The Turning Gate

The winds of change, a'rustling the cherry trees

Getting back to sixes

Once a penguin, then a dolphin, I’ve now left the animal kingdom for that of fruit. The Korean school year runs from the beginning of March until the end of February, and I’ve signed on with my school for another year of kindergarten. We’re one week into the new school year, and already the year has been the herald of much change at school.

My seven-year-olds, the Dolphin Class, have graduated kindergarten and entered into the first-grade. Most of them still come to PSA for the after-school program – and they’ve somehow become even greater monsters than they were as kindergartners; the after school program is a madhouse – but I’m saddened to report the loss of several favorites, including my beloved Andy and Clara, two students from my first year at PSA in Penguin Class. It’s the way of things here and very unfortunate that I’m likely never to see them again. Photos of each, from my 2005 Penguin class:

In a way, the ending of the last year has been the passing of an era for me. I began in PSA teaching six-year-olds, then became a seven-year-old teacher the next year, following the same kids as they graduated up to the next level. Several children, I taught in both my Penguin and Dolphin classes. Nearly every weekday of the last two years, I’ve spent with those children, seeing them learn, seeing them grow and having a significant hand in the entire process. They were as dear to me as if they were my own sons and daughters, and I’m deeply saddened to lose them. I can still see most of them in the after school program, but it’s not the same as having them in my homeroom, and after this year I won’t be able to teach them at all.

Despite my attachment to many of the kids, however, Dolphin class was a trial and a chore. There were wonderful children in that class, but also monsters, and enough of them to suck the joy out of teaching the whole group. It was only due to certain individual students that I was able to find enough pleasure in the class to make it through the year, and I was the only survivor. Through the course of the year, I’d had three co-teachers and more assistants than I can remember by name. My last co-teacher, Helen, was great. I lucked out with that one.

I’m now teaching Cherry Class, a welcome return to the world of six-year-olds. I’m not very happy about being a cherry – I much prefer dolphins and penguins – but at least I’ve got a good bunch. My kids are awesome!

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Cherry Class is comprised of second year six-year-olds, meaning they are kids who attended PSA in our five-year-old program and graduated up, rather than kids who are attending the academy for the first time at the age of six. Thus, the kids already speak a bit of English, which is nice.

Like so many of the Korean teachers now in my academy, my new co-teacher, Tash, is brand-spanking-new, without any kindergarten experience whatsoever. I like her a lot, and think she has potential. For now, I’m keeping my eye on her and trying to help her out in areas I think she needs help or advice in. She’s a little panicked about everything right now, but I think she’ll be fine. The kids also seem to like her.

Unfortunately, I have nothing nice to say about my assistant. She’s the most incompetent human-being I’ve ever encountered, and has provided more hindrance than assistance so far. We ask her to take a kid to the bathroom, she takes the kid and leaves them there. She’s never had the lunch tables setup properly, she can’t use a computer, she every day puts the kids’ daily reports into the wrong kids’ bags, the dishes are never washed when they’re supposed to be, I find myself having to clean the classroom sink between lessons because she’s not doing it, the class towels aren’t being changed, she loses kids when she takes them out for dismissal … We asked her to make some name tags for the students to go on tables, baskets, bags, etc. Tash explained the job to her in Korean six times, and six times she messed it up. Once, she actually typed up the instructions we gave her, rather than the list of kids’ names. So, she’s done nothing of any value; I spent every one of my few free moments today making the name tags myself, and will probably spent all of my free moments tomorrow finishing the job. She’s already fired. She just doesn’t know it yet. We’re looking for someone with two braincells to knock together, and as soon as we find them, she’s out, out, OUT!!! I can’t wait. I spend so much of my time undoing her mistakes, it’s becoming detrimental to the entire class.

But the changes extend far beyond my own classroom.

The school has opened up an entire floor full of new classrooms, increasing the school population by several hundred students and a ton of new teachers and administrators to keep track of them all. We’ve outgrown our britches a bit, me thinks – getting kids into the cafeteria at lunchtime and to the buses at dismissal has become a logistical nightmare.

My boss, Katherine (whom I loved and adored as a family member more than as a boss), has resigned her position and left the school in order to be a full-time mom. I can certainly understand her decision, but count it a tragic loss for the school and teachers. We all loved her and counted her among our most important reasons for staying on with the school. Her replacement, Claire, is qualified and kind, but she’s not Katherine and she never will be.

Everyone else who had been in management has also been reshuffled, some of them to PSA’s in other locations. Most of the experienced teachers have been promoted to administration, and the ranks have been filled out with a bevy of new teachers, most of them inexperienced, though they all seem to be good people. Every manager we now have is new to their position, so EVERYTHING is completely disorganized at the moment, which would be bad enough as things were before. But with the size of the school having increased so much, things are bordering on ridiculous.

And so, the last few weeks, since learning of Katherine’s resignation, have been disappointing, stressful and frustrating in so many ways … But through it all, there are few places I’d rather work than PSA. The people aren’t perfect – some of them I think aren’t even qualified – but they’re good people and I enjoy working with most of them. I wouldn’t trade my kids for the world right now, and I’m holding onto the hope that once things settle down a bit, things will get a little more organized. PSA is a good place to work; we’re just having a lot of growing pains at the moment.

One thing that hasn’t changed is my classroom. I’m a cherry, not a dolphin, but I’ve kept the same room. We redid the decorations, though. They really needed it. We were lacking in bright tones last year, and I’ve been quick to remedy the shortcoming this year. Bright colors everywhere, for a happier, healthier classroom!

Now, if I could just throw my assistant out the window and into a tank full of ridiculously hungry sharks, we’d be off to a very good start …

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