Speaker
Description
In 2022, I (American) obtained a special Japanese teaching license (特別免許状). This has enabled me to step out of the traditional “native” teacher role and do various jobs and tasks at school which were not accessible to me in the past. This year I am trying my hand at first year high school (10th grade) homeroom teaching. Homeroom in Japan is bigger than my own experience as a student in America. The teachers are more deeply involved with students’ school lives, both academically and non-academically, and this makes the job much heavier but also more rewarding. In this interactive presentation, I will share stories and reflections from a weekly journal about my interactions as a non-Japanese homeroom teacher with students, parents and colleagues. These entries include topics like breaking linguistic boundaries, subverting expectations and juggling professional teacher development with new responsibilities. As the school year is still in progress, some of these reflections might be characterized better as raw observations than meaningful lessons, but I hope that through this session we can open a dialog to find meaning by coming together and sharing similar experiences of fostering positive relationships and healthy communication in any and all teaching contexts in Japan.
