(Mis)adventures in Teaching: Getting Ready for the Kids

Jorge and I had a lovely, relaxing weekend at the beach and taking in some Afro-Peruvian music, but on Monday it was nose to the grindstone as the school year gets off the ground.

As of last Friday, my contract officially started with the school. This week has been a whirlwind of theory, planning, logistics, revising curricula, finding lost documents, and meeting my colleagues. The kids come the first week of March, so we have another week and a half to prepare everything.

So far, it's been quite overwhelming. I'm teaching 3rd and 4th grade English, and I found out that I will also be the 3rd grade science teacher. That was a shock, but now I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to do all those fun experiments with the kids! And this is their first year of science, so it will be exciting to see their enthusiasm and watch how they develop into little scientists. We're going to learn how to measure and estimate, watch how plants grow, and learn about the solar system.

However, I'm still terribly nervous about managing thirty 8-year-olds at once. On top of that, there are two "special cases" in the 3rd grade, and they are BOTH in my section! One child has a learning disability and will have a tutor, and the other has Asperger's and is prone to being disruptive in the class. Next week, we will have some meetings about these special cases and hopefully they can give me advice on how to handle them.