Who ever said teaching was easy?

I guess I can see why they say the first year of teaching is one of the hardest. It's not that I've had an especially hard time here--actually, in some regards, I think I have it a little bit easier than many first year teachers (I've even managed to find time to join a Miguel Aleman club volleyball tema!). That's not to say it's not work. I just mean, in different schools I was trained in in Michigan, there were so many expectations, so many different criteria you had to meet, so many meetings and deadlines and all. That doesn't seem to be as prevalent here.
I think part of that's the culture, but a lot of it is the school, too. And I like that; I feel at home here--the crazy, busy, leave-no-time-for-anything work environment that I've always hated doesn't really stand out here.
At the same time, though, that makes it much harder for methan it might be for those at rigid, incredibly structured schools, because a lot of the decisions I make in my classrooms and for my students are up to me. I have a specific curriculum I'm to teach and different assessment tools I can use, but how to evaluate students and what is expected from students, what my deadlines are, and what standards I want to stress---that's all pretty much up to me..not entirely, but much more so than I'm used to.

Like all first year teachers, though, (or, just teachers in general) I also find that I have sooo many questions that are hard to answer! What can I do about the student who works so much slower than his classmates? In what ways can I challenge and motivate the smart student who likes to act up in class (likely because the work is too easy for him and he always finishes much earlier than his classmates)? How do I stay on track with what I want to get done each week when students are absent for multiple days in a row (and, might I add, procedures for absences are a bit more lax than I'm accustomed to)? How do I progress to a new unit, adding more material, when there's one student who still is struggling to understand the last unit?

I've found, too, that it's a constant challenge to motivate myself to seek out the answers--to be more and more creative with my approaches; to not settle for what's easy to do, but to do what's best for the students. Because that's what I really do want. I want them to learn. And I want to create an environment where they not only learn, but they all can enjoy learning, and in which all believe that they can succeed.

It's also hard stepping into these classrooms halfway through the year. There are so many things I'm sure I do differently than their past teachers. For one, I'm a huge believer in language play. I don't think you can fully learn languages without having fun with them, without messing around with them in creative ways. I believe your brain really needs that (My ESL professor, Professor VandenBosch, really stressed this to us last semester!) So with my students, we make stories, sing songs, do charades with our vocabulary, and play group games and activities centered around the different language concepts. I think that with their past teachers, the students were used to writing sentences, reading, practicing speaking by reading conversations from textbooks, and doing workbook pages. Not at all to say that's wrong! I think that those things are essential to a language classroom, so I incorporate those, as well. I simply mean to say that I think the activities I have them do are new and exciting to them. I've picked up on this, because every once in a while, one of my students will ask "Miss, activity today?" or "Miss, we're playing a game today?" Game and activity are two of their new favorite words :)

There are also so many things that I would have liked to structure within the class, but I don't feel like I can simply change for the students halfway through the year--they're used to a certain structure, and it would be difficult for them if I messed up their balance entirely. Some things I will just have to wait until next school year to implement myself.

All this isn't to complain about what's been difficult thus far. I'm actually really loving it here, I love this whole new culture of teaching; though it might be hard for some people to get used to, I think it's the perfect match with my personality and how I like to see work and school approached.