Weathering the Storm!

Well it is late (or should I say early in the morning) and the weather channel has been on since I got back to my hotel room.  Apparently there is a hurricane a coming and we need to be prepared.  In my typical fashion I have been totally consumed with the first 2 days of school to worry about what is happening in the rest of the world.  After talking with my buddy teacher at school I am hoping that my 3 bottles of water and my half a packet of chocolate chip cookies are going to help me weather the storm!

So while Irene has been turning lives upside down I have been experiencing an upheaval of sorts.  Starting school in a new country, with a new school system, with new children and new ways of doing things.  It has been a major learning curve but one that I am obviously ready to take.  I have found over the last couple of days saying words to the effect of “it doesn’t matter where kids are bought up, NZ or US, in the world we still have the same successes, problems and issues!”  What is it with full stops (periods) and capital letters!

Well I was rather nervous on Thursday as the new school year was set to begin (you know the day is going to be tough when you can’t even unlock the door to your own classroom), at home I knew most of the students and most of the students knew who I was – this was different we were all new at this 5^th Grade game.  I say game because I knew how to play the game (teach) but I didn’t know where I was playing or by what rules I was going to be playing.  I needed to rip most of the pages out of my old play book and put a whole set of new ones in there.

The first day went well – I talked a bit about where I was from (told them about Rugby and they are all keen to play – might show them a video clip first and then let them decide), we did a few introduction games – all the while I tried to keep one step ahead of them and know what was happening next before it actually happened.  Basically we spent the day getting to know each other and checking each other out.

My class is full of interesting characters.  I have the girls that are the “good girls” they want to help and make sure they are doing the right thing.  I have the cool boys who think they are to cool for school.  There are the jokesters and the quiet ones, the sporty and the book reader students.  All of them really enjoy coming to school and love that they have a teacher from a different country with a funny accent.  There are a couple that are attempting to push the boundaries but they have found that I not only push back but I tend to move the boundaries and they are left on the wrong side of them.  It is early days and we will get into a good groove and take it one day at a time (has anyone else noticed the amount of cheesy song lyrics I have just used – it must be late!)

The second day went well and I felt like I was slowly getting used to all of the differences.  But it is only the beginning and I can’t wait to get into the rest of the year.

I have some really supportive and helpful teachers in my 5^th Grade team and I spent quite a bit of time with them as they guided me through the procedures and systems of the school.  At one stage I felt extremely overwhelmed and had to ask them to stop because my brain was full and it was starting to hurt.

 

As I left the school today I felt slightly better about tackling the next week – again day by day is the plan.  There is an amazing amount of paperwork each week that I have to get my head around but I am sure that once I set things up I will be just fine.

So that has been my last week – a whirlwind of activity both in my life and all around me.  I move into my new apartment tomorrow and the cable guy doesn’t come until next Friday so it may be quiet on the Internet front – so I will probably find a few free Wi-Fi spots around and do little updates.  Until then…