As you may already know, I work for a franchisee company called Engineering for Kids. The name itself is somewhat self-explanatory in the fact that I teach engineering to kids. Up to this point, I’m sure I have taught over 500 different kids in dozens of different classes. I teach them S.T.E.M. based education, meaning Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It’s literally the best job ever. I get paid to not just work with kids, but to instruct them to build bottle rockets, robots, hot air balloons, and heck ton of other stuff. It is so fun.
I am now the only employee who has been in the company since foundation. I would say I have the most experience in not only teaching but also teaching any class of the 50+ different themes and types of engineering. My boss and I joke about me being her favorite, so much so that I replace her son within their family.
That being said, I am by no means a perfect teacher. Obviously, if you’ve read my blog up to this point you’ll realize that every subject is about how I am average at everything. So let’s get into the reasons why I’m only an average teacher and not the best teacher you’ve ever seen, thought I like to think I am.
I can be kind of a fluff. I love kids. They’re not only cute and adorable but when they catch onto the new concept you’re trying to teach them or they understand a difficult concept, it makes me smile. One of the hardest parts of my job, besides maintaining a 100% happy attitude, is having to discipline misbehaving children. I’ve had several a child with whom I talked to their parents. It’s awkward and I feel like a terrible human being. Kids are cute, but they can be devils too.
In my first fall teaching, I taught a robotics class during the evening at the Midland Community Center. I only had 5-6 kids so that’s really easy to handle. Or so I thought. Now, I have a bit of history as being the employee who has written the most incident reports (reports that refer to something extreme in behavioral misconduct between kids), and it’s not just because I’m the longest running employee. I literally have no FREAKING IDEA WHY it happens to me so much. But back to the story about my class at the Community Center. One of the kid’s names was Saynt, pronounced like the word saint. The class went by fine, no difficult behavior of any kind. Well, I wish I could say the same for the walk back to the parents. One the walk back, I required them to line up single file and to stay where they were within the line. Saynt was first in line. Now, these are kids, mind you, they don’t listen all the time, and I understand that. They wanted to weave in and out of the line, and I was indifferent as long as they were being respectful towards each other’s personal space. However, Saynt was VERY protective of his position at the front of the line. At one point, a kid walked to the front of the line casually walking by Saynt, at which point Saynt……. just socks the kid in the face. “LIKE WHAT THE FREAK IS WRONG WITH YOU KID?” and, “WHO IN THE FREAKING WORLD CARES IF YOU’RE NOT FIRST IN LINE?” and other such phrases ran through my mind. I talked to Saynt right there about his behavior and required him to apologize. I checked on the other kid to make sure he was okay. But – and please don’t tell my boss – I don’t remember talking to the parents of either child. I’m pretty sure both kids forgot within 30 seconds. Boy, I sure do love kids.
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