I've been in the midst of dealing with an issue that would be much more of a non-issue in the States, and I'm getting to the state where I just wanna pull my hair out. Let me explain..
A couple weeks ago, one of my K kids got hurt during the break before our last class for the day. As I've stated previously, for every 40 minutes of K class we have a 10 minute break. During the breaks, English teachers are allowed to go to the teacher's room for a short breather and the Korean teachers/assistants are responsible for the children. So all my K kids were doing a science worksheet, and the bell rang. They all jumped up out of their seats, handed me their papers and then quickly exited my room to play in the gym/big room area. Like a minute into break, I was still in my room helping a student finish the worksheet and several of my kids came in and told me that Kevin Lee, another K student, had fallen and hurt his nose. I asked if Korean teacher was out there taking care of him, and they all said yes, so I just went on with what I was doing.
A couple minutes later, I walk out of my room and am immediately approached by Mrs. Kim, my boss. Come to find out that Kevin Lee had tripped and hit his face on the stage or something and his nose really took a hit. Then my boss proceeds to ask me at least 7 times whether I let my students out of the classroom before the bell rang. I told her over and over and over and over that we were working on a science worksheet when the bell rang so there was no way that Kevin Lee had left the classroom before the bell rang. It ended up turning into this huge thing, because apparently when Kevin Lee fell my Korean teacher wasn't in the gym watching the students, so she had told my boss that it was because I let them out early.
After wasting pretty much all my break trying to convince my boss that I hadn't let my students out early and that sometimes kids just fall and accidents happen, I ran upstairs to the teacher's lounge to grab some papers for my next class. And when I got up there, 3 of my co-workers were asking me how Kevin Lee was, because, get this, they had all seen him fall as they were walking upstairs to the teacher's room. So if I let him out of the classroom early, then that means 3 of my co-workers also were leaving their classrooms early, because they all actually saw the fall take place. For some reason, this has not cleared my name, however. I guess they just need someone to blame and why not pin it on the foreigner English teacher.
Since this accident, Mrs. Kim has approached me more than a couple times to talk about what I like to refer to as "the Kevin Lee incident." She is still convince I am somehow at fault. She is continuously reminding me that my students have to be in the room until the bell rings and that they shouldn't be running in the school and that I need to be more careful with them. You should have heard me during the school day before the accident. The number of times I said "Be careful. Stop running. That's not a safe choice. Change your play; it's too dangerous" was comical. I should have had my own PBS program as the Safety Police. I can't possibly encourage my 4 and 5 year-old Kindergarten students to be any more careful. Other teachers allow their children to stand on chairs and run in the building and wrestle with each other. But, of course, my student was the one who got hurt. So my school has been instilling all of these new safety rules and classroom rules to ensure that we are at optimal safety so that no child is ever hurt here again. It's ridiculous!
I love being safe and careful, don't get me wrong. But for some reason, my bosses and all the Korean staff think that Kevin Lee wouldn't have gotten hurt had we just been watching him closer or telling him more to be careful. Unless a Korean teacher was holding his hand as he frolicked around during break time, I don't see how this accident could have been avoided. It was an accident...an accidental fall that ended badly. I feel terrible that he got hurt. At the same time, I just wanna shake my bosses by their shoulders and say, "Chill out. Kids get hurt. It's part of being a kid."
That's my random rant for the day. I thought that with time this would all blow over, but it is unfortunately still looming over my every day at work. Hopefully, in time it will all be put behind us and we can move on.
I truly hope things are going well for you all back home. I've read that you've had some incredible weather as of late. I'm jealous. Seoul is slowly, ever so slowly, warming up. I can't wait for the real Spring weather!
I love you and miss you all more than words could say!!!
It's ALL About Him,
-KendallCooke
Obviously, the way to get over this is to allow another student to get hurt during break and then you can blame it on someone else...Okay, I'm just kidding but you've been raised by a mom/teacher that if I don't see blood gushing or you're not puking your head off, you're doing fine. Sorry I raised you that way...I was too busy to worry about little stuff like regular accidents and now you're paying the price.
ReplyDeleteWow, you can't seem to get a break from these people. Do yourself a favor and hold on to Kevin Lee each and every day and literally hand him off to the Korean helper so this doesn't happen again.
Hope all else is going well. The North School kids keep asking about you and haven't forgotten you. As a matter of fact, there is another Miss Cash here student-teaching and she has to keep reminding the kids that she spells her name C-A-S-H not K-A-S-H all because of the former Miss Kash that was at North. You're such a trouble-maker you!!
Love you and keep your chin up! Some days teaching just stinks...other days, it's pretty fun!