KaDeWo - The Joy Advocate

I am renewed! ^^ Therefore, I felt compelled to renew my teaching contract as of yesterday. I will remain as the English Foreign Langauge Teacher at 대전맹학교 (Daejeon Public School for the Blind). I enjoy my work environment and students, in a way I never thought I could. There are several reasons I have loved working at my school for the past 12 months. I will share three: 1. Small classroom sizes and very few behavior problems. There are times when a student might be upset and choose to stop speaking or participating in an activity. This is human behavior with which I am very familiar with, especially from working with students diagnosed with Emotional Disoders. However, the absence of inappropriate language and violent behavior have left me feeling safe and RENEWED, in the workplace.     Yearbook picture day, Fall 2016 (above) English Zone classroom (below) 2. Utilizing my special education (SPED) academic background to ...

The dragon's cave on the island Arriving on the island signage One of the things I like about teaching in South Korea is the regular, scheduled outings with coworkers. Every semester there is at least one group trip; it is not mandatory, but is a good idea to join - if you have not already made plans. My co-teachers have always done a good job in telling me about the "business trips" weeks in advance, so I have never had any schedule conflicts. These work trips can be half a day, one full day, overnight and/or two days. We travel together on a one or two large tour buses, equipped for (the inevitable) karaoke session with microphones and a large TV flat screen. This trip was my first overnight trip with my coworkers, which was fun and interesting. We traveled to YeoSu and walked across a bridge to get to Odongdo Island.  I learned more about Korean culture and food.  About 50 of us left after work on a Friday evening. The drive was about three hours one...