a blog of confusion

So I don't understand my 5b class...Take today for instance.

They came in the room screaming and cursing and carrying on in true 5b fashion. I wrangled them into their seats and told them in Bulgarian what we were going to do: I was going to spell out words for them to write in their notebooks. This was a practice in understanding the names of our letters because earlier in the day I realized my 8th graders could not do this...

For some inexplicable reason they all got out notebooks and looked more prepared than any group of students I have encountered since arriving in Bulgaria. I gave them the first letter and they looked at me silently and intensly, wrote the letter, and then looked up for the next letter and so on...All of the students did this. And I was shocked by the accuracy of some of the kids' work. Some of them who I thought had never retained anything actually seemed to know something! And they were just so INTENSLY listening...It was like I was spelling out a code that would save their lives. I almost got distracted by the efficiency of it.

But then halfway through the period some asshole kid threw a stotinki coin at the damn bell outside of my classroom (the one that NEVER rings when it ought to) and the demons took it as their cue to go nuts. "The bell rang," they told me. "We must go!" They packed up their things and began shouting to one another.

Meanwhile I was trying to communicate to them that the bell had not rung, it was just some kid throwing a coin AT the bell. But they were so loud I was inaudible (and for those that know me, I am ALWAYS audible). I had to hold the door closed with all my might to prevent them from leaving. They started fighting as usual, and since they had already packed up there wasn't NO WAY I was going to get them to unpack their books...For the second half of the period I was relegated to discipline duty, which in this class is like being a prison warden.

So I don't understand. What was it about THAT exercise that made them listen? It doesn't seem fun and different to me...We do listening stuff all the TIME and they just talk so loudly the kids who want to hear can't...I would love to know what would have happened had that outside disruption never taken place. See, that's another thing. Not only do we have to deal with crap inside the class, I am constantly having to deal with crap being imposed on me from the hallway! In America if a kid is in the hall without a pass he gets detention. Here, there is literally no set-up punishment...What an ass-backwards system.

In my opinion, which is not worth much and is strictly MY OPINION, this education system is very much in need of teeth for the teachers. The teachers need to be given proverbial whips and sticks to get the job done here...I think the lack of these things has made the educational system what it is today. They need to have class participation grades that count as test grades (when I suggested this, my director said students should only be graded on the quality of work they produce, not their behavior) god-awful detentions, suspensions, Saturday school, in-school-suspension, and any other possible punishment that might deter these little darlings from acting like assholes. The American system is not perfect by any means, but I do not remember any of my classes being like classes here...even when the teacher was a weakling and a moron. Sure people tried to cheat, but they were failed. Sure people talked out in class, but it was in whispers so as to avoid getting a detention (my students have full blown conversations like I am not even standing there and no amount of scolding from me helps this). Sure, there was even the occasional fight in school, but you better damn believe those kids were outta there as soon as they were pulled off of one another and later became the school gossip for eons to follow. Here kids can beat eachother until they are bleeding and they still roam the halls, and no one even thinks anything of it afterwards.

I do not understand how Bulgarian teachers stay in their jobs for so long. And for what it's worth, as much as I love Bulgaria and the people I know here, I would not send my child to a Bulgarian school for all the tea in freakin' China!