First Month of Teaching

Wednesday, January 31st,

Well, my first month of teaching actually finished on Monday. It was a very challenging and exciting month. The start was definitely rocky with some administrative problems, but overall, I survived. I learned a lot about teaching styles and how well it works with various students. My classes were quite different. One of my classes had very low attendance for the last week, so I am not sure exactly how well each student learned. Another class had fairly good attendance after some students were determined to move up. On the test, the students struggled, so I am not sure if I prepared them properly or if the test was overly difficult for their level. My last class all preformed well and the ones that attended class showed the most improvement, which is promising.

It is definitely a big change to be on the other side of the teacher/student relationship. In normal life, most people would never guess that I would be interested in speaking in front of 1-15 people that are strangers. When I am in a classroom, the nervousness doesn't seem to be a problem. I enjoy being in front of the students. I worry a lot about my preparation and how well the lesson plan will work, but overall, I enjoy teaching. Many of the students think that I am pretty smart considering I have an MBA. They are surprised when I can speak any Korean, since every other Korean teacher can speak Korean. Even the other Korean-American teachers can all speak Korean to a certain degree of proficiency.

My second month of class started today (Wed. Jan. 31st). I arrived at Pagoda Academy early to prepare and make copies. I learned that no students signed up for my first class. I did learn that I would have another class later, which means that I will have six straight hours of class with no break. It means that I will teach from 3 PM- 9 PM every day. Last month, I had a break between one of my classes, which was a nice time to eat and prepare for the evening courses. Now, I will have to do all of it before class, but also leaves me with the dilemma of what to do in the AM without tiring myself out. I need to find the right mix of work and rest, since last month I spent about two weeks trying to get rid of cold.

Enrollment this month is definitely down since it is no longer winter break. My classes, so far, have four, two, and three students enrolled. Attendance will be another story. It will be interesting to see how diligent the students are about attending class. Having small classes are nice for speaking time, but too small can also seem to make activities more challenging. Nothing I can do, but teach as best as I can.