Reflecting on the First Orientation Day

Today is my first day meeting my students officially as a teaching. This is my first job where I officially responsible to accompany and facilitate students to learn in a whole academic year. Along the preparation process, I kept feeling nervous, could I be a good teacher who help the students to grow and develop? Could I get along and bond with the students?

When the time came, I tried my best to be able to live up the activities and make the students excited. However, I did not make it. The activities we have prepared did not make class full with chatter and excitement. I was a bit disappointed and I told it to my partner (and also mentor) teacher while keep thinking possible strategies we could use in the classroom to build their excitement and increase their engagement. It turned out that my partner and I had different opinions. For him the orientation activities went well, but I insist we lack of something. Until one of the parents message my partner about the student.

I was surprised and bloated with happiness. It turned out that one of my students enjoyed the activities and feel like he was having opportunity to engage with the class. I consider it as my first gift in my career where I also learned something from this. Sometimes, what we think as the best for the students and the class might not be true, and what we want to be happened might not be what our students need. It’s inappropriate to determine the successfulness of the activities we made only by the excitement in the classroom. There would be many mood and situation in classroom. It might be excitement, tense, or peaceful just like what just happened today, and all of them are okay as long as the students feel comfortable to learn and grow.