Teaching

Every morning, as I walk the incredibly short walk from my house to my school, I am generously greeted with plenty of ‘good morning, ma’am,’ or maupay nga aga,’ by students, neighbors, pedicab drivers, and miscellaneous adults simply standing around. Students zoom past me, panting as they attempt to get to the school before they are considered late.

The guard happily lets me inside the giant green gate to our school to which I awkwardly stand around waiting for the flag ceremony to come to an end if it hasn’t ended already.

I sleepily walk to my classroom, located on the second floor of the newest building at my school. My first class in the morning is a 4th year English class for advanced students. While students shuffle in, I put my bags down and chat with my co-teacher.

Everything has become routine at this point. I feel like a teacher now. I am a teacher now

Time to start the lesson. I walk from the back of the classroom where my makeshift desk to the front of the classroom.

Students immediately stand up.

“Good morning Teacher Celia, Praise Be Jesus and Mary,” the students recite in unison before I say anything at all.

“Now and forever,” I formally reply to their greeting.

“Amen,” they finally declare before taking their seats.

At this point I can officially begin my class. At this point I’m no longer stumbling through lectures. I confidently breeze through my lesson until I hear the bell ring, wishing I had just ten more minutes.

If I think about where I was during training, or even during my first few months at the high school, I dreaded the idea of teaching for an hour. I’m not a teacher. I’ve never been a teacher. I don’t know how to teach. How am I possibly going to keep kids engaged for an entire hour? How am I supposed to teach them something new everyday? I don’t even know that much about English!

It’s remarkable how much I’ve changed in that aspect.

I waltz away quickly racing to my next class in order to not keep them waiting. New class. New lesson. New greeting. I gather my thoughts and bring myself to Advanced English mode and prepare myself to teach my 3rd year students the importance and practicality of business writing. Before I know it, the bell rings.

Next, I have two 1st year English classes back to back. This is where I’m challenged. The kids are 11-12ish and act like it. They are noisy, silly, and love to act out. They also, sadly, have little reading comprehension so coming up with English lessons for them is a work of art. The kids require constant discipline and seem to always want to test my patience and their boundaries.

Don’t worry; I let them know whose boss!

Before, the younger kids really intimidated me. I had a hard time gaining control and I hated the idea of being a ‘mean’ teacher. I really wanted kids to like me so I tried to be nice and ask them nicely to be quiet. …. Well, like I said, that was before.

By the time the bell rings after the two back-to-back 1st year classes, I am utterly exhausted and pretty much running to my last class before lunch, Journalism. My last class is usually a breeze.

It’s time for lunch and reflection.

To be honest, at this point, I thought I would be crazy. I really didn’t feel confident that I could spend five consecutive hours with kids before lunch and could … actually enjoy it. But I do. I really do. There is rarely a day when I come home and I’m frustrated because of the kids, because of my teaching. Even on my worst days when the kids are really really bad, I still want to be there.

Even leaving training I felt unprepared. I didn’t know if the training I had received had really prepared me for adequately leading a class. At this point, I don’t really know what I was expecting. Someone can’t tell you how to feel comfortable in a classroom, its something you just have to figure out on your own. I don’t know how many times I tell my students that confidence comes with practice yet this was a difficult lesson for me to learn.

I think growing up and going through college I always thought that the one career that would definitely never be for me is teaching. I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to attempt to teach obnoxious kids everyday. Now, I don’t know. I can’t say that I want to be a teacher forever but there are days when I think how exciting it must be to be a teacher in the states with resources and text books and students that really understand English! I bet it’s fun.

I even find that my brain thinks like a teacher now. If I go to a bookstore, I find myself looking at books that I think ‘my kids’ will enjoy. I’ll spend hours in the afternoon researching (yes, I know this is a luxury that most people do not have here) one lesson so I can present the material the best way possible. I’m constantly thinking of projects I can do with the kids.

Teaching may not be for everyone, but I think it’s definitely worth considering.