'2 down, 178 to go'

i honestly feel, at times, as though i am working foreign country. there are bazillions of differences in my 5 years of teaching experience and my life here at prospect heights high school. i need to say off the bat that my first week - 2 workdays and 1 1/2 schooldays so far - have not been BAD, at all. just DIFFERENT.

first of all, i am the only new teacher at my school. i think i have explained to most of you about how it is the school's last year. as part of the bill gates grant for the NYC schools, the movement is away from the 3000-pupil superschools, and into these smaller, more specialized schools. so my school, once a powerhouse comprising a 5 story building here in brooklyn, has over the past few years been broken down, with this year's remaining students -all seniors- being its final students. my school now occupies only half of one floor in the building.

so, basically, a lot is different for the faculty and staff here, too. many of them came in on our first day this week to walk into their old classrooms to find them completely empty, and in some cases, the locks had even been changed. their things had been boxed up by movers and piled into various other rooms. some teachers spent the day just trying to track down all their things.

so, as the one new teacher in the middle of this chaos, i feel a little as though i was forgotten about. i was not assigned a mentor, given a faculty handbook, or policies/procedures guide, or even a curriculum. it has all been very much hit-the-ground-running. i know it would be different if i was at one of the other schools in the building. i met a girl who is a new teacher in one of them, and she said over half their staff is new to the school this year. i can't help but yearn a little to be a part of that - to not feel like the only fish swimming upstream. but anyway.

the teacher i have replaced is retiring, but her contract officially goes until sept 15, so she has been around and has helped me get on my feet a bit. although she is a crazy crazy germaphobe but that is another post entirely. everyone i work with has been fine - though i think of all the friends i left at in VA and wonder where all my new pals are. the people here definitely seem like colleagues, not buddies, if that makes sense. i can't really see myself hitting happy hour with any of these people.

i do have a GORGEOUS, huge classroom. i guess over the summer they took 2 small classrooms, tore down the wall between them to make one big room (SO much bigger than my apt, ps), then gutted and renovated them completely. all my furniture is new, i have whiteboards (i HATE chalk!) and 2 nice computers and a brand new printer. so my actual teaching environment is amazing and i know i am lucky to have it.

the kids' first day was yesterday and the biggest shock that of the 89 kids on my attendance roles, i had 14 attendees. this is apparently compltely normal for the area. a lot of people told me up front that they "have trouble" getting kids to come the first week when school starts on a thursday, but i never imagined the extremity! so monday will be a more accurate portrayal of what it's like.

the kids so far have been great - no problems at all and none of the 'ooh, scary big city kids' fears. my sister did point out that the kids who come to school on the first day are probably the "better" of the kids i will have, but so be it. i can't complain at the moment. it is also a big change for me to be in the minorty as a white person. the majority of the students are black, many of whom have immigrant parents from the carribbean, trinidad and tobago, etc. we have some hispanic and indian students but i don't know that i have seen a white student yet. it's quite a change from my years in VA and also from my own public school education. again, not bad - just different.

the class periods here are 8 periods of 43 minutes that meet every day. i was excited about that, because although the 90-minute block schedule i am used to is great for fitting a lot in, a period that long can drag for my ADD ass. a 43 minute period goes by in a snap. unfortunuately, when i got my course assignments though, i been assigned only one regular length class and two double periods. the kids who are weaker in english or have not passed the regents exam (the big state-mandated test they need to pass t graduate) get placed in the double period classes. so much for the short classes - but it's been okay and should cut down dramatically in the overall amount of students i have. also, the way i have been instructed to run my classes includes starting with 20 minutes of independent reading each period, plus 10 or so minutes writing about what they have read. it's a good chunk of the period and i LOVE having basically what i remember from elementary school as sustained silent reading. i am scavenging books from everywhere to set up a diverse classroom library - i anticipate lots of trips to the used book store in the near future; book donations are welcome!

speaking of books - we don't use textbooks! that's been another huge change. my VP handed out a loose calendar of themes and topics to cover within the next month, with an attached list of suitable books we have in class sets of in the bookroom. BIG change from before when my curriculum was pretty rigid.

other differences…

• the kids go through airport-level security checks before entering the building - metal detectors, belts off, all that stuff…
• we have a person whose job it is to the xeroxing - you fill out a little form explaining what/how much you need and leave it with her, kind of like kinko's. it's great to not have to spend hours at the copier but not as easy if you just need a quick copy of something.
• lunch is at 10.40 everyday, which pretty much assures i will never eat breakfast…
• i do have my classroom for my 3 off periods, which is so awesome and was practically unheard of at my old school.
• since there are 5 schools sharing one building, no bells ring.
• we have no faculty lounge.
• the kids have the tendancy to call female teachers just "miss." no last name, just "miss." i think it's kind of endearing.
• there's a foreign language to go with my new foreign-country experience. homeroom is "section class", schedules are called "programs" … i'm trying to catch on quickly.
• dismissal is at 2.35 and teachers are out the door almost as fast as the kids, which i adore because i can be at home by 3 - gloriously early.

that's all i can think of right now. much of my content has been cribbed from a massive email i sent today, trying to avoid telling, retelling and repeating myself. but i want to keep people up-to-date. so many people have gone out of their way to check out on me, and i really do feel like i need the love. i'm starting to realize that when i am amidst major life changes the longing i have for my mother will be acute. it makes it hurt more when friends i thought i was close to haven't checked in. but for the most part my friends have been so excellently supportive, maybe perceptive of my neediness even before i knew of it…