I am the ballerina that dances and moves and teaches children English. The beauty, fluidity, frustration, and inspiration of an entire language flows through me. A small point on a big space in a big world working to fill young minds with something new. Dancing on a blank page, I create a lasting mural out of a few fleeting moments.
While sometimes I may move furiously, seemingly with anger, it is really just the desire to have it done well and done right. My movements can be quick and decisive. I can be loud. I can point and direct attention, and, beyond even that, I can hold that attention. There is a time for this militarism, this decisiveness in my classroom. My classroom cannot solely be fun and games.
At other times, though, I can become a clown. A simple sketched example. An ill-advised and ill-conceived illustration. A little laughter in the midst of all the grammar and correction never hurts. In fact, it is a beautiful tool too infrequently used. You see, this is the covert teaching that works even when the students don’t know it.
I can answer questions. I can ask them, too. Let me pose a question and wrack the minds in my midst. Thoughts working, gears turning. Let me be that tool of the Socratic method that I am meant to be. Or, let me clear the haze and oil those aforementioned gears of the mind. Let me explain present tense, present continuous tense, present perfect tense, present perfect continuous tense, and all of those in between. Let me teach the phonics, the building blocks of my language, and build a skyscraper of linguistic ability.
Let me be who I am: a colorful vessel designed to instill a message that will live on long after those lessons I have taught have been erased forever. See, while I may not be long-lasting in the flesh, I try my hardest to leave a permanent mark on the children, and/or adults, that I’ve been charged with teaching.
I am the ballerina that dances and moves and teaches children English. The beauty, fluidity, frustration, and inspiration of an entire language flows through me. A small point on a big space in a big world working to fill young minds with something new. Dancing on a blank page, I create a lasting mural out of a few fleeting moments. I am a white-board marker, and I am a teacher, too.
via: http://abcomuae.com
