First Day of Teaching

Yesterday was my first day of teaching in South Africa. I woke up in the middle of the night with feelings of anxiety and anxiousness. I had been waiting for the moment to enter into the classroom and do what I love so much. However, all of a sudden it hit me that I am in South Africa, and I am going to be standing in a class with students looking at me to teaching them and be the expert. On the outside I tried to remain calm but on the inside I was a complete wreck.

I was finally able to fall back to sleep, but it seemed as soon as I did my alarm was ringing and it was time for me to get up. I was able to have breakfast and then started my walk to school. The entire way I tried to remain calm and confident but again I was nervous on the inside.

This week we are doing workshops for Grade 7 and Grade 8 students who live in the different townships. These students have been working on math and science for the last couple of weeks while the schools here in South Africa are on holiday break and World Cup break. The tutors that are running the program wanted Teach with Africa to run workshops on different life skills. There are workshops being held on Study Skills, Writing, Leadership, and Journalism. I decided that I wanted to do a workshop on leadership. I feel like developing leaders in middle school is such a huge need that both the South African society and American society need to tap into.

Once I was assigned a class to enter, I started feeling extremely nervous. However, as soon as I saw the 20+ students and I was in the class, all of those nerves just went away. It felt as if I had already met and taught these students before. I couldn't believe how at ease I was. In hindsight, I realized that this is the same feeling I had on my first day of teaching and the same feeling I get on the first day of school every year. However, once I heard the kids say their name and then they said my name it was like I had never left my class. When my time was up with the first class I didn't want it to be over. Luckily, I had a great first class. They were amazing and so eager to participate. I didn't want out time together to end but I knew I would have another chance to continue with the second class that would come in after lunch.

As I was leaving and walking back to the house I just had such a profound realization. There are many days that I complain about life and complain about my job, but I know that I do what I do for a reason. I am a teacher for a reason. I love what I do. I especially love the middle school years. Something about working with students who are the future is very invigorating. There are some amazing days in the classroom and there are some days that just go horribly wrong in the classroom, but that is part of teaching. I know that my calling is in education. Especially as I enter the time of my life where I start contemplating the next step in my career with education, I am glad that I have this sense of rejuvenation and excitement.

My goal is to work on blogging more and especially doing more stuff with the Flip Cam. Once I start working with the LEAP students I will be doing some projects with the Flip Cam and posting more pictures.