Hightlights of the first week of school

Part two of the double-post: Here's an idea of what my day is like.

Monday:


7:45 am: Bike to school while trying to avoid pedestrians, cows, potholes, and taxis. All concern about whether I’m flashing people has disappeared; I’m more concerned about whether I’m going to make it to school in one piece.

8:00 am: Arrive at BHS very sweaty, silently thank God that I’ve made it, and find the teacher’s lounge in the IT lab, because the administrative building is still being painted. Find out that I’m teaching forms 1,2, and 4 integrated science. Then spend 15 minutes trying to figure out my schedule on the insane (handwritten) timetable after all of the other teachers have left for the opening assembly.

8:30 am: prepare to sit in the teacher’s lounge for the next three hours or so because my first class isn’t until after lunch ends at 11:15. Mentally prepare myself for my first class as a teacher. Try to sit in the cross breeze so that the sweat can dry a little.

9:00am: talk to the Head of the science department (HOD) and find out that they want us to teach 3rd form physics and maybe even maths classes. Either that or join another department and teach social studies or English. Nothing is decided, but I begin to get nervous that I’ll be teaching a 4th form maths class.

10:20 am: lunchtime. I end up waiting until 10:40 to go to the canteen because of the huge mass of students all trying to buy lunch from two lunch ladies. It’s still crazy when I decided to brave the crowd, but one of the benefits of being the teacher is getting served first, so I don’t have to wait too long.

11:15 am: begin my first class of second formers with introductions, class rules, and then begin teaching the scientific method (it was the only thing I could come up with without the textbook or the curriculum guide to go off of). Lesson goes ok, but I’m stretching things as much as possible because the kids are shy and a little reluctant to participate.

12:25: second break. Take a deep breath and relax for the next hour.

13:20 (1:20 pm; the 24 hour system of time keeping is used here): begin my second class with the first form students. They’re more enthusiastic and a little easier to manage, especially because it’s their first day at a new school as well.

14:30: school day ends. After meeting up with Corin and gathering our stuff, be prepare to brave the road home once more.

14:45: Leave school. The road is slightly less chaotic than before, but still scary. I bump into a parked taxi while trying to avoid a moving taxi, and then struggle to peddle away while the taxi driver is shouting at me.

15:00: Make it home and thank God I survived the day. Immediately shower because at this point I’m drenched in sweat. Sit and relax for a while.

16:30: wash clothes by hand.

18:00 dinnertime.

18:45 head over to the internet café to look up ideas for leading class tomorrow, because I still don’t have any books or any hints as to what the students are supposed to be learning this term.

19:15: leave unsuccessful. This happened to be the busiest day at the internet café, so the internet was too slow to get anything done.

19:30 sit at the dining room table with my housemates for the next couple of hours trying to think of ideas. Finally decide to have the class “follow the scientific method” with a little experiment and also plan on teaching them averages. Also come up with a short lesson on the units of measurement and unit conversions just in case.

21:00 bed time.

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Tuesday was pretty much the same as before. We woke up to the sound of torrential rain outside, and it didn’t let up at all by the time we were ready to go to school. We ended up taking a taxi and shared the car with about five primary school kids and one student from our high school. Since the time table was still in flux, I decided to double check my classes for the day. Lo and behold, I found out that I’m also a 3rd form physics class…which worries me, because I just took my first real physics class last year. The only consolation is that I only have the kids once a week, and they’re not depending on me for their big standardized tests, the CXCs.

I told my HOD that I don’t really know what to prepare for this new class because I never got any books, so she promised to get me some materials to work with. I’m really thankful that I had prepared the extra lesson on units of measurement, because that’s what the students ended up learning that day. My HOD did bring me the books in the end, but it wasn’t until I was in the middle of my first physics class. Yes, during class. We quickly found out that it’s common for teachers or students to interrupt class if they need to find a student or give the teacher something. Despite the semi-regular interruptions by teachers and students, and the confusion of the schedule, things went ok all things considered.

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The rest of the week was pretty normal (for Guyana). The timetable for the school is still changing a lot, even into the second week of school. As a result, I still don’t really know all of the classes I’ll be teaching this year. In addition, it takes a long time to get the materials I need to teach: nearly halfway through the second week, I still don’t have the book for my first form classes. A big part of being here is being flexible and working with what we have, even in the confusion and miscommunications.