Monday, August 23, 2010

On the Rebound

8.20.2010

Not to brag or anything, but today I magically got waaaay better at teaching. Maybe it was the fact that I knew I couldn’t do much worse than Day 1, or maybe it was just that I broke out the coffee this morning, but I walked into class today with confidence and it stuck with me the whole way through.


After a rough start yesterday, I decided to focus on one or two things each class (easier to self-evaluate that way). Today’s goals: discipline and energy. Energy, I figured, would be easily fixed through caffeine and confidence, so I put on makeup and drank a cup of coffee. Discipline was tougher – I had to call out the troublemakers and keep the attention on my lesson.


I split the table of punks up first thing, so they were less trouble than usual. I also stood riiiiight next to the punkiest one the whole time I was teaching – I felt like an evil genius, because he couldn’t talk if I was close enough to hear him. I made the sentence “How old are you?” and responses into a sort of chant, and the kids got really into it. Quite simply, I felt awesomely in control for most of the day, which means that even if future classes don’t go this well, at least I know that I’m getting better every time I teach.


My favorite moment: I called everyone’s attention to the board after an activity, and they kept talking. I told them to be quiet, and they still muttered. I walked up to the chattiest table, wound up, and slammed my hand on the wooden table as hard as I possibly could. I have never seen 30 children jump so high in perfect unison, nor have I ever seen looks that said, “Ohhhh shit…” quite so clearly. It was a beautiful moment, and after that, the class was absolutely mine.

1 comment:

Nancy Provost said...

Yea! You're learning! And no matter who you are teaching, the control problems are the same. I learned that at the School for the Blind. But confidence is a great thing--as well as posting yourself, and getting to know--the rowdy ones. Good luck!

So glad you have a nice host family!