Joys of Teaching

Some days I spend running around, it feels like in circles, with hardly time to breathe. I start class rushed and frustrated, and from there, everything goes downhill.

Today felt like it was going to be one of those days. I came to school and needed to print some pictures out before my first class. I had forty-five minutes before Chinese class, this should have been plenty of time, no? That was before the computer wouldn't turn on, the internet wouldn't work correctly, the printer became jammed, and the copier had the wrong paper in it...but I finally got what I needed, just in time.

I then rushed to my Chinese class. Normally I don't meet on Mondays but I had arranged to make up a class I had missed a couple weeks ago when I was sick. That went well, but ran late.

I had left the papers I needed for chapel in my office, so I ran back there, then to my small group's meeting area. Having been so rushed, I was not nearly prepared enough...it went alright, but from no fault of my own.

And this is how I started my first class; tired, frustrated, and late.

But having awesome students makes everything better. My first class, sixth grade, had two projects they were working on. I got them all started on one project and then pulled them out one by one to work with me on the next. It was a little hectic, but worked.

My HS class was great. They all are in the middle of a project, so they came, got out their projects and began to work. I circulated and gave them pointers as they got stuck.

Last but not least, my MS class. Cultural Art in 3D. This one started out as the beginning of my day had. The material that I thought was plaster, was not, and not wanting to ruin their projects before we experimented with the new material, I made a quick and executive decision to put the project on hold. So where does that lead me? 17 students and no lesson plan. After quickly brainstorming, they wanted to play pictionary. The only problem is that I had to come up with the words for them to draw. Then a lightbulb went on...what a great way for them to review and learn vocabulary words! By the end of the class, all of my students knew words like, shape, balance, texture, ceramics, paper mache, sculpture, and many more. The great thing was that they (and I!) thoroughly enjoyed it! Next time I will have to actually plan this in advance-they'll be learning and they won't even realize it!