Thank God for Benadryl!

Before my first day of teaching, I took a moment to think about what sort of teacher I would be. I thought about the most influential teachers in my life and what I believed made them such successful teachers. Some I didn’t like at first, but when I realized how much I was learning, I came to appreciate them more. Some I thought were awesome, but then I realized I wasn’t actually learning anything in their classes. Clearly, I would rather not be liked and be a successful teacher, than be liked and have my students learn nothing. Class can’t just be fun and games. Obviously, it would be great to find a middle ground. I would ideally like to be liked by all my students and create a class which they enjoy attending and learn a lot. I also want to be respected so that I have a manageable classroom. I have to say, after two weeks, I feel pretty good about the classroom environment that I have established. I am strict but friendly. My class is hard but I make sure to do a fun activity with the material. I am not liked by all my students, but by most. I hate to discipline students. My heart drops when a student breaks a classroom rule because I know that I am going to have to put a check next to their name on the sticker board… three checks means no sticker. As much as it kills me to withhold stickers from students, I have been sticking to my guns.  I have successfully targeted all of the troublemakers and hopefully they will get better in the coming weeks. Though, having been a student for many years, I am aware that there is always a class troublemaker. I am prepared to be the bad cop all year if necessary. I have a discipline plan that involves students receiving a sticker at the end of class if they followed all the classroom rules. If each student in the class gets a sticker than the class as a whole gets a letter for the day. My students do not know what their letters will spell out, but I have told them it is something great. At the end of eight days their letters will spell out MOVIE DAY and the next class we will watch a movie. My students are very curious as to what their surprise will be. Unfortunately they aren’t earning letters everyday so they will have to be suspicious a while longer until they start behaving better. If all goes well my students will be watching a movie next Thursday. I am crossing my fingers that they are well behaved because a movie day is basically a day off for me. Yep, I am exhausted and could really use a day of no lesson planning. So here’s hoping that my students are on their best behavior next week. I want to watch Finding Nemo!

Even though I feel pretty good about the structure of my class, I know I have made some mistakes. Sometimes I get frustrated when my students are not grasping the material, or when they can’t remember something we spent thirty minutes on the day before. I need to get better about hiding my frustration. I have to remind myself what it is like for me to learn another language. I struggle daily with new words and there have been many times where I have forgotten a phrase that I just learned. I am not mean when I am frustrated, but I am pretty sure the students can read my frustration all over my face. Thinking back on the teachers I’ve had, I never appreciated the ones that made me feel stupid, so I surely do not want to be that type of teacher. I do not want my students to misinterpret my frustration as me not believing in them. I am positive that each of my students has the ability to tackle any work I throw at them. Ideally I would like to set a goal to not get frustrated anymore, but that just doesn’t seem realistic. So the new goal is to not show my frustration.

I can’t believe I have already completed two weeks. This experience continues to be amazing. I am excited for this weekend, time to relax and spend time with my host family. Tonight the family and I are making mac-and-cheese and watching a movie together. I stocked up on mac-and-cheese in San Jose and brought it back to Pacayitas with me to have when I just need something besides rice and beans. I am excited to break into my stash tonight.

 Also, thanks to Benadryl, I got a full nights sleep last night!