Work

We just finished our first full week of the school year.  I was off cold medicine--which was awesome.

It has been an interesting first few weeks...lots of transition, feeling things out, working to find out where it is that I belong.

My classes have been a balancing act, finding a way to reach those who are just starting with the Spanish language with those who already have high levels of proficiency.  It's constantly in flux, but so far I like it.  I have lots of materials to look through and figure out how to put them together.  I've also had some helpful people give me advice and tips on how to make the classes run more smoothly.  That has been a big help, especially in the elementary classes where I have the biggest range of language proficiency.  Now I am looking into ways to make grammar more interesting for my high school students.  (I figure if I am nearly dozing during my explanation of the grammatical concept, it's probably not very interesting for them--even if the information is really useful. :-)

My day starts at 7 am when I catch the teacher bus to school.  After I get to school, I have about a half hour to prepare before the school day officially starts.  My schedule varies from day to day, but most often I have my middle school class first thing in the morning.  I meet the students by the main building of the school and then we walk down the hill together to the middle school building.  When that class is over, I climb back up the hill to go into a couple of elementary classes for half hour lessons.  Around noon, I usually have a lunch duty of some kind, the age I am with varies depending on the day.  Then, after lunch, I meet with my two high school classes until school is dismissed at 3.  Then I have some time to organize before the teacher bus leaves to take us home.  Since I don't have my own classroom, I do my work in between classes at a table in the school library.  (There are a few other teacher who do the same.)  I have a closet where I can store my things and a little laundry basket to carry materials between classes.

All in all, I would say it's going well.  Always in transition, always room for growth, but it's moving forward.