good first two days. no airconditioning in my building and a few fans in a room with no windows was pretty bad situation, but I'm still so happy just to have a full time job. ha also the school is still figuring out the schedules of the students' classes so most of my classes will be different mixes of students come Monday. I am up for a challenging year, had all my ducks in a row in my mind today for a confrontation that needed to take place with a guy in my class, this guy who kept cutting in jokes and responding to me disrespectfully in Spanish. So by 6th hour I'm ready to have a little student conference in the hall and "nip in the bud"... and then of course he's not in class today 5th hour so I can still look forward to that Monday. Another challenge is all of these kids are not really motivated to produce English at all. I think I'll focus on mainly book and paper work next week until they are comfortable enough to try speech in class, instead of "I don't know" or shoulder shrugs. I am sort of looking forward to getting the air fixed so I'll have more of my usual energy to get the class going. not sitting there dripping sweat explaining class rules, the book we'll be using, schedule changes, etc etc... blah man am I glad it's the weekend.
I signed the contract today and will be getting a required physical scheduled soon once my insurance kicks in. plan to keep cool at home this weekend and rest up for the full 5 days of classes next week. begin the school year and count down to fall break. ha
got a Fb message from my bud in Sudan. He wrote- "dan. went to a party of UN types in Khartoum. Interesting crowd. Confident and knowledgable people. I hope you are able to interact with similar in OK." he knows me well.
have a great weekend everyone.
4 comments:
Dan,
Hey, my hat's off to you. I come from a family of teachers/administrators, and I don't know how all of you do it.
You sound so organized already and not intimidated by the situation.
Great job. I hope this will be the beginning of a great year for you.
Take Care,
Nate
Ad majorem Dei gloriam, also known by the abbreviation AMDG, is the motto of the Jesuits, a Roman Catholic religious order universally known for its rich educational heritage. The motto means "For the greater glory of God" and is believed to have been coined by the founder of the religious order, St. Ignatius of Loyola, as a cornerstone of the society's philosophy. This phrase is designed to reflect the idea that any work that is not evil can be meritorious for the spiritual life if it is performed with this intention, even things considered normally indifferent.
This phrase is the motto of many Jesuit educational institutions and many high schools worldwide. Many Jesuit schools and universities ask students to write the initialism at the tops of their papers, to remind them that even their schoolwork ought to be dedicated to augmenting the glory of God.
I appreciate that you can't share this with your students in a secular high school setting. I would humbly suggest, however, that even the more mundane aspects of the important work you are doing is AMDG.
Good luck my friend!
Cheers!
Hey, congrats on the job. I am just now able to catch up on blog reading. I recently started teaching at a small private school (I've subbed in high school but mostly taught college). School started two weeks ago, and the college class I teach started last week. I know how busy you will be with teaching and I wish you the best. I have found that it is totally exhausting, but at least we have teaching jobs, right? I love teaching and it sounds like you do too, so even if it is not the subjects (or the age) I prefer to teach, at least I am in the classroom.
Congrats and good luck.
Dan!
Hopefully your students will get a bit more motivated once they get used to you and the classroom a bit more.
Good luck!
-Dean
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