Good Bye and See You Again!

This post is the third and final part of my internship experience series. If you haven't, please check out the first and second parts beforehand!

The past five weeks went by really fast. Every restless day was filled with joy, laughter, sweet memories, but also stress, tiredness, and challenges. It all feels like I just started this internship a week ago! It is now time for me to start a new chapter in life and go back to being a student. :)

Those Who Can, Do; Those Who Can't, Teach.

I am reminded of this famous quote about teachers. The first time I came across it I thought I misread it, but no. It means that those who are capable of doing something well, can do it for a living; while those are not capable of doing anything that well, make a living by teaching.

I have to admit that my experience in the past five months have made me realise that my brain has become dull. (Or hopefully I'm just overworried! Haha.) I find myself unable to do certain tricky questions that are meant for gr10 students, which leaves me quite embarrassed as a maths graduate. (T_T) I don't know if that's because I've been exposed to so many deeper concepts at university that I tend to overcomplicate things and fail to see how simple a question might be, or my brain has simply become dull.

This leaves me quite worried as I am about to start my Master's study and this time it will be really tough, no joke. Imperial College London is no game. But at least this time it will be a course that I genuinely enjoy and like. I'm gonna use the remaining time I have left to really prepare for the course. Please wish me luck!

Back to topic, I am left questioning a teaching career. To me, teaching is actually a very difficult job. Those who have kids at home may find two kids already troublesome. How can teachers handle more than 20 kids in a classroom? Not only that, they have to engage those kids so they will be interested to listen to them and able to utilise their thinking skills in class.

The principal told me that teaching is not merely about transferring knowledge to our students, but we have to teach them how to think. They need to see the thinking process behind it all. We can't just give them the answers.

Yes, teaching takes certain skills and characteristics. Not everyone can do it. But why does the aforementioned quote imply that teachers are no good at anything?

Surely teaching is one of the most important occupations in life. At this stage I still don't know whether I make a good teacher. I am introverted by nature and so find it hard to make eye contact with my students, or try to engage them in class. This is an area that I still need to improve. Other than that, communicating what I have in mind to other people is a huge challenge for me. Some people say I tend to overthink and my way of thinking is too complicated, which makes me worried I won't make a good enough school teacher.

I really think that teachers are people who can. They can make kids sit down and listen for 30 mins or more. They can help kids utilise their abilities in the best way possible. They can nurture kids to behave well and become good people. They can make a difference. And they can do it all very well.

Can I?

Leaving People I Love Behind...

Many people asked me how I felt. Was I sad? Was I indifferent? Well, I certainly had mixed feelings. I've just started to get used to my colleagues and students here, but now I have to leave them. T_T On the other hand, I'm also excited to return to the UK. So..... It's hard for me to say!

I'm gonna miss going to school with some teachers and staff. One of them likes to knit and I enjoy watching her knit some really beautiful patterns in the car. I'm gonna miss morning greetings with my colleagues. I'm gonna miss exchanging ideas with other teachers. I'm gonna miss scolding and having fun with my students. I'm gonna miss helping my students with their work, where I also get to learn new things from them. I'm gonna miss after school tutorials with my hilarious students. I'm really gonna miss this school very much!

The teachers and staff in this school are very friendly I feel so close to them even though I've only known them for 5 weeks, or I've known them before but wasn't very close to them. I'm glad for their kindness and for teaching me something new everyday.

My gr10 students are the sweetest. I really hope I could see them again next year! Though I guess they would be even more difficult to handle. Haha. My gr12 students will have graduated next year but hopefully if some of them go to university in the UK we'll be able to meet in September 2016. :) I wish them all the best with their study! Please do not contact me to ask for help... Kidding! Please stay in touch! I'll spare some time to help you guys. ^_^

However, I also feel relieved in that I'm finished with my internship. Working is really the toughest stage in my life so far. I wish I could stay a student all my life! Lucky I still have one year of study. Hehe. Surely what I experienced now is still far from what it's like for full-fledged teachers, so I know I'm not ready for when I have to work next year. It sure will be very tiring and stressful. But hopefully I'll be able to enjoy it!

I'd like to say thank you to everyone at ACS Jakarta. Every encounter I made with someone taught me something new. I also had to strive through new challenges and problems every week. I am taken aback by how my work life is so dynamic and full of surprises. It's as if my whole life so far was just a breath and I've just started to live! I'm looking forward to returning next year. Please keep in touch and wish me luck with my study! The best is yet to be.

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Every Day is a New Learning Experience

It was my second week of actual, full teaching at ACS Jakarta. For those of you who haven't, please read the first part of my teaching experience blog series here. This is the second part and I'm planning to publish at least two more posts.

A Little Bit on the Post Title

"Karena Selama Hidup Kita Belajar" is a book written by Faldo Maldini, the President of PPI UK in 2013/2014. I was working alongside him as the Head of Department of Sports, Arts and Culture; and I must say I have learned so much from him and his story.

The title of his self-biography reminds me a lot of him and the time we worked together. He is a very humble leader who always signed his emails with "Yang masih belajar, Faldo Maldini" which means "The one who's still learning, Faldo Maldini". He is always forgiving whenever I make a mistake or fail to deliver a project, and it always hit me that I too am still learning and could easily make mistakes. Every day is a new day to learn something new, and you as human beings are to seize this opportunity.

Speaking about my teaching experience, I am taken aback by how much I have learned in the past week. I experienced a lot of challenges, stress, emotional breakdown, confusion, and various other conflicts... On the other hand, I have also experienced a new kind of satisfaction, learned to appreciate certain things more, and had quite a lot of fun too! Each day is indeed a different experience. A different group of students also exposes me to different things which requires me to learn or figure out a new way to handle them.

When Things Don't Turn Out the Way You'd Intended...

I am the kind of person who likes to plan things out, yet still allowing a certain degree of flexibility. When it comes to planning for class, I'm still finding it hard to prepare the right amount or structure my lesson logically. Even after discussing it with Mr Ng, sometimes things still don't turn out the way we had planned and we would have to do something else spontaneously. This confuses me and gets me worried about how to prepare the next time. Should I have prepared for the whole week in advance? Should I have prepared some extra exercise just in case?

One day I prepared a certain subchapter to be covered within 1 period but ended up only finishing half of it. The other day I prepared another topic for 2 periods, but finished it within 1 period and had to make up examples spontaneously. These things make me confused. To be fair though, I normally prepare just a day in advance, or on the same day in the morning so it doesn't allow enough time for evaluation and if I happen to finish the lesson early, I wouldn't know where to move on to.

As a result, last Friday I solved my example problem incorrectly and certainly confused the whole class. I sometimes underestimate it just because it's grade 10 material, but I clearly shouldn't have. I need to make sure I understand every little detail before passing on my knowledge to others. Another time I have prepared a worksheet but it wasn't good enough, so I had less than an hour to prepare a new worksheet. Of course I couldn't make it in time and only made a new worksheet the next day. It's quite saddening when things don't go as well as expected, but I hope to be able to overcome this challenge within the next two weeks.

A Little Too Busy for an Intern

You may or may not know that I have had an internship at school before in 2012 for 2 months or so. It was right after I finished IB, before starting at university. Compared to now, the workload was very very light that I had so much free time to do anything I wanted to. I could go home on time, didn't need to prepare for class, didn't even need to teach, and had my weekends free. That time my job was merely assisting my teachers in class when students were doing exercise, marking some homework, or looking at some students' IA. I never felt tired, never felt stressed out, and never even complained.

Now, my job is kind of in the middle of a full fledged teacher and a teacher assistant. I'm only teaching one class (6 periods a week) and assisting in one other class (also 6 periods a week). However, I also have a private tutorial during school hours because the student has free periods, that's 8 periods a week. So in total I have 20 periods a week which is 2/3 the standard for legit teachers, although some teachers happen to get just a few more periods than I do this year. In addition, after school I have 1 hour tutorials on Mondays and Fridays, and 1.5 hour tutorials on Wednesdays.

As a fresh graduate I'm finding this quite a challenge. Even though I seem to have just a few hours compared to a student, I am still working outside these teaching periods to prepare for a lesson, prepare worksheets, mark some homework, and other trivial stuff such as photocopying. When I get home I still have to think about how to teach on the next day, or stress about that homework I haven't finished marking. How I wish I could be a student all my life...

Surely some days are busier than others. One day I forgot to eat my lunch and only ate at 4pm. The other day I had to eat my lunch in 5 minute sections. In this week I went home at 5pm once and at 6pm twice. Every time I get home I'm very tired already and don't have the energy to do work. However, this may be common routine for other teachers. I know some teachers always go home later than 5pm, or often eat their lunch late. Or even teachers who go home at 4.15pm actually bring their work home and continue working in the evening. This thing I should take as the routine, so when I could go home early or eat lunch on time I would be able to appreciate it more.

Someone told me I keep complaining as if it's my first time working. Well duh it actually is! :P (Although I really need to complain less and appreciate the good things in my life more.) It's my first time working such a demanding job. Being a teacher is really not easy. However, it doesn't mean being a teacher is a horrible job. Of course there are some other jobs that require you to work overtime almost everyday, or get scolded by their boss every so often and have to redo their work many times. I think I'm lucky enough to be able to become a teacher, and I know that I actually enjoy teaching at ACS Jakarta. I could only hope that my students do enjoy being taught by me too! :)

Why Is It So Hard to Become a Teacher?

That's a question I have asked myself every day in the week. It is a very demanding job both physically such as having to scream off the top of my lungs and also emotionally such as having to handle misbehaving students. The latter concerns me more than the former. Those who know me well would know that I am not a people person. I'm always scared about how I should present myself to others and how to respond to other people's actions or words. This doesn't help at all when I have to face a class of 24 students, or even a class of 50 students. Teaching is a job that requires one to interact with teenagers not only on the surface level but deeply. So deep as to touch the students' hearts and make it grow.

I often have emotional conflicts where I don't know how to handle a student's misbehaviour. On one hand, I cannot accept their attitude. It's clearly against the rules and I know some teachers would strictly ban their action. On the other hand, I know and realise the student won't like it when teachers discipline them. I too have been in their shoes and I have seen some situations where the students bully and hate strict teachers instead of respecting them. I don't want to be the one teacher that all students hate. Should I handle a case seriously or let it slide? If I just let them do what they want, they won't behave in my class for the rest of the year and other students (even those who aren't in my class) will take me as a chill and relaxed teacher. Which surely is not what I want. But if I am serious and fierce with them, they won't like me and might disrespect me even more.

One day I got really mad because I have warned my students so many times not to do certain things, but they take me lightly and keep repeating it. That day they had crossed the line and I had to take some disciplinary actions. The class went so quiet when I scolded them, and that's the first time I saw that class completely silent. It is an important matter that happens not only in my class, so it is important that teachers tighten up the rules and act accordingly.

However, sometimes after getting angry at my students, I regret my actions and want to apologise. But I don't know whether apologising would be the right move to make, as this shows that I am inconsistent and the students won't take me seriously next time. I do feel bad for them because some students misbehave not because they are naughty, but partly because of the teacher's attitude as well. Therefore it is important for teachers too to know how to handle their class.

I really admire fierce teachers such as...you all know who they are. :) I'm very envious of how they could be strict and fierce when they need to, yet also friendly and humorous at other times. Those teachers are in control of the class, yet students could enjoy and like them too. It's the perfect situation isn't it? No one gets hurt and time is not wasted.

But me? I still need to work very hard in order to get there. Students who know I am an alumnus will underestimate me right from the start. Some might also look down on me because I'm still young. They unconsciously planted a thought in their mind that I won't be serious and get angry at them.

I still remember one teacher told me about his experience teaching kids from dysfunctional family or troubled background. I wondered whether those kids respect him as a teacher and he answered, "well, it has to be earned." Respect is indeed earned and not given. There is no way I could expect my students to respect me right from the start. So now the question is what should I do to get my students to respect me?

I keep asking myself why I respected some of my teachers so much (and I still do up until this point!). I don't know the answer but I reckon one of the reasons was because they respected their students as well as the school rules. In that those teachers know they have to discipline the students when they disobey the rules, but they also know to give the students a certain extent of freedom. This is very mind boggling to me and I guess it isn't something that I could learn within just one month of teaching. Still, I hope to learn as much as possible from this teaching opportunity and hopefully I could be a good teacher for my students someday!

Isn't It Funny When You Are More Worried Than Your Students About Their Deadlines?

It is a crucial time for the gr12 as it is time for them to get serious and spend more effort on their IA, EE and TOK. Unfortunately some students are just indifferent about their study, even though their teachers believe they could do a lot better if only they put in the effort. I agree that this is the case for many students, but sometimes we just can't help it, right?

In a discussion with some of my gr12 students during tutorial, I realised that they only have two weeks to write their maths IA first draft, but many of them have not even found a topic, and the rest who have don't know how to write a good IA. (At the time of writing, they only have about a week left and I know almost none of them have started writing their IA.) I was really upset because I still remember how much guidance I got from my teachers when doing my IAs for all my subjects, but now these students are so lost. This is unfair and I feel that I need to step in. It is very important for the students to do well in their IAs, so in case if they flunk their exams for whatever reason, the IA could bring their grades up. Or even if they do well in the exams but flunk the IA, they might barely miss their IB7 (which has actually happened to many students).

So I had decided to hold an IA tutorial where I went through the criteria with them, showed a variety of examples and explained why those examples were good. I also let them discuss their topics with me and guide them how to narrow down or how to structure. It is very challenging for me too because the IA type now is different from my time, when the tasks were given and we just had to answer the questions. Now they are free to choose their own topics, so this is more like a mini EE and I need to familiarise myself with the types of acceptable topics and not so good topics.

However, I have to say that this is quite exciting for me too, because some students have come up with very interesting topics and it's fun to hear about them too. I feel that becoming a teacher is more of a learning experience because I'm learning more from my students than I'm teaching them. Here I could see that most of these students are actually quite serious and hardworking, but maybe in class they want to have fun and play around.

If any of the gr12s is reading this, please feel free to contact me for help with your IA or EE! I took maths, physics, chemistry and economics, so I hope I could help in those subjects; or give some general advice in any other subject.

In another group of students, the same thing can be observed. Last Friday I had a tutorial and quite surprisingly everyone turned up. However, some of them were there just for the sake of it. Some people couldn't wait to go home, some others just copy from their friends, and some other seemed to be paying attention but may be just pretending.

At 4.30pm (or before then) half of the group went home. To my surprise, the other half stayed there to finish the exercise until almost 5pm. One of them told me he wanted to stay because he knew he needed it. Aww, it was the most touching thing I've heard in this week! Although he added that he meant the exercise and not me. Haha. (It still means the same thing to me though!) ^_^

I'm really touched by these kinds of students. They may seem very playful and loud in class but they know when to be serious and they work hard. It's quite funny how they were trying so much to avoid my tutorial but ended up staying back later than required for it. The fact that they stayed until they finished the worksheet is enough proof that they are serious and this makes me very happy. Yes they still played around, put on weird and inappropriate music even though I told them to stop, but they did the work seriously until they know how to do the questions correctly. Faith in humanity = restored. :')

There Goes My Second Week of Teaching...

It is these kinds of things that get me going as a teacher. I realised I need to appreciate all these little things more, as not all students are willing to learn and be serious about their study. When I was exposed to a cultured group of students, I took it for granted and assumed it as normal. When I saw this misbehaving group, it stressed me out and got on my nerves. I guess it should have been the other way around... That a misbehaving group of students is normal, and a cultured group of students should be a blessing. However, it is what makes teaching an interesting job, and I'm very excited to learn more from my students in the remaining two weeks of my internship period.

To any of my students who might be reading this, please fill my last two weeks with you all with a lot of fun experiences!

And please do not forget to subscribe to hear the latest updates from my blog! ^_^

Yang juga masih belajar,

Desy

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When a Student Turns into a Teacher

I have learnt so much from my teaching experience in the past week. 

I am interning as a teacher at ACS Jakarta for a month before starting my master's study in October. I actually started in mid June to teach the foundation class in chemistry and maths for the new grade 10 students, who moved from local schools on the scholarship programme. The students are very bright, they were able to learn new materials rather quickly. Moreover, they are very attentive in class. It's an ideal kind of students from a teacher's perspective. ^_^ Anyway, the programme lasted for two weeks, which I hope prepared them well enough for the actual class.

First and Foremost...

The new school year started on 27 July for everyone. Teachers had to come to school on 23-25 July for briefings and meetings. I found out on the 23rd that I would be teaching Additional Maths for grade 10 IGCSE as well as assisting with Maths HL for grade 12 IB. Note the choice of words "teaching" and "assisting". Yes I have to teach the gr10 because the class is divided into two classrooms, and one of it is handled by Mr Ng, the school executive principal, so I will be accompanying him. In gr12 I just need to observe the teacher and assist the students when they don't understand or need help with the exercise. 

On the two and a half day meetings, I was introduced to all the teachers and caught up with my teachers back when I studied here. Yes I graduated from this school in 2012 and yes there are only a few teachers from back then who are still here now. I was actually quite sad when I found out many of my favourite teachers had moved and I actually really miss them. :( During the Mathematics and ICT Department meeting I realised that I only know one teacher and the subject head in the department (which consists of 8 people excluding me). However, it didn't take me more than a weekend to make friends with the other teachers. They are all very nice and friendly, which I am pleasantly surprised with as I am very young (in terms of experience and age) and I was afraid they would look down on me and would not want to be friends with me. Wrong. :) They are all really cool and I could learn a lot just from talking to them. Gotta make the most out of it right?

The Monday marked the start of the orientation programme which lasted for three days. I was not involved with the orientation, instead I had some work to do such as preparing the lesson, notes, exercise sheets, and some administrative things such as the scheme of work which outlines the teaching plan for the whole year, and the list of students. I also learned other stuff like photocopying, which surprisingly takes a lot of patience, especially when creating a booklet; and how to prepare for a lesson. 

Those three days were quite busy for me as I had to learn how to do all these preparation which takes a lot of thinking and discussions. And I actually had one more difficult task: making friends. The first few days of moving to a new environment is very important (or so in my opinion) because once you make an impression, it is very likely that others will remember it and you may be judged based on it! As an introvert I found it as a huge challenge, not to mention the age gap. In the attempt to make friends, I always eat in the common room and try to chat with other teachers. Fortunately I think I have made some friends, at least enough friends to fill my days and my social needs. Of course there are also my teachers who are very kind to me. :) 

Starting to Actually "Teach"

Comes Thursday, the first day of teaching which starts with the topic Functions for the gr10. I was really scared and nervous because it is still scary no matter how much I had prepared. First time actually teaching a big class of 24 students. Whew. I just didn't know how to explain all these concepts in a way that students could understand. I didn't even remember how my teacher taught me these back then. Where do I start? How do I explain the difference between this and that? Whoa there. 

I started off the class the way I prepared it. The students were all very quiet because Mr Ng was there in the class. I simply took it as a sign that they understood. Well no surprise, I was wrong. Mr Ng took over the class and explained everything all over again. I saw the look in the students' eyes. I too was mesmerised and realised my mistakes. I didn't explain clearly enough, I needed to talk more and repeat some of the important concepts. Students take some time to understand a new concept, and that's what I didn't see. Obviously there are also some other mistakes I made that I have not realised yet. :) So if anyone in my class is reading this please leave me your feedback! Would greatly appreciate it. 

It really hit me hard that time. I felt that I had horribly failed in my first class and Mr Ng was very disappointed with me. For some reason I feel that he has very high expectations out of me and I firmly believed I wouldn't be able to live up to it. Fortunately Mr Ng was very patient and he really wanted me to learn as much as possible from him. So I didn't want to disappoint him further. 

The Friday I was still learning from Mr Ng's teaching. Just observing him taught me a lot of things. In theory, I got a clearer idea of how to teach better, but in practice it is not easy to change! These things take time too you know.

I also learnt about how much to prepare for a lesson. I had actually prepared quite a lot of things for just one period (35 mins), as I was used to university lectures which covers so many things in one lecture and gives no exercise in class, whereas in school we need to give students exercise in class, for they may learn more from doing the problems themselves. I really needed to take my time and not get too rushed. 

From Monday on, he started to trust me more to teach the class. At least I think I'm getting a better grip of things. At times he still needs to instruct me of what to do, like whether to start doing exercise, give more exercise, or just move on to the next bit. Some of these surprised me, as sometimes I didn't realise that students need to practice. Remember, practice makes perfect. I also still have to see him everyday before class to make sure and check my lesson plan with him. I honestly am very grateful he gave me this opportunity and had the time to help me with every little detail. I have yet to ask him what he thinks about my teaching in the past week though. Should have asked that before the weekend!

Assisting My Colleague

(Haha, can't believe I could actually call teachers my colleague. Technically I could right? :P )

As for the gr12, it is a very interesting class. Very diverse and really interesting. Certainly too much for me to handle but fortunately I'm not the main teacher. Mr Irvin is the main teacher who has taught them last year too. From my perspective, his style of teaching is very different from Mr Ng's style, but at this point I think it is important for me to get exposed to as many different styles as possible so I could find my own style and see which style is best suited for what kind of group of students. 

Some of these students are really good, and some others apparently think they are doing well but actually aren't (or so I was told). What I know for sure is that these people really need to concentrate and pay attention in class (which they usually don't) and practice a lot in order to do well in the real exams. I still have vague memories from my high school years, and I surely remember I have acted badly too in certain classes, not paying attention and doing other assignments during class. But I think this kind of attitude is unacceptable and the teacher has to discipline their students. 

Tutorials vs. Actual Class

Knowing this, Mr Ng has asked me to provide tutorials for some of the underperforming students, to make them more comfortable with topics covered last year. After discussion with several teachers and the IB Coordinator, I have arranged tutorials for gr12 Maths HL, gr12 Maths SL, and gr10 Add Maths which fill my after school hour on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm actually quite busy for an intern right? However, I honestly feel more comfortable with giving tutorials because I have done private tutoring before, and dealing with a small number of students is a lot more manageable than dealing with a big class. 

This gives me quite a bit of stress as well because it's quite hard to arrange a good time when everyone can make it. Obviously there are students who just don't want to have tutorials. Out of the 14 tutorial letters I have given out, only 5 students actually handed in the return slip. Don't they realise how much of a hassle it was for me to prepare these letters? :(

The things I learned during these tutorials are very different from what I learned in class. Other than after school tutorials I also do private tutorials with one student who doesn't do the full diploma, so he has free periods when I can see and teach him. He is a very interesting person, certainly one I have not taught before. He actually is quite smart and his algebra is very good. Apparently he is good at music too so I could expect him to be good at maths. However, he just cannot pay attention and concentrate. His memory is very bad. These problems are preventing him from performing his best, and I really hope I could do something to help him. So far he has been avoiding tutorials by doing other things such as doing homework, revising for test, or just playing games. In the coming weeks I hope to revise old topics with him and make sure he does not only remember but also understand the concepts. Ganbatte to me!

The gr12 SL is not bad. They already know what they need help with, but I still had to revise the basics with them and when I did, I found that they actually still need to revise the basics before moving onto the harder stuff! I'm seeing good prospects though and hope they could learn a lot from my tutorials. 

Tutoring the gr10 was a huge challenge for me. Six guys. Loud ones, at that. Knowing I'm an alumnus doesn't help at all. At least I guess they are always like that in every other class, so it's not just in my class. :P They are the loudest group I have encountered by far and I believe I have a low voice, I cannot speak loudly (hence I always have a problem with eating at pubs or formal hall in the UK). Many times I had to shout at the top of my lungs. I had to tell them many times to pay attention to me.

I covered the basics of trigonometry which it turned out that many of them didn't know how to do it. Finding sin/cos/tan of special angles is a challenge for all of them, so I taught them the method of finding it using the fingers of our left hand, which apparently none of them have heard of (same thing happened with the gr12 HL). I could imagine all of these students looking at their left hands making weird movements during exams and the invigilators think they are trying to cheat or something by exchanging codes. :P

Anyway it was so annoying because they think they can solve the problems and they want to show off by working it out on the board. Actually I think it's quite good because with this kind of students, it would be great if they could learn from their friends, so I gave them the chance to write on the board or explain the answers to the class. But I had to tell them to stop talking unless they could solve the problem under 1 minute. If they could do that then they are free to show off all they want.

It was challenging because different students had different needs. Some of them don't pay attention to the explanation the first time around and then ask for it to be repeated. Some others don't even need help to do the exercise. (To be fair, these guys said they got a bad average because of the SA2 only. They normally do pretty well.) Some others just want to show off and pick on their friends who can't do it. 

At the end when we moved on to plotting trigo graphs, I saw something that I had never imagined. I went through the coefficients which play different roles in the function (stretch/translation, vertical/horizontal) and how each coefficient changes the shape of the graph. It was quiet. Everyone was actually listening to me and taking notes. It's as if they just saw something very enlightening. It was too quiet I really didn't need to shout. I totally can't believe I succeeded in making this group of loud guys shut up and listen. It gave me a feeling of satisfaction, something that I could never feel if I didn't teach this group of students. They said they actually learned something from me today, which makes me glad. I feel that I have accomplished my target for that day, and hope that I could continue to help them while I am here. 

How I Feel About Teaching

It has only been one week of actual teaching for me, but I feel that I have learned SO much in the past week. For me, teaching is a challenge and a learning process. I have to think about how my students could gain knowledge from me. I have to put all those abstract concepts in a way that my students can understand, which may not be the same as the way I think. On the other hand, I could also laugh at them and laugh with them, while remembering that I'm still their teacher and not simply their friend.

It reminds me of that time in primary school. I think it was in grade 2. My teacher asked the class who wanted to become a teacher. I was the only one who raised my hand. Yes of course I was too young then to decide my future career, but in the past few years I have always considered teaching as a career. I always enjoyed sharing my knowledge and helping other students. I want to shape and nurture the young generation. 

Anyway, I still have three more weeks at ACS Jakarta. I will be returning to the UK in mid September, and hopefully finish my master's study in one year. If any student is reading this, please make use of this time to get help from me with your IA or revision with topics that you don't understand, because I really want to help you too. It is a learning process for me too so I want to get the most out of it. Please feel free to give me your feedback if I'm too slow or too fast or not clear in explaining, or anything else! I'm still learning too, so I could really use your input!

Do not forget to subscribe to hear the latest updates on my blog! I would like to update you all one or two more times about my teaching experience at ACS Jakarta until the end of August. Stay tuned!

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The Story of Teddy Stoddard (Fiction) by Elizabeth Silance Ballard

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

***The End***

Warm someone's heart today. . . pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? Just "do it".

Random acts of kindness, I think they call it?

"Believe in Angels, then return the favour."

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