Saturday, August 14, 2010

1000 dollars for cinnamon rolls

At one of our staff meetings this week, we were told that because of budget cuts, our cinnamon rolls for the 10 mornings we have PLC meetings will be cut.  One teacher, whom was not named, cut a check for $1000 after the meeting to be used for the rolls.

You know that you work in a special school when someone is generous enough to do this.  I am sincerely thankful for the donation.  The rolls are a great way to promote excitement in the morning (perhaps the sugar has something to do with it...) and to keep us going all through the day.

However, I have some moral problems with this.  The biggest problem I have is the fact that there are tons of other needs that we have for instruction that we cannot have because of budget cuts.   Other problems include the fact that other schools in low-income areas need basic supplies that families of students cannot provide and $1000 would go a long way for them.  When I try to justify it myself, I think that in only my second year, maybe I still don't value small rewards for myself as much as I should.  Maybe there is much more value in treating myself every once in awhile, so that I may be a calm, collected, creative, impacting teacher.

Regardless of my moral problems, this donation speaks volumes of the school I teach at.  I feel thankful every day that I am able to work among such a generous, caring, and understanding community. 

"You must be the change you wish to see..." in the world language classroom.

So this past week was our first week back at school.  Monday the kids come back.  My rooms (I say rooms because our schedule is like a college's so we all share different rooms throughout the school) are in presentable condition.  I have lesson plans for the first week back, and I'm feeling more relaxed than last year at this time.

The most exciting news of the year is that I was given the go-ahead to use the TPRS method this year!  I approached my department head after our first department meeting and asked.  She was excited that I wanted to try something different.  Wahoo!  After that, I asked about purchasing the novels that we will read each Friday only to find that we definitely don't have enough money in our budget to buy the books.  Problem was solved however because the students are warned that they may have to pay a small fee for a "reader" to be used in the class.  This is only a slight hiccup on the road to what I hope is the best year yet!

I've planned this week to start out with minimal talking at the students and maximum language contact time.  I hope this change in delivery pays off in the end of the week.  Monday all the classes have different assemblies to go to during different periods, so I'll spend most of the time getting to know the students instead of going over the rules.  The following days will be spent circling with the student information sheets and the first ask a story sessions.  Friday is a special day in which students will get their Spanish names and will create their own flag to represent themselves (after researching what different colors represent on flags, etc). 

This should be a great first week.  I'm just trying to calm my nerves because I'm used to having everything planned to a T.  Which seems kind of impossible with the circling with student information sheets, but we'll give it a go!