Nightmare on Broken Head Road

Today I started my Anthropomorphic Portrait unit with Year 7. It went atrociously.

I have never in my life experienced such blatant disrespect. And I don't even think they mean to be disrespectful because they were never taught what it looks like to be respectful in a classroom in the first place. There was not a single moment where there was no talking. You would go over to settle down one group of students, then move on to quiet down another, then the last group you just took care of starts up again. And it just repeated like that the whole class period. Even when Tarryn tried to intervene, they continued talking. Just reflecting on it makes my stomach sick because it was seriously the rudest thing I've ever seen. I went to observe other classrooms to see if it was just our class or if it was the students in general and I have come to determine it is all of the students. The class I observed was a year 7 as well and they were just as disrespectful as mine. The teacher just kept yelling, "Guys stop it!" "Guys this is your final warning!" "Alright I've had just about enough!" Just on and on and on. I'm literally just infuriated they would allow their students to treat them this way. The only word I can think of each time I think of today is unbelievable.

I obviously cannot undo the past three weeks of free reign they've had and I don't want to engage in a power struggle, so I have come up with an intervention plan:

1. Have class line up outside of the classroom. Here they have a bell that dismisses class, but not one that initiates the next, so there's no formal start of class. When they're lined up outside I will explain that yesterday was unacceptable and that it will be much better today. I will let them know I have created a seating chart and that they should not think of it as a punishment, but rather an opportunity for a fresh start and to help them remain quiet and focused when the teacher is talking.

2. We will walk in quietly as a class. If a student starts mucking around, I will ask them to leave and re-enter class. If the whole class mucks around, I will escort the whole class out to try again. I will line them against the white board and call their names to assign their new seats.

3. I will set a goal on the white board. One task achievable by the end of the class period. I will instruct in my normal voice and if they choose to talk over me, then they will miss important instruction and cannot complete the task.

4. They will turn the task in to me immediately at the end of class for marks that will be handed out the next day.

I really hope this begins to straighten them out. We'll see.

On a brighter note, Year 8 is studying Mombassa so I decided to do my own little Mombassa inspired piece! I did a depiction of the trail that leads to Tallow Beach and all the staring wallabies I encounter along the way!

They are very big on copying and appropriation here. I think it's nice in the sense that there is so much to learn from copying an artist. When I was doing my Mombassa piece, just looking at the way he blended colors and his line quality taught me so much. And when I think back to when I first started getting into drawing, I was copying other artists. You learn from copying. This is totally different from art education in the US which stresses originality. But what is originality? We're all informed and inspired by something.