Now Aspiring to Teach

I came inside the house just now to find a lizard crawling into my briefcase.

I was coming back from the video store, where I'd rented Karate Kid in Japanese(i.e., 'Best-o Kid'). We've been watching it in English in a ninth grade class, but it's way too hard for the students to follow the plot in English.
They're supposed to be thinking about the big question, 'Why did Julie Sensei pick this movie?', and answering several fun questions about cultural differences and phrases they recognize. I wish that we could have some sort of in depth discussion about Mr. Miyagi being a first generation Japanese-American, or the differences between the American sensei's approach to martial arts and Mr. Miyagi's, or Daniel's growth through the movie, but alas, my wishing is my downfall. I cannot access these young minds; I can't force them to be interested in something that may never be of use to them. So I just focus on planting the seed of curiousity which may or may not sprout one day. That's all I can do.

As you can see, I'm beginning to give up hope that I have a purpose as an ALT. That, I take as a very good thing. It signifies to me that I'm changing; that Japan/my experience is changing me in some way. Losing hope is like having growing pains, one might say: it hurts in one way, but eventually it'll transform you into something with a greater understanding of the world.
My new question these days has become, 'how do I be a good teacher?'. I no longer think that I can be the best teacher, the super ALT that will speak Japanese in three months, that will make friends with all the teachers, and earn the respect of all the students. Now I'm just interested in being a good teacher. I believe that starts with good ideas and a good motivation for teaching. So, I'm determined to teach things that the students can find immediately useful, such as crafts, scavenger hunts, letter-writing(working on penpals in the US), intriguing games and activities, i.e., focusing on what they know and extending just beyond it. These kinds of things are what make me come alive when I teach. Come to think of it, isn't that what I always found so wondeful about my favorite teachers, that they had found something that had made them come alive? (Thanks especially to Manson, for reminding me :) )

Have you got an 'active' idea for this aspiring teacher?