EARCOS – Dr. Josephine Kim’s Session
Dr. Kim’s session “Facilitating Self-Reflection, Development, and Growth of Teachers Who Educate Abroad” was intended to be therapeautic. I didn’t read the summary, so I was surprised to find myself in a room full of teachers looking for release — I was the youngest person there by at least ten years.
We started by discussing what we thought we did well as teachers, which I found difficult to do without feeling pretentious. I went for energetic, which I think is honest. I could also have went for humorous.
After this, the session moved on to sharing things that caused teachers stress.
Here’s a summary of things that causes teachers stress:
- “My administrators don’t listen to me” was said by more than one teacher. In fact, a lot of hostility and frustration about admin was vented during this session. I can’t imagine a more thankless job than being a principal, but sometimes they don’t seem to listen so well. Interestingly, Dr. Kim was quick to point out that teachers often fail to listen to students.
- “All I do is work” was said by many teachers, which is true for me as well. I work so much that the main goal I’ve failed to achieve this year is seeing Hong Kong. At one point, a neighbor started “when I go home, the first thing I do is–” and I interrupted “check my work email!” So that was a great moment for me. I was surprised to find so many teachers talking about how they’d neglected to form long-term relationships or had chosen not to start families. Is this what I’ll become?
- Then the teachers with families spoke up, wondering why they aren’t given more time to work with their families — or skip a meeting. I heard at least one single teacher grumble at this.
- No teacher blamed students for causing stress.
In review:
- Dr. Kim was friendly and professional. And funny! She has a lot of personal anecdotes that are engaging and hilarious. I would definitely have stayed longer to hear more stories from her.
- At least half of the teachers in the room came in late, but Dr. Kim patiently invited newcomers to join a group each time they entered late. I’m not sure whether anyone else caught it, but she trained us to invite new comers to sit down — pretty sly, Dr. Kim.
- Dr. Kim had four slides during her presentation, each of them a symbolic image that could be interpreted in a variety of ways. She used this to generate responses to her questions, which I enjoyed.
Ultimately, the experience wasn’t what I expected, but it was cathartic. It was the last presentation that I went to, but I was glad that I went to see her present rather than going snorkeling with my friends.
