July 17, 2014: Things Sometimes Lead To Pizza

Today’s Perfect Moment is taking a day off the diet and having some pizza.  I think most of the weight I had gained in the last two years can be attributed to Pizza, and my love for it–or perhaps my need to compensate for things by overindulging in food.  I’m no psychologist, so I will narrow it down to two and move on.

Today was not a particularly great day, which involved blowing up and students, being called in for some “talking to” and not having a stellar teaching day, despite planning some good lessons.  I chose some comfort food, and while I am not regretting it, I am not planning on making this a daily ritual (again).  It is a slippery slope, I realize, and hopefully I can avoid the trap.

July 10, 2014: Unexpectedly Glorious Silence

Today’s Perfect Moment was silence.  Today, I found silence in a most unexpected place.  Silence when you need to work or think can be wonderful.  Too often because of noise, I have to put my earbuds in just to get some peace.  This drowning out of other noise is okay, but it isn’t the same as silence.  Silence, deep true silence, is amazing.  True silence isn’t blotting sound away, but rather the complete absence of sound.

My work is very hectic these days.  There are lots of new hires, some even hoping to survive well into the winter.  This has made for a cacophony of noise in and around my workplace.  Couple that with a large group of students and you’ve got a recipe for lots of noise.  This can be dynamic and fun, but it can also be stressful.

Today at lunch, a time when noise seems to be inevitable, I noticed that there was no one around.  Usually this means there is a meeting and I have somehow forgotten it.  For reasons that may remain unclear for the foreseeable future, I hadn’t missed a meeting and there were so few people around.  I was alone.

Rather than panic, I decided to drink it all in.   I enjoyed the near total silence.  There was the hum of the photocopier.  In the next room someone was using the paper chopper.  However, there were no discussions surrounding grammar and the application of grammar rules.  There were not pedagogical debates of the PPP method vs. the TTT method.  I had time to think.  I had time to relax.

Almost as fast as it had begun, it disappeared.  The noisy, real world intruded on my Perfect Moment. 

June 11, 2014 When Your Work is Appreciated

As a teacher, I get observed a lot.  Perhaps it is unlike other jobs because it is only in these isolated moments that I come under scrutiny.  Most of the time, I am left to myself and eyebrows only get raised when the results are not as they were expected.

Not all of my observers are evaluating me.  Some are just curious, some are part of a fantastic marketing scheme which believes that the best sales pitch is the product itself (in this case it is the teacher and the teaching–and no, this does not bother me.  I have long accepted my status as a commodity) and some are other teachers or potential teachers.

For the record, potential teachers as observers are the rewarding ones.  If they get a glimpse of what can be done and what can be done well, then certainly you’ve left your mark.

Today, I was observed by an English teacher from a foreign country.  He had come accompanying some of his students.  This observation was to make sure that his students were in good hands and that they might actually benefit from this trip.

I know that teaching methods are different in every country, and I know different cultures put varying degrees of value on different teaching methodologies, pedagogies, and approaches.  So, of course, I was a little worried when this observer came to my class.  I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had hated everything I did in class.

All turned out well, though.  He genuinely appreciated my lesson and our discussion afterward was very rewarding.  His enthusiasm allowed me to proceed through the rest of my (tougher) teaching day.  So, in this regard, it was the perfect moment.

June 10 2014 The Rewards of Teaching

Today was a day when I realized that all actions have consequences.  These consequences are neither wholly good, nor wholly bad.  Rather than leave home at the earliest possible moment I dawdled, hoping to talk to someone before I left.  While I managed to do that I did leave work later than would be considered optimum.  The result of that was a subway delay, which forced me onto the street for a two subway station walk (as opposed to an interminable wait for a shuttle bus)  to the terminal where my bus, sadly, was not waiting.

So what does all this mean?  It means that something I might have considered the perfect moment (conversation) seems less so because it brought about an odyssey of a trip home.  It means that even the physically and mentally therapeutic walk became a confusing sweaty drudge.

Instead, today’s perfect moment came when my ex-students came to see me and cheered loudly.  They complimented my teaching and said how much they missed me–and it has only been 3 days.  It kind of reminds of me of the end of Dead Poets Society.  While I have never had the students stand on their desk and call me Captain my Captain, I have been reduced to tears by the words and actions of my students.  That didn’t happen today, but it still made me feel validated and appreciated.

June 5, 2014 A Question of Sandwiches

Today’s perfect moment is not really an event.  It was a question.  The ensuing conversation that the question spawned was quite good, but it was the question itself that I have selected as the perfect moment.

If you are displaying a stunned or confused look right now….I don’t blame you.  Even as I type this, I know it sounds strange.  I guess I should clarify.  Fortunately, I have a blog where I can do just that.

I work as an ESL teacher.  I face questions from students and staff all day.  While a student might ask me a questions which shows incredible depth, these same students might also ask me a question of such incredible mind numbing density that I am unable to answer.  Those I have to deal with.

I was sitting in the lunchroom, getting ready to eat my sandwich.  Today’s sandwich was by no means legendary (It was missing at least 6 ingredients by my count.), but it was on a nice piece of bread and it looked nice.  Before I go any further, I am known at work for my sandwiches.  They typically include the six ingredients that I said were missing and are usually assembled with love.  It is also true that I have eaten a sandwich for most of my lunches (perhaps 99% of them).

But I digress.

I was sitting at a table between two new attractive, but young and unattainably attached staff members.  Before I could start the devouring process, one, out of the blue, asked me what was the best sandwich I had ever eaten.

What an awesome question.

Despite her newness, she had already picked up on my sandwich habit, and surmised that I had an answer to the question.  I doubt anyone else in that staff lunchroom would have asked me that question.  It showed great insight.  It also showed me that some people have skills at starting conversations.

I know this may sound silly to you, but think carefully.  When was the last time someone asked you a question that was specifically tailored to you?  When was the last time someone paid attention to you and your subtle mannerisms and habits that they could ask a question that only you could answer.

As you can see, I was impressed.  It was a perfect question.