The day started with a morning assembly in the auditorium. The students (grades 1-8) were adorable and rambunctious. But the scheduling and logistics seemed a bit chaotic.
From there the students gathered in their groups (letters A-L) of ten students each with their teacher assistants. Each of the TC (Teacher Consultants from BAWP) had two writing groups, which met for two writing sessions of about an hour each, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Each of my groups had 10 students, grades first to second (and later two third graders). The students seemed normal enough—boys who talked incessantly and girls that wouldn’t. My first impression initially is that all the students had some proficiency in English—but a few had a proficiency in English that was comparable to students in the US. Later I assessed that I had a few students who knew little if any English. Since I had the youngest students some switching was done so I had the youngest non-proficient students.
The experience has revealed who I am as a teacher. I need to feel the space, the qi, the feng shui as it were, I am to teach in. I need to prepare and order the classroom so I know the space I am to inhabit and teach in. I was fortunate that Mary had set aside a room for me to teach in. It was a simple room with conference style tables (at least they were not university desks) and chairs. No chalkboard or whiteboard. I moved the tables into two larger tables in the front of the room around which eight children could sit. And I made a space in the back of the room for Read Aloud and Authors’ Chair. Later a white board magically appeared. The rest of the furniture I shoved into one corner. Later the room would be used for the older students to watch movies after school.
I also need to have my materials in place. For writing I needed to have: pencils, post-its, loose leaf paper, erasers, markers, and a place to put the work (folders or a when-done box). But these materials were not necessarily in place by the time class started. I had to accept some level of uncertainty and chaos and believe that eventually everything would fall into place.
A third and important part aspect of my teaching is the planning, which I had largely done back in San Francisco—imagining the students I would have, what they could do and how I could teach them. My mental preparation came in reviewing the lessons I had, making some educated decisions about the first days’ activities. I think part of preparing the space, materials and mind is that they are what I had some control over and the most important element in teaching are the students, over which I have no control. But once I know the students, I am more at peace and can plan and prepare more precisely because I have a sense of who they are.
Start of the Summer Writing Camp seemed a bit chaotic but eventually scheduling and logistical problems were ironed out. I felt there needed to be a principal or head teacher for this—some one who helped over see the needs (lunch scheduling, transition times, discipline issues, play time and down time) so instruction can take place. We had some 120 students (the size of a small school). Carol, advocated for us TCs but there was a need for an instructional leader to make decisions.
Below was our daily schedule:
10:15-11:15 First Writing Group
11:30-12:30 Second Writing Group
12:30-1:15 Lunch
1:20-2:10 Art (group 1)
2:25-3:15 Art (group 2)
3:15-3:35 Break & Snack
3:35-4:25 First Writing Group
4:35-5:25 Second Writing Group
I am a morning person and the most difficult part of the day for me is the afternoon—I was spent by 5:30 even though I had wonderful students. Eventually the schedule worked for me. I would wake at 7:30 to shower and dress. Go to breakfast from 8:00 to 9:00 and then prep from 9:00 to 10:00. We were in Daehangno, near Hyehwa station, near many universities, but you were hard pressed to find anything open before 8:00 am. Those that were open were western style cafes: Paris Croissant, Lombardia, Tous Les Jours, where you could get pastries and coffee. I learned to relish my mornings to write, reflect, and sketch. Eventually I learned to prep from 8:00-8:30 and spend an hour and a half at breakfast which was precious as gold.
In search of bulgogui
Since the group of teachers I work with asked me to select a restaurant for the evening, I thought I would select one of the BBQ places I had seen the night before in my walk through the neighborhood. I had seen many restaurants where people were barbequing at their tables so I assumed they all served bulgogui (the signature dish of thin slices of marinated beef barbequed over hot coals). At the first restaurant around the corner, we flowed in. The menu was in Korean so I asked for bulgogui (beef) and dakgüi (chicken) but there was none. Only pork. So we ordered pork and a vegetable platter. The pork was steamed and it came with kim chi cabbage and a kim chi root--very good but not what I expected. There was a row of triple fat pork which is loved here, but to which we are unaccustomed. We had some but it was largely untouched. The vegetables (squash, mushrooms, greens, carrots and a bit of bulgogui) were cooked in a broth. It was very tasty. The whole meal was not the bolgugui I had hoped for but the meal was great nonetheless.
As Evan said, "It was not what we expected, but it was what it was." Good advice. It makes the experience much more enjoyable.
© Hector Lee, 2010
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