The First of Many to Come...

What a year it’s been. This morning I woke up to watch the sunrise. I spent a glorious hour or so basking in the glow of the morning and marvelling at the beginning of another beautiful day. I ate a leisurely and delicious breakfast and enjoyed two steaming hot cups of tea. Then (and here’s where it gets interesting…) I went back to bed. With my book. And after I had finished reading my book I dozed for a while. When I got up the second time, I almost had to pinch myself. How is it possible that I managed to have such a perfectly indulgent morning? It must be SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!! 

That’s right. The time of year that gives us teachers the well-deserved chance to rest, recuperate and reflect. To be really honest, I have spent the last four weeks deliberately not thinking about school, deflecting my rogue thoughts if they dared stray to the forbidden topic of the classroom.  But now, as I enter the remaining few weeks of our end of year break, I realise that this is a valuable opportunity to reflect on my first year of teaching. There are a few thoughts that immediately spring to mind… so here they come, in no particular order:

• Nothing will ever be as hard or as rewarding as my first year of teaching
• I have made the best possible choice of career for myself, as I consistently feel challenged and fulfilled by my role
• I will miss the little faces that I came to know so well this year in my class. They are moving on to Year 4 and will probably be far too cool to say “hi” to me in the schoolyard…
• Supportive and inspiring teaching colleagues should be treasured!
• I never appreciated holidays as much as I have this year…

There were two opportunities throughout the year when I experienced mini-meltdowns: the first hit me at a friend’s house on the Friday evening of a particularly long week. The tears arrived and I was as surprised as my friends as I found it hard to explain them or make them stop! Thankfully my ever-supportive husband was close at hand to deliver me safely home and listen as I blabbed incoherently as to the pressures and concerns that had been bubbling away below the surface. The second time it happened: I felt myself welling up in class after lunch and feeling very, very fragile. Thankfully the children seemed to pick up on this vibe and were especially lovely and content to enjoy a low-ley afternoon of learning: disaster averted successfully! After talking about these emotional eruptions with fellow teaching friends, I discovered that many of them had experienced similar things during their first years of teaching. The enormity of the pressure we place on ourselves is evident. We are shaping the future and the learning habits of these little individuals that we are teaching. We are meeting parental, school and curricular expectations (hopefully) and maintaining a stimulating, safe and supportive social environment for these little lives. And we are doing it with a smile (mostly). We are spending more time with our class than we are with our families and we are maintaining professionalism and enthusiasm for our tasks. We are in meetings and committees after school and we are marking and lesson-planning at home and on weekends. We are responding to emails and meeting parents to discuss learning… and we LOVE it!

As I bid a teary farewell to my class of 2011-2012, I realise that I now have the opportunity to start over again with a whole new group of students. The individuality of each of them will become evident as the year unfolds and the challenges we face as a class and team will be as individual as the students. It’s a time of excitement and trepidation: but nothing will be as daunting as starting my first year. I already have a “bag of tricks” for setting up a harmonious learning environment. I have taught much of the content that we will tackle this coming year, and I can make improvements on the lessons and resources I created last year. I have a whole year’s worth of confidence and experience and I am ready to begin. Well, in about 3 weeks I will be ready. Until then I will make my eighth cup of tea for the day and settle on the couch with my book or maybe I should get outside and go for a walk… oh, the choices I have to make! Life sure is tough… but at least I now know why teachers deserve their holidays! Reflecting on my teaching year has revealed a lot about my and my choices, and it’s the first of many to come.

Are You Opinionated?

This morning in my class we did a great activity – one that was focused on building and verbalizing opinions. I read a number of statements aloud to my class, and they had to choose a place in the room to stand based on whether they agreed, disagreed or were unsure. If they were unsure, their task was to listen to the opinions of those who had decided on a stance, and then to use that information to make a decision.  Similarly if students had made a decision, their job was to listen to the opinions of others to decide if they were persuaded to change their minds.

One young lady (all of 8 years old!) found herself in a pretty powerful position: when she voiced the opinion (albeit very timidly) that had placed her across the room from nearly all of her peers, she found her opinion was very convincing: it caused most of the other students to cross the room to stand by her side. We discussed how this had happened, and realized that we all have the power to influence the opinions of many others, just by voicing our thoughts.

With this power comes an awful lot of responsibility. People with the strongest opinions are often the first to be heard because they speak the loudest. This doesn’t always mean that they are right. It is a skill in this world to be able to hear a variety of points of view, and then use that information to form your own opinions. It’s a tricky thing to do, and it’s a constant variable. Not doing this is really a lazy option. It’s choosing not to strive for a balanced view, but just allowing yourself to jump on someone else’s bandwagon.

Sometimes we meet or hear from someone who has strong views that we feel we can strongly associate with. Think of the Dalai Lama or Mahatma Ghandi with their views on non-violent conflict resolution – many people are drawn to these ways of thinking and the ideals behind them. Similarly: people with strong (and often controversial) views can draw a lot of followers. Think of Hitler or Mao Tse Tung and the damage their views and actions caused.  I repeat: with the power to persuade, comes an awful lot of responsibility.

The way I see it: if your opinion is not causing harm, if it is positive in nature, if it can bring about some kind of thinking or inspire action that’s good for the earth or other people then it’s probably a good thing. The trouble is that your view on that might be different to the view of others…. See the conundrum that we’re faced with?!

A dear friend of mine has a “pendulum theory”: if we can each influence 7 people to change their thoughts or actions to be positive towards the earth and fellow people, the world is moving in the right direction, a kind of “pay it forward” mentality. I think that she has a great and potentially influential idea there… as long as we consider that there are others out there who may influence at least 7 others in negative ways… my goal is to influence many others to think positively and take positive action to try and keep the positive pendulum swinging. But I must remember that with my opinions and the powerful position I find myself in, comes an awful lot of responsibility…

Culturally Speaking...

Culturally speaking, the school I teach in is predominantly attended by local children: from Hong Kong families. We talk about culture. We talk about local HK culture, we talk about Chinese culture: I talk about Australian culture. We research other cultures as part of our learning. Students identify with a number of different cultures – some of them have never lived in the country they identify their identity with. Our classroom has it’s own culture, our school, our community… so it goes.

Culturally speaking: I was a bit nervous before commencing my contract at this school. People had told me that the families may be intense, the academic demands would be high and that the students would be SO Chinese.  Hey, I’ve read “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother”: I told myself I knew what these families will be like… but, let’s be honest – I was a little nervous about that kind of pressure.

I often ponder these thoughts as I notice various things about our school, and in particular, my class. Sure, there are differences from schools in Australia: from what my friends tell me, anyway. Here’s some examples:

Mrs Davis: “Okay folks, it’s time to get your maths books out”

Class: “Yesssssssssssssss”

Mrs Davis: “Okay folks, it’s time for Guided Reading groups”

Class: “Yesssssssssssssss”

To be honest, it’s refreshing to be working with 7-year-old students who still have a true and honest love for learning. Each day they teach me small things about their own culture. Each day I am more and more conscious of my Aussie accent, and my “Australianisms”. For example: the following words and sayings are very confusing for my students:

·      Texta

·      Jumper

·      Get a wriggle on

·      Data (pronounced the Aussie way)

·      G’day

There are many others too – things that I don’t even realise that I say… but they sure let me know!

But in so many ways, I have been surprised. It really hit me the other day as I started my yard duty and a young boy came running past me screaming “I’VE GOT SUGAR BISCUITS!!!!!!!!” In so many ways, these students are just the same as any other kids, anywhere in the world. Sure, some of them carry the pressure of feeling their families rely upon the outcome of their academic progress. Sure, some of them fill every moment of every day with extra classes, homework and co-curricular activities that will enrich them as students: but they are still 7-year-old children. They want to laugh and learn and play with their friends. The big difference I have noticed? The attitudes of the families: the parents of most of these students are really on the side of the teacher – not that this is a “battle” or about “taking sides”: but there is something about these local families that says “I am on your side”.

Many friends at other schools around the world have told me of their experiences dealing with some parents who would like to blame the teacher or the school for any problems with behaviour, academic success, attitude or social problems. I feel that the parents here want to side with the teachers to form a sort of “team” to support the progress of the student towards their goals.

Yet, there are still things that surprise me daily, for example:

Mrs Davis: “Okay folks, pack up your things, ready for Chinese…”

Class: “Awwwwwwww, whyyyyyyyyy?”

Culturally speaking, HK is a great place to live and teach. The energy from my class is infectious (not in a chicken pox kind of way) and it’s a joy to be a part of it. It’s refreshing to know that kids are just kids: no matter where they live – and it’s a great energy to be surrounded by each day! Until next time: enjoy your culture – whatever it may be.