Aww, poor student

Sometimes I have great classes. Sometimes I have bad classes. But to simply label a class as completely good or completely bad would be simplistic and inaccurate. I found that out yesterday.

Usually, Mondays are lax in terms of classes but they are also a train wreck. My first class is so smart that they understand every concept right away, and I often end up blowing through the material with lots of time left over. Otherwise, they'd get bored. This earned me a comment from my co-teacher that I seem a little "disorganized" lately.

It also doesn't help that they are the senior grade, and the seniors have already written their final exams, which means that they're not really interested in learning anymore (since the time between now and the end of the year no longer matters) which, in turn, makes the whole teaching experience monotonous.

In contrast, my final senior grade class for Mondays is usually unattentive and more interested in talking with their friends. Yesterday, they paid no attention to most of my lesson, and even the co-teacher (who is different from my first class) didn't really care.

However, there was one student from the latter class who paid attention to everything I taught, and when I asked for an answer for a question after giving an example, he would often get the answer right; if not, at least he gave a shot at it.

Sometimes it's hard to keep tabs on all your students, especially when you have more classes than any Korean English teacher in the school, with over 30 students in most classes. However, that doesn't mean that good students aren't noticed. (On the flip side, if you're a bad and disruptive student, you tend to be noticed too.)

I actually owed this student a Choco Pie from winning a class game last week, and that nearly slipped my mind. He reminded me at the end of class, and I asked him to come with me to my office to get his reward. On the way, I told him that I really appreciated how attentive he was despite all the shenanigans going on around him, and how I really enjoyed seeing him give an effort even when his answer is incorrect. And to show my appreciation, he got TWO Choco Pies instead of the one that I promised him.

I could tell he was a bit frustrated with the other students' behavior in the class, and to be recognized really made his eyes light up. Sometimes it's a bit nice to see that even in the crappiest classes, there are a few good apples out there. Perhaps they feel lost in the hooligan crowd sometimes, so recognizing them for their efforts really does make a difference.