One School Year Down

[I am moving some entries from my old blog to this one. This was from June 4, and I wrote it during my post-planning time.]

Ok, so today is the official last day of my first year here in Cairo. I wanted to write about what teaching was like this year; I'll get to life in Cairo next week when I am relaxing and have nothing else to do.

I just finished my 12th year teaching. That seems hard to believe. Can I be this old already?

As I am writing this, the lucky senior class is off at Obama's speech here in Cairo. Lucky them!

Cairo American College is an international school located in Ma'adi, one of the suburbs of Cairo. Originally created by US expats in the 1940's, it follows an American curriculum and has classes from Pre-K to 12. There are separate elementary, middle, and high school divisions. There are about 1400 students, 150 teachers, and numerous support staff. About half of the students are US citizens (this is loosely defined, since several were born there but never actually lived there). Due to the school divisions, I really did not meet many middle and high school teachers this year except for those who were "newbies" with me, lived in the luxurious Kimo high-rise (hear the sarcasm here, please), or were on committees with me. If you want to know more about the school, you can visit www.cacegypt.org and read about it there.

This year, I returned to first grade after four years in upper elementary. The transition was easy thanks to the great first grade program that was already in place. I had materials for lessons in every subject area, a teacher resource center with additional books, great colleagues who were able to answer all my stupid questions, and supportive administrators. I overplanned for the first day and ended up taking three days to do everything I thought would be done in a day. First graders work much more slowly than fifth graders!

I had a dream schedule. I had 40 minutes for lunch, a 20 minute morning recess break, and specials every day. We had music twice a week, Arabic three times a week, PE twice a week, library once a week, tech lab once a week, and Egyptian culture once a week, all of which were 40 minute periods. Art was once a week for 80 minutes. In addition, we had Zaki. Zaki is a god that I worship. He does all our copies, laminating, bookbinding...it's magical and wonderful! And I had Hebba and Sarah, two fantastic aides, for four half-days a week. I didn't know what to do with them at first because I was so used to teaching without help.

The biggest difference between fifth graders and first graders is the amount of times you have to repeat instructions. Even on the last day of school, I had to remind a few kids about how we sit during Morning Meeting. I repeat all instructions at least five times, then take questions, then find myself repeating them again. It was a bit frustrating at times, but eventually I just got used to it.

Another thing that hit me early in the year was how tired I was! I was falling asleep by 8 pm every night for about the first month of school. In fifth grade, I did not have to circulate and be as animated as I do with the little ones. I was constantly walking around the room, monitoring work, redirecting behavior and attention, and answering questions. Always there were questions. 16 kids asking 16 different questions at once sometimes. I remarked to the parents at Back to School Night that their kids were wearing me out!

But the kids were great! I had some interesting personalities: outgoing, shy by choice, energetic, opinionated, overachieving (yes, that is possible at 6 years of age), arrogant, self-centered, coddled, and friendly. The kids were quite a mix of nationalities: Colombian, Korean, Chinese/Australian, Australian, American, Egyptian, Moroccan, Danish, and Canadian (but actually Chinese/Algerian). I worked at getting them to be independent (one mother told me the first day of school that her daughter was unable to wipe her bottom; I remarked that wasn't my job to do for first graders). I wanted them to make their own choices (preferable the right ones), tie their own shoes, find their own pencils, answer their own questions; in short, not to be quite so reliable on me for everything!

Some kids flourished; other needed support. However, all my students made progress this year (and I have tons of paperwork to back that statement up!). Most are ready for second grade. A few will hopefully mature a little more this summer. Several cried at the end of the day yesterday. I had tears in my eyes, but wasn't really crying.

I had a few challenges that were student-related, but I won't trouble people with those stories so I can protect the not-so-innocent. However, suffice it to say I was friendly with the counselor this year.

Outside of my classroom, I coached MS boy's volleyball. That was an experience with its shares of ups and downs. I was on the Teacher Appraisal committee and the Strategic Plan Review committee. I joined the ES Language Arts committee as well.

I am looking forward to returning to teach here next year. I have been accepted to a training program for literacy coaches organized by NESA (our school association) that will keep me busy next year. I am looking forward to working with my great team again and having a new batch of little lovies.

In all, I made the right choice coming to CAC. I'm happy teaching here, and I'm happy thinking about teaching here a few more years.