I originally thought that I wanted to be a teacher, which is why I am spending my college career studying education. Well, turns out it's not what I thought it would be. I thought I had gotten myself into a career where I would be presenting information to other human beings, they would learn the information, we would play a game or two to practice, and then we would repeat the cycle with new information. Turns out, I was wrong. Apparently when you decide to teach a foreign language, you are really an actor, not a teacher.
Acting is what it has come down to. I act everyday. I act out grammar concepts, I act out vocabulary, I act out two person conversations (all by myself, might I add), I act out directions/instructions, I act out games, I act enthuistic when I'm tired; I ACT all day long.
Now, don't be fooled, my acting is not as glorious as Hollywood acting. For starters, my audience is a group of very critical, self-conscience, too cool for school...but yet really interested... teenagers. I act, not by choice, but for understanding. You see, I teach about 95% of my class in Spanish (I mean, it is Spanish class after all). The only times I speak in English are when the kids are in trouble (warnings one and two are in Spanish, but three deserves some serious English), when there's an emergency (so far we have not had one), or when I'm going over an important test or project that has picky details (I have to make sure the "spacey" kids are on the same page as the rest of us...I mean this both figuratively and literally).
Because my job has come down to acting in front of teenagers everyday I have found that my days are very inconsistent. Some days are GREAT; everyone understands, everyone behaves, everyone does their homework...and then some days are not so great; no one understands, I see blank stares on faces looking at me know matter how many different ways I try to act out "get your homework out" (even though they've heard the phrase 1,000 times), everyone talks while I'm talking, and no one does their homework and therefore does not understand the class work.
The organizational part of teaching is way easier than I thought it would be. The "up" and "down" days are what makes teaching harder than I thought. When my student's are having an "off" day it gets taken out on me. No matter what I'm doing (good or bad) they react the way they are feeling. Unfortunately, I take that as a personal reflection of the lesson I prepared for them. I love teaching, I really do. But, I wish there was some consistency. When I go into school in the morning I never know if the students are going to have a "good" or "bad" day.
It's also hard to only talk Spanish on those "bad" days because the kids don't want to think and they don't want to push themselves to interpret a foreign language. So no matter how hard I act, and no matter how enthusiastic I am, and no matter how many crazy things I do in front of them to get them excited about Spanish....they just sit there.
So, I like the challenge (well, usually) but I've decided that being a plain ole teacher (one that lectures, gives lots of worksheets, and has so little interaction with the students it doesn't even matter if their having a "good" or "bad" day) is, well ....EASY; but being an ACTOR, that acts because they love it, that acts because they want to convey a message, that acts regardless of the audience's response is, well....hard.
As for the weekend...
Sarah Riddle is coming up tomorrow to spend the night. We, and a bunch of Destino girls, are going to a Campus Crusade Girl's Sleepover tomorrow night. There's a talent show and we are all Salsa dancing. Then Saturday I have my long run (I'm going for 17/18 miles...yuck!) and then afterward I'm going to the fair with some friends. I going to EAT WHATEVER I WANT at the fair because I'm burning so many calories in my long run! Wahoo!
