6 Things I Learned from Year 6 (and some Summer Memories!)

I'm a little late in reflecting on my 6th school year. I normally write this reflection in the airport somewhere along the way, but here I am, 3 days from flying back to Taiwan to start my 7th year of teaching. Better late than never, I think!

Here's what I learned this year:

1. Take the dare.

A few of my yearbook students in the 2021-2022 school year dared me to do something different in the talent show this year (my usual gig is balancing things on my chin). I taught myself to play guitar (with the help of Clay, an old friend who plays beautifully) and sang at the talent show this year. If there's a challenge that I need time to undertake but could feasibly manage, I should do it, even if it scares me.

2. History is now.

I now have one year of US History behind me, and it was a blast to learn and teach! Studying an event and seeing a photo of an artifact from that time or some evidence that real people really did the real thing we're studying seems somewhat standard to the subject matter, but it was the moments where it really sunk in that I'd get excited. I started each class with primary source analysis from the time period we were studying mostly in songs (thanks for the inspiration goes to Questlove's Music is History). We'd listen to Revolutionary War hymns, I'd pull out the JFK inaugural speech record, or we'd listen to Big Mama Thornton's version of Hound Dog and it would hit me that real people really did the real thing.

3. Things can look different and still be good.

Different-but-still-good was my label for a few things this year. We had to split Yearbook into two blocks in order to have a large enough staff. It worked; we won't need to do it again this year. It was a good solution and I'm grateful.

We hiked BeiDaWu like usual this year but without Mark Griffin, my longtime hiking buddy (he and his family moved stateside last summer). Instead, Paul Liao and I hiked with one of our new staff, Aaron Ting, our Australian science teacher and third party member extraordinaire. He had a brilliant idea about cooking some of our meat like bacon on day 3 AND he cooked/ate a frog leg on day 4. Legend.

4. Goodbyes are stupid but important.

My good friend Caitlyn Ro decided to end her contract with MAK and move to ICS in Hong Kong. She and I have nicknamed each other "wifey" ever since we had to be each other's partner during the "turn to your spouse and talk about how you'll handle transition" talks at Pre-Field Orientation 6 years ago. She has been my traveling companion for the last 6 years of spring breaks and 10-10 trips. She'll be terribly missed.

At the end of the year, we had a hot pot night with the Taylors where we attempted to RAFT. (R.A.F.T.= Reconciliation. Affirmation. Farewells. Think Destination.). It was cathartic to reminisce about the last 6 years of community together and to encourage each other about how we've been blessed by the other. When we finished, Caitlyn gave me a birthday present (I turned 29 the week prior) that I'll never forget: "29 people who love you." She contacted students, my family, staff, and other friends to write encouraging notes. She also wrote a massive RAFTing letter at the end. I read through it and sobbed. I'm grateful to get a little bit of a cheat with international school teaching by her moving not *that* far away so visits are still more likely. I'm lucky to know her.

5. Honesty about needs is not weakness; honesty about shortcomings is necessary.

I am still learning to ask for help when I need it. For example, I got sick more this year than I usually do (I finally got covid, had a few colds, etc.). I'm guessing it was due to the heavier travel schedule with doing our English Taskforce in Taichung (which I enjoyed immensely! Shout-out to my job-alikes on the team). A few of the times that I got sick, I wanted to fight with everything within me the idea that I needed help. I gave in to my friend Shelby's request: if I needed something, I needed to ask her.

It got easier to accept help from other concerned staff members who offered to bring by a random supply I needed (like my colleague Cathleen bringing by a three-pronged converter because I blew my last one and couldn't use the microwave without it).

When I messed up in teaching this year, it felt harder to acknowledge it. Maybe it's because I feel like I'm getting the hang of things and felt embarrassed at seemingly silly mistakes; I have to remember I'm still human and will make mistakes forever, no matter how long I teach.

6. Find joy in the little things and others will join you.

I got chosen by the senior class to give the commencement speech this year. It surprised me because I've had these students since they were in 8th grade. As my FIRST 8th-grade class, they saw me at my worst and I saw them at theirs. Apparently, we've grown together. I'm really convinced that they chose me because of 2 things I do in English 4: sitting in a circle and starting the day with an attendance question (thanks for the idea, Kate!). The questions invariably turned to moments of gratitude on the days when I couldn't think of a good question. Thinking about things you are grateful for brings you joy. It would start the class on the right foot when we were grateful.

I'm reminded regularly that teaching is a unique profession. Other adults don't get paid to hike mountains with high schoolers, take students to 7-Eleven during advisory, talk about books, solve problems on InDesign, publish books with students, make Ted Talks with middle schoolers, have a blast with House Competitions, or have hard conversations about who God is with students trying to understand Him (or, at least, other adults don't get paid to do all that at the same time? haha).