Often when I tell people I teach ninth graders, the response is something like “oh, you’re brave” or “I bet that’s hard” and I just smile and say “ninth graders are fun.” I had the same attitude as everyone else when I knew I would be teaching ninth grade, but I wanted to teach Geography, so I decided to at least give those crazy adolescent ninth graders a chance, and I’m glad I did. I now think ninth graders are the greatest age to teach. They are old enough that you can talk to them like adults, they are not squirmy like seventh graders, yet they still love to have fun! Ninth grade is also the first year that counts on their high school record and so many of them try really hard to at least pass Geography. Most of all they make me laugh. They say the funniest things and can always make me smile. One student would say every single day with big grin on his face, “Chou Hsiao” as he walked out the door. Sometimes they make funny little mistakes in class like mixing up the words “tourist” with “terrorist” or mixing up people like Vladimir Lenin of the Soviet Union with John Lenin of the Beatles. In many ways I will truly miss hanging out with my 200 ninth graders every day.
2. Teaching My Students About CulturesWe had so much fun learning about the different cultures of world. My students especially loved dressing up and reenacting scenes from Andean Culture, or learning Russian dances, singing the Kenyan Jambo song and eating interesting Asian foods with chopsticks. I hope it is these experiences that they will always remember about Mrs. Hsiao’s Geography class.
3. The Africa Song
In order to learn the 53 countries of Africa, we memorized and sang over and over again the Africa Song. With a few minor changes to the country names, this song really helped my students get a great start to learning the countries and it became the signature song for Albion Geography students. At the ninth grade awards assembly at the end of the year, the entire auditorium sang the Africa song for me in order to say goodbye because I am not going back next year. I will miss hearing that song sung to me as I walk down the hall or as I leave the building and walk past a group of my students.
4. Humanitarian Projects
I will never forget how giving ninth graders can be. Each year we do at least one big humanitarian project to help the students really get in touch with the developing world and not only learn about poverty but actually do something about it. We have collected school supplies, made sewing kits, funded 3 adobe stoves, a water well, latrines and even a new school for a village in Mozambique. This last year my ninth graders raised almost $9,000 for the building of that school in Mozambique. It brought me to tears when I saw how hard they worked to get the whole school to participate. I will never forget the moment when one of my students pulled out $300 dollars out of his pocket and quietly placed it into the collection jar. This was a student I would have never imagined would be willing to give so much. This is one thing I learned from teaching ninth graders; never judge anyone, especially a teenager, by their outward appearance.
5. My Classroom and Albion Middle School Building
I won’t miss, but I will never forget the un-air-conditioned building I taught in. The building looks great from the outside, but it needs some dramatic improvements on the inside. A few of those improvements being closing off the classrooms which are currently open to three other classrooms at the same time and the students not only get to hear their own teacher but three others teaching as well. I will however, miss my classroom and the international atmosphere I created for my students.
6. Map Slap
I call my signature Geography game “Map Slap.” I have two students come up to the front and each one has a fly swatter. Another student calls out a country and the student that slaps the correct country on the map first wins. The kids get so into this game and they ALWAYS want to play map slap when we have a few minutes of time left in class. What a great way to have fun and learn at the same time.
7. Embarrassing Moments
Of course I can’t forget those embarrassing moments in front of the classroom, such as those times I say weird things, accidentally spit on a student in front of me, or can’t answer the smart student’s questions. Most of all I will never forget being pregnant and throwing up in class two days in a row during 4th period. Oh how grateful I am for students who liked me enough to be very kind about the whole ordeal.
8. My Colleagues
I will definitely miss the other teachers at Albion, especially the other Geography teacher who was my mentor and who has become a good friend. She kept things humorous even on those rough crazy schedule days teachers have to deal with. We had a blast planning new activities for our students and even participating in the Jordan School District Amazing Race for Geography teachers. For the event, we raced other school geography teachers in a day long competition using GPS and our own navigational skills to find clues around the valley, accomplish certain tasks and see who could make it back to base camp first. At four months pregnant I did a little rock climbing a won at least one event for our Albion Middle School team.
9. Waking up early, 25 minute lunches, and……..well let’s just say it with…….
You know you’re a teacher when. . .
-you can recognize all your students by the backs of their heads.
-you dream of decorating bulletin boards.
-your spouse starts telling strangers how hard teachers work.
-half your wardrobe consists of your school's colors.
-you can maintain a straight face in any situation.
-you volunteer for the insanely early appointments at the doctor's office because you are used to getting up that early anyway.
-you have to leave town to buy your underwear because your former students are check out clerks at your favorite stores.
-when you walk down the street and hear, "Mrs. Hsiao I love the way you teach my class" and you feel 10 feet taller and very proud to be an educator.
-when you tell your spouse every move you make such as, "I'm going to the bathroom now and I'll be right back...okay?"
-you have a hard time choosing a name for your child that doesn't have negative associations.
-you can “sense” gum. (or a cell phone)
-you can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
-you have 200 people that accidentally call you Mom at one time or another.
-you can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty minutes.
-you've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and planning period.
-you want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 8 to 3 and have summers off."
-you believe chocolate is a food group.
-you can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.
-you feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
-you understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.
10. Drawing the World
Albion Middle School has had this incredible tradition of teaching all the ninth graders to draw and label every country in the world starting with a blank piece of paper. I of course adopted this tradition with my students and watched them after a year of hard work complete one of the hardest final tests of their lives. I have never seen students more proud of their accomplishments than my students after the final world draw test. I am so pleased with their willingness to practice and practice and memorize the countries and their borders until they can draw a world map with perfection. I hope they will never forget the countries and when they hear about them on the news, they can imagine exactly where they are located and what countries they border. The following maps are examples of average Mrs. Hsiao’s student final tests. Amazing.
