After 8 months of eikaiwa teaching, I feel that my teething stage is officially complete. It feels like my first set of "educator teeth" have fully grown in, but now they are loose. It feels as if new punches occur each day and I must spit out the tooth and keep on teaching. Despite these growing pains, I am fully embracing my first year as a full-time educator. These growing pains are building resilience. My eikaiwa has also been very valuable to my overall growth as a human being. I want to share what there is to be gained from this experience, in case anyone is considering a similar venture. If you teach in an eikaiwa, you will become... 1) A more confident public-speaker. In other words, having a full set of "teeth" means that I'm not afraid to show them. My "teeth" represent the tools needed to lead a class. Although sometimes I interject at the wrong moment (hence the metaphor of loose teeth), I have been increasingly more courageous ...