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.
I’m leading into the last month of my tenth grader’s school year and I have to say…I’m learning more this year than last year. I have learned more about Realism and the origins of Science Fiction. But the magical realism lesson stuck with me the most, mainly because I can finally put a name to it.
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.
The first week of school is completed, and I am beyond proud of my students. My class got bigger by three students, and I’m already enamored by their dedication to their goals. Most of them already know what they want to major in for their university while some have an idea but not where to start. However, a few of them don’t know what they want to do because of the many choices available to them. Sure, they are nervous about that…but I let them know that that’s part of the fun of their journey.
Today is a good day for many reasons. I just finished my last paper for my Literary Theory and now I can return to my actual writing (I was only doing about 25%). I will admit that this class was something fierce and gave me a newfound respect for literary theorists. I mean, the amount of analytical thinking involved with this type of narrative nonfiction is quite something. It’s something else entirely and I know hands-down that I’m not going anywhere near it after I finish this class.