2 Freshmen Class A

After talking to Mr. Yang, I am on my way to my first class. To my advisees.

Freshmen Class A.

10A for short.

I am now outside the classroom of 10A. I see both sliding doors of the room open while looking at the sign of the classroom.

I can still see a few students, two, three, five, going inside and out the room.

"10-A."

Out of nowhere, one female student is already greeting me.

"Good morning! (bows)"

I greet her back with a slight bow, "Oh. Good morning, too."

"You must be the new teacher, Mr. James Lee."

"Yes. I'm the new teacher. I see you have a bright smile there."

"Oh, really, Mr. Lee?"

I glance at her name pin located at the left side of her blazer.

"Yoon Min Young."

So she's one of my students.

I take a glance at the windows of the classroom only to see faces of my advisees.

It's like they're looking at a celebrity.

.

.

.

Oh, right. That would be me.

Tall nose, double eyelids, clear skin, V-line face. That's the kind of face I have. A celebrity face.

Plus, I'm tall so that's a bonus.

I look back at Minyoung. "It's class time."

"Ah, yes, Mr. Lee."

She looks at the windows only to see her classmates peeking at us. She's so shocked that she jumped backwards as a reflex.

"Oh my gosh!"

Minyoung looks at me again then I give her a signal to go inside the room with my head.

She responds back with a bow and immediately goes inside the room. Meanwhile, I drive the students from inside away from the windows by waving towards them with my left palm facing up.

I see none of them peeking. Now, I'm ready to walk through the right door, where I'll immediately meet the chalkboard.

I'm not going to walk inside the room as a typical teacher.

I'm going to walk inside the room as James Lee.

I'm gonna do things my way.

I rest my left elbow against the door and my right against the door frame while holding my stuff. In addition to stance, I want to lean my head slightly forward to see the whole class.

This might be my signature entrance from now on.

And it's crazy because I've never done this before.

Everyone's in their seats. I can hear whispers and mumbles from them.

They're into my handsomeness. Really.

"Hi."

Yes. I just casually greeted them with that. I bet they're surprised now.

Actually, no. The volume of the noise slowly increases.

Oh, that girl…

Minyoung's deskmate.

I think I saw her before.

I'll get into her later. For now, I'll continue my entrance.

I walk towards the table and put my things down.

I turn to the class to greet them again, formally this time.

The noise slowly decreases until it reaches zero.

"Good morning, Class A.

My name is James Lee."

While talking, I walk to the front of the table and lean my buttocks on it while crossing my arms.

"I'm going to be your adviser for this school year."

The class starts to make noise again. They can't help but just admire the fact that I'm going to be their teacher.

Guess it can't be helped.

"Before we go on to the real thing, do you have any questions?"

I see Minyoung raising her hand.

"Yes, Minyoung?"

"Your name is an English name."

"Yeah."

"Are you from America, by any chance?"

"Yep."

As I told my answer to Minyoung's question, the noise increases.

Other students start to ask me their questions without hesitation.

"How old are you?"

"American age, 25. Korean age, 26."

"Where did you teach before?"

"Los Angeles. Great place for basketball."

"Where did you study?"

"UCLA."

"What skin care do you use?"

"Skin care?

Water."

"How tall are you?"

"Five feet and ten inches."

After getting bombarded by questions, it's finally time for a homeroom discussion.

I sit on the table and place my right leg on top of my left thigh.

"Mr. Lee! The table!"

"Ahhhh, don't worry about it. I checked this last time. It's sturdier than I thought.

For

Alright, for those who haven't checked the schedule, please do it now."

"You're teaching math, Mr. Lee?"

"Yes, I do.

Now tell me. What are your thoughts on math?"

"It's hard."

"True.

I know you've been preparing, basically, your life for Suneung.

Even with my carefreeness, I have no right to say anything about it since I never experienced it.

Now that you're high school students, it's gonna be harder than before.

However, here's what I have to say to you…

Right now, forget the fact that there's Suneung. It only adds stress to your studies. Turn that switch off and focus on math."

I leave the table, go to the board and pick up a piece of chalk.

"If you hate math, you have no choice but to face it. Since you're here now.

Yes, it sounds sinister. You're there hating on math, solving math, frequent mistakes.

Well here's the thing…"

I write on the board:

M - istakes

A - llow

T - hinking

H - appen

I read it, "Mistakes allow thinking happen."

Minyoung interrupts, "Isn't there a case that the more we make mistakes, the less we succeed?"

"That's because you're not even trying... to think.

And that happens because you're not motivated.

Motivate yourself to push further.

If you don't have motivation, find it. If you can't, let one help you."

"And what if we're too stubborn?" another student asked.

"That's why I'm here."

I point myself with my left palm, "I can be your motivation. I bet you're having a crush on me now."

The students laugh at the latter statement.

I continue, "Class A, don't be scared of taking my class. I can teach you with any way I can. I can teach you shortcuts. And by shortcuts I mean solution shortcuts, not cheating.

I'm here to save the day. (raises right hand) Who's with me?"

The students raise their hands little by little until all are raised.

This is my way. To motivate them and make them happy in times of stress.

I've been that kind of teacher from my first day of teaching.

But this moment… reminds me thirteen years ago. When I was in Portland.

I would tutor five kids about math every Saturday morning at the park nearby the house. Back then, we would feel excited to know all of them got correct answers. High fives, fist bumps, etc. And at the end of every tutor, we would circle around and shout "MATH!"

The kids' parents were very grateful to me as I did it for free.

One day, I tutored the kids as usual. But I never thought that it would be the last time with them, as my life would take a detour later that night.

I tell my advisees to huddle and put their hands on the center.

The huddle is tight and there is a lot of pushing. Somehow they manage to get their hand on the center.

"Fighting in one, two, three!"

"FIGHTING!"

"Nice! Okay, get back to your seats now. You still have to introduce yourselves."

LEEctionary:

Suneung - Korean term for College Scholastic Ability Test or CSAT, a test to get into college; happens every November.