Teaching...It Can Actually Be Fun Sometimes!!

In spite of all the drama that has taken place recently at my job (I flipped out on my boss last Friday and almost got fired!!), I have come to realize that teaching can actually be fun sometimes. I find that i enjoy myself the most when i don't fight against the realities of being a teacher, all the unsexy, unglamorous aspects of it that can drive me up the wall--like disciplining the students and dealing with all the noise they make. When i can just sit back and let all that noise fall on deaf ears is when I feel the most relaxed. It makes me feel like a real teacher when I'm correcting my students' homework and not complaining inwardly about having to complete the task. When i can smile, enjoy my students, their humor and the uniqueness of their individual personalities and accept that I am a teacher and the work that I do is import and meaningful is when I am at my best. One class I really enjoy teaching is my advanced class. This group is called Columbia (like the University in NYC) and they are all bright and actually interested in learning. One of my students, Joy, always scores the highest on class tests. Today, she bragged to me that she scored the highest on the English test she took at school. How wonderful to teach a child who knows that it's cool to be smart and who is confident about her intellectual abilities. She is only about twelve, maybe thirteen. I hope that this confidence lasts throughout middle, high school university, and her whole life. Each class I teach energizes me in a different way, so when I am feeling drained and tired after one period, I have another group of students, a different kind of energy to lift me up again. Take my 95 class for example. I have this class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I always look forward to teaching them. This class started off with just two boys, but over the course of the year the enrollment increased to eight. When I first started teaching them in June, they knew no English at all, so the curriculum was phonics based. They were shy and afraid to speak a word. Now, the curriculum is conversation based and they are speaking in full sentences, punctuated with gestures and Korean words when they get stuck. It is immensely gratifying to watch your students progress over time. They are only nine years old and absolutely adorable. They are in that stage of life when they are sweet and eager to please their teacher. I have some really bright students in this class, and even the ones who aren't as bright at least try, and that makes me happy.