WRITING FROM THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND
Blog
Essays and reflections on teaching, learning, life abroad, change, grief, creativity, and the experiences that shape how we understand ourselves.
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Goodbye, Phillip Teacher
Leaving Korea meant leaving behind a toxic workplace, and children I had come to love.
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The Week of Lasts
This is the week I have anticipated for months. My last Monday at Maple Bear. My last Tuesday. My last Wednesday. My last Thursday. And, finally, my last Friday. I imagined this week mostly as a countdown to…
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Running Toward the Blank Canvas
September 4 will be my final teaching day in Korea. After six months here, I will leave the country and travel to Switzerland. The Swiss Alps have called to me for as long as I can remember. As…
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Piece by Piece
What looks like reinvention from the outside feels, from within my life, like one long act of becoming.
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Good Grief
Life lessons learned from grief…
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Dakota: Forever Chasing Bunnies
Right from the start, she was trouble.
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The Waterfall That Wasn’t
Yesterday, I got out of the city for a hike in the woods. Daejeon is surrounded by mountains, and I found a hike in Gyeryongsan National Park that is easily accessible by public transportation. The research I did…
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People Don’t Know What They Want Until You Give Them What They Don’t Want
At many stages in my life, I have come to the same realization: people don’t know what they want until you give them what they don’t want. Since I started teaching in Korea, I have learned that the…
Phillip N. Patrick 