"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own." -- Nikos Kazantzakis
Yesterday was the last day of my summer school teaching assignment, and I am experiencing a bittersweet moment. I am happy to have a summer break, but I am going to miss my BE 3 class. They were a riot! There was never a dull moment. Teaching adults is work. They demand everything you have to offer and then some. I've been teaching adult education courses for 3 years now and I've come to realize it's much more of a challenge then teaching school aged students. For instance, "self-esteem and ego are on the line when they are asked to risk trying a new behavior in front of peers and cohorts. Bad experiences in traditional education, feelings about authority and the preoccupation with events outside the classroom affect in-class experience" {source}. I've had to remind myself of this constantly in planning my lessons and classroom presentations. The most fundamental aspect of teaching adults, that makes classroom discussion so dynamic, is they bring a lot of their real life experiences into the classroom. Classroom dialogues become a valuable teaching tool.
Anyway to celebrate the last day of summer school my class had a party. Check out the pics. I received a wonderful brown satchel-style handbag {I needed this color}, two bouquets of flowers, two beautiful cards, and a lot of hugs and kisses.
Showing off my new bag!
