One week was to just get the visas, get settled in an apartment, get a cell plan, bank account, etc. Finally it was time for the new teachers to be at school for a week.
First day of school for the new teachers.My classroom.
We have an amazing lab assistant who is so knowledgeable, organized, and we have access to a lot of things which I was so happy about.
Prep space and storage.I’m the library, religion and mythology are in the same section…..Another view of my room.Sports field. We are high up and surrounded by all the mountains.The patio de tortugas. There used to be giant turtles here until the government said they needed to be in a preserve or other place.
After another week with all faculty, students returned. I forget how much energy is required into getting to know a new system and culture in a school. In the second week we had an assembly. Students were asked to wear uniforms even though they do not have to on a daily basis. They started the assembly with both the Ecuador and USA national anthems and ended with the colegio song.
I was impressed that the focus of the assembly was on academics and the arts. Awards were given and a shout out to sports were mentioned at the end.
A student band played. They were very good.
Despite differences in how schools are run and a little disorganization especially where new platforms being used this year that there is little experience in, it has been a good start to the year. The students are kind and motivated in my class. There are always a few students who test you and they are in the lower grades, or 10th grade for me. There is a lot of support for any discipline issues which I’m grateful for.
This is not the first renovation at a school I have taught in but this is the most ambitious. We left last January with one building torn down and in the process of being rebuilt to bring grades 3-5 out to the campus. During the pandemic or was slowed until no cases and authorization allowed the project to continue. Over the course of the hybrid learning that was spring, there was amazing progress on that building and it was completed in October.
Before those grades come to the Science Park campus, the building will be used to house middle and high school as that building will be torn down. When plans are made here, things are done quickly!
The science department had to move before anyone else as we were moving into temporary new spaces that was the cafeteria. These rooms needed moved in order to build the construction road to be able to demolish the building.
We left for October break with a cafeteria and arrived back to school with 8 new classrooms. They are temporary so there are walls that are easy to put up. A little loud but I am grateful that the school does everything it can to help and to make the classrooms functional and teachers comfortable and supported.
Only 2 of the 8 teachers were here so we worked many hours between teaching to unpack rooms and determine existing storage that could be repurposed for the new rooms. We had ayis (translated as auntie) to pack their rooms but I unpacked to determine what was needed. The shushus (translated as uncle) can move a whole room in under an hour. Our storage space and office space for the technician is in a much smaller space so many items had to be placed in classrooms. Our rooms are also much smaller. It was a pretty stressful month as we were teaching as well and I was coaching cross country and running student council. Here are things waiting to be unpacked.
The place looks great. We are settling in. 4 more teachers returned. Then we watched and stayed as far away from the rest of the teachers moving into the future elementary building. We were able to go through in the end to snag cushioned benches to places in the hallway and rescued student created murals to brighten our space.
The week of Thanksgiving we went back to a normal teaching schedule (all my 36 science 9 students used to be in one 65 minute class and now they are separated into 3 classes of 85 minutes each. My 24 bio are now in two classes). We taught online as many things were being moved around campus and could not happen with students here. That Wednesday there were no classes (time for teachers to get their rooms together) and Thursday was a professional development day. Touring through the old rooms was sad.
After Thanksgiving break all students are now on campus and not staggered by grades as they used to be. This is as close to normal as we have been since the pandemic. This is mostly due to most teachers being such overseas. Now 90% off the teachers are back and more to arrive soon.
And here are the science rooms in various states of being torn apart and demolishing the building after windows were torn out.
Behind the science wing where the construction road was being made.
And views of the new building:
Next November we move into the brand new high school built where the old one stood. It is amazing looking according to the plans and hope I am here to see it completed! I also hope all the school is here to do the move as well! I know it will be smooth nonetheless as this is an amazing and supportive school!
I am tired as I spend more time teaching and talking but exhilarated to forge relationships with students now that there is more time to work with smaller classes. It is also great to be back to a more normal environment. This is an amazing school that cares about how everyone is doing. This holiday will be difficult not being able to go home to see family. It has been a year and a half already.
“I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. To stand for something, and to have made some difference that you lived at all.” —Leo Rosten
Note: This post has been sitting in drafts for the past month. Busy…busy…
After walking through the halls of the high school I just left, it occurred to me that I may never walk down them again. I spent high school there and vowed to never return when I left. After being gone for a decade and a half. I returned for another score of years. But after my overseas teaching stint, my kids will no longer be in that town and no telling where I may actually end up. Selling your house and car really frees your future.
I’m really not sure what difference I may have made all of these years. I think every educator wants to believe that the students we taught will tell stories about something they learned, some insight, some trancendental experience… But those of us who have relived experiences and happenings in school many decades before know that we eventually stop reliving and retelling the stories. The storytelling gives way to more recent events as we move forward in life.
Perhaps some of the activities that I used in my classes will still continue after I am gone, making those in the future wonder where these ideas/labs/lessons came from in the first place. But I know that there is no real legacy that I leave in the building. The business (or busyness) of education will continue long after I am gone and I am not so full of myself to believe that I was all that. But I really hope that my legacy is in what I may have imparted into the students that I have taught and you never know where that influence is realized. (By the way, hopefully it is good, but I am human and it is possible to have not given everyone the best experience.)
After 29 years of education, I know there are those whose lives I have touched and many students I have learned from as well. As I transition into another first year in a different place and culture, I know my true retirement is about 6 years from now.
And I have still more to give and learn; because you are not moving forward if you cease to push past what you believe you can do.
