10 weeks ago I left on a plane to a place where I knew
little to nothing about. I knew Thailand had a King, I knew I loved Thai food,
and I knew I was ready for something different. Other than that, my knowledge
of this country was extremely limited. Today, as I wrap up week 10 of being
here and week 7 of working in a temple school, I have learned more than I could
have learned in an entire semester of classes back home.
My work at Wat Khuang Sing School has been the most
life-altering time I have yet to experience in my 21 years on Earth. I have
been challenged as a person and as an educator, spending every waking moment
attempting to improve myself and my teaching. I can remember my first day here
like it was yesterday. I arrived shaky and nervous, unaware of the love I was
about to receive from the students and teachers. Things have gotten better week
by week too. As I grasp what my students know and want to learn, I have been
able to adjust my lesson plans and simplify instructions to help comprehension.
Last week was one of my favorite
weeks by far. I taught all three classes I work with the Macarena, a personal
party favorite of mine. It started with P4 last Monday as a way to kill time
during the transition period, but slowly crept around school. By lunch the next
day all of my coworkers were talking about how they had seen the dance and
couldn’t wait to learn it themselves. P6 learned it next, bringing out a side
of them which I had never seen before. I don’t have much of a chance to
interact with them as my mentor teacher teaches that class alone, but this
moment I’ll cherish forever. The character each child brings to such a simple
dance is what I love the most about the Macarena. By the time I got around to
teaching P5 the dance, many of the girls knew it already. They had seen their
friends doing it and heard the music in the hallway throughout the week. By the
end of Week 10, I hope to teach and have them master the Cupid Shuffle.
Something that has come along
with this summer is my second guessing of my future profession. Like many of my
family members and friends know, I want to be a Social Studies teacher
initially but then eventually go into Education Policy. Every day I wake up
though wishing I was working at summer camp or doing something different with
my day. Preparing each day’s lesson became a nuisance which had me questioning
if I even want to be an educator for the rest of my life.
cher teaches that class alone, but this
moment I’ll cherish forever. The character each child brings to such a simple
dance is what I love the most about the Macarena. By the time I got around to
teaching P5 the dance, many of the girls knew it already. They had seen their
friends doing it and heard the music in the hallway throughout the week. By the
end of Week 10, I hope to teach and have them master the Cupid Shuffle.
(Thank
you Wat Khuang Sing for giving me these three)
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