did. It was nice to be backed up by someone who was there.
