Contrasts

The last two days have been really... weird? I think would be the best word for it. I was both super excited about how I was getting on with my classes and such, but at the same time, I've become super concerned with the fact that I may be (and by may be, I mean most definitely am) too relaxed with my students.

So, the bad part first: today especially, I realized that I need to toughen up. I actually had a student say to me today that "maybe they know you're so nice and so they think they can get away with it." This was after I had one student running around the room pretending that a maths instrument was a gun, and another kid was simply just laying underneath a table. It was definitely one of those, "Oh. My. God. What have I done?" type of moments. In hindsight, I should have dished out detentions right then and there. Same goes for Monday when I had these boys who just kept yelling when I was trying to talk or when they were supposed to be debating. It was chaos. I'll give them all one last chance, but this time I seriously need to actually follow through.

However, there's a good side. I feel like I get on with the students really quite well. Especially my year 7s, but that's mostly because I see them literally every day, although in two different subjects. But I digress. Basically, in all four of my classes on Monday, I had a different kid ask me about my tattoo on my arm. I figure they can't all have noticed it just then, since I wear short sleeves all the time and I use that arm to point at the board a lot. So, I take it to mean they felt comfortable enough to ask me something more personal than school related talk.

But that's not really all that made me happy so far this week. Something that I've striven for basically since I started the MIT program was to have my students talking about the lesson after class (and not in the "I hated that lesson" sort of way). I remember one of the professors in Woodring saying something about how that's practically like a crowning jewel for a teacher. Well, Monday that happened and it really was awesome. With my year 8s, we did a debate about whether Columbus was a hero or a villain. After class, I walked out of the classroom, and I saw/heard three of my students practically yelling at their poor friend, saying "COLUMBUS WAS A MURDERER! HE'S EVIL! IT'S HIS FAULT SO MANY NATIVE AMERICANS DIED!" It made me smile (especially because these same students had told me that they thought Columbus was a decent guy before the lesson, so it's fun to see their opinions change and know that they have a reason for it).

Also, I had a great interaction with some kids about hockey. I was wearing my Canucks earrings on Monday and one of the boys said, "Miss, is that the symbol for the.... San Jose... Sharks?" I was really excited because at least he knew of hockey teams in the US, so I told him that, no, actually, it's the Canucks, and I'm a wee bit obsessed with them. He and the other boys with him got kind of excited, and one said to me, "The Pittsburgh Penguins are my favorite." I replied with, "Okay, as long as it's not the Chicago Blackhawks." Then another kid said, "Well... what if it was the Boston Bruins?" to which they all laughed, either because they actually knew about the rivalry, or because I was straight-out glaring at this kid. Haha! Then I gave them permission to like any team... except the Bruins and the Blackhawks. :)

Anyway, that was another long update on life here in Prague. I've got to get to bed because I need to get to school early again tomorrow (I was there from 7:30 - 5:15ish today!). My supervisor from Educators Abroad is here tomorrow, so that means I get observed for all of my classes! And a free dinner, which I'm much more excited about. :)