Monsieur Michael

I know exactly when it happened officially, but really I'm still not sure when I became a teacher. For the last 3 weeks I've been standing at the front of the classroom and doing my best to teach young impressionable minds the belle langue that is french. Really, teaching is a bit of a misnomer, I'm just trying to make them not hate the language.

So far so good though. Besides always feeling like there is something else to do things have been going quite well. Teaching is not brain surgery, but one definitely has a lot to juggle if you are going to do it successfully and with the students' best interests at heart. From finding and creating meaningful activities to figuring out fair and accurate ways to assess their learning there isn't much time for grinding fresh roast coffee and people watching. Dommage.

Overall, it definitely feels like a step in the right direction for me. I enjoy the feeling of being in the classroom, I love being able to speak french everyday and I think the kids, while numbingly frustrating at times, can also be a breath of fresh air. Having thought of myself as youthful, I quickly realised how out of touch, or better yet, just how far away I was from my students' mental states. There's no better way to put it other than "ils sont des enfants".

Christmas seems a ways off, but the weeks are flying by. I need to keep writing and maintaing what's mine. So far so good.