Life in the Classroom

Back again until May 16th; second phase training came earlier than expected. I plan on being back in again in July for a conference.

I thought it might be interesting to share what a typical day looks like for me in the classroom, so here goes. [As you know, I teach 11th and 12th grade English writing and reading].

6:30a - My watch alarm beeps, waking me up (though, if I'm honest, I've been awake for 35 mins, off and on, because the sun has been up that long). Shower, breakfast [crackers & coffee], brush my teeth, sit & wait.
7:45a - In a perfect world, the bell would ring and I would then walk to school - which is about 1 min from my house.
8:00a - In a slightly less perfect world, the bell would ring and I would then walk to school.
8:07a - The bell rings. 12th grade reading begins, with approximately 12/30 students present. My attitude, at this stage ambivalent, begins to go sour.
8:15a - I'm done waiting for stragglers, take attendance, and begin the lesson. Stragglers will arrive until the bell rings; I will not admit most, but remind them instead they lost their class points.
8:45a - Bell rings; reading class has lasted all of 30mins. 11th grade writing (section A) begins. Attitude improves markedly.
9:00a - At this point in the lesson, a student will generally address a question to me in Chuukese. I will stare at him/her, my mouth open in gaffaw, and slowly point up to the wall, where it reads: "STOP! English ONLY Zone" Students will laugh; I will ask for a rephrase. Since April, the student will generally attempt to say it in English. Before April, there would be no hope; hence my translator, Harrison.
9:49a - No bell yet, so I'll tell one of the students sitting outside (not in class, because his/her teacher did not show up - an everyday occurrence that at least 2 teachers are absent) to go ring the bell; we pound it with a hammer. [The bell is an old empty gas cylinder, like the air tanks used to go diving, left over from the Japanese during WWII]
9:52a - Bell rings; end of 2nd period; 3rd period - 12th grade English Writing
10:00a - Most (if not all) of the 12th graders are present. At the beginning of the year, I would lecture them on how important it is to attend the reading class, remind them that they are losing points everyday by just being absent, and wring my hands at how little they appeared to care about school & my presence there. By and large, this is/was/has been/will forever be the most stressful and difficult part of my job: battling ambivalence towards education.
10:15a - 12th graders have snapped out of their spunk, my attitude has skyrocketed, and we are accomplishing some learning: practicing essay writing, writing narratives about their local stories [island folklore], journaling, translating, joking, etc - the part of the day I live for.
10:45a - 3rd period ends; 4th period begins - 11th grade writing (section B). At times, I think B section is my favorite section. However, I think this is only because after long mornings, I'm ready for lunch, and after 4th period, it comes.
11:00a - I recycle the 2nd period lesson, and usually do it better than I did it for 2nd period, having worked out the kinks. At this time, I begin subconsciously worrying that I'm giving an unfair advantage to B section, whereas A section has to suffer through my mistakes, false-starts, and just general akwardness. This feeling of melancholy quickly passes into joie d'vivre as I realize that the language barrier has probably prevented them from absorbing most of the lesson anyway, and so my mistakes really haven't hurt anyone. Plus it's time for...
11:45a - LUNCH! Basically, I shoo everyone out of the room, and then skip merrily back home to lunch. I had been eating at the cafeteria with the students, until the school cafeteria ran out of food. The Dept of Education sends food for hot-lunch for all students; plus breakast and dinner for the boarding students. They didn't send enough, or the cooks increased the portions exponentially. Either way, in March, the students began eating only rice 3 meals a day. UNACCEPTABLE! Back at home, I usually eat canned tuna & rice (with Frank's RedHot hotsauce, care of my parents).
12:30p - 5th period - last class of the day. We always start late because the students are lazy and full of rice and they saunter back to my classroom as if expecting nothing other than afternoon siesta.
12:40p - I am fanning myself desparately because I always wear long pants when I teach (as opposed to shorts...or a skirt), and the 1 minute walk really works the body up. Equatorial heat; enough said.
1:30p - Bell rings and I'M FREE! Actually, I usually stick around and do my lesson planning for the next day, and/or grade papers, and/or rearrange the desks, clean the chalkboard, or ask the 12th grade boys from Kuttu to come sweep out my classroom (I ask the Kuttu boys because they stay in the dorm, and on weekends, they usually loiter around the room if I'm working, so I give them menial labor to help them pass the time. They're good conversation, too.)