That is my REAL SIZE coffee cup :-)
I still need to buy some organizer things so I can put everything in its place, and have a place for everything. I like to say that I live in a home that is homey, lived in, and organized chaotic at times.
SCHOOL! School had started before I had even arrived. I had been told before I left that I would be teaching middle school science....no comment. I did not get the books ahead of time, and good thing, because the day AFTER I arrived in Taif, I was informed that I would be teaching middle school English Language Arts. I told the principal that I was bummed as I had planned to teach the kids how to blow shit up. She must have thought I was kidding, because she laughed.
I received both 10 pound (?) textbooks for 7th and 8th grade ELA the day before I started teaching. I was also given the smaller workbooks that accompany these behemoths. I was told to get my lesson plans in by the end of the week and to make sure I assigned homework, etc. Also, I had to get online and start posting my welcome letter, grades, and other notes to parents....really? For anyone who cares, they are teaching according to this (whackass) system in the US, called "Common Core" standards. I dare you to google it and just try to make sense of it. Fortunately, they gave me sample lesson plans to coincide with what they wanted from me each week. Yeah, it didn't help.
I spent the first 3 weeks I was here in pure survival mode. They kept telling me to start entering grades...they didn't have me listed in the system, or they had not assigned me classes in the system...can't do what I cannot access...one less stresser for the next 22 minutes....LOL I teach 7th and 8th grade ELA. Because this is Saudi, at this age, the boys and girls are in separate classrooms and separate buildings. My first class is grade 7 boys, and the admin is in the girls' building, so I camp out in the boys building.
For my second period (my first is "teacher prep time" and I usually finish my coffee and eat breakfast, check email, etc.) I have 25 7th grade boys in a room that is too small. I liken it to trying to herd cats. They were the cause of my rant a while back about assigning punishment homework that I then had to grade. I did not actually grade it, I marked it to the degree it was complete. They pissed me off again, so I had them write a 2 page paper on why they should pay attention in class (so as not to waste my time), and when they had all turned them in, I immediately ripped them up and tossed them out in front of them. Mouths agape, they demanded to know what I was doing and why I had done what I did. I simply told them, that is what it feels like to have someone waste their time. (Wicked grin).
My 3rd period is free and then I babysit the same 7th grade boys for lunch. My "afternoon" is 3 periods in a row. The first class is 4th period 7th grade girls. I go out of the building, up the hill, up two flights of stairs - did I mention we are at about 2700 feet?, and arrived sweating and panting. There are only 10 of them. They are better behaved, but their grades tend to be lower than the boys. My second to last period is 8th grade girls. There are 7 of them, and getting them to do work is like pulling teeth. This is Saudi. Women are less than men, and women are told to concern themselves with finding a rich husband. In Saudi, the man pays for everything and any money she earns is all hers to keep.
My last period is 8th grade boys. There are supposed to be 8 of them, but one boy's parents pulled him out so he could go with them on his father's annual leave from work. I don't miss him, as it was like he was never really there to begin with. I think is GPA is like 8%. Did you do your homework? Shrug. Are you planning to turn in your paper late for partial credit? Shrug. One less body to keep track of. My total is 50 students.
Yesterday was end of term, so we had to get all of our grades in. I was told to do it, but it wasn't clear what I was to do. I did my first set of marks (for homework that I simply checked as complete or incomplete) was wrong as everything had to have a number value. Ok, 50 entries later, I was told that 1 or 2 points was not enough. Ok, I went back and changed all 50 marks (times 2 for each student as I was told that there had to be 2 per week). So, every time I entered a set of grades, I was told the point values were wrong or the type of assignment was wrong, or I didn't explain what the assignment was well enough in the program... I added it up and I think it took about 2 hours total of my time for them to lecture and correct me so I would do it their way. If they had told me what their way was the first damned time, I would have done it that way the first damned time....(very heavy sigh).
My week last week was hell (see above) and I spent HOURS working on simply getting all my grades collected and entered. On Wednesday morning, I came in already wiped and stressed to find a huge mess in the teacher's room. My WTF? was quickly explained to me by one of the other teachers, as the result of monkeys getting into the room (the cleaners left the windows open, not just unlocked) and the teacher who took TOTAL possession of the actual teacher's desk in the room, was apparently the source of the food supply. Peanuts and a cup of coffee. This is the teacher who "recites" (read sings....they say they do not "sing" but rather "recite"...sounds hella like singing to me) the Qaran so loudly that I cannot drown her out.
She proceeded to start lecturing me on the evils of keeping food in my work area and in the room after work. I just looked at her. I informed her that my food is gone (in my tummy) before I leave, any extra stuff is locked in my locker, and the source of the mess was, in fact, her food. That only seems to have made her more angry and she got louder and more adamant in her lecturing. I plugged in my headphones and gave her the palm. NOT EVEN! NO MOOD! I then received another talking to about getting my grades into he system. I told them to stop interrupting me while I was entering grades. Thursday (my Friday) could not come soon enough, but that only made things worse, because grades were due by the end of the day...I did what I could and walked away in utter defeat. I told my coworker it was a good thing they messed up my visa or I might have left to Oman for a bender and not returned. Two words...retail therapy! (see tv and coffee maker pictured above).
While I was wasting my time, I mean standing door duty, this guy came up to see if we would let him get into the trash.
I received both 10 pound (?) textbooks for 7th and 8th grade ELA the day before I started teaching. I was also given the smaller workbooks that accompany these behemoths. I was told to get my lesson plans in by the end of the week and to make sure I assigned homework, etc. Also, I had to get online and start posting my welcome letter, grades, and other notes to parents....really? For anyone who cares, they are teaching according to this (whackass) system in the US, called "Common Core" standards. I dare you to google it and just try to make sense of it. Fortunately, they gave me sample lesson plans to coincide with what they wanted from me each week. Yeah, it didn't help.
I spent the first 3 weeks I was here in pure survival mode. They kept telling me to start entering grades...they didn't have me listed in the system, or they had not assigned me classes in the system...can't do what I cannot access...one less stresser for the next 22 minutes....LOL I teach 7th and 8th grade ELA. Because this is Saudi, at this age, the boys and girls are in separate classrooms and separate buildings. My first class is grade 7 boys, and the admin is in the girls' building, so I camp out in the boys building.
For my second period (my first is "teacher prep time" and I usually finish my coffee and eat breakfast, check email, etc.) I have 25 7th grade boys in a room that is too small. I liken it to trying to herd cats. They were the cause of my rant a while back about assigning punishment homework that I then had to grade. I did not actually grade it, I marked it to the degree it was complete. They pissed me off again, so I had them write a 2 page paper on why they should pay attention in class (so as not to waste my time), and when they had all turned them in, I immediately ripped them up and tossed them out in front of them. Mouths agape, they demanded to know what I was doing and why I had done what I did. I simply told them, that is what it feels like to have someone waste their time. (Wicked grin).
My 3rd period is free and then I babysit the same 7th grade boys for lunch. My "afternoon" is 3 periods in a row. The first class is 4th period 7th grade girls. I go out of the building, up the hill, up two flights of stairs - did I mention we are at about 2700 feet?, and arrived sweating and panting. There are only 10 of them. They are better behaved, but their grades tend to be lower than the boys. My second to last period is 8th grade girls. There are 7 of them, and getting them to do work is like pulling teeth. This is Saudi. Women are less than men, and women are told to concern themselves with finding a rich husband. In Saudi, the man pays for everything and any money she earns is all hers to keep.
My last period is 8th grade boys. There are supposed to be 8 of them, but one boy's parents pulled him out so he could go with them on his father's annual leave from work. I don't miss him, as it was like he was never really there to begin with. I think is GPA is like 8%. Did you do your homework? Shrug. Are you planning to turn in your paper late for partial credit? Shrug. One less body to keep track of. My total is 50 students.
My week last week was hell (see above) and I spent HOURS working on simply getting all my grades collected and entered. On Wednesday morning, I came in already wiped and stressed to find a huge mess in the teacher's room. My WTF? was quickly explained to me by one of the other teachers, as the result of monkeys getting into the room (the cleaners left the windows open, not just unlocked) and the teacher who took TOTAL possession of the actual teacher's desk in the room, was apparently the source of the food supply. Peanuts and a cup of coffee. This is the teacher who "recites" (read sings....they say they do not "sing" but rather "recite"...sounds hella like singing to me) the Qaran so loudly that I cannot drown her out.
She proceeded to start lecturing me on the evils of keeping food in my work area and in the room after work. I just looked at her. I informed her that my food is gone (in my tummy) before I leave, any extra stuff is locked in my locker, and the source of the mess was, in fact, her food. That only seems to have made her more angry and she got louder and more adamant in her lecturing. I plugged in my headphones and gave her the palm. NOT EVEN! NO MOOD! I then received another talking to about getting my grades into he system. I told them to stop interrupting me while I was entering grades. Thursday (my Friday) could not come soon enough, but that only made things worse, because grades were due by the end of the day...I did what I could and walked away in utter defeat. I told my coworker it was a good thing they messed up my visa or I might have left to Oman for a bender and not returned. Two words...retail therapy! (see tv and coffee maker pictured above).
While I was wasting my time, I mean standing door duty, this guy came up to see if we would let him get into the trash.
Nope, not on my watch.
I feel confident that I can do this, now that I know what the hell they want in the first place. I have my books, a basic template for making lesson plans, an idea of how long it takes to finish a unit, how many assignments to give per week, and how many points each should have. If they had just told me this the first damned time, I would not be pulling out my hair! These are the days I hear the chardonnay actually calling me from another country!
The weather is truly amazing. Never too hot, always a breeze, it only rains for minutes, and it rains every month. As to missing my old job, the only thing I truly miss is the pay thing. I would cash my check, hand them back most of the cash, and they would wire it home. I make lots more now, but I can't seem to get it to my US accounts as easily. I cannot have another teacher send the money because NFCU does not have a SWIFT code for international transfers. Western Union said they could only send to a person, and not a bank. But my grades are not in the system...LOL
My FABU costume I was not allowed to wear in public...:-( Made my roomie say trick-or-treat and gave her candy...not the same
It is a 10 minute walk UPHILL to get to work. Glad the weather is amazing.
My day starts at 7:15. I walk up the mountain and then up the hill and stairs, to the girls building to sign in. No fingerprint scanner here, just good old paper and pen. My first period is free and I enjoy the empty room for coffee and email or candy crush...shhhhh My last class ends at 1:30pm, but I cannot let the 8th grade boys out until the boys who want to pray in the common area are finished praying. I then trudge up the hill to stand door duty (see above monkey pics) and then leave about 2pm. Sounds easy, but I do work at home as well. Any grading I do not finish, any lesson plans to be created, any downloading/printing, is "homework" for the teacher. I tell my students, you have to write 3 pages, I have to grade 150 pages. Ohhhhhh.....not so bad for them.
I used to come home and try to take a nap, but if I do, I cannot get to sleep at night. I find the best thing to do is come straight home and do my homework. I save lesson planning for first thing Saturday morning, after my first cuppa. It is getting easier as I get more used to how things run. If I get everything planned this year, next year is a coast!
I LOVE TEACHING! I am finally teaching hard core English Lit and I am loving it! I have 4 months off for the summer and am talking to them about teaching art to students and adults on base. A bit of extra money would be nice, and I can spend whatever I make working on vaca...guilt free! The next post is a bit more about life in general here.
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