Day 343: Open House, Round 2

So today was a day that I had been dreading since September - Open House Day! Oh God!!

Another last fall's disastrous Open House I was really nervous about the next one. Well, for a while anyways. I actually wasn't all that stressed about this one. I've learned SO MUCH about teaching and running a classroom since September, and have felt really confident about my position in my classroom since revamping things a bit, running the ship a bit tighter, holding onto those reigns with a firmer grip. My kids' behaviour has improved a lot since I first began teaching them six months ago, and this time I know what to expect, and what they're looking for. ("They" being the impossible-to-please moms.)

Today I decided to stick just to the meat and potatoes of things, and drop the fun frilly things. The Open House would be reading a book together and then answering some Phonics-based worksheets on material from the story. Korean mothers are not interested in seeing their kids having fun or experiencing a variety of learning methods focusing on several different areas of childhood educational and social development. They want to see their kids learning and demonstrating their two most concerned areas - Phonics and Reading. And so today I gave them exactly that.

I also wanted to show off how much I can control these kids, so we practiced a 'Listen To Teacher' game where they have to stand up, sit down, cover their eyes, their mouth, open your book, close your book, etc. game. The kids listened to every command and the moms seemed to like the little behaviour performance. And I have to say that my kids were amazing the whole class. They all sat still in their chairs, didn't shout out answers but instead raised their hands, and took turns in reading/giving answers without fighting. It was awesome! They were perfect angels!

At the end when the moms left they all smiled and said thank you so that's gotta be a good sign (last open house class they all just left without looking at me or saying anything.) I talked to Cecilia later on in the afternoon and the moms said they 'thought it was okay'. I was a bit disappointed with this so I inquired further. Cecilia elaborated and said that they "were impressed with how well they listened to me, liked how I controlled the lesson, and thought that the kids did great and had learned a lot and could read and write well." Apparently that review equates to being 'just okay' but whatever, I'll take what I can get. I have to keep reminding myself that in Korea no news is good news. If you don't get a swarm of complaints then that means they like you. The parents here do not ever give out praise to the teachers but are awfully quick to phone up and bitch to the Director if there's something they don't like. This is extremely frustrating but just another cultural difference that I have to get used to.

Later on in the day both the School Counsellor and the Director said to all us teachers that the Open House went really well and he bought us pizza for dinner as a reward. I didn't get hauled away into the office like last time so that's also gotta be a good sign! It's easy to be paranoid here about all of that but I refuse to let myself feel that way any more. I know I'm a good teacher and after today's vast improvement in my Open House it's finally been confirmed with the parents and my bosses.

What a good way to end a very busy week! :-)