With three booms of the drum, my teaching career ended. I finished writing my final note to my final student and stepped out of 11 Math. It was HOT- but I was done!
I've been getting a lot of messaging asking how I was feeling. So- here it is.
I'm feeling incredibly sad and nostalgic- because I'm leaving CLC, Lao Cai, and Vietnam. This chapter of my life is closing.
I'm feeling incredibly happy- because I'm going home to see my friends and family that I haven't seen since December or even longer. I dream of challah and sushi and a decent hamburger. I'm going home to a land where I can understand most of whats said. Definitely excited for that.
I'm feeling excited- the more I learn about law school, the more fun it seems like it will be. Columbia has lots of cool opportunities and I can't wait to try them out. New York City seems like it will be super fun.
I'm feeling nervous- Columbia will definitely be my biggest academic challenge so far. I've never been to law school and I'll be working alongside people infinitely more talented, more experienced, and hard-working than me. How will I do? I feel nervous!
As you might imagine, having all these feelings inside is quite overwhelming! Transitions are hard! Only way to deal is to take it one day at a time (so thats what I'm trying to do!)
The last week of teaching was pretty emotional. I had no expectations of what the students might do. I knew they wouldn't want to work, so I planned a yearbook type activity. I gave each of them a sheet of paper and let them write one each other's papers (nice things- although I saw lots of sarcastic insults!). I offered to write letters to students, and I had a sheet in the corner where they could write letters to me! The students surprised me with their thoughtfulness. I got two cakes, a video, a box of notes, a scrapbook, tons of candy, and many, many, many hugs. The last week was definitely emotional.
I never thought I would be a High School teacher. I never trained for it. I remember thinking in high school that public speaking was so difficult and scary- how could teachers do it all the time? Now that I've spent one year as a public school teacher, I'll definitely never be scared of public speaking again! I also realized how much of public speaking is about the audience. I realized how much of teaching is about the students. I had to make lessons that the students would find interesting (which was tough because most of them were interested in Japanese and Korean culture, not Western culture). I'm not sure how I did, but I think I did ok. Definitely, there were lots of lessons that I'll learned moving forward. While teaching was incredibly stressful at the beginning, it got much easier and was actually fun by the end. I heard about how the 1st year of teaching was the worst- definitely true. But now that is done.
Onwards. Always Onwards.
Daniel
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