On the one hand, I seem to have suddenly gotten sick again. Similar symptoms to what made all of December miserable for me, with an added bonus of nausea. On the other hand, after a heartfelt chat with the PF cohort, Pete (fellow teacher and nominal boss, now that Danny is gone) reported to me that they all said I was boring. Now… I take this, to some extent, with a grain of salt – teenagers will report that any adult is is "boring" given the right context and question. And their dissatisfaction with me is never far from sight – these are the same kids that used to be my notorious T2 group back when we were the Tomorrow School. Still… it's unhappy news. A downer sort of day.
Despite this, or to spite me – or both – it started snowing when I was walking to work, and was still snowing 9 hours later when I was walking home. Not heavy snow, but very sparkly, and the sidewalks were slippery, though only an inch or two appeared to have accumulated as far as I could tell.
So. I know – objectively – I'm not a universally "boring teacher." But with select groups, I definitely seem to receive more than my fair share of criticism in that direction. Mostly intermediate kids. With the most advanced kids, ability-wise or age-wise, I seem to do OK. And I really have fun with the 13-and-under ("elementary," here), and for the most part they seem to have fun with me. My absolute favorite class right now is my ER1 group from the Tuesday schedule (the second most advanced of the elementary students) – they take such joy in participating, learning, trying things out.
Where is this leading? I have been saying that part of what this whole "go to Korea and teach English" thing is about is my trying to find out if I want to reconsider teaching as a career. And despite the discouragement I have been receiving, I haven't given up the idea yet. But I find myself considering a never-before-seriously-considered option: that I might be best suited to going into teaching at the elementary level. I mean, as a career – not just as a way to goof around for a few years. This is a downright weird idea to me. But I guess you never know.