Class List

I have been dying to get my class list.  Everyone said that we'd be lucky to get it by Thursday.  We weren't lucky!  For them it wasn't such a big deal.  My co-workers are mostly veteran teachers.  Really, it's only the English department that has a lot of variety in the ages that we teach anyway.  So, everyone else was cool as a cucumber, but my insides have been churning for weeks wondering what ages I would get.

As the native skills teacher, I expected to have each class for two hours a week.  (They have 10 hours of English instruction a week.  The English course teachers have the other 8 hours and concentrate heavily on grammar and mechanics.)  Our school goes from 4 year old kindergarten up through high school.  There is one other native English teacher.  (She's actually a local woman, but she grew up in Australia and has perfect English with the most adorable accent.)  So, I knew they would split the course load between us.  She loves the little ones and I said I was willing to work where ever they needed me.  As much as I like little kids, the thought of filling a 50 minute lesson without speaking a word of the local language (that is against the rules for me) was a bit overwhelming.  So, I sort of thought having the older kids would be a bit easier even though it is a well know fact that middle school kids are completely nuts-o!

We started the day with a teacher's meeting in which by law we had to be informed of several things.  So the vice principal read the "fine-print" type laws to us as fast as he could so that we could all agree that it had been done.  It was as fun as you can imagine.  Then they called the English department out to (FINALLY) give us our class lists.  I got 4th-8th grade.  There are  9 classes.

*Rabbit- trail:  It used to be that when I met someone and they told me they were a middle school teacher I would smile politely and respond with a hearty, "Well, bless your heart!  That is a special calling!"  Inwardly I would do a complete eye-roll and make a mental note that that person was not quite right in the head.  So, the irony is not lost on me that I am now a middle school teacher!  Boy, does the Lord have a sense of humor!

*Also, This means that I will have to teach Noah and Callie!  This is going to be so weird!!  My internet course did not prepare me for any of this jive!!

I had been working with the elementary department for two weeks helping them get ready, so this was a bit of a shock.  After the meeting, we all scrambled a bit and the sweet middle school team lead brought me up to speed on what's going on with them.  Then I went home to panic!  Ha!

Just as I was settling into the idea that I was actually going to be thrown into a room full of pre-pubescent whack-a-dos (I say this in love!  Ha!) I got an email today saying that our class schedule were on the server.  When I checked my schedule I was shocked to find that I also have a 9th and 10th grade class!!!!

If you are keeping track, or even still reading by this point, then you may notice that I will be teaching elementary, middle, and high school!!  Is that even possible for one human?!  Let alone a middle aged woman with a brain that only works half the time who only has a certificate from the internet.  I mean really, any old hack can complete an internet course!

So... here we go!  The adventure continues!  I am excited and terrified.  I have drilled my kids and fellow teachers on their discipline, class management, and and various odds and ends of surviving in the classroom.  I am writing lesson plans and scanning text books.  (And truthfully, I am cooking up a storm to help distract me from the thoughts swirling in my head!  Apple butter, corn chowder, bbq chicken, peanut butter cake, granola bars, marinara sauce... oh my!)

And I thought that getting my white coat properly pressed was going to be the hardest part of my job.  Ha!  Shows what I know!  Actual humans arrive on Monday and I don't think they are going to be admiring the beautiful razor-sharp creases in my lab coat!

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."

2 Corinthians 12:9

"He remembered us in our weakness.

His faithful love endures forever."

Psalm 136:23