Today was the first day of school, and I would just like to
announce that I have died and gone to teaching heaven.
*sigh of relief*
I met with all five of my classes today, which only happens
twice throughout the seven-day cycle.
Before school, though, I met my advisory students. I share ten 10th grade advisory
students with another staff member, and we follow those students through
graduation (or until we leave, whichever comes first). Our most basic goal is to form close
relationships with those students so that they have at least one or two adults
they feel comfortable talking to about school-related or personal matters, similar
to the purpose of advisory at Ripley.
However, because of the unique nature of a boarding school, we can
create outside-of-school bonding opportunities with our students. There’s a scheduled “advisory night” sometime
in August, when each student is given a certain amount of rupees to eat dinner
outside of the dorms with their advisors, either in the bazaar or in the staff
member’s own home. I wish having
students over for dinner, movies, games, etc wasn’t so, well, creepy in the
U.S.
After advisory, the actual academic schedule began. Brace yourself for an onslaught of envy:
9-9:45… grade 7
9:50-10:35… grade 7
10:35-10:50… tea break
10:55-11:40… grade 7
11:45-12:30… grade 9
12:30-2:10… lunch
I’m going to repeat that just to be clear.
12:30-2:10… lunch
No, your eyes are just fine.
12:30-2:10… lunch
Moving on.
2:15-3:00… planning
3:05-3:50… grade 9
3:50… end of school and tea!
That's right, I had no classes from 12:30 to 3:00. Also, you may be intrigued by the idea of a midmorning
“tea break.” It’s the most brilliant
idea ever. Just head over to the senior
school teacher’s lounge and enjoy a cup of tea and a treat (the staff supplies
these on a rotating schedule) before continuing on with third period. I like just plain tea with a little bit of
milk, but what they provide is often presweetened. I have to say, the ratio of tea to milk to
sugar is utter perfection. I’ve tried to recreate the elusively amazing mixture
when we get unsweetened tea, but I haven’t gotten it quite right. They must add a hellacious amount of sugar. There are coffee machines in the staff
lounges, too, which is nothing to scoff at—anything other than instant coffee
is hard to come by here.
But back to the start of the day…
When the 7th graders started filing in, I was a
little taken aback. I have never taught
(or even observed) students younger than 9th grade, and they looked so little. And so
cute. And some of them looked so nervous… even more nervous than me,
if that was possible J There used to be a separate middle school a
few years ago, but Woodstock recently switched to the two-school system in
which 7-12 grade is considered “senior school.”
Grade 6 and below is “junior school.”
Even though these students looked small, how they acted and
what they said was so indescribably mature.
I’m saving the syllabus/procedures lecture for the beginning of next
week and jumped straight into a poem today.
Their analytical abilities are phenomenal. I studied the same poem with my 9th
graders last year and pretty much got blank stares the entire time, but these
kids were all so engaged and so willing to participate. That is not to say that they are smarter than
my past students were, but I can definitely tell that they have been more trained
to view literature in the abstract. They
can pick out a metaphor like it’s nobody’s business.
Another difference that struck me was their manners.
Holy please and thank you. I
asked them to write down their names and a few basic facts on a notecard. When I went around picking up the notecards, the students thanked me… basically, for giving them an
in-class task. Weird, yes, but I am
definitely okay with that.
Because of their obvious respect for authority, I made the
decision to be called “Ms. Julia” or “Ms. Julie” instead of “Ms. Schroeder.” Whether we go by our first or last name is
totally up to us, as long as there’s a form of respectful address put before
it. Because this is definitely not an
option in the U.S., I decided to try it out to see how it affects
teacher-student relationships. The kids
I student taught in Ecuador called me just plain Julia, and I remember liking
it.
So, without being overly descriptive, my first day of
teaching at Woodstock was a success. The
only downside is that I don’t have my own classroom. I share my 7th grade classroom
with one other teacher and my 9th grade classroom with two other
teachers. That makes decorations,
seating arrangements, etc. difficult, and I have to erase everything from the
board between each class. It’s also
difficult to have supplies spread between two rooms, and to have to gather together
all of my materials and switch buildings between classes. But, like I said in my last post, there is no
pleasing me. Such problems are small
peanuts in the whole scheme of things.
Plus, sharing rooms helps alleviate the danger of becoming
holed up in your own little space. That
is one thing I absolutely love about Woodstock so far—there are many opportunities for
interactions and collaborations with staff members. You would have to really try to alienate
yourself from the community. Everyone goes
to tea; everyone eats the school lunch in the staff dining room. It’s a nice change.
I will try to post pictures of the school and my classrooms soon. My 7th grade classroom is pretty decked out, but the 9th grade one is pretty barren. Dark wood. Mildew. Lots of windows and natural light in both, though, which is really cool. For now, I leave you with a view of the school that I took while walking into the bazaar last week.
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