The teaching practice has officially come to an end… at last. The past few weeks were much more laid-back, which made me forget about the stress I’d experienced before that and allowed me to savor the moment (to a certain extent).
Now that I was left with only two groups of 9th graders, I put more thought into lesson planning and began building tighter connections with my students. The amount of love I received definitely outweighed the negative experiences I’ve had. It is still a surprise to me how quickly kids get attached. You teach a class or two, and the next thing you know, students are begging you to stay their English teacher forever.
All in all, having talked to all my school teachers, I was able to put things into perspective and noticed a change in the role these teachers play in kids’ lives these days. Teachers are now certainly less respected, and I’m starting to doubt that it’s their fault. During my four weeks at school, I heard of and experienced many unpleasant instances of this lack of respect. Some can start recording voice messages during the lesson, some will give you a middle finger if you give them an F, and some even falsely accused their math teacher of harassment to get her fired. So, being a school teacher is definitely not my dream job. Besides, I only now realized that teaching in school presupposes you to teach kids morals too, which I was not prepared for.
As for these two weeks’ highlights in terms of teaching practice:
1) Taught a couple of Thanksgiving classes and hopefully made students understand the duality of this holiday for Native Americans
2) My students said they now understand past tenses, yay!
3) My teacher gave me great feedback on my teaching ways
4) Played “Hot Seat” during our last class together. One person sits in the chair, facing the class, and everyone else writes down positive traits and gives compliments to that person — all on a sheet of paper hanging on the blackboard, which will then be given to the person in the hot seat. My English teacher did this to us when I was their age, and I still keep that sheet of paper. A nice bonding exercise that makes students appreciate each other and pinpoint everyone’s strengths.
To sum up my experience in the last four weeks, I’m glad I had the opportunity to dip my toe in the water to see if I might like teaching big unmotivated groups of spoiled teens. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, right? Welp, I did, and my answer is still a big no. I can’t wait to go back to university and appreciate the hard work of our professors even more now. After this month it’ll feel like coming home, and I’m super excited for December because great things are coming :)
Speaking of my learning experience and life outside the teaching practice, I was able to read some of my pleasure reading book (not too much though, unfortunately). And while I was reading, I played “I spy” and noticed these words, which we either studied together or I learned on Memrise: incongruous, influx, hypothesize, reticence, insolence (of office!:)), oriental, and vermin. Apart from them, I stumbled upon the verb to impugn, which immediately took me back to freshman year, and I vividly remembered the moment when I first came across this word (it was when we watched The Road to El Dorado). It was the phrase “you dare to impugn my honor?”, and to be honest, I was waiting for a moment to use that phrase for ages, but it never came. I’m glad I was able to spot it and even recall the context where I first saw it. My memory worked wonders, and it rarely happens. So, yay!
Moreover, this month I’ve been all up in my grad applications and wrote a thousand drafts of my SOPs and diversity statements, which honestly triggered some derealization and imposter syndrome and made me waver if I am qualified enough for the things I’m aiming for. I mean, this is ridiculous. Among the things I’ve mentioned, I also experienced sleep paralysis first-hand for the first time, which was not nice. I do think it was a cry for help from my anxious mind.
Anyways, I submitted my very first application and already got an invitation to the interview, which is an obligatory part of the process, but still makes you feel special. Even though no special preparation is needed, I spent this morning stalking the professor and his research interests (as one does) and discovered a new linguistic term: transmesis. This word was recently coined by Thomas Beebee in his book “Transmesis: Inside Translation’s Black Box.” As far as I understand, the concept of transmesis refers to the representation of the translation and translators in fiction. The book explores the complex nature of translation, shedding light on “the problematic notion of equivalence and the often-parodied image of translator’s (in)fidelity.”
Though I’m not in the right headspace for such books at the moment, I’m definitely putting that on my reading list for later. I’m sure it would be an interesting read and an exciting topic to explore in more detail.
Overall, this month was a nice reset. I’m blessed to have been given the time to spend on my grad applications without pulling all-nighters or drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee. I’m even more blessed to have reconnected with my school teachers. Life moves on pretty fast, and it’s very easy to forget where you started and who shaped you in your formative years.
Here’s to new beginnings :)
