First Day Teaching

This blog is dedicated to Michael Oakley and the delicious egg sandwiches he made my house mates and I for breakfast on the start of our first day. The man can cook.

My job finally arrived, and it arrived in a hurry! Managing a class of fifty students and teaching to students who barely understand English is so different from any of my experiences volunteering in classrooms thusfar; that being said, my volunteering with Junior Achievement has prepared me tremendously. Any experience running a classroom and teaching helps in a big way, and JA provided all of those learning experiences. And don’t let me forget my mother the teacher, aka the Ace up my Sleeve who is always an email or phone call away with teacher tips!

Overall, my first day was pretty easy going. Students had just returned from a short break from classes and the school was a bit chaotic adjusting to the new term. My department head informed me and my fellow teachers (roommates) that the first two periods were for classroom cleaning and assigning materials and we would not be needed. This left me with only two classes for the day. Since the curriculum just called for introductions and getting comfortable with the students, I was able to breeze through both classes! The students are all, mostly, polite and well behaved. They like to chat during class but that is normal. They have cute American accents!

I can already see how much learning happens on the fly. Teachers must constantly readjust what they are doing and how they present information, and it’s not just the broad areas of teaching either, it’s also the little things! For example—I caught myself wasting too much time erasing the white board and not structuring my writing on the board in such a way that kept the class focused and engaged. Sometimes my body covered up what I writing. I made mental notes and addressed this in my second class. My “white board” utilization and management has already improved! As they say, “practice, practice, practice.”

Tomorrow will provide more opportunities for learning: I have a full day of six classes! Barely enough time to take a lunch break!