All Worth It

The school year is over and I'm finally writing my first post about teaching English in Romania. I haven't written yet because my thoughts have been too muddled. The transition from being the person helping the teachers to the person helping the students has challenged most of what I thought I knew about education. I've done things in my classroom this year that would make my educational heros cringe. Plus I've struggled to operate within the Romanian education system which has some practices and assumptions that conflict with my values and knowledge about teaching and learning. Still, I must have done something right. An eighth grade student wrote this and read it at his class graduation.

You meet in life people with whom you bond above words, people that see in you much more than you see, and make the decision to work with you until you discover that part of you that you didn't even know was there. These people are made for your soul and one of them is my English teacher, a teacher that managed to reach to our souls by her way of being open, amusing, and understanding.
I wish that all of your days in life are special and the days at school are like holidays.
With respect, admiration, and friendship,
Yours truly,
Palade Valentin and Class 8B

I'm proud that my belief in the potential of each student has shone through the fog of this year. My year in Romania has been worth it.