Confidence Shoes: The Key to Success

First day of classes successfully completed! At first I was terrified. All I’d heard from other teachers were phrases like, “don’t let the students eat you alive” or “don’t show fear. They can smell fear and will destroy you.” And also “fear is the mind-killer.” (actually, I made up that last one. I don’t think my fellow teachers know about Dune.) But the point is, I woke up in the morning with that horrible feeling that I was about to fall flat on my face and then be fired because I sucked so much.

I spent so long prepping in my apartment, that I forgot about and subsequently missed the staff meeting at the office. I rolled in long after it was over, and the first thing that happened involved several staff members mobbing me to make sure I was okay. Fortunately, I didn’t miss much. Except free Krispy Kreme donuts. So, actually, that means I missed a lot.

After finding my classroom, I proceeded to nervously set up. And then, after yet another peer popped in to tell me it was going to be okay and after my boss popped in to give me chocolate (I love my job!), I put on my confidence shoes. Perhaps you think this is a clumsy metaphor. No. I have confidence shoes. Black high heels that click in an intimidating manner as I pace around the room. Suddenly, I am tall, glamorous, and completely in charge of the room. No, students, I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. (Dune quote again, in case you didn’t know.)

Anyway, once the students showed up, my confidence shoes took over and I think it’s safe to say that I was a pretty effective new teacher. I teach entirely elementary students, which I’m pretty excited about. Middle schoolers are awkward because they’re going through…well…middle school. And as we all know, middle school is pretty much the worst thing ever. A lot of my fellow teachers have elementary students at 4:00 and then middle schoolers at 7:00. I get all elementary all the time! That, of course, also means that I have to be incredibly energetic for six hours straight, all while walking around in my confidence shoes. By the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted.

My first class is sixteen students, which you’d think would be the harder class to manage, but you would be wrong. I have four boys and twelve girls, all of whom are at that age where the opposite sex is a disgusting thing that should be kept as far away from one’s person as possible. The four boys keep to themselves, but are constantly squirming and poking each other. At this point, though, the cold, dead stare is enough to quiet them. And if not that, there’s always the threat of being seated next to the meek and mild-mannered girls. At the beginning of class, we played two truths and a lie to get to know each other, and by the end of that activity, I had most of the students pretty loosened up and excited to be there. Since they didn’t know me, they were nervous to answer questions.

I’ve already picked out the shy students, the super smart students, the middle-students, and the potential trouble-makers (hint: they’re also the smart students.) Probably my favorite part of the class is the Critical Thinking Project at the end. You really get to see the creativity of the students come out. They have to divide into groups and discuss a problem and how to fix it.  The boys did a skit about stress that involved a bully, a nagging mother, and a scary teacher demanding they do more homework. Some of the girls did a presentation about the importance of exercise, for which they drew some really adorable pictures of sad, overweight people who became happier by doing a daily regimen of squats and jogging. At the end of class, they all thanked me, and said they couldn’t wait to see me on Friday for our next class.

My second class has only five students, and yet they put the two biggest troublemakers in the school together in that very class. These two boys are virtually inseparable, and also incredibly smart. Fortunately, their budding bromance is also their weakness. All I have to do to shut them up is threaten to separate them. The one plus of having them together, though, is that they compete for right answers. But that’s also a downside because if I call on the one boy, the other gets pouty because he wasn’t called on. I love that they know the answers, though! In fact, all of the students in my second class are really smart. One boy even got a perfect score on his in-class quiz, a fact which made all of the other students envious and also made me quite proud.

Of course, Korean students are incredibly curious. So as soon as they had the chance, they wanted to know all about me. Teacher, how old are you? Teacher, where are you from? Teacher, do you have a boyfriend? Is he Korean? He isn’t? Why don’t you like Koreans, teacher? Is that ring you’re wearing an engagement ring? Why aren’t you engaged? Etc. I don’t mind answering questions. I managed to make them understand that questions are fine…as long as they aren’t in the middle of class. Even when my students misbehave, I don’t think it’s on purpose. I think they’re just full of energy and curiosity, and I really want to encourage that feeling! Learning should be fun! I do my best to maintain a comedy routine throughout class.

At the end of work, all of the teachers went out to eat and then headed to the branch’s favorite bar. We’re right by Gangnam, so the nightlife is really lively. We also found out that classes are cancelled today, due to the enormous typhoon headed straight for Seoul. So far, it’s just really windy today. I’m secluded in a coffee shop for the purpose of internet, but then I plan to hide and ride out the storm.

Until next time!

Tarico