postscript

Just a quick add-on to my last post:

I work with some fabulous teachers.  It was this job, after all, that convinced me to go into teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States.  I work with a lot of teachers who have shown me how to be a good teacher in a challenging situation (a challenging situation might be, say, when all the kids are having a mini-war and are THROWING each other across the room when you first walk in).  I also work with a few teachers, though, who, in challenging situations, or in any situation, really, resort to screaming.  I usually leave those classes with my ears ringing.

The first category of teachers inspires me to be a good teacher; the second group inspires me even more, because I know there's NO WAY that I'm going to be as terrible as they are!  That's what brought about my last post.  I do not in any way want to disparage all of the teachers in Spain that I've met, or generalize about the Spanish education system.  I have simply seen some things that make me very, very sad.

During one class, when I was substituting for an absent teacher, the kids were acting up and I had no idea how to calm them down and get them to do their workbook exercises.  We had already tried playing a game, but it turned into a free-for-all with kids tackling each other in the back of the room.  I ordered them all back to their desks, but they were still shouting across the room at each other.  I stared at them in despair, and one girl piped up in Spanish, "You have a lot of patience, don't you?  A lot of teachers would be screaming and pounding the blackboard right now,"

At that moment, even though I didn't have the slightest control of the classroom, I was glad that I hadn't given in to the urge to throw a tantrum to get the students' attention.  I am getting better at that fine balance between maintaining control of the class, opening up and letting the kids be creative and have fun, and actually teaching the material.  No matter how difficult some kids make it for me, though, I am not going to take a leaf out of the screaming teachers' book.  I hope to follow the good examples of my excellent colleagues, and above all, to show the kids that I really do care about them.