My Assistant Teacher

Although I am training to become an administrator, I am holding on to one classroom assignment--I teach one period of Japanese, three days a week.  Formally teaching the language is a completely new experience for me as a teacher.  It makes all the difference in the world that these students requested to be in the class, as opposed to being scheduled into the class on some other basis.  My classroom is packed to the brim with students, but without exception they sit through each class with wide eyes and anticipation.

I've taken the approach up front with them that I have no other objective than to make the class fun for them.  (I even close each class by asking, "Did you all have fun today?")  I tell them that there won't be any graded tests, per se.  I tell them that any homework assignment I offer them will be completely optional.  When we are doing handwriting activities, I tell them to write as much or as little as they want.  And the amazing thing is that the students just gobble everything up.  By requiring (or challenging) them to be self-motivated, they are rising to the top.  I have never seen a class where every student WANTS homework, and yet, this is the phenomenon I see from my students.  They are a special, delightful bunch of kids.

The other evening, I asked my first grade daughter if she would be interested in grading my students' handwriting assignments.  (She knows Japanese fairly well for an American kid.)  And she accepted the invitation with a surprising degree of zeal!  Yesterday, I arrived home very late because of an evening class, and as I walked through the door, she came thundering down the stairs demanding a stack of papers to grade.  It was past nine o'clock, but she went straight to her desk with the papers I handed to her, a red grading pencil, and got down to work.  My students enjoy the fact that my daughter is taking this kind of interest in their work.  So am I--hopefully her interest will last for awhile.