Starting the School Year

(Originally posted August 2015)

New teachers started a week before the rest of the staff came back to campus. This time was split between getting to know the workings of the school and exploring the city. There are twelve foreign newbies this year, which, for a school of hundred foreign staff, shows relatively low turn over. We were toured around the city in a van to see the parks, malls, get our bank card, know how to use the local hospital system. We took a shopping trip to Tonalá for household items and a full day walking tour of the historical center and more shopping in Tlaquepaque. Some of the teachers and their families needed to furnish their apartments or needed help with the language barrier. My most exciting purchase has been a flower pot and the six little cacti that I planted in it. It sits on my back patio in the sun. The HR department has been dedicated to helping us settle in and feel comfortable in our new surroundings.

Within the school walls we’ve been busy as well. First readying ourselves for working at the school and then together with our teams to prepare for the next year. We’ve been on campus tours, been photographed and fingerprinted by security, learned how to make copies, get supplies and laminate. Our days also included small group trainings on the different systems for student support, math and literacy programs so that when the rest of the staff returned, we weren’t somewhere out in left field.  We even had a briefing on living in Mexico, which included how to find the best taco stands.

We’ve been welcomed, embraced and supported by all of the staff at ASFG in the past few weeks. There have been many breakfast and lunch gatherings with the whole staff and our school sections. After the first week, the entire staff returned and we could see what a massive school ASFG really is. The staff is very diverse in many aspects and forms a unique family as they work together and support students’ learning through their education from nursery to high school.

I’m adjusting to differences in planning and preparation at the new school. It took a fraction of the extra hours to prepare my classroom due to teaching an older grade and to having fewer materials here (the school is fully stocked, just most of my personal ones are in use back in Minneapolis or in storage in Madison). I’ll also be sharing the classroom with my co-teacher Maria Laura as we alternate between Spanish and English hours of the day. My team works together to develop plans and materials and we use Google Drive almost exclusively. With planning time embedded in the school schedule, most of the teachers are ready and out the door by midafternoon.

Stay tuned for the next update coming soon about the first week of school and my new students.