Let me point out that gray hair runs in my family. Almost everybody on my mother’s side gets gray hair at an early age despite living a stress-free lifestyle. Notice that I said “stress-free”. I used to live a stress-free life before going down the path of pedagogy. Don’t get me wrong. It is a well-rewarded path but – oh, my God – it sped up my graying process.
I’m typing from my office because we all have to work on Sunday because of the upcoming National Holiday. It’s a Chinese thing. If the students are going on holiday, they have to “make up’ those days on the weekends. So, here I am…trying to keep busy. It’s not bad, though. “Keeping busy” actually comes easy to me.
This is my first year teaching eleventh-grade English, and I’m already doing well. English III has always been American Literature in the States. The best example of history affecting literature and vice versa. I made a promise to my students that I would be as objective as I possibly could. It’s not as hard as I thought it would be, but the promise was still there, and my students appreciated that. Or, at least, I think they were. Again, they are teenagers, so it’s a toss-up. Now, for the debut week of school…
I have a lot to prepare for my students. Lesson plans. Loads of PPTs. Story-gathering. Worksheet creations. You get the gist, so I’ll be quick.
Let’s just get it out of the way now. New Zealand was amazing and I have the pictures to prove it. Haha! The people were so friendly and accommodating. The food was hearty and amazing. And the Maori were just as strong, sexy, and welcoming as I imagined. Plus, my first rugby game was a great success as it was as eye-opening as I was told. I need to read up on it so I can watch more games. Oh! I have a new tattoo. A tribunal panther tattoo on my chest. I would regale all my experiences, but I think it would be better if you go to my Instagram and see for yourself.
Now! I must get back to work. Please don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads) on my web page’s right side. Also, I love hearing suggestions of what books to read outside of my norm (Science fiction and Fantasy) as I am a part of the Goodreads’ reading challenge for 2024. Even though I’ve just completed my challenge for this year, I’m obviously not stopping. Right now, I’m at 157 and I start work soon so…
Year 3 of my time as a big boy teacher has come to an end and I must say that I have learned so much. This is no surprise as I have been warned this would be the case. “Teachers are learning just as they are teaching.” It’s why teachers are labeled philosophers. God knows I’m feeling it every day. I’m always learning something new and figuring out the best way to teach it to the next flow of students.
Just finished one of my major projects for my Linguistic Class and a thought occurred to me. In November 2022, I started my side-quest of getting my Master’s. Initially, it was supposed to be an MFA but my past laziness came back to haunt me. No worries, I’ll just get to it when I move to Spain – maybe I can learn at the same university I’ll teach at. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. I’m looking at my calendar and…I’m five classes and a final course away from finishing my Master’s!
I still always have a lot of work to do in my three main worlds: grad school, teacher, and author. This is the norm for me – my comfort zone. Still, life is slowing down for me. It happens now and again, and I handle myself accordingly. How? I accept and appreciate it.
It is amazing how life works. The moment when the past meets the present. What do I mean? Oh, it’s quite amusing; I was just reminded of my past as a shithead teenager. How? Well, how else does karma work? I have a fifteen-year-old who acts EXACTLY like I did when I was fifteen-year-old. And I do mean EXACTLY LIKE ME.
Everything is going pretty well this week and I thank God for that as it doesn’t happen often. I wouldn’t say it was “smooth sailing” because it’s the education field and nothing is ever “smooth sailing”. However, I will say that it was one of my easier work weeks.
There are so many things that I had to do for my students; I’m amazed that I’m still awake while typing. On top of that, I had to get my tuition taken care of for this month – and the next semester. I wanted to make sure that my last semester was paid for before I begin my next semester. That was the easiest part, believe it or not. The other things on my list…not so much.