On Starting a New Job. In a Foreign Country.

            So, I finally have time to blog.  I’ve been on the new job for just over a month now, and, to sum it all up, it’s just different.  In every way.

In-Service Week

            As a new person, I was expecting someone to welcome me, introduce me to others, say “hello.”  Not so much.  Thank God I have experience so I wasn’t too unnerved, but my natural shyness and introvertedness made me a bit awkward.  No “New Teacher Mentoring” going on here.

            The meetings themselves were like in the U.S.—going over handbooks and policies, short seminars on instruction, etc., time to plan in our rooms.  Lots of teachers complaining about administration.  Typical.

1^st Week of Class

            The first week was ½ days, and teachers pretty much went over rules with the kids and got them used to their schedules.  Most of this was done in their homerooms, and since I don’t have a homeroom, I didn’t really see my kids that first week.  They were also still figuring out what rooms I would be teaching in, so I didn’t really know where I would be or when until well into the first week.  So different.

            Then, I was told that the schedule didn’t really change on Wednesdays when we had chapel, but that didn’t turn out to be true.  The schedule is adjusted a bit.  But, they forgot to tell me.  Didn’t find out about it until the first full Wednesday when we had chapel.  But, this week I got to work in my counseling office a lot and do lesson.  I did get in to meet all of my students at least once this week, but it was just a quick “Hi, I’m Miss Jamie.  You’ll see me more next week.”

1^st Week of Full-Day Classes

            Teaching four different classes in four different rooms is hard.  Just plain hard.  The kids all know each other, but I don’t know them.  I can hardly pronounce some of the names.  Some of the kids are gracious about it; others . . . not so much.  Then, I can’t tell which name is the first name and which is the last name!  Some of the kids were listed the American way (first name, last name); others the Haitian way (last name, every middle name under the sun, first name). And they all whispered!  I couldn’t hear anyone! 

            The other thing I learned this week is that I have my 10^th grade literature class only three days a week.  No one told me that.  In fact, they had told me that I saw my 9^th grade literature class three days a week.  But that was wrong.  I have them five days a week.  But, on Thursdays and Fridays, I have the 9^th grade boys at one time, and the 9^th grade girls at another time.  No one told me that either! 

            This is also the week when I learned that most of the rules in the student handbook are not followed.  That awesome rule about raising your hand and waiting to be called on?  Kids don’t follow it.  That cool one about the teacher ringing the bell, students standing up, and then the teacher dismissing the class?  Nope.  Not happening.  No backpacks in class?  I trip over them in the aisles constantly.  I was worried about being able to remember all the rules and procedures myself, but turns out I don’t have to worry about it because none of those rules are really followed!

The Rest of the Weeks

            Life has settled down.  I’m in a good routine.  I have started to see kids in my counseling office.  I have some counseling lessons planned for next week.  I’m figuring it out.  But, every day I realize all over again that I am in a different country!

            I learned last week that this is the first year that high school students have had a literature course.  Before, they had 1-2 days of literature each week.  So, the students do not have the literature background that I thought.  I knew that for all my kids English was their 3^rd language and that that would factor into the learning.  I just didn’t realize how much.  Most of them speak fluently, but not all.  My asking them to read Mark Twain and “get” the dialect is next to impossible.  Asking them to read “The Nightingale and the Glowworm” written by some dead white guy back in the 1800s is only going to frustrate everyone.  Which it has.

            I took a look at the standardized test scores on the Terra Nova from last year.  If I read it correctly, this year’s 9^th grade class has 75% of its students reading below the 40^th percentile.  They’re hoping I can boost reading scores.  I need help.

What I’ve Learned

            All of my students are ELL students.   I need to find high-interest, low-level reading to get my students into it.  I have a lot to learn about teaching! 

            This school has rules and procedures and standards without really knowing why they are there.  I think this happens when a school is founded and run by people who don’t have a background in education.  However, those same people love these students and are doing everything they can to provide a solid education for their students.  And, they’re doing it!  This system may not be perfect, but it is working for many of the kids.  And, the teachers here are good.  They know what they’re doing.  I can learn from them. 

            The pressure to succeed for Haitian students is just as high as it is for American students.  They want to do well.  They want to please their parents.  They want to go to college.  They have dreams.  Haiti’s hard life sometimes makes all that harder to do.

            When students don’t do well or they get in trouble, they can be beaten.  Seriously.  Beaten.  Here at school.  Not by school staff, but by their parents who are going to show the school that they can “take care of the problem.”  Let me tell you, I will think long and hard before giving students detentions.  The consequences can be severe, and I better make sure that whatever the student did in my room to annoy me or aggravate me or try my patience, better be worth a beating because it may happen.  For real.

On a Totally Different Note

            I have not been over to the orphanage as much as I had planned.  That makes me sad.  I have to work at not letting my job take over my life as it did in the States.  The whole point of my being here is to be able to spend more time with the kids, so this month I need to make that more of a priority.

            My motorcycle is giving me fits.  Some great friends sent me a helmet to wear, but I haven’t been able to ride since the helmet arrived!  The battery was dead, so I charged it.  But, it still doesn’t start consistently.  I think I may need to check the oil, but I can’t find where to do that.  Gonna have to ask!

            I hardly speak any Creole at all, which totally makes me sad!  I live in Haiti, and it’s easy to forget that because I live on site.  I get super nervous speaking Creole—I’ve lost any confidence that I gained over the summer.

            I am really enjoying counseling again.  A part of me wishes I never got out of it in the first place, but it seemed like the right move at the time.  But, it’s been good to work with kids 1-1 again.  My counseling skills are really going to be stretched because I am also working with elementary school kids for the first time.  I had my first meeting with an elementary student today.  A little boy in 3^rd grade.  He came into my office all shaking this morning.  Nervous.  I felt so bad for him.  Thankfully, I had thought to grab some crayons and construction paper, so after I explained what “introductions” were and we had practiced it, we did some drawing and coloring while we talked.  He said he’d like to come back to talk with me because he wants to learn how to not be nervous talking with kids so that he can make some friends. 

            So many parts of this job—teaching literature and counseling—seem familiar but are so different from anything I’ve done in the last 24 years.  How can it be so much the same and so unfamiliar at the same time?

Am I glad I’m here?  Yes.  Absolutely.  It’s all just different.