A Teacher's Tale

So I am borrowing the title of this week's post from the latest edition of the Micronesian Counselor. It is a short, monthly publication produced by Micronesian Seminar. Here is a little "about me" paragraph from their website:

"Micronesian Seminar, known popularly as MicSem, is a private non-profit, non-governmental organization that has been engaged in public education for thirty years. Our purpose is to assist the people of Micronesia in reflecting on life in their islands under the impact of change in recent years."

So this week, it a short story about the experiences of a young teacher, fresh out of college, heading to a remote island to teach Micronesian children. (Sound familiar?) The article, written by Fr. Francis Hezel, SJ, explores many different elements of an American volunteer's experiences with the new island culture and his new role as teacher.

So here are some of mine...

My experience with elementary teaching can be described as "limited." During my spring breaks from 2007-2009, I have spent time teaching children in New Mexico and New York City. These alternative spring breaks opened my eyes to a world I had never seen. I was able to realize how many sociological and structural injustices are affecting the education of youth worldwide. I witnessed first-hand a system that was failing many of its students.

I feel like, in many ways, those experiences on the West and East coasts landed me here in Pohnpei...teaching my 20 students each day. The ultimate goal being...improve the quality of life for each unique student.

This improvement can come in a variety of ways...improved comprehension skills, more responsibility for one's work, increase in self-esteem, ways that I can't even predict.

My biggest fear - I fall into the teacher trap of waking up each morning, walking to school and merely lecturing at my students. I have heard stories of teacher's easily losing that fire, that motivation that drive that they started the school year with.

I am a month in...and it is hard to describe exactly how I feel. One thing I know for sure, it's not as easy as it looks. I have always thought it would be pretty simple to teach a lesson, give a quiz and grade it. I am quickly finding out how wrong I was. It consumes so much energy - so much effort. And my main source of energy is my students. I am always relieved to see eager hands raising into the air to answer the question (usually they forget the hand part). I have been ever impressed by their motivation to improve their own lives so that they might be able to help their family.

But, as any teacher out there knows. There are tough days, tough students, tough lessons. While I am passing out quizzes and exams, I am constantly testing myself. Does this lesson involve the students? How can I incorporate their culture into lessons to give it some context? How is being American negatively/positively affecting my ability to relate to my kids? Is my method for discipline working well? Why exactly am I here in Micronesia?

The answers to those questions are changing with every new experience and interaction with my community and my classroom.

I realize that I my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. I also know that I need to recognize those in order to address the strengths and weaknesses of my students. That is what I will "learn" over the next two years.

Each day, I delve into Pre-Algebra, World History, Language, Literature, Spelling, Religion and Activity periods. It makes for a full day. Soon enough, I will be starting the PCS Yearbook with the help of my eighth graders. We just recently finished our first all-school Mass. The 8th grade class was in charge of that one: kind of stressful to take on as the newbie teacher, but it went very well.

We drove home Sister Elerina's theme of "Jesus is the Light of the World." One of the 6th graders even came up and explained, "Mr. Philip. You have really good 8th graders. Really good." I am glad they are positive role models for the school. But, I am hoping for more than "good" this semester. There are plenty of adjectives out there to top it, and I just hope I can move my entire class in that direction. Including myself.

Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each. ~Plato