gwanaksan!

long overdue part 1.

in many ways, i can't think of a better or more fitting exercise in practicing present awareness than being a teacher. things are never the same. a lesson prepared for the same grade will be absorbed differently in each class. the things i anticipate students to understand are, in the worst case scenario, way off mark or in the best case scenario, understood with spontaneously orchestrated perfection. it's incredible.

i sometimes have days where i feel as if my students are MY CHILDREN. that they've somehow become an extension of me and my own wacky, zany thought processes. or perhaps, it's the other way around and i should thank their creativity and vivid imaginations for supplementing my playfulness. either way, it's a win-win situation...most of the time.

i can honestly say that i love teaching. i believe what makes me a good teacher is that i genuinely care about my students. of course in my fatigue, there are days when i wonder just how much of a difference it, any of it, makes. but when the little munchkins say some of the wittiest and funniest things i've ever heard, the intense amount of joy i experience is priceless.

for example:
one day during class, my students were taking a vocabulary quiz. one of the words was a noun, "merger."

robin, a smart-ass sort, asked, "teacher, can i add "-ed" to merger?"

"no, robin. you can't."

"why not?"

"because robin, there are SOME WORDS that you cannot add "-ed" to. think about it!"

robin thought about it, and a few seconds later, his eyes widened in the recognition that you can't add "-ed" to nouns. however, a different student who did not grasp the concept, reiterated the question, "teacher, why not?"

i repeated myself. "please think about it! there are some words that you just can't add "-ed" to!"

and robin chimed in, "yeah! for example, you can't say "ji sun-ed!"

i almost howled with laughter then and there! brilliant!