The Storm that Never Reigned - Part 1

I average three classes per working day over the course of the month. Of course, that means on occasion, I have fewer classes, and on one day, I have five. The transition time between classes is officially 15 minutes, but in reality, it is often about five, so if I ever wanted to plan something, the time would be before classes start.

When classes prove "challenging", a term with slightly-ambiguous meaning, the company assigns an additional teacher for that class. This usually arises rarely, and for students that won't behave, might potentially harm other students, or are generally difficult to control. Of course, my first class of the day was one such class (and my only one for the month), but why? Was it for misbehavior? Malice? None of the above. My class was deemed a challenging one for vomit. Yup, vomit. Sound fun yet? "But wait, there's more!" the TV announcer says. "If you call now, you'll get not one screaming, vomiting child who won't stop crying, but TWO! Just show up to work, and it's yours for free!"

Then I have four more classes.

Before my first class, I decided to have a little peace and quiet at my apartment. That way, when things hit the fan at work, I've already collected myself and I can let it roll off my shoulder (or wash out of my shirt and slacks, as the case may be). I spent this quiet, cathartic time productively as you might guess, cleaning my bicycle chain thoroughly (with an old toothbrush, link by link, all 110 or so of them, each side, and between each one), adjusting my rear derailleur, adjusting my brakes, and pumping up my tires. I also had an abdominal workout, pushups, and a handful of pull ups before taking a shower and enjoying a sunny, cool ride to work in my new world.

I wrote out my lesson plan for the first class (Pink, since colors correspond to age and curriculum) on the whiteboard. Next to it was a list of all my classes and corresponding goals I had for each. Next to each class I wrote, "Have fun teaching," but next to Pink I wrote "survival." There's nothing quite like a determinate attitude, is there? I erased the list. "You know what? these kids and I are going to have fun," I said aloud. And with that, I set to executing the class in my head.

The JT (Japanese Teacher) walked in on cue, a few minutes early, ready to assist when the challenging class arrived. She looked at me. "Are you ready?" she asked. "Nope," I replied with a grin. "I never am, but let's give a go anyway." Seconds later, the first student walked in the door.

Stay tuned. It's 2:00 right now, and I set that as my cutoff time for the evening.