Thank you, Asia "Students" (94 days left)

 "Thank you, Asia" series. 94 days left.

How could I go any longer before thanking Asia for my amazing experiences teaching high schoolers? Truthfully, I was feeling rather burned out by the time we left Green Bay in June 2010.  At that time I had been the IB Coordinator while also teaching 3 sections of grade 9 English (90 students).  I was exhausted and looking for greater balance.

Teaching in Korea was a breath of fresh air.  My students in Korea were kind, bright, funny, well-behaved, and very tired!  They challenged me to be at the top of my game with how and what I could teach.  Classroom management issues disappeared overnight; it was all about connecting with kids and teaching my subject well.  I had a blast.  I grew.  I fine-tuned my craft.

That first year at KIS brought the balance I had been dreaming of.  I was full-time with only four classes and under 60 students to teach!  I took on AP Literature - a college level course - for the first time (and continued to this day).  I am fairly certain that first group of students taught me more about "close reading and analysis" than I taught them.  I loved that group so much.  Additionally, I took on the Speech and Debate Club, something I knew well.  Again, the students were amazing leaders and learners, sending some students on to represent Korea at international competitions.

These trends didn't change when, four years later, I began teaching at HKIS.  Here, the students were more awake, more spirited, more. . . Westernized.  But they were and are just as spectacular, interesting, kind, and driven.  Perhaps they are more creative; certainly the student body is more international in nature than KIS.  Here, I continued working with public speaking as I coached Forensics for the last seven years.  For much of that time, I had the great pleasure of traveling with the team to China and Malaysia.  Recently, our team participated in an online Forensics Festival organized out of Amman, Jordan. What a blast (even on Zoom)!

Teaching has truly been a joy in Asia.  I have been entirely spoiled.  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the hundreds of students with whom I have had the pleasure to know.