School Days

Wow!  I have a few more followers!  I love that!  I am so sorry I have not posted anything for about 10 days.  I suppose that would be because I started school.  When I come home, I am whipped and my feet hurt!  Except for today, I wore my birkenstocks, much better on tile and on my toes! 

So, I suppose you want to hear about the schools, especially since that is why I'm here.  My school is beautiful.  There are many murals on all of the walls, and the windows are painted so they look like stained glass.  I teach in an all boys school with an all female staff.  We have around 500 students from grade one to grade five in my building.  The day is broken up into seven forty minute periods with five minutes between periods.  We share our students with an Arabic teacher, so normally the LT's (licensed teachers) have two classes, one in the a.m. and one in the late morning and early afternoon.  The Arabic teacher takes one class in her room, while we teach the other class in our room.  Last year the children switched classes every forty minutes.  This year we have moved to block scheduling, so we have the students for English, math and science for a total of about two hours and fifteen minutes.  Right now, that is plenty of time, but I know it's going to get tight once we start hitting the curriculum really hard.

The students attend activity classes throughout the day.  We have two sports teachers, two art teachers and two music teachers.  We also have IT teachers for computers, but I'm not certain yet how many.  So, the LT teacher gets a planning period while the boys are at activity class, and the Arabic teacher gets a planning period while the boys are at another class.  My boys today had sports and music.

We start school at about 7:10 a.m.  and the boys leave at 1:00 p.m.  We stay for another hour after they leave for professional development.  Kind of sounds like a piece of cake, but let me tell you, I have checked my watch often just to make certain it is still working.  The time can move very slowly sometimes. At 7:10 or 7:15 the music teachers begin to play music in the courtyard with drums and a  keyboard, and all of the students and teachers and administrators gather in the courtyard.  The boys line up in straight rows by their teachers, and the sports teachers have the microphone.  They have a routine of shouting commands and the boys respond with their arms above their heads, to their sides, in front with hands on the boy's shoulders in front of them, they clap, they stomp their feet, and they march in a 360 degree pattern in place.  Then, the musicians move into the national anthem.  I love to watch the boys sing.  They shout out the words with great pride and enthusiasm. Sometimes the principal makes announcements or older students recite readings.  Eventually, each class will present a skit or some type of presentation.  I'm not certain what exactly happens yet, but I am certain I will find out!

I know that my first grade boys can learn.  They are really smart about a lot of things.  They know exactly what's going on and how to get what they want.  These first few days have been very difficult for me.  The language barrier is very frustrating.  My boys are very good when their time is occupied and when they know what I expect from them, but it just takes one little stinker to get bored and to misbehave and then I've got five or six followers, and they think it is very, very funny.  I don't.  My greatest frustration is the "runners."

These little fellows are very, very fast!  To my great dismay and embarrassment, they will dash out the door.  I suppose they would be very good at stealing bases in baseball, because when I am away from the door they will make a run for it!  It is a very funny game to them.  It goes all against my grain, but we were told to not chase the runners.  The school is locked and the social worker will go after them.  They find them and eventually return them to our class.  But, then, when the door opens, out pops another runner!  And, it's not just me, there were runners all over the place the first day.  On day two, we were more prepared and we recruited more adult bodies to deter runners and return them.  If we have another adult in the room it is much easier to monitor and manage the class.  

They sound so naughty, but I don't think they really want to be.  I was in an Arabic class to learn very basic phrases for orientation and my head hurt after ninety minutes.  It was so much unfamiliar information.  I wanted to run, too!   So, I get it.  I understand, it is hard.  It's hard to sit, it's hard to listen to a bunch of words you don't understand, and I have found that when I plan right, things go very well... today.   Notice, I didn't say, plan hard, I said, plan right.  I planned really hard, and very thoughtfully after day one, and I met with some success, but boy things fell apart in a heartbeat on day three. 

It was hard.  I'm a veteran teacher.  I know stuff, I have experience, I've managed tough classes, I've worked through some tough kids, but this was tough.  However, I'm very fortunate that I have some very excellent colleagues and furthermore, I only have one class of students.  I am support for the other two first grade classes during my three periods without students.  Right now, that support has taken different forms.  On day two I was able to just be another body in another LT's classroom.  I've tried to just be where the trouble starts and put out fires so the teacher can teach.  That has been working very well and now things are starting to work better within the classrooms.  I think another adult in the classroom makes all the difference in the world.  Much of my time the last few days has been filled with discipline.  However, today I noticed a change.  It was good!

This morning, I was fortunate to observe my friend in the room next to me.  She is very good and I can tell she has taught ESL students before.  I believe her special education experience is a huge advantage.  I noticed how she is very good at conveying messages with her body language.  She uses facial expression and very concise phrases to get her message across.  She also has visual cues on her bulletin board.  I have always raised my hand and counted down from five to get students' attention, but she was awesome.  She had visual cues to tell the students what she expected to happen at each number countdown.  I totally stole her management plan and it worked fabulously for me this afternoon!  I did tell her I was going to use it, she gave me her blessing.  She really didn't need me for much today, she's got it under control, so next week, I should be able to start teaming with her to meet students needs academically and not just as a disciplinarian.

One thing I have noticed from my own little slanted view, is that it is very difficult to communicate with these little guys in English.  We use our cell phones to call in recruits for extra help.  Our building is so cool, we have several people who speak English as a second, or third language, very well.  It has been a huge help to me and to other LT's, especially in first grade, to have an Arabic person in our room to help explain things.  I can teach a lesson.  I can get my point across in a lesson, it's the management things that go awry.  It's getting the little tykes to put their papers in their backpacks, to get them to raise their hand when they need Miss Sheri instead of ganging up on me in a pack, or getting them to clean up and put things away and to not squirrel the science toys away in their pockets to take home, or to get them on the rug to hear a story, or to get them to leave their backpacks in their cubbies, or to let them know it's not time to go home when the bell rings between each period. They are very good when they know what's expected of them.

This is all new to me.  I'm certain anyone who has had experience teaching ESL (English as a second language) students is getting a good chuckle out of all of my bungling mishaps, or perhaps they are shaking their head and tisking their tongues.  Yesterday, I was very discouraged, I felt like a first year teacher all over again, actually not really because I had great confidence when I was a first year teacher, I guess ignorance was bliss then!  But, now, oh my goodness.  Yesterday, I felt like such a failure for needing to call in extra help.  I felt like my authority was taken away when another adult came in to help me restore order, but today, I managed my needs better.  When I requested help, I asked that things be explained to the students.  I had my expectations made clear to them, and I felt better, and I think my little guys felt better, too.

I was even able to get out manipulatives for them... puzzles and legos and blocks, and it was not a nightmare!  They were great!  They even helped restore order and sort everything out to put things away.  It was a great success.  They were so proud of the things they built.  I took pictures and I've got to print some out to display in the hall tomorrow.

Another thing that is different for me is their names.  I am embarrased to say that I do not know all of their names after four days of school.  How can that be you must be wondering.  I would wonder, too.  I've always known my students' names, usually after one or maybe two days.  But I do not, much to may chagrin.  Here's the deal.  There are many Mohammad's and Ahmad's and Abdullah's.   What happens when there is more than one Mohammad, or maybe it's Mohammed is that his second name is his father's name. So then I might have Mohammad Abdullah, or Abdullah Mohammed.  Right now, I think I have at least three, or four Mohammad's and a few Abdullah's and at least two Ahmad's.  It's all very confusing for me, and when they tell me their names, they are very quiet, cute, but quiet...and while I am crouching down to hear a whispered name....the door is untended... next thing I know... I've got a RUNNER!!!   Hmm, perhaps it is a conspiracy :)  Stay tuned and watch me grow.  I have so much to learn.