Trust

It is Thursday of the third week of the semester. Things have gotten much better since my last post. Classes are going better and the students are settling in to patterns and are learning my expections and mostly importantly for me, are starting to trust me. I think that is one of the most important issues between teacher and student. When students start a class they often have no idea who you are. They look at you and wonder what kind of teacher you will be. They of course have a history with many teachers, some they loved and some they hated. The question is where will you fit into that spectrum. The first few weeks there is a lot of judging going on. Are you competent, a loser, funny, boring, kind, mean, or trustworthy? If you pass their internal test they will trust you and follow you, where you lead the class. If you fail the test, they will glare at you, ignore you and resist where you are trying to take them. That is why the first couple of weeks are so crucial. If they decide not to follow you, it can be a long semester.. I think my students are starting to trust me...

Reality

The past week or so of running hasn't been particularly good. I was sick with a cold and fever for about four days but now am back to almost normal. The biggest development in my running life has been the acquisition of a Garmin 305. This is a very "sophisticated" running watch that has GPS capabilities. In short, it tells you exactly how far you are going and how fast. It makes the fantacizing runner face reality. I can no longer call that 9.2 mile run, ten miles. I now know that it is 9.213 exactly. I can no longer fool myself into believing that I am training at 7 min. pace. I have been slapped in the face with the proof of global positioning sattelites that I am training slowly. Really slowly. So slowly that I don't even want to write how slowly. On the other hand it is incredibly hilly where I live. Many of my runs start with a mile or so of uphill running. But no more excuses, rationalizations. I face that I am running slowly. Of course that doesn't mean that I will start training faster, it just means that I will have to run farther to make sure i am actually running the distances I thought I was running. So actually that is a good thing for me.

The Top Dog

Things in the classroom went much better today. I think it was a combination of being more organized and also of going in with more confidence. I have one class "Writing" that hasn't gone so well recently. Like I said before there is always a period in the beginning where you have to build the rapport and build the students trust. The writing class is the highest level class in the junior college and higher level students tend to be a bit more demanding. Today I just went in with a little more confidence and I made a point of talking to the girls I think are the leaders in the class. I just chit-chatted with them, just so they would know that I am aware of them and to build some kind of relationship. When they left they both said good-bye, which is a definite step forward. There are always students in each class that have to be won over. If you don't do it one way or another they can quite annoying over the long haul. Boys and girls are different of course. There are the tough boys, some who will try to intimidate you by giving you the look or just freezing you out. I tend to confront those boys directly just to show them they are far from intimidating. My confrontation just involves talking to them a lot and not showing fear. With girls I think it is important to have a friendly relationship if possible. As with the boys I just try to make some kind of connection with them. My theory on group dynamics is that every group needs a top dog, a leader, and as the teacher I am going to be that dog. When the group doesn't have a clear leader, somebody will try to filll that role and it is usually not a postive person. I have even seen that at the graduate level. I had one class where the teacher was very knowledgeable, kind etc. but not very strong. One of the negative students in the class ended up taking leadership in the power vacuum and of course the result wasn't pretty. I think students, especially the less mature ones can smell weakness, so it is important to establish early that you are the lead dog.

teaching

This is my first teaching post. I will write in red when I am talking aout teaching. Some background... I am teaching at a university near Osaka. I have been at this university for the past 3 and a half years and I have a year and a half to go on my contract. Most contracts for foreigners here are short term, from 2 to 5 years. I have been teaching in Japan off and on for about 13 years starting at a language school for three years, moving to a high school for 6 and a half and lastly to this university

. In the teaching section of the blog I want to just reflect on things that are happening in my teaching and maybe talk a little bit about what it is like to teach here.

I am teaching 5 classes at the moment, 2 reading and writing classes, one oral communication class and one writing class in the junior college that is connected to this university. So far the start to this semester has been a little rough. I always find it an adjustment getting used to new classes. It always takes time and work to create the right atmosphere and to train the students to do what you want in class. Of course you also have to re-establish yourself to new studetns. It is kind of a pain to get them to the point where they belive you are a good teacher and will follow you in the direction you are taking the class. Thankfully today went better. My classes were more organized and things went more smoothly than they have recently so I am happy.

Tuesday afternoon - I missed my morning run today. For the afternoon I was on the track. Two miles warm up and then 30 minutes at 7:20 pace. Two miles warm down. This is my "tempo" pace. Tempo pace should be about a minute per mile slower than 5K race pace. It went pretty well. It felt easier than last week. I feel like I am getting in better shape.

I was on the track at the same time as the university track team. It is always kind of interesting to interact with them. I have tried many times to initiate contact and been ignored or laughed at so now I let them initiate. Recently when I run by they say fighto fighto, which means good job. Last week one member of the team came up to talk to me. He lived in the US for one year and went to school at WSU. He is quite a nice kid and of course it is nice to have some interaction with other runners. Last week I also saw another western runner working out with the team. I said hello to him but he kind of ignored me. It is always a dodgy thing when you meet another "foreigner here in Japan. Most will ignore you. There are not many "gaijin" in this area so it is quite unusual to bump into one. It seems most white foregners will not say anything if they run into a fellow traveler but non-white foreigners will often say hello. My pet peeves are those who are staring at you but when you say hello they look away.

Wednesday - am 4 miles- cemetary run. PM 4 miles reverse cemetary run. The afternoon run, actually at 5:30 was quite humid and I was overdressed. I think it is time to switch to shorts and a t-shirt

About my goals - About a month and a half ago I ran 5K in 19:58. My goal is to get into the 16+ range. I know it seems like a giant jump but I think it is possible. My personal record for 5k is 15:18 which was run when I was around 25. I am 45 now. So I have age working against me and I also have weight. In my best running days I was in the 130-140 range. Now I am 180. So I have some work to do.

My training has been going well for the past couple of months. I am running between 50-60 miles a week with two speed workouts and one long run. I am working with the famous internet coach Tinman. He has really been great to work with and has really helped my running. So I hope to be able to reach my goals.

Solo run

Monday morning. I did my usual am 4 mile loop. Loran was sick so I was on my own this morning. I felt better than usual and actually wasn't tight the whole run. Usually morning runs are quite painful, but today was a nice surprise. This week I hope to bump back up to the 60-70 mile range.

Tradition

Sunday- Today is the traditional day for long runs. The plan was to run for about 2 hours from my house to Shintanabe and then take the bus home. I ran the first 30 minutes with L and then continued on. The first hour of this run is on trails and the last hour is on the road into Shintanabe. After leaving L I picked up the pace a bit but not much. I was quite tired today because I ran speed on Thursday so my legs were quite dead.

I am so lucky to be living in this area. There are so many trails within running distance. Every time I go out I find new trails to explore.

Anyway on the last section of trails before I hit the road I made a wrong turn and ended up getting a bit lost in the bamboo forest. There are many trail markers in the woods, red, yellow and blue posts so I thought I was doing ok as I followed them. Unfortunately they led me to a dead end at the bottom of a ravine. I backtracked up following the posts again and tried another little trail. The same thing happened. The posts lead me to the edge of a ravine above a stream. I could have tried to reverse course and go all the way back the way I came but it was uphill and would have been a long way so I decided to go forward. I slid down the side of the ravine, holding on to trees and rocks, and made it down to the stream. I followed the woodsmans rule that says when you are lost, follow water to lead you out of trouble. So I followed the stream and thankfully it led me out of the woods to the edge of a giant rice field. I crossed the field to get to the nearest road and then headed downhill again since I knew that was the direction I needed to go. I confirmed my directions by asking a farmer the way to town. He was quite friendly, he told me the way and then said Kiotsukete ne (Be careful) I was impressed by his kindness. So I headed off down the road until I came to a road that I recognized and then jogged the rest of the way into Shintanabe. The total run was 2:42. I will call it 14 because of a lot of slow "running" when I was lost. After arriving in Shintanbe, I had some time to blow so I stopped at Mr. Donuts for 3 donuts and a coke. Ah the breakfast of champions!!

Goals

The goals of this blog are 1. to keep track of my life in Japan. I have lived here off and on for 13 years and as my memories fade I fear I am forgetting important experiences. 2. I want to chronicle a semester or so of teaching at a Japanese University for my own growth and possibly for teachers who are interested in teaching in Japan at this level. Lastly I would like to write about my running as I pursue my goals and try to tansform myself back into the runner I once was...at least in my mind.