So, I finally have reminded myself and have the free minute to sit down and try to turn out a blog post. It's WAY overdue.
I don't think there's every really a good place to start. Instead of giving you some sort of weaksauce week-by-week analysis, I think I'll just go for giving you some of the highlights.
I feel like I never have time to write blogposts-- this is a positive aspect of my life. Considering how much time I have wasted on the internet in the past, it's a really nice, relaxing, even liberating feeling to have a life interesting enough to live outside of the confines of the worldwide web. I live my life day-by-day, knowing that at any given moment, any, if not all of my plans may change. Here in Slovakia, planning seems to be an afterthought, and the only way a plan-zealous American can survive seems to be to adapt accordingly. The process by which substitutions are completed in this school, for example, can vastly alter your plans for having a lunch break. Having the flexibility to say "oh well," shrug, and laugh it off is the only way you don't take yourself or this job so seriously that you wind up actually getting upset and experiencing some form of resentment. And if I've learned anything about educating often-lukewarm teenagers by this point in the year, it's that the emotions you experience are inevitably reflected and taken advantage of by the classes you teach. If you have a poor attitude, it's nearly impossible for the students to drum up a positive learning space.
All this aside, EGT is a really great school, and in many ways, I find myself envious of the environment these students have as high schoolers. The students themselves are, more often than not, cooperative on most days (quiz days and Monday mornings being exceptions). Being that there are fewer than 300 students, you don't seem to see "clicks" like in US schools, and it appears that they seem to accept each other universally. I'm sure there are the inevitable intermittent conflicts between and among pockets of students, but it certainly hasn't been carried out in the hallways of the school in any case. Without a doubt, the cohesion of the student body arises from the fact that Tisovec, a village of app. 4,000, has very little to do, and is situated in the middle of a valley that takes an hour to leave in any direction. This being the case, the students have no external activities, no hangouts, nothing but each other, and whatever they can come up with to entertain themselves. The town is more or less a "fishbowl," and should students decide to venture into a pub in town (which isn't recommended anyway, as the pubs are mostly filled with unbathed, chain-smoking drunks), the news would undoubtedly return to the school director. Thus, most of the students come up with their own activities, and on the whole, most students seem athletically and scholastically engaged. The student community is arguably the best aspect of EGT.
As far as my classes are concerned, they go well on most days. It's amazing how a teacher can overestimate yet simultaneously underestimate any student, or even class, for that matter. You can be surprised by the seemingly weakest students, and disappointed by the seemingly strongest. You can presume from the nodding of heads that a class understands the material, but experience total and utter shock when the majority of them fail the quiz. There are days where you feel like you are on fire, that the lecture you're giving is captivating and that the students are absolutely focused. There are days where it's like pulling teeth to get students to participate, and it feels less like education and more like babysitting. Every day is unique, and every day is a challenge.
