Feeling Like a Teacher

This will be the third calendar year that I write here.  I wrote nine times in 2015, three times in 2016, and this will be only the second of the current year.  I have got to get better about this.  So let's do a quick update.  I unfortunately have to keep this brief; my house is hosting a trivia / pub-quiz night.  It's Friday night, there's beers to be drank and knowledge to be spewed.  (Keefe, I'd like to add that "Tiny Dancer" is blaring in the background as you advised buddy)

Today I finish teaching my fourth week at a new school, Stree Manda Pitak.  It is a Catholic School and has been around for a while.  I know this because the lady that served me soup today told me how her father taught there for most of his life and then she taught there for 41 years of her life; yeah, my Thai is getting a bit better.  I kind of chuckled when I sat down and initially saw her soup stand is only open for five hours a day, now I know she's retired and just makes soup for fun.  She probably opens when she wants, cooks when she wants, and smiles often.

The school is home to more than 3,000 learners all the way from kindergarten to senior year of high school (Matayom 6 or M6).  Initially my schedule included seven different classes, spanning from M2-M6 (grades 8-12).  This week it has been changed, I now have eight classes, the same levels plus two P5 (Prathom 5 = 5th grade) classes where I will teach math.  I am so stoked about this.  For about forty minutes today we talked about big numbers and number places (tens place. hundreds place, etc).  That may sound boring to you, but it was awesome!  I love the little ones.  They are so much fun and it is great to listen to their little laughs again.  Ok, enough stats.

I've only taught for two years and only at the prathom level.  Now I am mainly in charge of high school, which was really intimidating at first.  It is actually really great.  They are really fun, you just have to keep their minds working otherwise they go to sleep.  Seriously, I wake up students all the time.  I have a two hour block named "Science Experiment" and I've been given no textbook or guidance.  So far we have dropped stuff off a balcony and used the position equation to calculate height and tried to modify our reaction times with slow and fast music.  The music one was to introduce the idea of a control group in a science experiment.  In Reading and Writing we are attempting to pinpoint what is "beauty" and what should be the extent that an individual goes to attain it.  Their opinion papers have been fun to grade.  Thailand has some interesting ways of viewing beauty but these kiddos have some fairly progressive views.

I still say kiddos because in my "Project" class where I've also been given zero direction, we read Where the Wild Things Are and watched the movie afterward.  I was going to have them write a comparison-contrast paper until I was told not to teach so much and not to give work in that class.  Oh new school, you a little nuts sometimes.  In the ending scene when Max sails away from the island I noticed the girl sitting in front of me was wiping her eyes.  Then I look up and half the girls, and a couple boys pretending some dust got in their eyes, were weeping as well.  They're still very much kids with some very innocent hearts.  That class in particular is sweet as can be and absolutely brilliant.

I could go on and on, but it's almost trivia time.  So some notables --  (hey, I bloody spelled it right this time)

**Notables**
In the first week of school my homeroom students found a kitten in the ceiling and a snake on a shelf outside the room.  Not sure which egg or chicken came first, however, they were attempting to get it off the shelf when I was lesson planning and I see something fly by the class window.  I get up to take a look and watch a man use a stick to bash the head of the snake many times..... at a Catholic school mind you.

I've taught 7 classes, plus the two P5s, plus 4 more for extra classes for which I rotate around M2 and M3.  I am only one man, they are many.  Everyone knows my name ...I am doing my best.  Regardless, everyday I arrive at work I have hundreds of bright faces saying, "good morning Mr. Josh" or "Good morning teacher!"  It is the best start to a day and makes me smile ear to ear.

Yesterday was the Wai Kru (honor/respect teacher) ceremony.  I've done this two years before but this was different.  3,000 students bowing before you.  Sounds a little odd?  Well it is, until you think about how Thai people show respect.  One way to do it is simply lowering your body.  So all of them bowing wasn't necessarily them addressing me as if I was a deity, it was just a nice way to say thank you.  Also, when the new teachers were introduced I had to stand up.  The gifts they present you are flowers and such.  -->

I didn't realize mine was full of water when they gave it to me and I spilled a bit.  So when I stood up it sorta looked like I wet myself.  Meh, I was wearing black.  I don't think anyone noticed. The roar of applause that just kept building as I stood was damn near enough to bring me to tears too.  A truly humbling moment.

I've got more to write for sure.  But it's time to go see if I've got any knowledge fuel left in the tank this week.  Cheers friends.