I Never Thought I Was Organized Until I Moved to Ecuador...

So, I've been trying to write an update here for a few weeks, but with the start of the new school year, I've just been too busy. I returned to school for preplanning on March 22, and the students returned on April 5. And it has been a very interesting start for me. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Schedules: I didn't actually find out what I was teaching until about 3 or 4 days before school started. I was at school a week and a half before they told anyone what classes they would teach. You'd think they'd have gotten that together before all the teachers returned. They kept telling us to hurry up and turn in our micro and macro plans for the year, but we didn't know what classes to plan for!
2. Changes: There's always a lack of communication at my school. And therefore, there are always changes that occur out of nowhere because no one gets told. For example, our schedules were changed 3 times once school started. Actually, this past Monday, I had students from one class enter my room, and I told them they didn't have my class until later in the day because the schedule had been changed Friday afternoon. They told me that it had been changed again that morning. About 10 minutes before the end of that class, I received my new schedule. Seriously? They tell the students about schedule changes before the teachers?! They also changed the lock on my classroom 3 or 4 days after the students came back and didn't tell me. It took me another 3 or 4 days to finally get someone to give me a new key. Aaahhhh!!!!!
3. Class Rosters: They don't actually give these to teachers either. After not having one for the first week, I went to ask if they had the official rosters ready or not. The secretaries looked at me like I was the strange one and said that yes, of course. Then they pointed me to a big stack of manila folders labeled by class. I just had to go through them and find mine for each of the classes I taught. Crazy me for thinking they would give them to us without us asking!
4. Students: My classes are quite overwhelming this year. I'm teaching 4 10th grade classes and 2 11th grade classes with a total of about 175 students. Grading papers is going to be a nightmare!!! The 10th grade classes are pretty tough, but I think I just need to be patient. So many of them are used to teachers who run a dictatorship, so when they come to my class they think they can go crazy. It's hard for them to learn the balance, so I've had to come down pretty hard on them. However, my 11th grade classes are really nice. They're the same students I had last year, so they already know my routine and how I do things.
5. Parents: One of my earlier posts talked about students who could take supletorios. Well, I have even still had to give additional supletorio exams this past week as students are still trying to pass from the year before. Which also means I have parents still coming to me. And since the school just lets them come whenever, they show up in my room unexpected quite often. I have had one mother come to my room everyday for the past week and a half. Then, on Thursday, she came 3 times! I actually had to get in her face and tell her to get out the last time. She still wouldn't leave, so I had to leave and go get someone to make her. I got so frustrated that I just started speaking English to her. Ha! She wouldn't stop talking and begging me to give her child a little gift of a few points (a few points for her daughter being 22 points). Yikes!
6. Heat: The heat really is getting to me. With no air conditioning in the classes and not really enough breeze from the windows or fans to keep 35 kids cool, I just drip with sweat all day. It's so gross! And it really wears me down actually. I'm sooo tired at the end of the day! But, Wilson and I are going to buy me an extra fan to just sit at my desk, so hopefully that will help!

So, all of that to say that I've had a crazy few weeks. It was definitely much easier to start the year back at Collins Hill. But, I remember that I thought it was kind of rough when I first started back in August, and I eventually got used to it and enjoyed my students. So, I just need to be patient. Wish me luck!