Be Not Afraid of Greatness

I have recently experienced a startling change in plans, and to be quite honest, I did not feel up to sharing in the immediate aftermath. At the end of my second day I was thrown for a rather unpleasant loop and was out-of-sorts for the next day or so--I still feel a bit discombobulated at night when my thoughts spin in circles around the same subject over and over again--but I have recovered from the worst of the shock and look ahead.

I was hired as one of two ESL teachers, and I was quite happy with this fact. I was told I would be working with the effervescent Yuka Osaki, teaching English to a few students at a time. Our mentor, the previous ESL teacher, was going to show us the intricate machinations of Academia in her final week before she departed and left us to our own devices; and Yuka and I had imagined we would lean on each other when things seemed to unravel in this first of experiences. But this was not to be. I was pulled into Katie's office by Master Kelley, and they together told me firmly but kindly that because of unforseen circumstances, I would be the new middle school English teacher, in charge of the one hundred students of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade.

I now have to deal with daily, weekly, and yearly lesson plans, quizzes, tests, essays, poems, lectures, grammar reviews, irate parents, weekly reports, academic computer software, schedules, syllabi, extra novels, short stories, and heavy literature books that must be shouldered home on the backs of students. But I shall not be afraid of this. You see, dear friends, some are born into a life of teaching, some achieve it, and some have unmerited promotions thrust upon them.