Learning through Teaching

With only three days of teaching left for me at Rapale International School, I guess it’s about time for me to write something about my experiences teaching. You might think from my lack of posts on the subject that I haven’t really enjoyed or thought much about my time teaching, but that is absolutely not the case. I have, in fact, loved every minute (minus a few, I’ll admit) of teaching science at Rapale.

Through teaching I have learned a number of things, both about teaching as a possible profession and about myself. I’d love to share those tidbits of wisdom, or in some cases common sense, with you now. Those of you who are teachers may not agree with the conclusions I’ve drawn over the past few weeks, or you may recognize that I’m only sharing part of the picture. Please speak up! I’d love to soak up the wisdom you’ve gained from experience.

Set guidelines, boundaries, and expectations on your first day of teaching.

I heard this before I started at Rapale, but I didn’t really follow through on it. Part of my reasoning I’ll blame on only having about three days to prepare for school. Another part of it I’ll blame on not knowing what or how much to prepare in the three days available. But a big chunk of it I’ll blame on making assumptions. I assumed that because the students had expectations from their homeroom teachers that those expectations would follow through into my classroom.

Wrong, Hillary, wrong.

I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of weeks picking up the pieces of what I expect in the classroom and in schoolwork and frantically trying to fit them into their proper places. When a student brings work in late, do I dock points for that or slap them on the wrist? If a student is sick, how do I go about helping them catch up? Some guidelines, boundaries and expectations I had prepared and some could be added as I went along, but there was still more chaos than I liked. And whether students realize it or not, they don’t like the chaos either. They’re much more comfortable with a few boundaries. If I ever get to teach again, I will over plan in this area.

One of my greatest faults is being too nice.

I’ve actually been slowly coming to this realization for a while, but it took being in a classroom to be truly confronted with this. I am uncomfortable with making other people feel uncomfortable, even if it would be good for them. This isn’t great in a peer situation, but it’s devastating in a classroom. A teacher must push her students, must make them uncomfortable. As a teacher, I must be willing and able to confront the student who hands in sloppy work regularly or isn’t putting forth an honest effort. If I can’t do this, I’m no good as a teacher!

I’m happy to say, I think I’ve been improving in this area since I started teaching at Rapale, but I still have much to learn and will have to work hard to overcome this fault.

You can rarely tell how much of an impact you’re having on a high school student. You absolutely can never tell with a junior higher.

Every once in a while, with my high school students at Rapale, I see something I say or something they are learning at school begin to bear fruit. I’ve had the privilege of watching my high school students’ enthusiasm for chemistry grow (even just a tiny bit). And, no, it’s really not just wishful thinking on my part. I hope. And I see them smile more when I say hi to them, when I compliment their work, when I ask about their lives at home. And they tell me just a little bit more. I love getting to see their personalities come out bit by bit.

But my junior high students continue to baffle me. One day they seem excited about what we’re learning. The next they’re all exchanging glances that convey, Oh, woe is us. We are so bored. Why are we being tortured? One day I can talk to them, really talk to them, and the next, I’m the lamest person on earth. I just don’t know with junior highers.

If you ask for questions, make sure you specify what kind of questions and how many.

I wish I had written down all the bizarre questions that I’ve received in the last six weeks alone. Sometimes a student will ask a question and it’s vaguely related to the topic at hand, but not really, and I’ll find myself staring at them with my mouth hanging open.

If you continually reference the volatile nature or combustibility of substances in chemistry, 8^th and 9^th grade boys will think you’re cool.

Truly, this is how I’ve wormed my way into the hearts of my 8^th and 9^th grade boys. Or at least, this is how I keep them alert in my class.

Never underestimate what your students can do. But don’t overestimate either because then you’ll just end up perpetually frustrated when you plan five or six of cool things to do in class and only get to start two.

Almost every week I have over-planned for my 6^th and 7^th grade science class. And it’s so frustrating because I have all these cool things that I want them to do and learn, but more often then not, we don’t get to do everything and they don’t get to learn as thoroughly as they could or should. Again, if I ever get to teach again, this is something I will need to work on!

You’ll never absolutely love your students during the hour-long commutes to and from school, but try to act like it anyway. You don’t want all the younger children on the chapa thinking you’re the mean scary teacher and that it would be better for them if they never graduated to junior high.

The moments where I start to doubt whether I would like to be a teacher come the most frequently when I’m stuck in an 11-passenger van with 20 students. And when they start to sing “We Will Rock You,” I just about lose it. In fact, I have adamantly banned “We Will Rock You” whenever I’m on the chapa. So, any day I do not ride home with them, the whole chapa rocks with victorious refrains of “We Will Rock You.”

Treat your high school girls like young ladies and they’ll act more like young ladies. Treat your junior high girls like young ladies and they’ll still act like they don’t like science and dart furtive glances at each other throughout your lesson.

Are you getting the feeling that I just haven’t clicked with junior high students the way I have with my high school students? If so, you would be getting the right feeling. I just don’t know about those junior highers.

Pray for your students.

Just like I’ll never know the impact I have on my students, I’ll never know how much some of them might need the prayers I send up on account of them. Besides, I started loving my students after about day three with them. But I started loving them more, even the less loveable ones, the moment I started praying for them.

I need to start writing down funny things that students say because I’ll never remember them later.

This blog post would be much more interesting if I could just remember the things that students have said or done to teach me all of the above! Maybe the next time I get to teach…