"Ones", "Tens", "Twenties", and "Thirties"

The first of four terms is almost finished. Next week is my last week of instruction for most of my classes and I will then begin the process of report cards and planning for the next term. This means that my exchange experience is 25% complete. There will be a two week break where Heather, Fenton, and I will travel Tasmania and I will have the opportunity to take the time to decompress.

Two of the greatest things about teaching is as follows:

1. When you are on holidays, you are truly able to dissociate yourself from the work. There is no work piling up while you are gone, and no one will try to contact you to resolve problems that only you can help with. In teaching, you get to have a real break, reflect, and reenergize.
2. Teaching the next term is a bit like the movie “Groundhog Day”. You get to have a “start over”. After every holiday, you have the opportunity to reset the rules, standards, expectations, etc.

Cultural differences play a far greater role in this job than one would expect. Learning how to adapt to these differences is essential to being an effective educator. I have realized that I need to teach differently than ever before. The discomfort associated with adapting has been significant. However, the lessons I am learning are beneficial to me as a teacher and necessary for me as a human being. It really isn’t fun to learn this way, but I think in the end I will appreciate everything that has happened here in this remarkable country.

Anytime I have ever taken on a challenge, I have found it best to take on one chunk at a time. For example, when running a marathon, I know that I can break the distance into the ones, tens, twenties, and thirties. 0 – 10km are the “ones”. For the first 10 km of the race I spend the time setting the appropriate pace, concentrating on breathing, etc. For the “tens” (10 – 20 km) it is all about keeping a pace that I have trained myself to do and avoiding the temptation to go too hard. Once the “twenties” start, the race becomes uncomfortable. All of a sudden, the body says that it really doesn’t want to do this anymore. It is important to begin the positive self-talk necessary to get through this part. By the time the “thirties” hit (30 – 40 km), the discomfort felt in the “twenties” feels like a gentle stroll in the park compared to the pain at this stage. Getting through the “thirties” is pure determination. You do it because you made the agreement with yourself to do it and there is no other option unless you get injured. Once the “thirties” are over you only have two more km to go. Everyone who has made it through those last 2km knows that they are not easy physically, but the fact that you have made it as far as you have is sufficient motivation to finish the job.

If I can use the marathon analogy with the teaching exchange, it started off like I was running in the “twenties”. And I thought “oh my God. How will I do this for a year?” Now that the term is nearly over, I have begun to accept the discomfort. It is what it is. The attitude that I need to develop is one that will allow me to thrive as my colleagues do. How do they motivate their students? How do they motivate themselves? I have learned that I need to focus on my successes rather than continually stew on my failures. The positive self-talk has begun, and if this challenge is like any other that I have endeavored to conquer, I can do this.

I wrote earlier of my ride to work as an analogy for my teaching experience. Interestingly, I am now able to climb both hills seated everyday. I now ride past the point where I first had to stand up and I am not even in my lowest gear yet. What seemed impossible is no longer a real challenge. Many of my colleagues ask me why I take such a difficult route each day to get to school. It reminds me that “impossible” is just an attitude and that attitudes can change.