"kitsui" きつい which means "laborious; difficult". I like to think of it as "tough". And not to worry, although I did miss a week, the blog's not stopping anytime soon.
But back to the word...
When practicum started, it wasn't too bad. The school schedule includes 4 classes a day and I only taught 2. And they were separated by spares even. More than that, it was the same lesson twice. I didn't even have to plan that much since it was done for me. So, for a month, everything was fine and dandy. I just focussed on honing my classroom skills.
Since the beginning of March, I swapped one of those classes for a different class. So now it was still two classes, but back to back, and different lessons for both. A bit more work but at least most of the planning was done for me still.
UBC mandates that all student teachers must spend 4 weeks teaching at a "full load" which they deem as 80% of the available classes or, in my case, 3 blocks a day. I started that last week and they're all different courses, 3 in a row, and I plan one of them entirely on my own.
Now, that's not to say I have it particularly hard, considering most others are doing 3 classes (or more if their school is linear) planning everything. But this whole teaching business is tough.
To be honest, it's not the "teaching" part. I actually enjoy being on the floor and working with the students. The planning is the tought part. So I can see how established teachers manage to get through a year's worth because once the material is all set and you're used to the delivery, it's not too bad. Challenging, but not nearly as tough as it is now.
And, of course, you really do have to give it 100% and it is tiring. Because, like our frog friend below shows us, giving 100% and missing the mark means that at least you haven't left anything on the table...
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