As of 4 pm yesterday I officially finished my first year of teaching in an international school!
My third year of teaching total!
Three years down, a lifetime to go...
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| My "countdown" since the start of the year.... (Not like I was impatient or anything) I still can't believe its actually been a year! |
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| Exams and Essays ALL GRADED!!!! This took me about 4 days of tireless reading and marking through the night to achieve... |
I feel so happy right now. I'm simply elated. No words can even begin to describe how happy and calm and "at peace" I feel right now. It is done. I have to keep reminding myself of that. I'm done.
These past few weeks have been excruciatingly exhausting. The weeks and days leading up to the Prom (May 31st) found me sleepless, appetite-less and utterly restless as I ran around organizing, leading, planning, paying, painting and gluing the pieces of "the biggest event of the year" together. Though I was incredibly stressed, the event went on without a hitch. The students were happy, the administration was happy and I was happy that it was finally over! Prom was absolutely beautiful and I couldn't have been more proud of the students who stood by my side and dreamed this entire thing into life. As much as I complained and agonized about this responsibility in private to my friends and family, it made me feel so good to help make my students' dreams come true.
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| Prom Set Up....the magic begins.... |
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| Students arriving to Prom...in, you know, their Ferrari's and things.... |
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| A Night to Remember......(8 Months to Plan) |
Once prom was over I thought my life would finally regain some sense of normalcy, but no. Then came exams.
And then came a cheating scandal.
Long story short: one of my sneaky tenth grade students discovered a folder of mine in which I had placed the answers to the ninth grade exam (let me first of all say that I never make answer keys for this very reason, but the English teaching substitute I work with asked me to make one to help her mark the exam). Within a mere second the student took out his phone, snapped a picture of the answers and sent it off to his ninth grade girlfriend who proceeded to distribute the answers to practically the entire grade. We caught three of the cheaters red-handed on the day of the exam (they had brought little cheat sheets into the exam room with them) and, through tireless investigating on the part of the high school principals, have identified several more students who were involved in this major breach of the school's honor policy.
It was an incredibly painful ordeal. Painful for me because at first I felt a tremendous amount of guilt (thinking that I should have had the answer key locked in my desk instead of on top of my desk) and then after I accepted that it was not my fault, my principal tells me that he discovered at least five other subject exams that had been compromised! Though I realize that shouldn't have made me "feel better" it did help me take the blame off myself. Clearly these students were on a mission...
After that first day, I felt frustrated and angry; not just for the inconvenience of having to re-write the exam and make every ninth grader re-take it, but for the stress and anguish this put so many of my sweet and honest students through. Each of them were interrogated like criminals (ironic considering my last place of employment) and made to feel guilty for not coming forward with information before the exam took place. Now I do not condone their behavior by any means, and I am very disappointed that many of my most trusted and mature students did not come forward, but I also remember what it was like to be fourteen and how terrifying it is to think that you could get in trouble for just speaking up. For the past few days I have had at least ten different students in my room crying (both boys and girls). Crying about the stress this has caused them, the fear of punishment, the fear of getting bullied, the guilt of not speaking up....Though cheating may not seem like a crime that hurts anyone, the ripple effect of it is dramatic and few are left unscathed.
But that is now over and done with. It was a mess, but it is done now. The entire high school has learned from this and I for one am more than happy to just move on!
So what is next on the horizon for me?
Well, in four days I fly to Belgium to spend some quality time with my Mom and sister. My Dad will then fly out there to join us at the end of the month once he finishes school. I plan on soaking up as much peace and quiet as I can. I plan on reading and writing every single day and dining on delicious foods and real wine. I intend to take a lot of walks, relax and disconnect myself from social networking for a while. Maybe I'll take up painting, who knows?!
On July 1st I head to Boston where I will eagerly leap into the arms of my beloved friends and family. I feel very disconnected from their lives and know that I owe them a great deal of time to make up for all those moments I missed throughout the year. The dearest people in the world to me are the ones who don't make me feel guilty for spending time away living my dreams. They embrace me after months of being apart and are genuinely happy to see me, as opposed to feeling upset or making me feel guilty that it has been too long. I think that is the true meaning of love -- to love someone unconditionally and not faulting them for their life choices. Just loving them for who they are.
I am incredibly grateful to have several people like that in my life. It is thanks to them that I never succumb to loneliness and it is thanks to them that I am able to find the strength in times of darkness to continue living my dreams no matter what obstacles may stand in my way.
Oh summertime.....here I come!!!
It was an incredibly painful ordeal. Painful for me because at first I felt a tremendous amount of guilt (thinking that I should have had the answer key locked in my desk instead of on top of my desk) and then after I accepted that it was not my fault, my principal tells me that he discovered at least five other subject exams that had been compromised! Though I realize that shouldn't have made me "feel better" it did help me take the blame off myself. Clearly these students were on a mission...
After that first day, I felt frustrated and angry; not just for the inconvenience of having to re-write the exam and make every ninth grader re-take it, but for the stress and anguish this put so many of my sweet and honest students through. Each of them were interrogated like criminals (ironic considering my last place of employment) and made to feel guilty for not coming forward with information before the exam took place. Now I do not condone their behavior by any means, and I am very disappointed that many of my most trusted and mature students did not come forward, but I also remember what it was like to be fourteen and how terrifying it is to think that you could get in trouble for just speaking up. For the past few days I have had at least ten different students in my room crying (both boys and girls). Crying about the stress this has caused them, the fear of punishment, the fear of getting bullied, the guilt of not speaking up....Though cheating may not seem like a crime that hurts anyone, the ripple effect of it is dramatic and few are left unscathed.
But that is now over and done with. It was a mess, but it is done now. The entire high school has learned from this and I for one am more than happy to just move on!
So what is next on the horizon for me?
Well, in four days I fly to Belgium to spend some quality time with my Mom and sister. My Dad will then fly out there to join us at the end of the month once he finishes school. I plan on soaking up as much peace and quiet as I can. I plan on reading and writing every single day and dining on delicious foods and real wine. I intend to take a lot of walks, relax and disconnect myself from social networking for a while. Maybe I'll take up painting, who knows?!
On July 1st I head to Boston where I will eagerly leap into the arms of my beloved friends and family. I feel very disconnected from their lives and know that I owe them a great deal of time to make up for all those moments I missed throughout the year. The dearest people in the world to me are the ones who don't make me feel guilty for spending time away living my dreams. They embrace me after months of being apart and are genuinely happy to see me, as opposed to feeling upset or making me feel guilty that it has been too long. I think that is the true meaning of love -- to love someone unconditionally and not faulting them for their life choices. Just loving them for who they are.
I am incredibly grateful to have several people like that in my life. It is thanks to them that I never succumb to loneliness and it is thanks to them that I am able to find the strength in times of darkness to continue living my dreams no matter what obstacles may stand in my way.
Oh summertime.....here I come!!!
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