What I See and Dare to Believe
There was this moment yesterday when I caught myself scolding some students for playing the dot game wrong. (You know, that game where you try to connect dots on a piece of paper into squares, whoever finishes the square gets to claim it?) Some of my students had not understood my explanation…
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Cheating I caught one of my students cheating yesterday. Well, a student in the following class caught her. The girl had written the longest vocabulary word on her test (delicious) on her desk and left it plain as day for the next student who used that desk to see. Not the most subtle technique. But even though the truth […]
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On Monday, I returned to work after a two-week vacation. I love returning to places after vacation. Everything feels so fresh. The time away gives you space to miss people, to miss the routine. Despite one student’s “No hello, Teacher” greeting on Monday, I couldn’t help feeling all warm inside as I welcomed the kids back. There was one student, however, I was slightly apprehensive about seeing…
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Recently, a student came up to me before class. It was Daniel, the student I made cry last month by encouraging him to externally process his feelings. “Do you need something?” I asked with a frown, distracted as I usually am during break time…
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Yesterday I sent a kid out of the classroom with whom I have a love-hate relationship. He can be quite explosive, disruptive, and even violent at times, but I also have this genuine affection for him. And I think he likes me, too.
Read More Last week, I saw an ugly side of one of my young students. English name of Brian. He is normally very cute and engaged during class (and I may even subconsciously favor him sometimes..). He just has the kind of attractive personality that makes you want to call on him all the time.
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Sometimes I feel like I was made for more, more than what my current life is. Recently I’ve been feeling it rather strongly––this nagging sensation that I have more potential inside me than I’m tapping into. And that nagging feeling is leading to frustration. Could this just be Millennial hubris (as my brother has been saying)? Am I just another example of Why Generation […]
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This week my voice got hoarse, which made it difficult to speak loudly during class, which made me realize how much I rely on yelling to control my classroom. Since that fallback was no longer an option, I resorted to a technique my roommate has mentioned a few times. It’s called the whisper technique. I started talking […]
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