along comes Murphy

Monday morning began with my usual carpool to work. Being sick over the weekend, I still had the remains of a cough, but was approaching feeling healthy. Tucked in my purse, I had my ever-so-useful flash drive containing the ten lesson plans and accompanying powerpoint files and worksheets I had written the night before. At least, that was the plan. After greeting my fellow teachers, sampling the boiled sweet potatoes brought for the staff, drinking my two ounces of instant coffee, and listening to the weekly school meeting, I plugged in my flash drive to start printing lesson plans. The frustrations of technology fails!! Two of the documents opened while the rest simply read 0 KB. "That's okay. I know what I am teaching and I can still pull the powerpoints I need off the internet." Back on my classroom computer, I went to retrieve the two powerpoint presentations I needed for the day only to find the internet site experiencing technological difficulties. And then my co-teacher asked me to tutor two students for the English competition this week. And class starts in ten minutes! If I was looking for the proper situation in which to panic, this would be it!!

But I didn't. I took a deep breath, pulled together the lesson plans that I already had and worked through my day one class at a time. I was composed and able to maintain a friendly rapport with the majority of my classes. My lessons would not have won any awards, but I think they allowed my students to take one more step towards learning English. The day did not get easier. I had a student completely freak out when I asked him to participate in an activity, extra behavioral issues in an after-school club class, a dry erase marker become too friendly with my brand new shirt, and a lovely bloody nose to finish off the day. It was hard and it was not always thrilling, but I found that I was able to focus on being a teacher and perform when the time came.

Teaching is not something that I can simply shrug off when the coffee spills or the bus is late or the electricity goes out. Being a teacher means digging deeper and realizing the importance of looking beyond personal comfort and energy levels. Today, I am a teacher.