Turning Disappointment Into Opportunity

Turning Disappointment Into Opportunity
March 16, 2011 by Cintia Stella
I spent the whole weekend planning a lesson. I designed several activities, plus two extra ones just in case. I rehearsed the lesson at home and pictured how much the students and I would enjoy in class. I made 20 copies of each worksheet and headed to the language institute on Monday morning.
This was an optional reinforcement class so it was not possible to know in advance how many students would attend. For some reason (maybe because it was what I hoped for), I expected that there would be around 15.
The class started at 8.45 am. 10 minutes early, I was already in the classroom, waiting anxiously for the crowd of students to arrive. The bell rang, and the classroom was empty. A few minutes later, a student arrived. Her name was Carmen and she was very shy. I told her that we would wait for 5 more minutes in case other students were on their way. Time passed but the door did not open.
It was Carmen and me, just the two of us, together for 90 minutes. A jumble of thoughts ran through my mind simultaneously:
• I will run out of activities very quickly. Should I play Hangman when that happens?
• Does Carmen feel uncomfortable because she is the only student?
• How am I going to teach only one person?
• Does she regret coming to class?
• I need more students to play the game that I have planned. What will I do?
• I’m so disappointed. I’ve worked so hard hoping that there would be more students!
This last thought struck me like a thunderbolt. One person is as important as fifteen or more! I was focusing on myself instead of focusing on my student. Rather than being disappointed, this was a fantastic opportunity in my teaching career.
I decided to change plans. Instead of doing the activities I had planned, I started asking Carmen about herself and I told her a bit about myself too, so that we could get to know each other. I could see how her body language changed as we held a conversation. She began to smile and turned into a totally different person from the one that had entered the classroom a short time before.
She was eager to learn all that she could and welcomed every task with genuine enthusiasm. I enjoyed teaching her, and she enjoyed learning. Or I should say, I enjoyed both teaching and learning, because I learned so much from this young girl. She taught me that teaching is wonderful, regardless how many students you have, and that every soul in the classroom is important. She made me realize that it is not about how much I work to plan a lesson, but about how much value I can add to a person’s learning experience.
Those 90 minutes passed really fast and when the class was over, I was sad to see Carmen leave.
Posted in learning, teacher training, teaching | Tagged learning, opportunity, student, teacher training, teaching