Well kids, I’ve survived the first week of classes for the year. Somehow, the week ended in a much more upbeat and positive manner. My counterpart was able to continue to get his random naps in throughout the day…
Oumolo successfully got a sharp looking new haircut with the assistance of his older brother and a shoddy razor blade (made in China of course).
And the week culminated in the valiant yet unsuccessful attempt to install our brand new patriotism sign out in front of our school. Isn’t that blue just fantastic?
In all honesty, the rest of the week went a lot better. I was able to get some good teaching in with my S4s, also known as “candidates” because they will sit this year for UNEB exams. More and more teachers showed up and some even taught! And we had a fairly, positive staff meeting on Friday which only lasted 3 hours and 47 minutes! Still no timetable, but the idea of creating and completing one has made great strides into the minds of my colleagues. I had told the timetable master that we would meet this morning at 9:00 am to start it. As of about 10:30 he had not shown and his phone was completely off. So I came to P-Town.
On the first day of classes, Mr. Otoke saw that I had brought my camera and immediately insisted that the two of us go together to his home to take pictures of him with his entire family. So we did. I got there and he told them to hurry. They all changed into their nicest clothing and struck a pose.
I’m rediscovering just how exhausting teaching can be. Both Wednesday and Friday I taught the S4s for over two hours. Standing and lecturing constantly in this 100+ degree heat really takes it out of me. And I’m reminded of my days last term of studying for the LSAT. Now I reserve the morning for teaching and the afternoons for easier work.
On Friday, we had an assembly with those students that came to school. During the assembly, one of our teachers, Mrs. Sarah Kagoye got up and gave a speech. She pulled the word Kaizen (Japanese word for continuous improvement) out of nowhere and started talking about personal development both in our lives and in academics. My I.E. mind was blown away! I loved it.
Click the image below to go to pictures from this past week. There are also some older photos from last year in this album. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment