Kafka’s Coffee | April 6, 2019
I had no idea what Super Smash was before today, but I bet some of you grew up playing it.
This is Joel, or Mr. Jih, as his students would call him. Joel is a brand-new teacher. He teaches IT, Accounting, and Math at McNair Secondary School in Richmond this year. And yes, he runs a Super Smash tournament every Tuesday after school. He doesn’t just run it. He won the first tournament.
I’m pretty excited to have a teacher friend. To me, having a teacher friend is the ultimate proof that teachers are real people and that they have a life outside of their teacher identity! It’s a realization that’s only like, two decades overdue, but better late than never, right?
As a kid, I thought teachers just knew their stuff. The math teacher shows up and teaches the next chapter, and the history teacher probably knows the entirety of world history. Or mostly, anyway.
Of course, now I know that isn’t true. And Joel’s first year as a teacher? It’s been a year full of spontaneity, improvisation, and learning new things. And, tons of meme references from the students!
Unorthodox beginnings
On the first Friday of September 2018, Joel arrived at McNair Secondary School as a Teacher on Call (TOC) to cover for IT classes for the day. The head administrative assistant greeted him, asking if he was here to teach IT and Accounting. “Internally, I had a what? moment.” As it turned out, the IT/Accounting teacher position at the school hadn’t been filled yet, and there were no lesson plans prepared for Joel. Freestyling for three blocks, it was.
Substituting for a day turned into substituting for a week. “It was lots of name games, getting to know each other… It was kind of crazy, looking back.” But with the help of colleagues and peers who shared teaching resources, Joel started to get the hang of it. Seeing that Joel made a good fit with the students, the school administration encouraged him to apply for the role to teach for the entire year. He got the job.
Having never taken a business course in his life, it’s been a lot of learning accounting for Joel since then.
Despite a somewhat chaotic and unorthodox start to the school year, Joel has gotten to really enjoy teaching at McNair. At the end of the day, Joel says the best part of the job is his students. (I’m like, oh c’mon. I don’t know if there’s a more teacher-like statement than that.)
“Once you start building that rapport… And they want you to be there next year. They’re saying that they’re taking the same course in the next level just to be with you.” Seeing students who initially weren’t interested in the subject starting to like the course, and seeing their growth over time, is a big reason why Joel enjoys being a teacher.
The epiphany
Joel didn’t always know he wanted to be a teacher. The first time he considered teaching as a potential career path was in Planning 10. I have no idea what they do in BC high schools now, but I remember Planning 10. It was this catch-all, preparation-for-real-life course where we talked about education, jobs, sexual health, fitness, those sorts of things.
“I took that survey of what career you should go into, and my top 10 was quite literally all related to either education or psychology. They were all variants of counsellor, teacher, psychologist, principal, VP.”
But by Grade 12, Joel decided that he wanted to become an aerospace engineer, and in university, he ended up choosing a combined major in Computer Science and Biology.
Two and a half years into the major, Joel felt that this wasn’t the best fit for him. “I didn’t like the lack of socialization, or working with people, that [my major] entailed. And I didn’t really know what to do. I was kind of lost. So then, I had a friend who was like, Joel, you volunteer with students a lot. You’re involved on campus. Have you considered education, and being a teacher?”
Throughout his life and especially in university, Joel had been a volunteer and a student leader. In his first year in university, he joined the Science Undergraduate Committee. Later on, he got involved in Orientations. And then he went onto become a Residence Advisor. “They have this slogan, more than just a job. I hate it, but it really is true, when I think about the lasting friendships and the skills I’ve acquired that have stuck with me.”
Joel says that having held volunteer and leadership roles have influenced his decision to ultimately become a teacher. “I think it made a case for having it be a possibility. If I didn’t do it, maybe I would have wondered and questioned myself, am I fit to be in a position where I’m constantly interacting with people?”
More on that teacher life…
Joel seemed to enjoy being a teacher a little too much, so I had to ask about the challenges that come with it. Before I got too jealous, you know?
One of the challenges that teachers voice is the sheer amount of work that they bring home. “One of the advisors mentioned that when he first started teaching full-time, if he were to calculate the amount of work into an hourly rate, it’d be $2 or $3 per hour. And I can resonate with that.” So there. Childhood myth debunked. Teachers in fact spend countless hours outside of the classroom lesson planning, marking, doing prep work, and always learning!
On how he manages to strike a work-life balance with such a rewarding but demanding job, Joel confesses: “Sometimes I must say, as a teacher the two things kind of get blurred.”
The Super Smash club is a good example. He spends extra two or three hours after school every Tuesday for weekly tournaments. Teachers sponsor extracurricular clubs in a voluntary capacity, and it is an extension of work, but Joel says that he has a lot of fun as well. After all, he’s played the game series throughout his life. And just imagine the shocked faces of his students when they found out that their teacher not only “spoke” Super Smash but was also really good at it!
Don’t worry, Joel doesn’t actually live at school 24/7. In his civilian life, Joel enjoys bouldering. He’s been bouldering regularly for a year and a half, and likes the fact that it’s an activity that he can enjoy regardless of the season. Joel is also a fabulous host, and likes to bring people together. Right now, he’s in the process of booking trips for the upcoming summer vacation.
On impacting people’s lives
One thing Joel has been thinking about more, or not enough, is the idea of impacting other people’s lives. “Thinking about how much of what I do or say leaves an impression, I’d like to say that I’m totally aware of the things I say and I try to be a role model and whatnot. But in reality, I’m just kind of being myself.”
“I focus more on the day-to-day. How are you all doing today, or what’s going on in your lives? At the end of the day when they graduate, they are going to have had changes in opinions about the world. But I don’t really notice it in the day-to-day. It’s definitely something to think about.”
“Ads for teaching jobs say things like,Teach because you’ll impact people’s lives. But you don’t really go in thinking, I’m going to change everyone’s life. It’s just something that happens along the way. I just really hope it’s for the better.”
This instantly brought me back to my high school graduation. I was in the school choir (fun fact, Joel and I went to the same high school!) and we sang For Good from Wicked the Musical that day. The song ends with the following lines:
“Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
For Good, from Wicked the Musical
I do believe I have been changed for the better.
And because I knew you… I have been changed for good.”
It’s a good song. You should listen to it. And go see the musical, too.
Joel Jih | Jjih@sd38.bc.ca
