tico names and toblerone

week two on the job and in the classroom. monday was pretty bad... i really yelled at my bad group. really. but they've been a little better since then. i'd like to think that i'm getting a little bit better at handling them. but i'm not actually convinced that that's the truth. they've stopped asking what time it is and trying to show me that *their* watch says it's time to go. and there have been much less requests to go to the bathroom. progress...

it's possible i've nearly got everyones' name. and that's no easy feat. my homeroom group isn't too bad - i've got two ximenas, an andres and a jose andres. and a jose luis. in the other group i have a maria paula, a maria fernanda, and a maria alejandra. also an alexandra maria. two daniels and two danielas. and alberto and ricardo look so similar that i screw it up if i see them separately... and sometimes if i see them side by side, too.

in other news i've developed an obsession with toblerone. now if you know me, you know that i'm not really crazy about chocolate. i mean, it's not that i don't like it. it tastes good. but i'd rather eat something savory. the truth is, i'm not sure i've ever had toblerone before. but i got some for valentine's day. chocolate and almonds, sounds good... awwwwwww yeeeeeeaaah.... :P

shoot for the moon and all that...

so i had really intended to have some pictures to post before now of my classroom... and i actually brought my camera to school twice this week. but didn't take a single photo. next week, i hope.

so yeah, i'm teaching now! it actually feels like i've been teaching for weeks and weeks now... but it's only been 4 days. day one started out really great. i had my homeroom group first. there was a little name game action - to help me out with everyone's names. we did some other intro type stuff. talked about rules - what does respect mean? what does responsibility mean? they were more or less well behaved and amusing. and then....

my other group (there are two classes of 4th graders, i teach english to both). yeah. they wouldn't shut up during my name game. i asked them to be quiet so many times that i had to follow through on my threat "if i have to yell one more time, we're sitting down and you're writing". and i still don't know all their names. on thursday i had half the class trying to convince me that they HAD to go to the bathroom- that it was an emergency. (i didn't let any of them go)

i realize they're trying to test me. and i know i just have to be strict with them. (and i am for the most part). unfortunately i think what they need is boring assignments and super structured classes. it's the only time we ever get anything done. my big plan is to have a "rule of the day". so say, it's raising your hand to speak. or listening when other's are talking. or doing your homework. and we'll work through the rules one by one until i feel that the majority of the class has followed the rule during the class. and then we check it off the list. when we've checked off all the rules, game day (well, game english class anyway). we'll see how it goes.

the other frustrating thing is that i feel left out a little on my "team" (the fourth grade teachers). i've been told that the costa rican way is sort of like an overprotective mother. instead of showing you how to do something that you are supposed to be doing, they will just take care of it. so you don't have to worry about it. it's terribly frustrating. as an example. the kids had to bring in these forms signed by their parents for the extra-curricular activities they want to do. i had them putting them on my desk. but i didn't know what to do with them, so i put some on my paper tray. today i asked one of my companeras what i was supposed to do with them. and she told me that she already took mine, don't worry. well, she had taken some that were on the desk, but that was not most or all of them. i had to badger her into telling me where they went. she just kept telling me not to worry. all this actually bothers me more than my obnoxious class....

but for the most part i feel pretty good about the first week. i've decided i'm going to read to the kids a few mornings a week. purely for listening purposes. and i've chosen "the magician's nephew". and next week we're actually sort of starting stuff. we'll see how they do with structure.

big week ahead...

so last week we had MORE orientation. which was less useful than the week before. one of the presentations we had to listen to was more or less a science presentation. there were pictures of the brain. and neurons. and synapses. oh yes, and it was all in spanish (my vocabulary does not include that kind of stuff. i don't think it's terribly useful) the point was (i think) that not everyone has the same capacity to think in certain ways. or something like that. anyway. there was also the communication workshop. in spanish. so clearly we were really on top of that communicating thing. since i understood about a third of what was said. all in all a frustrating week. but i got some stuff done in my classroom (pics of my cool bulletin boards next week) worked on my lesson plans (which have to be approved - that's kind of crap) and am starting to get pretty pumped for the kids to actually show up.

so tomorrow we have just one last meeting (which i imagine will be pretty useless) from 7:30 to 9:30 then i have the rest of the day to get myself sorted out for the week. actually i did my "lesson plan", and i use that word loosely for what i have planned for next week, yesterday and i'm feeling pretty good.

went out to watch the celtics beat the spurs this afternoon. always a good time. and tomorrow i'm back to waking up early (i slept until 9:30 today!) and tying up some loose ends. hopefully my copies got done and the supplies place got the stuff i need to finish decorating my class. and then i'm teaching! :)

who doesn't love orientation?

it's so.... uh.... exciting? no, that's not right... it's... okay, so it's kind of boring. this past week was new teacher orientation (next week is ALL teacher orientation... not sure if i can handle another week...). so i spent the week trying to get myself used to waking up early. and learning about my new school. which was mostly not that interesting and not that helpful.

i mean, we talked about stuff like what things we're required to have in our classrooms (emergency class list, whistle, place for late slips), attendance procedures (must be put in the box outside your door by 8am), discipline procedures (academic warnings, conduct warnings, detentions), how to get things you need, how to go on a field trip, and on and on. useful, but not terribly interesting.

but then what was irritating was some of the questions people were asking. now, there are no stupid questions, right? but do we really need to know *right now* if we are supposed to write the time we are leaving for a field trip on the board in the office or if the secretary does it? (the answer is no) obviously there has to be procedure for everything, but we're not going to really, really get it until we actually have to do it. and when that time comes we will be working with a team of other teachers. and they know what to do.

the most beneficial part of the week was meeting with the 5th grade language arts teacher. she told us all about the books we can use, gave us some ideas about how she does here quizzes and tests and assignments. and come to find out the curriculum map i was given in december is not entirely correct... so that was a little annoying. but now i have a very clear idea about what i need to do and what i can do. so things are good.

we have today off, which is pretty exciting. so i got to sleep in. until 9 o'clock! (it feels a little sad that that feels late now) and i'm off to my old stomping grounds of san pedro in a bit to meet some friends for lunch. i think i have to relax as much as possible so i don't lose my mind next week. as soon as the kids show up and things start happening, i think it'll be fine. it's all this antici......

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pation.