No meeting with coteachers before starting

[TinyPanda]

Is it common to not meet with most of your co-teachers before you start teaching in their classrooms?  I've been here for a week and tried to meet with each of my teachers and discuss what is expected of me in each of their respective classrooms but most of my teachers gave me vague answers if any answer at all (some just said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah).  I want to do this right and not step on any toes but I'm not getting very good information :( 
Advice? Comments?  Please help!

[Morticae]

There are different styles of "co-teaching" in the classroom.

The style my school uses is that I teach 100% and the CT really has nothing to do with what I'm doing. To be frank, they usually don't come to my classes. Therefore, I never meet with any of them nor do I submit a lesson plan to anybody. I just show up and teach, going into my second year of doing this.

Some people have the rare genuine 50/50 co-teaching positions, where you plan together and all of that. That doesn't seem to be as common and I have no experience with it.

Some don't really plan lessons at all, but instead are more like assistants and/or a parrot for the students to practice their pronunciation with.

I am curious what kind of teaching style you are in. If none of your CT's care to meet with you, perhaps you are in a situation like mine where you are expected to plan and execute 100% of the lesson. I should also note that I do not follow any book. If you are in a situation like this, I'd say their response is normal. They probably don't really care what you teach. You're kind of just a "relief" teacher to them (Oh I get a break!).

If you are teaching WITH them, which I don't have much experience with (beyond the 1 open class they had me do), then it would seem like you should be having some meetings with them. Although they most likely would prefer if you do the planning then they can approve or edit a final draft that you hand in.

[Lilly2011]

I have just started work in a new school and this is the case. I am left to myself to do whatever.
In my previous school it was very different, i worked 50/50 with a co-teacher.

It has it's advantages and disadvantages but my advice is to get on with what you have to do. You are the teacher and therefore it is up to you to manage your classroom. Nobody should really have to tell you what to do.

[flasyb]

Is it common to not meet with most of your co-teachers before you start teaching in their classrooms?  I've been here for a week and tried to meet with each of my teachers and discuss what is expected of me in each of their respective classrooms but most of my teachers gave me vague answers if any answer at all (some just said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah).  I want to do this right and not step on any toes but I'm not getting very good information :( 
Advice? Comments?  Please help!

High school? Totally standard at my school. My main co-teacher picked me up and took me to school on the first day.

flasyb: So where's the text book.
co-teacher: Here it is.
flasyb: Wow, there's a lot of Korean in there.
co-teacher: This is not your book.
flasyb: Where's my text book.
co-teacher: You don't have a text book.
flasyb: So what do I teach?
co-teacher: Whatever you want.
flasyb: Is there anything in particular that you want me to teach? Do you want me to support what you teach. Maybe the kids can learn in your class and can practice in mine.
co-teacher: Just teach whatever you want.

And that's what I've been doing since.
So welcome to the club.

A few tips which may only apply if, like me, you are a "conversation teacher" with no text book, no exam based on the material you teach and co-teachers who want you to do a good job but in no way wish to offer support other than whacking tables and sometimes translating too much. Plus the majority of students in my rural high school already hate English (though only some of them hate me).

1) Structure your class so that you play a game every class but also make sure that the game you play is based on the material you teach in class. This will encourage participation and your students will be more inclined to stay awake during class.

2) Stop asking your co-teachers what you should teach. You need to be independent and impress them with classroom control as well as interesting lessons. If your classes are like mine, your co-teachers will see them as a once weekly diversion for the students from actual teaching.

3) It sounds like your co-teachers will mostly be absent so you'll need to have control. Use the first class to establish rules and a system of discipline. You need to be friendly and approachable but also able to switch to the "look of death" and back again at will. It's best to start of strong and ease up.

4) Plan lessons with the expectation that there will be nobody there capable of translating anything.

5) Expect no further information.

6) Listen to criticism, think about it seriously (even if you're secretly thinking the person giving it doesn't know what they're talking about) and then choose whether to ignore it or act on it.

7) Look on waygook.org for inspiration. It really is a life saver at times and a great source of ideas at others.

Left click on home, click on "lesson plans, ideas and references" click on the level you teach "elementary, high school..." and check out the master lists. The mods have recently done a superb job sorting them out.

Good luck!

[Damien]

I only met my main co-teacher before starting. I met other female teachers at the school, but I did not know any English teachers.

[onsan123]

a lot of co teachers are very busy. Just download ppts and use them in class or bring in movies. No oversight might mean more fun.

[onsan123]

sometimes it is ok to be unsupoervised. just lay down the law with the kids, pop in a movie, and relax

[postkorea]

In some ways this happened to me at my school; although the teachers did meet with me a little and offered suggestions, but it wasn't what I expected. This is my third year teaching ESL, but my first year in Korea. At every school in the past, there has always been an orientation to discuss discipline procedures- every school in every country is different, to discuss goals of the course, etc. etc. I don't understand why this isn't done in Korea for ESL teachers? Is it the same for normal Korean teachers? Do they not get briefed on discipline procedures unique to the school? Do they not get lists of the students names they can read (my school didn't give me one)? Somehow, I doubt it. My school uses a point system for discipline, but I didn't find out about it until 4 months after I started teaching. Also, in my previous country of residence, when the students acted out, we could just send them out of the room. Here I knew that wasn't the case, but I wasn't sure exactly what were the normal procedures. I was having them do push-ups for a punishment, but I was recently told that's against the law now. So an orientation at school would have really helped me. (Discipline also isn't my strong suit, so that should be kept in mind when I criticize the school) It's also hard to punish them when you don't know their names, and the half the teachers say they don't have time to write the names out in Roman script for you, and not all the kids know how to even at high school level. The other thing that really bothers me is that there are no goals for the course, and nobody told me approximately how many lessons I would be teaching each semester. I estimated about 20, but it's actually only about 12. So when I set my original goals for the course, they had to be tossed after the first half-semester because I figured out I wouldn't have time to complete them. Then the kids have certain expectations and the co-teachers, even though, they aren't involved have certain ideas of how things should be done, and I have my own, so what are the goals for the course? Most importantly-Do my goals match the students expectations? Would it be so hard to state a specific goal for the course and let everyone know Is it extra- speaking practice, a cultural course, an entertainment course- so everybody's on the same page? I'm not talking about a syllabus or lesson plans or anything as specific as that, but shouldn't there be something? Lastly, you are given no information about the student's level. You may hear low-level or high-level, but it's not related to the standard international levels used outside of Korea. Also, there isn't any set requirements-speaking wise- for the students to be in this course. For example, the students don't have to be able to ask 'Can I go to the bathroom?' at high school level. With 40 students it's hard to assess their speaking level accurately just in class. Universities usually expect professors to design their own courses, however, for the basic levels there are always proficiency goals, and for elective courses there are usually pre-requisites to make sure the students have a certain speaking level. It's true, there are no official expectations for the course, so you're not penalized if your students don't improve, but sometimes clear cut expectations can be comforting. In my opinion, the foreign esl classes could be better managed at the school level for everyone's benefit.

[Canonite]

My coteachers have absolutely nothing to do with my classes. In fact, as of late, I have stopped referring to them as "coteachers" and call them "coworkers."

Some never come to my classes, others sit in the back and read or sleep. I have one (out of the 7 "coteachers") who translates a sentence or two a class. The rest take absolutely no part in my classes.

It took me a week to get the proper text books, and they give me absolutely zero feedback or direction on anything. I am given to understand this is rather normal around here. Whatever, it works for me. I want to teach when I get back to Canada, so being able to have 100% control of my classes is excellent practice.

[jenjen51184]

I have been doing this for about 2 months now and only have 2 co-teachers, this has been my experience so far. 

One of my co's goes straight by the book and does NOT meet up with me before class, but I know what is to come because of what's in the book.  It sucks because I know the kids are bored out of their mind. I have even tried to assist with finding PPT but she disregards them.

My second co-teacher is  great.  She goes by the book but also incorporates her own ideas in.  At the end of each week she prints off next weeks calendar of what topics like "Listen Speak", "Read Speak" are going to happen that day and she then asks me to prepare things if I want to. 

I would keep trying to ask for a time to sit down and talk.  It won't be much probably, but it wouldn't hurt to try.