Job Discussion Forums

[denise]

Warning--this post is a bit whiny and personal. Not to mention my computer just gobbled it up, so I find myself retyping the whole damn thing.

I'm hoping for some advice/commiseration--any thoughts on how to balance teaching, social life/family (although I don't have one myself), adjusting to a new culture, taking care of yourself, etc.

Here's my situation: just six months ago, I was fresh out of grad school, eager to get back into a classroom after two years of studenthood, eager to put theory into practice, etc., etc. I was even thinking about looking into PhD programs. And then there were my own goals: learning Japanese, experiencing life in a different culture/environment, cultivating new hobbies, and just having some "me" time to relax and reflect--and of course my eternal goal of finding a nice man.

I'm doing fine in most of those areas. The one thing that seems to have slipped through the cracks is professional development. I put a lot of time and thought into planning my classes--not on a day-to-day basis, but for the entire duration of the term. Still, I have not done much towards "professional development" since I got here. It's been months since I last read any sort of teaching journal. I forgot to renew my TESOL membership, and I have not yet joined any teaching organizations in Japan. And as for looking into PhD programs, writing articles, etc.--no action whatsoever on those fronts!

How do you guys/gals keep everything balanced? Do you find that you have enough time for everything that is important to you? If not, how high on your list of priorities is teaching? For me, it's pretty high, so why is it the one thing that is not getting the attention that it deserves?

I'm going to go kick myself in the butt now and get re-focused.

d

[Sherri]

denise
You should join JALT as soon as possible and start attending meetings, conferences and reading their publications. Meeting other like-minded people will give you more incentive to get involved.

http://www.jalt.org/


Sherri

[shmooj]

Denise if you are at an eikaiwa, you should join ETJ right away

http://www.eltnews.com/ETJ/

[Gordon]

I would also recommend joining JALT. The newsletters are informative and I've enjoyed the few conferences I've been to. I haven't been to a national conference yet, but I plan to go to the one in Nara this November.

[lozwich]

Just a thought from a newbie...

I'm new to English teaching (just about to finish my first semester - wahoo!) but have taught other things for quite a number of years. Its my first time living overseas, and while I live in a place that some people term the most boring in the universe, I find myself occupied most of the time. Learning about living in another country, language stuff, cultural stuff and day to day chores take up most of my time.

Sometimes I worry about the lack of effort I put into my own professional development. I didn't go to a recent conference, have occasionally picked up a book, only to put it down again soon after, and generally use the teacher development forum part of Dave's just to keep my mind there..

However, just like in my own language learning, sometimes I feel that its important to rest, consolidate and just hang out on that learning plateau for a while before zipping off to even greater heights of English teaching.

I think that part of the thing about getting everything that you want in your life is to be nice enough to yourself along the way so that you still like yourself and really want those things when you get them....

Ok. Shoot me down in flames for being a slacker now...

Lozwich.

[leeroy]

Hell yeah lozwich,

I go through "waves" in terms of professional development. Sometimes I get really stuck into (in to?) evaluating my own lessons - thinking about classroom dynamics, language recycling, etc... Every day when I've finished teaching I pat myself on the back about stuff that was good, and beat myself up about what was bad.

Then after a couple of weeks of that madness I get tired, and "just do it" so to speak. I doubt the students notice any difference in lesson quality. Answering this has given me an idea for an OP actually...

[scot47]

I have gone through spells of getting involved in "profdev". Like another poster here I sometimes feel that these activities are overrated and we need to take an interest in other things - like learning languages, painting, music, personal relationships.

After all teaching is a JOB. It is not what life is about !

[naturegirl321]

Try IATEFL. you can join this and you get 6 newsletters a year.