Done and DONE!

 It's official!  Except for final exams, my first year of teaching is over!  And oh my, I am happy!  This last term has been a real struggle and it was time for it to be over .  I definitely have a new appreciation for "summer" break though!  As a kid it was great, but as a teacher it's godsend, without which I might lose all sanity!  Even though I have kept meticulous count of the days left in the term, I got a little emotional when that last class ended.  Today I taught both sections of my Senior 2 biology class.  When I stood there looking at my class, thinking back to where we all were in the beginning, I hardly recognize any of us.  Back then my students sat in my class, excited to have a new teacher from America, but completely clueless.  They did not understand a word I said and then I gave them crazy assignments they didn't understand either.  Everything I did seemed backwards.

And me, those first weeks  I was so nervous just to walk in the class and I had to write down everything I was going to say in class because I was so afraid to make a mistake.

Now I can plan a lesson in no time and have perfected my "special English."  The students try, they still have a difficult time understanding me and with some vocabulary but the big difference now is that they ask questions when they don't understand.  Sometimes I get great questions that they really had to process the information to come up with.  You can see the wheels turning and things starting to click.  Those are good days.

Together we've come so far, learning from one another along the way.  We all got frustrated with the other on occasion, but we made it through, and I hope I taught my kids just a fraction of what they taught me.

I'm looking forward to next year (after a nice long break!).  That's the great thing about teaching, you always have the next year to start out fresh.  I have a list of things that worked well and a long list of things to improve, but I've gained a some confidence in my abilities so I also have some fun things I want to try.  Hopefully it will all come together and the next year will be just a little better than the last.

I like teaching and if there were a few adjustments (like a copy machine and students who understood English) I might really love it.  For now though, it's the kids that I love and that's enough to keep me going.

My Senior 2A Class

My Senior 2B class