Update
I wrote a few months back about schedule changes and so on.
I got very lucky and didn't have to do that. It worked out that enough students were around so we could open up another class and I got to teach advanced listening and speaking the whole day, which ended up being my favorite two months of teaching in my entire career. Then I got assigned business in the morning again, which has been fine, and the past two months have been delightful. I haven't forgotten that I dodged that bullet back in October, which is why I can only be mildly annoyed now that things are finally changing.
I continue to be fortunate enough to have a full time schedule during the day, but due to low winter enrollment, the afternoon speaking and listening class that I've been blessed to teach for exactly two years will come to an end (definitely) in three more days. We had an amazing group this time, but many students had planned to leave before or during the holidays, so we quickly reduced from 14 students to 8 to 6. I guess they don't have many people signed up to join next term, because we have been this low before, but due to larger economic forces, I can understand why they thought it wouldn't be profitable to keep it open. So it could have been worse. I could have been relegated to begging for night classes to be able to maintain my life here, but instead I got a level 3 class. Level 3 in midtown is higher than level 3 at the Upper West Side, and it might even be fun. I suppose it will be as fun as I make it.
Anyway, I was pretty tired today, and feeling in a funk because I'd also been told on Friday that I wouldn't have my morning post-advanced class either. I was under the impression I'd be teaching listening and speaking in the morning again, but I was told I'd go down a level, which actually is an enormous difference. I've had an advanced class of some kind for at least two years, so that was quite a shock to my system, especially when it was mentioned casually (just got a new supervisor, who's my old supervisor from nights on the UWS, but it wasn't really her decision). Then I learned that the afternoon class was being closed, and I could still teach level 3. So I asked to keep the morning advanced class as a (small) concession, and they were merciful enough to grant that.
My funk came from the fact that I was completing one of the most successful listening and speaking groups I've ever had, yet ultimate demotion was the result. In fact, just two weeks before, I'd received the greatest compliment of my career. One student, a retired Brazilian doctor, said in front of the whole class that I was the best teacher he'd ever seen in his life, and he'd been teaching surgery for 30 years. He'd actually told me that privately after only two weeks in my class, but six weeks later, he felt the same way. A Chinese lawyer insisted I continue lessons with her online after she returned home, and an Argentinian woman told me that I taught her so much more than English, and that coming into my classroom was like entering Narnia. But I guess they only see the numbers of students enrolled and judge me based on that. Well, luckily, in this job, even if the praise doesn't reach management, it does come directly from the students, and I feel really blessed to have had these experiences. If I'd quit all those times that I'd wanted to give up and do something else, I wouldn't have reached that peak. That said, it really did feel like a peak, that day before Christmas break, so I guess it makes sense to let that class go now. Things are kind of strange with only five people. I hope level 3 will bring new energy.
Today, I was asked near the end of the day if I would do an emergency substitution on the UWS, from 6-10. I didn't have a 12 hour day in me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my energy for the rest of my final week with these students, so I compromised and filled in for the first class, which is only 2 hours. I think I'm a good employee. After all, the woman at the sandwich shop remarked that I never "call in." I don't go there every day, so she wouldn't really know, but she picked up on the fact that I'm pretty dedicated. Once I called in a day in advance, the weekend before my 33rd birthday. I was at Lake Champlain and had stayed up to see the sun rise. I noticed I was sneezing and blowing my nose a lot, and I didn't want to drive 5 hours the next day. I decided I deserved a birthday present, and since my work stresses how hard it is to find replacements an hour before class, I gave them 24 hours notice that I was sick and wouldn't be able to drive the 5 hours. That's how I found myself in a canoe that night, watching the northern lights for the first time in my life. When I returned to work a day later, on my actual birthday, my supervisor mentioned they didn't have time to get a cake or anything (which they do for just about everyone), but they'd do it the next day. They didn't. They never have actually. I thank them anyway. Whether or not I agree with their decisions in the moment, they get me where I'm supposed to go.
So, because I like students and teaching business has taught me a little something about leverage, I went to the UWS on my way home tonight. I hadn't been back since I left last March. When I arrived, I instantly recognized 2 students, and one of them was in my class. During the break, I recognized a third, from Burkina Faso. He could barely read or write when I met him, even though he spoke 5 languages. He gave me a huge hug, and I was glad I came.
I ate a slice of pizza at the best joint in town after class. The guy remembered me. "Right, you used to have those 2 minute breaks." It was 10, but it felt like 2.
I wrote before that getting a little change can help inspire you to consider larger decisions, so maybe this is just what I needed, because I had quite the weekend of contemplation and planning. Sitting around a fire with friends helps with that.
I'll let you know as I go in this show.
I wrote a few months back about schedule changes and so on.
I got very lucky and didn't have to do that. It worked out that enough students were around so we could open up another class and I got to teach advanced listening and speaking the whole day, which ended up being my favorite two months of teaching in my entire career. Then I got assigned business in the morning again, which has been fine, and the past two months have been delightful. I haven't forgotten that I dodged that bullet back in October, which is why I can only be mildly annoyed now that things are finally changing.
I continue to be fortunate enough to have a full time schedule during the day, but due to low winter enrollment, the afternoon speaking and listening class that I've been blessed to teach for exactly two years will come to an end (definitely) in three more days. We had an amazing group this time, but many students had planned to leave before or during the holidays, so we quickly reduced from 14 students to 8 to 6. I guess they don't have many people signed up to join next term, because we have been this low before, but due to larger economic forces, I can understand why they thought it wouldn't be profitable to keep it open. So it could have been worse. I could have been relegated to begging for night classes to be able to maintain my life here, but instead I got a level 3 class. Level 3 in midtown is higher than level 3 at the Upper West Side, and it might even be fun. I suppose it will be as fun as I make it.
Anyway, I was pretty tired today, and feeling in a funk because I'd also been told on Friday that I wouldn't have my morning post-advanced class either. I was under the impression I'd be teaching listening and speaking in the morning again, but I was told I'd go down a level, which actually is an enormous difference. I've had an advanced class of some kind for at least two years, so that was quite a shock to my system, especially when it was mentioned casually (just got a new supervisor, who's my old supervisor from nights on the UWS, but it wasn't really her decision). Then I learned that the afternoon class was being closed, and I could still teach level 3. So I asked to keep the morning advanced class as a (small) concession, and they were merciful enough to grant that.
My funk came from the fact that I was completing one of the most successful listening and speaking groups I've ever had, yet ultimate demotion was the result. In fact, just two weeks before, I'd received the greatest compliment of my career. One student, a retired Brazilian doctor, said in front of the whole class that I was the best teacher he'd ever seen in his life, and he'd been teaching surgery for 30 years. He'd actually told me that privately after only two weeks in my class, but six weeks later, he felt the same way. A Chinese lawyer insisted I continue lessons with her online after she returned home, and an Argentinian woman told me that I taught her so much more than English, and that coming into my classroom was like entering Narnia. But I guess they only see the numbers of students enrolled and judge me based on that. Well, luckily, in this job, even if the praise doesn't reach management, it does come directly from the students, and I feel really blessed to have had these experiences. If I'd quit all those times that I'd wanted to give up and do something else, I wouldn't have reached that peak. That said, it really did feel like a peak, that day before Christmas break, so I guess it makes sense to let that class go now. Things are kind of strange with only five people. I hope level 3 will bring new energy.
Today, I was asked near the end of the day if I would do an emergency substitution on the UWS, from 6-10. I didn't have a 12 hour day in me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my energy for the rest of my final week with these students, so I compromised and filled in for the first class, which is only 2 hours. I think I'm a good employee. After all, the woman at the sandwich shop remarked that I never "call in." I don't go there every day, so she wouldn't really know, but she picked up on the fact that I'm pretty dedicated. Once I called in a day in advance, the weekend before my 33rd birthday. I was at Lake Champlain and had stayed up to see the sun rise. I noticed I was sneezing and blowing my nose a lot, and I didn't want to drive 5 hours the next day. I decided I deserved a birthday present, and since my work stresses how hard it is to find replacements an hour before class, I gave them 24 hours notice that I was sick and wouldn't be able to drive the 5 hours. That's how I found myself in a canoe that night, watching the northern lights for the first time in my life. When I returned to work a day later, on my actual birthday, my supervisor mentioned they didn't have time to get a cake or anything (which they do for just about everyone), but they'd do it the next day. They didn't. They never have actually. I thank them anyway. Whether or not I agree with their decisions in the moment, they get me where I'm supposed to go.
So, because I like students and teaching business has taught me a little something about leverage, I went to the UWS on my way home tonight. I hadn't been back since I left last March. When I arrived, I instantly recognized 2 students, and one of them was in my class. During the break, I recognized a third, from Burkina Faso. He could barely read or write when I met him, even though he spoke 5 languages. He gave me a huge hug, and I was glad I came.
I ate a slice of pizza at the best joint in town after class. The guy remembered me. "Right, you used to have those 2 minute breaks." It was 10, but it felt like 2.
I wrote before that getting a little change can help inspire you to consider larger decisions, so maybe this is just what I needed, because I had quite the weekend of contemplation and planning. Sitting around a fire with friends helps with that.
I'll let you know as I go in this show.
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