Open Class

Today, I had my open class, which is just another way of saying that I had my evaluation today.  The funny thing is, I barely even was nervous.  I don't know if it's just that I feel confident that I do my job well or that all my years of performance training kicked in (or both).  But instead of the crippling nerves I used to get before anything, I was actually pretty excited for it.  I think I was mostly looking forward to proving myself.  By doing something well in front of others, I often am able to validate myself, regardless of their opinion of my performance.  If I feel I did well, then I'll feel comfortable in what I'm doing.  There's something very different in doing something in privacy and doing the same thing with an audience.  That audience somehow changes it all.

I started the class early, reminding the kids that they needed to be on their best behavior before all the other teachers and administrators (and Office of Education People) came in.  I have several high-level English-speakers in that class, including one who was born and raised in Australia, so I knew I could count on them to help me out.  In fact, Daniel, the kid from Australia, helped me tell my illustration story. They're such good kids, and I'm extremely fond of them all right now, as they did a wonderful job during class.  I fully intend on showering them with candy the next time I see them.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm feeling pretty good about my evaluation.  My Vice Principal even said that it seems like I have "a lot of passion for teaching."  I explained for my Head Teacher that I have a lot of passion for the kids, and what they need right now is an English teacher, but I'm not sure how much of that survived the translation process.  Nonetheless, it all seems to have gone well. :)  I'm happy.

That being said, here are some photographs that are not quite Facebook profile picture worthy, but I like anyway:

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