The final countdown: 6 geese a laying

Things I've learned during my Fulbright year:
#10 - a lot about the English language
#9 - there is such a thing as too much free time
#8 - riding a bike in the snow can be dangerous
#7 - missing your last train isn't always a bad thing
#6 - how to not be a student

While I have learned heaps and heaps about teaching and being the teacher, the single greatest lesson I learned in it all was that it's not about becoming a teacher, but rather, no longer being the student. 

However, when you spend 23 years of your life being the student, the one in the classroom furiously copying down notes or meticulously reading and rereading materials, it can be incredibly challenging to suddenly jump on the other side of that equation. 

For one thing, going from student to teacher you have to learn to be a lot more selfless. As a student, I remember always being the one who wanted to answer the question, put in my opinion or read the passage out loud. How great being the on in charge of the class and able to just answer, give opinions, and read out loud as much and as often as I liked. Except no. I realized very quickly that teachers don't ask questions, begin debates or assign reading because they don't know the answer or are too lazy to do it themselves. They do it to give the student the chance. And, no longer being the student myself, it was my turn to ask questions, begin debates and assign reading. I realized as a teacher, your job is not so much to answer questions as it is to ask them. 

I also learned that teachers don't actually have all the answers themselves. Growing up, I tended to take my teachers' words as gospel. I mean, maybe I really did just have all-knowing teachers (I wouldn't doubt it, actually). I was terrified for my first weeks in front of the classroom, just thinking "oh no, what if they ask me a question I can't answer?!" But then I realized, they don't know the answer either (unless it's the capital of Australia, in which case I was actually the only person in the room who didn't know the answer). Now that doesn't mean that I just made something up "ha! what do they know, they think I'm right!" Instead I realized that as a student you feel stupid when you don't know the answer because the teacher DOES. But as the teacher you don't feel stupid if you don't know the answer, you just give a simple "you know, I'm not sure, I'll look it up and let you know." 

That brings me to my third not being the student lesson: don't make things up! When you're a student and you just make up the answer to the question, you get corrected. When you're the teacher and you make things up, you've completely warped the education of a class of 30 students. Just don't do it. 

It will definitely be interesting to see how next year goes actually coming in with some experience this time...