Last week I was insanely busy so I had no time to post anything, and now that I am free my internet connection at home is temporarily offline. As soon as I get my problems sorted out, I will resume posting regularly.
\nToday we had a long meeting with members from Hokubu Shogakko, Yamaga Shogakko, and Ubuyama Chugakko in attendance. This year, the 6th graders will be attending interschool lessons once a week for the whole day in the chugakko, as a new test program. Eventually, the plan is to unite all three schools in a new 1st though 8th grade facility, but the village is still deciding whether or not it is an economic viability.
\nThe new program sounds like a progressive, daring idea on one hand (especially for classes other than English, which will have one or two teachers leading the class), and a waste of resources on the other. I will now be teaching about 30 kids with the help of 4 other teachers. Will having 5 teachers in an English class, with a 1 teacher\/6 student ratio, help the students to develop an interest in English and foreign subject matter? Since only 2 of us use English in the classroom while the rest usually prefer to remain in a trance for the duration, I will try and spread around the responsibility of teaching and providing input and feedback to get everyone involved instead of contemplating Koan in their hiding places in the back of the room.
\nThe meeting lasted 2 hours and I zoned out for most of it. The only thing that saved me was creating lesson plans, scratching out kanji, and practicing haiku. Needless to say, I created 2 good lesson plans to start off with and 10 haiku. Maybe the haiku will help to sketch the meeting as I experienced it.<\/p>\n
An open forum
\nOnly two people talking
\nOf fifteen of us
\nLast year’s lesson plan
\nDrafted by a green teacher
\nNeeds to be revised
\nFive teachers, one class
\nis this a good idea?
\nsomething tells me no
\nAsses getting sore
\nThe creak of old folding chairs
\nObjection sustained!
\nKocho looks at me
\nOur Ill Communication
\nThe others stare down
\nMeiso, ima
\ntsumaranai meetingu
\ngeijitsu tohii
\nJapanese mind fog
\nMy brain is simmering down
\nAnd nothing is left
\nMind crushing boredom
\nCaffeine not working for me
\nMust get out of here
\n“Blah blah ALT”
\nSpine unconsciously straightens
\nRelax, false alarm
\nFallen sakura
\nStudents fighting with blossoms
\nSeen though a window<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt must have looked like I was paying attention and taking notes like everyone else. I was being productive, just not in the manner of anyone else in the room. If only they let me bring my computer to meetings I could play Mafia while they were talking about time allocation between subjects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week I was insanely busy so I had no time to post anything, and now that I am free my internet connection at home is temporarily offline. As soon as I get my problems sorted out, I will resume posting regularly. Today we had a long meeting with members from Hokubu Shogakko, Yamaga Shogakko, … Continue reading