Essay Done by English teacher of secondary school name Tokash Bokin with pre-school minicentre Suindikov Nurbek

Essay

Done by English teacher of secondary school name Tokash Bokin with pre-school minicentre Suindikov Nurbek

Main difficulties in teaching English in primary school /1^st grade/ and education problems in public schools.

The top 3 education problems in public schools

The top 3 education problems in public schools can be vastly different, depending on where you are teaching.  Often it comes down to socio-economic status of the school population.  

Literacy Rates

There is such a wide variety of readiness for reading that comes into elementary school.   We have no control over how prepared our students are to learn when they walk through our doors.

Many children from impoverished backgrounds begin at a distinct disadvantage and it is very difficult to catch them up.  Imagine having a second grade classroom with 5 students who read at a fourth grade level, 10 who read at a second grade level, 5 who are at a first grade level and 4 who are still struggling with consonant-vowel-consonant words (arbitrary numbers). 

All students have to read grade level material at some point, all students must grow and no student is eligible for special services until there has been documented interventions done for at least 6-12 weeks.  So it falls to the classroom teacher to do it all.  It can be done, but it is a problem.

Time Management

I used to teach middle school.  It was much easier, by far, to manage my time and get through all of my required standards and lessons.  In elementary school, so much time is taken up with other things that finding time to properly do all the lessons, enrich, reteach and intervene is really tough.

This is also what makes it always interesting because there is never a dull moment, but keeping to a schedule is hard.

Parents

This is not all parents.  Most parents are terrific.  I'm a parent and I think I am awesome. ;)

Seriously, the helicopter parents...the ones who cannot let their child fail...the ones who spread rumors and gossip...the parents who think their child could never be wrong...they are a problem.

These types of parents can disrupt an entire year.  I can tell you that we actively go out of our way to avoid them and nobody wants their child in their classrooms because of them, not the kid.  

It is hardest in elementary school, and especially with a first child, I know.  But what some parents don't seem to realize is that we care for their child like our own.  We want the best for them and it hurts us to discipline.  We don't like seeing a child fail, but also realize that it is an important life lesson and it's better to learn how to deal with it now rather than later.


So, I suppose those would be my top 3 problems in elementary education.  I can deal with the changes in standards, policies, etc.  But I wish there were three of me in the classroom, I had a little more time and that parents would let their kids be kids: not perfect, not terrible, just kids.