My First Class!

I just finished teaching my first class ever! That's pretty exciting to say! And it went quite well!

The class, however, wasn't for Chaminade, where I'm officially placed as a teacher. It was actually at MIRACLE, the trade school on the other side of campus.

Ryan Dugan, one of the former volunteers, took on a Self Awareness class at MIRACLE to help out there. Since Ryan is leaving in a little less than a month, he needed someone to take over for him. I will have two sections for the class. One section is the first year electrical students and the other is the first year carpentry students. There will be a noticeable difference between the two sections, as the electrical students are all requireed to have finished secondary school. The carpentry students, on the other hand, may not have had any secondary school.

The class is focused on things like self development, good health habits, HIV/AIDS, planning, and entrepenuership. Today, I began teaching about good health habits, a topic that I'm interested in on a personal level, and one that my psychology background has informed quite well. Since today was the electrical class, I could tell that much of the topic was a review for them. However, I could see their interest spark when I threw in some additional points about how exercise releases different endorphins, touching on how dopamine, seratonin, and norepinephrine work. It was really fun to use some of my psych knowledge, even if only on a basic level.
The carpentry class may be a bit more challenging in that, from what Ryan has informed me, they aren't as quick to respond to questions or engage in discussion. In any case, I think this will be a fun class for me, and I'm looking forward to being a little involved with MIRACLE.

Tomorrow is my first class at Chaminade. I have a section at 7AM and a section at 7:40AM. In the states, I was typically sound asleep at those times. Luckily, I'm beginning to wake up with the sunrise, which here, is sometime around 5:45AM, everyday. I never thought I'd be waking up anywhere near that time without an alarm, but it's actually pretty cool. I'll probably set an alarm for tomorrow, though, just to make sure I'm up and ready. Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how it goes.