1. Remembering the students name when making a phone call home often helps.
I recently had to make a phone call home to a parent regarding her sons behaviour in English.. Since September, I have been calling her son by his last name, which is what he goes by. I introduce myself and then start to explain why I am calling...and I completely blank on the students name. Oh. My. God. I recovered and thankfully remembered and only managed to sound slightly moronic.
2. Students will pick up on any little tick.
Anyone who knows me knows that I can't sit still or keep still for any length of time. That has carried over into my teaching job. While I am in front of the class, I'll fiddle with my necklace or walk circuits around the classroom. Another little tick that I've had since I was little was that I adjust my earrings or touch my earlobe when I'm thinking (weird, I know, but I've been doing this since I was a baby. There are home videos of me at a year old to prove this). The students notice every. little. thing. And then ask why I decide to do it. And THEN point out every single time I do it. That's not distracting at all.3. A teenager is the most relentless judge and jury you will ever meet.
Any slight--either real or imagined--inflicted will be called out and immediate compensation will be demanded. It doesn't even matter if they are the one to be "disrespected"--all teenagers will stick up for their friends. Oh. Also, all teenagers have decided that they know the rules. And you (the teacher) better follow them.
4. The parents that you want to talk to the most will be the ones you can never contact.
I recently survived my very first parent-teacher night. While I did get to meet a lot of parents (and then could say "now I know where it comes from"--both in good and bad ways), the ones that I really had wanted to talk to, mostly to discuss the students need for progress, were the parents that were least interested in attending. Funny how that works.
5. No matter how many times you tell students that you are from a different country, and therefore have a different accent, they will, every time, correct any "mispronunciation"
Every. Single. Time.It has gotten to the point where I need a "translator" in when I am doing spelling tests. I say the word and then a British teacher has to repeat it using the "correct" pronunciation.
6. There will be about 1/3 of all your students whose name you can't pronounce
And sound like an idiot when trying. The names I find the toughest mostly originate from Eastern Europe (the last names are a flippin' nightmare!) or are Indian.
7. The success of the class does not depend on the amount of planning you do (although that helps). It depends on the mood and temperament of the students.
And whether they are hungry, sleepy, cranky, if the weather is windy, rainy, snowy, sunny, if it's the beginning of the week, end of the week, first thing in the morning, class before lunch, class right after lunch, period before the end of the day...
8. Teaching is actually a small part of my job.
When I take into account the hours of lesson planning, marking, meetings, co-curricular, preparation, detentions, phone calls home, reports, and general preparation, I find that the hours I spend working include only a small few hours of actual teaching in front of the class.
9. The worst day in the world can be made better by colleagues
I am so lucky to have such a great department and great colleagues. They have helped me out in so many ways and I'm so happy to have them all. The English department is really supportive and spends time together outside of school. That's pretty awesome. No matter how stressful the day is, my colleagues can have me laughing in a matter of minutes. And, on a side note, they have gracefully overlooked the fact that I'm not technically an English teacher.
10. All that useful training that I paid thousands of dollars for to get my Bachelor of Education?
Useless. The difference between theory and practice? I imagine it's somewhere along the lines of landing a jumbo jet in a video game and actually landing a jumbo jet....in turbulence...on fire...with engines that failed...during a blizzard.
Despite the very steep learning curve, I do like my job here. And, even on my worst days, it gives me some really great stories to tell!
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