#17: It’s Been A Hard Week, Vol. II - a podcast by Patricia Liu

On air February 17th, 2020. Recorded February 13th, 2020.  

Well, folks — it happened. This week, I hit one of the most important teaching milestones of my career: crying in my classroom for the first time.  

It’s been a hard week, but hard weeks rarely exist in vacuums. Like many other professions that deal in the business of vulnerable people, teaching often carries a moral weight that builds and builds over time — and it’s a weight that many teachers often find themselves bearing alone.  

What makes teaching hard is not delivering content and writing lessons; it’s being expected to take responsibility for the actions and circumstances of others as if they were your own. It’s looking at the crazy, uncontrollable circumstances swirling around you and thinking, “How am I supposed to fix all of this?”  

I found myself alone in the middle of a tornado this week, and I didn’t know how to fix it. Coming face to face with the very tangible, very costly consequences of my own inadequacy wasn’t just hard; it was excruciating. But through this, I also learned something important: how to ask for help.  

Show notes and additional links at badchineseteacher.com.  

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