In the end, coming home has been mentally easier than I thought it would be.  I have been back in St. Louis for almost a week and I have become very comfortable already.  I have eaten a lot of burritos, cuddled with my enormous cats, and rolled my eyes more than once at family members (in a very loving way).  Except for the painfully oppressive jet lag, it's like I didn't even go half way around the world...unless someone jogs my memory by asking me about it.  Physically, I feel a bit brain dead and drained.  I had to concentrate very hard yesterday to remember my social security number for a clerk at Macy's.  It seems to take me longer to answer simple questions by midday and forget about talking to me once the time hits five PM or later.  This is not a good thing as I have two interviews lined up this week and quick thinking brain power is desirable for most employers.

So hopefully writing this blog will be good exercise for me.  I am to reflect on my strengths and areas for continued growth as a future teacher based on my experiences abroad.  This week I have an interview for an ESL teacher and I think my time in Seoul will come in very useful.  I am pleased I had the opportunity to become more culturally aware by working with a different culture, experiencing a different way of living, a different way of thinking about life, the future and education.  I believe by the end I became more aware of cultural differences and how to work with them to ensure better lessons and understanding in the classroom.

I was happy with how I was able to problem solve with regard to classroom management.  Using techniques and strategies learned in classes at UMSL I was able to see firsthand how differentiation works well with diverse students or students culturally different from the teacher.  It motivated me to work harder at discovering options for negative issues in the classroom by means of different educational strategies over discipline.  I will continue to use this method in the future as I believe it worked out well for me at Seoul Global.

I was also pleased with how much I enjoyed teaching once I finally got down to it.   I was surprised how much my attitude changed from anger about teaching Economics and dreading all the classes, to appreciating the students and wanting to do very well for them so they really understood the information.  I want that feeling to extend to my future teaching career which will ensure I am putting my all into the lesson plans and activities.

I know I have said it before but I am very grateful for this opportunity and I know that this student teaching experience is incomparable to anything I could have experienced in St. Louis.  I am hopeful that I keep the memory of South Korea at the forefront of my mind in order to use what I have learned to continue to build on my strengths and become a more well rounded teacher.