Last week I began my career as an official teacher. I have two periods of sixth graders and two class periods of seventh graders, a grand total of about 90 hormonal beings. The first week of school was blissfully deceiving as the children behaved like cherub angels, quiet and obedient, staring at me with wide eyes full of awe at my wisdom....ah...those were the days. Now it is week two of school and their true colors are starting to show. I'm sure it is no surprise to any of you veteran teachers out there that there is some sort of imaginary line running down the center of my middle grades classroom that divides the boys and girls, (apparently everyone still has cooties.) which results in a lot of NOISE! Also, there seems to be a virus that every 12 year old has that impairs their hearing and makes them feel like they are the funniest person in the room. I almost burst a blood vessel today because I think I explained the meaning of "context clue" about 40 times! Aside from all their annoying behavior and their part-time deafness, they are nice kids-they are rowdy and loud, but they are not spiteful or authority hating, so I guess I still like them. And now for some pictures:
Nothing is more exciting than bulletin boards, I know...it's just that... I worked so hard on them! I printed out names of my favorite adolescent novels, put up pictures of book covers and highly inspiring "Read" posters...if you are still in school, you should appreciate bulletin boards more. Why? Because teachers are forced to slave over them all year long!
I took this picture at the end of the day so the desks are all crooked, but this is the back of the classroom (featuring bulletin board #2).
This picture is for Laura Carr, my mentor teacher from last year. I have about 5 of these posters all over the classroom featuring overused words. The minute I saw them, I thought of her badgering her 10th graders last year about all the cliche' words they use in their writing.
This is my desk...it's messy, I know...organized chaos people, organized chaos..
Bulletin Board # 3 featuring my Word Wall!
Ha! Close, but no banana! The teacher who taught 7th grade last year was Ms. Jena and they still haven't taken her name down from above the door so I get called "Ms. Jena" a lot.
In other news, we should be getting our car any day now (fingers crossed). We shipped my sweet ol' Geo Tracker over here back in June and she's been sitting in the storage yard since early August but we haven't been able to get her out yet because we have to have this Bahrain ID card which takes more than TWO WEEKS to process. So I have been getting rides to school from co-workers and not exploring Bahrain because to do that, YOU NEED A CAR! We have been living in not the nicest hotel since we got here because are still in the process of house-hunting, and it is an understatement to say that we are tired of it. We are sooooo ready to have our own space again since we both have been living out of suitcases for the last 3 plus months. Also, taking a dog down a flight of stairs and through a lobby four-six times a day gets old fast. Other than those minor complaints, things are going well for us here in Bahrain.
View from my classroom window:
Nothing is more exciting than bulletin boards, I know...it's just that... I worked so hard on them! I printed out names of my favorite adolescent novels, put up pictures of book covers and highly inspiring "Read" posters...if you are still in school, you should appreciate bulletin boards more. Why? Because teachers are forced to slave over them all year long!
I took this picture at the end of the day so the desks are all crooked, but this is the back of the classroom (featuring bulletin board #2).
This picture is for Laura Carr, my mentor teacher from last year. I have about 5 of these posters all over the classroom featuring overused words. The minute I saw them, I thought of her badgering her 10th graders last year about all the cliche' words they use in their writing.
This is my desk...it's messy, I know...organized chaos people, organized chaos..
Bulletin Board # 3 featuring my Word Wall!
Ha! Close, but no banana! The teacher who taught 7th grade last year was Ms. Jena and they still haven't taken her name down from above the door so I get called "Ms. Jena" a lot.
In other news, we should be getting our car any day now (fingers crossed). We shipped my sweet ol' Geo Tracker over here back in June and she's been sitting in the storage yard since early August but we haven't been able to get her out yet because we have to have this Bahrain ID card which takes more than TWO WEEKS to process. So I have been getting rides to school from co-workers and not exploring Bahrain because to do that, YOU NEED A CAR! We have been living in not the nicest hotel since we got here because are still in the process of house-hunting, and it is an understatement to say that we are tired of it. We are sooooo ready to have our own space again since we both have been living out of suitcases for the last 3 plus months. Also, taking a dog down a flight of stairs and through a lobby four-six times a day gets old fast. Other than those minor complaints, things are going well for us here in Bahrain.
View from my classroom window:
JENNY!!! Its Amanda... I sat here, at home in the RGV, reading this and it made me so proud of you. There you are, all the way on the other side of the world, having a fabulous life... I got a little teary eyed. You are just fabulous! Be sure to post pictures here and on facebook of those little boogers! I'm sure by the end of the year, they'll love you "Ms. Jena" haha!
ReplyDeleteLove and miss you girl!
-Amanda
Aawwwww... I feel so special! My aversion to cliches is reaching the other side of the world! I'll let your ARC students from last year know how you're doing... they ask about you frequently.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad a major part of your life is creating a bulletin board. This must make life extremely great. I am very happy for you. *Hands clapping eagerly* Are you neighbors still grossed out and/or terrified by ferret?
ReplyDeleteHaha, well the neighbors have moved out already, but I still do get a lot of stares and pointed fingers walking around outside with her. We were going upstairs the other night and this Arab man stopped me and asked if she was a Chihuahua and when I tried explaining what a Dachshund was, I only got looks of confusion.
ReplyDelete