work stress

Wednesday was one of my most trying days yet professionally. I wasn:t nervous during the week leading up to the big meeting. It wasn:t until the day of, when all the teachers and vice principals and principal began patting me on the back and wishing me good luck, telling me not to be nervous, i:d do fine. Huh? I wasn:t completely aware of the importance of the gathering or its size. About 20 first term teachers from around the area were gathering at minamishiro koko to have a workshop and observe team-teaching in action. That was my cue…the lesson plans we had labored over for weeks were being honed at the last minute, everyone was a buzz, I was in my best suit and even changed into a conservative nose ring [is that an oxymoron?]. the first class we had mock Paralympics. We gave each student a country and played 5 games to simulate handicapped competition [although I conceived of and prepared 4 of the games, the teacher went on about how she:d thought of these ideas to mimic disabilities. I just stuck to the script like a good jet]. We blindfolded them and threw balls for them to catch. We made them hop on one foot to find and pick up pieces of paper on the floor which answered grammar questions. We even had a medal awards ceremony. It was fun and educational, a success. The second class is one I don:t normally teach and it:s full of shy, unmotivated kids. Of course, we had even more observers this time around; they outnumbered the kids. I played much more of an assistant role and toured the classroom urging the students to do their work, put cell phones away and quit eating during the lesson. I do usually enjoy myself in the classroom, although it:s trying at times. I find I relate well to the students on a number of levels which allows me to be true to my goofy ways and not-so-serious antics. The school, being lower level academically, also provides an environment where creative teaching methods are encouraged since the kids won:t pay attention otherwise. After the demos were over, I was so pleased by all the compliments I received [the ones I could understand anyway. My name came up frequently surrounded by quickly spoken Japanese that left me clueless.] One of the visiting teachers complimented my effective discipline, getting the students to stash cell phones and do their worksheets. They don:t know all I was saying to them in Japanese was :this is an important day. we have to be serious since we have visitors. Please put your phone away. You can:t eat while all these people are watching: which is kind of cheating I figure. Some of the other teachers commented on the rapport between the Japanese teachers and I, interesting considering it was the night school senseis, who I spend the least time with and don:t consider myself very close too. They were envious of the roles we played in class and how we shared instructional time seamlessly. My principal commented on my self-confidence [we discovered after pawing through my dictionary], saying it made me effective in classes like minamishiro:s where the students can be tough [uchiyama sensei translated that part for me]. I told him I was hoping to talk with him about an honest critique and next year:s contract. He asked if I wanted to stay and said he:d really like for me to sign up for another year. Yeah, professional fulfillment. After all that stress, the teachers headed out to an enkai [these crazy drunken parties] at 10 pm, on a school night. We hit a restaurant close to my apartment for nabe, a dish popular in the winter, and yakitori. Nabe is a huge pot on a burner at the table. When the thin broth begins to boil, you dump in tons of cabbage, chunks of onions, carrots, pieces of salmon, scallops, mussels, mushrooms, fish cake balls and other random treats. Absolutely delicious. There was also an array of yakitori, grilled meat, usually some part of a chicken, on a stick basted with a sweet, sticky teriyaki-like sauce. The white meat and green onion was great…I tried to brave the tori kawa [chicken skin] but couldn:t finish it…I smelled a kanzo [liver] but quickly put it back when no one was looking [well, inamata sensei saw but he:s cool]. We stayed there until about one thirty drinking beers, momo and limon chu hais [shochu liquor, a bit of soda water and hand squeezed peach and lemon juice]. Quite a day.