yesterday i took a substitute teaching gig at hoover high school, home of the Cardinals. ah, substitute teaching, where you get paid $100/day to babysit! i was a little nervous, as i've heard how bad the kids are... and they ARE. naw, it wasnt really so awful, i've had worse. i started tutoring in college, and it was a love/hate thing for sure. i worked with high school and middle school. some students were so brilliant and such a joy to work with, eager to learn and i just fell in love with them. hardest for me was talking to the kids who were the most badly behaved, because they
weren't bad kids at all, just... who knows. parents, nutrition, enviornment, something, made them not do as well in school as they could have. it really
would hurt me to hear one of them say, "yeah, i want to go to college," and when i'd ask their gpa, it would be low like 1.80. I didn't even know you could get a gpa that low. My heart would ache wondering what will happen to these kids after high school. still does. during my last semester in college, i saw some of my former students on campus starting their first year, it was wonderful. a little weird too, b/c it really made me wonder how much longer i was going to take to FINISH college. Way back then, my mentors were telling me i should pursue education/teaching as a profession. i never thought i would, i didnt think i had the heart for it, or too much heart? i couldnt imagine teaching all day 5 days a week. and now here i am, working on doing just that! but esl will be different, i think. these will be students who want to learn... i hope?
yesterday i took a substitute teaching gig at hoover high school, home of the Cardinals. ah, substitute teaching, where you get paid $100/day to babysit! i was a little nervous, as i've heard how bad the kids are... and they ARE. naw, it wasnt really so awful, i've had worse. i started tutoring in college, and it was a love/hate thing for sure. i worked with high school and middle school. some students were so brilliant and such a joy to work with, eager to learn and i just fell in love with them. hardest for me was talking to the kids who were the most badly behaved, because they weren't bad kids at all, just... who knows. parents, nutrition, enviornment, something, made them not do as well in school as they could have. it really 
would hurt me to hear one of them say, "yeah, i want to go to college," and when i'd ask their gpa, it would be low like 1.80. I didn't even know you could get a gpa that low. My heart would ache wondering what will happen to these kids after high school. still does. during my last semester in college, i saw some of my former students on campus starting their first year, it was wonderful. a little weird too, b/c it really made me wonder how much longer i was going to take to FINISH college. Way back then, my mentors were telling me i should pursue education/teaching as a profession. i never thought i would, i didnt think i had the heart for it, or too much heart? i couldnt imagine teaching all day 5 days a week. and now here i am, working on doing just that! but esl will be different, i think. these will be students who want to learn... i hope?
1 comment:
i wonder a LOT about what discipline problems i'll have. these kids at hoover were BAD that day! throwing things at each other-game pieces, paper, BOOKS!), they got a hold of a deck of cards and were flicking them at each other, trying to nick each other in the face. i had to get school security. will this happen in korea?
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