I taught the same lesson to the whole fifth grade today. There are 9 different classes and about 25 students in each class. Because of social distancing measures kids have plastic coverings over their desks.
I am the only native speaking English teacher in a large school and somehow how to reach all the kids from 3rd grade to 6th grade. I can only meet two grades a week so every kid can see me every other week. I consider this precious time and so prepare activities that engage students and help them think.
Our lesson today was daily activities using the key expression, “What time do you…” I created videos in the past for this topic but I wanted something more.
I wanted something more interactive and student center this time. I began class with my crazy puppet and kids laughed when they heard that my puppet goes to bed at 2am and wakes up at 3am. They all said, “That’s why you are so short!!”
We had a role play about two kids who wanted to be friends with an owl but they couldn’t because the owl was nocturnal and they could never find time to play together. I then asked if anyone knew what time it was in Seoul. I asked them if they knew what time it was in New York. When they learned that it is actually yesterday in New York now they were shocked.
For the last ten minutes of class I taught kids how to make a mini book and write about their daily activities. A lot of kids asked me how to say “have a zoom class” in English since half of their school life is still online. Other’s asked me how to say “Play LOL” in English. I thought the mini book would be a good idea for them to express personal applications of the key expression.
The problem came in steps of making the book. Most classes followed pretty well when I demonstrated how to fold the paper lengthwise and then fold it in half again and cut it in the middle to make a book. Two or three kids struggled to follow the instructions in each class. This is expected so I went to their seat and showed them how to do it. They then followed quickly with my example. But at the end of the day in the last class I had the most peculiar incident.
The Korean teacher asked them in Korean if they knew how to make a mini book. About 70% of them raised their hands. That was true. Then she asked if anyone needs a demonstration and about six students raised their hands. I directed the demonstration to those 6 students. They all got it but one. He kept telling me to go over the first step. When I looked closely he wasn’t using his left hand to fold. He was doing everything with his right hand.
I thought to himself how futile this child is to try to fold everything with only one hand. He is just waiting there for me to help him because he won’t fold with two hands. I was already exhausted from teaching all day and didn’t have much more patience left for a spoiled kid who won’t fold a piece of paper with two hands.
I looked a little closer and tried hard to keep myself from crying. I managed a little smile as if everything was OK and I became his left hand. The boy’s left hand was shriveled and red. He had no control over it. His left hand just laid limp.
Who is the teacher here? I can make funny videos and puppet shows and make them laugh but after a long day I am blind to see who they really are. I see a blur of faces from years and years of teaching. In their eyes I see a student I taught twelve years ago. I call his name out of habit, but he is another generation.
I teach other teachers about the importance of personalization and engagement but I myself lose touch with who these kids are. Around this time of year I know that summer vacation cannot come any sooner. Ironically the solution to becoming out of touch with kids is to get some time off from them.
This is Friday, the weekend begins with a wake-up call for me. Inside I am just a big a jerk as any other teacher. I would like to say I have learned my lesson, but as the years go on I recognize more and more students with disabilities. Because I’m not a homeroom teacher and it is a big school no one tells me about it. Instead it is usually the students themselves who tell me or show me in some way or another that they are a little different from the crowd. It's my job to bring out their special ability.
You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat.