Deeds and Dreams

The semester is officially over, and I finished putting all of my grades yesterday.  In typical fashion, the office didn't tell us when grades were due until the day before, so I spent rushed day and a half grading essays about "Into the Wild", a movie-based-on-a-book-based-on-a-true-story that I showed my writing class to provoke from reflection about themes like freedom, escapism, societal obligations, and human relationships.  I was hoping to get more essays championing "being true to oneself", but a  large number of my students disapproved of the protagonist's actions, arguing that he neglected his duties toward society.  I guess there's only so much I can do to undermine the system!

It's been a week of goodbyes.  It's sad to think that I won't see 99% of my kids ever again, although I hope to keep in touch via the internet when I'm in Xinjiang next year. (Breaking news: Just signed my contract for next year.  Will continue to teach in China.  More on that later.)  

Here's a one of the classes I'll miss the most, my Vehicle Engineers:


Front, left to right: Diary, Ella, myself, Pirate, Vivian, Lillian
Middle: Illidan Stormrage, Sean, Daniel, Alexander, Jerry, Clarence, Zervy
Mid-back: Derek, Jack, Charles, Edison, Bill, Hector, Autosky, Mike, Edwin, Victor, Wilson
Back: Roy, David, Keviens, Frank, William, Jimmy, Richard

Next year I'm looking forward to being a more effective, more organized teacher with a clear plan for the semester, and maybe even a syllabus.  As Marberly has been saying all year, "We're putting all our hopes and dreams on next semester!"  Didn't quite accomplish all my hopes and dreams for this year, but at least I probably had some kind of positive influence on my kids.

Favorite class moments:

• Acting out the funny scenes from "Lars and the Real Girl"
• Making my kids sing the Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man" with me (while I played air guitar)
• Seeing how my kids would handle having to introduce the iFart iPhone app to the class
• Directing my demonstration of the word "to wink" toward the shy guy in the back of the class
• Taking a step back and letting my students stand in front the class and teach the content
• During discussions, always asking my kids "Why?"

Things I need to do better next year:

• Drill into my students' heads that plagiarism is unacceptable
• Meaningfully engage the students who a. don't care or b. can't actually speak English.
• Provide succinct commentary on a debate, rather than ending lamely with "Well, both sides did very well...and we're out of time."
• Effectively teach academic writing.  Jack and Clarence got it, but Autosky and Keviens just weren't there yet...
• Review what we learned, incorporating games and competitions.  Not a single round of jeopardy was played this year, not sure how that happened!

I am spending two weeks in the small city of Huludao in July, teaching English to factory workers.  Lesson planning for this job will force me to look back on my first year of teaching.  We'll see how much I can salvage out of the disjointed, but fun mess that I somehow managed to make fly in the classroom.