I originally started this blog with one short entry in January 2005, planning to post on it every week. It never happened that way... which is a shame, really, because I'm sure that there are many lost little anecdotes that might have been saved had I kept up with my endeavor to keep an e-journal. So, here I am again, three years later: still a teacher, but in a totally different place.
I used to teach English in Japan for a now-bankrupt mega-school, where students did what they were told, the paycheck was great, and classroom supplies appeared as needed. Now, I'm a Special Education teacher in a public school in California... in a bankrupt district, teaching amazing, frustrating, incredible inner-city teenagers, and working hard to help keep my wonderful little school in good repute.
My other half is also a teacher. Yes, I actually think of him as my other half: he's the peanut-butter to my jelly. (Or am I the peanut butter?) We teach the same subject, work in the same community, attend the same graduate classes.. and count down the days until our next vacations. It's very hard work. But we both have the philosphy that all we need in life are travel, purpose, a paycheck, and each other. We value our time more than money... and the best thing about taking such a poorly-paid job is having our summers off. In fact, thinking about the summer is what gets us through the bad days. That, and each other.
Just recently, we were deciding where to go this summer. We had so many great ideas, but I kept thinking back to something my students said. Most of my students or their families come from other countries, and they often look at my travel map to see if I've been to their hometowns. (I have a large world map on the wall with pins marking most of the places I've been to: 31 countries so far.) They always ask why there are no pins at all in South America or Africa. A very good question, I think.
So, after much deliberation, we bought tickets to South America for the summer (or, winter, if you look at it from the southern perspective). Hooray! How exciting!
Only eighty-six days of school to go.
I used to teach English in Japan for a now-bankrupt mega-school, where students did what they were told, the paycheck was great, and classroom supplies appeared as needed. Now, I'm a Special Education teacher in a public school in California... in a bankrupt district, teaching amazing, frustrating, incredible inner-city teenagers, and working hard to help keep my wonderful little school in good repute.
My other half is also a teacher. Yes, I actually think of him as my other half: he's the peanut-butter to my jelly. (Or am I the peanut butter?) We teach the same subject, work in the same community, attend the same graduate classes.. and count down the days until our next vacations. It's very hard work. But we both have the philosphy that all we need in life are travel, purpose, a paycheck, and each other. We value our time more than money... and the best thing about taking such a poorly-paid job is having our summers off. In fact, thinking about the summer is what gets us through the bad days. That, and each other.
Just recently, we were deciding where to go this summer. We had so many great ideas, but I kept thinking back to something my students said. Most of my students or their families come from other countries, and they often look at my travel map to see if I've been to their hometowns. (I have a large world map on the wall with pins marking most of the places I've been to: 31 countries so far.) They always ask why there are no pins at all in South America or Africa. A very good question, I think.
So, after much deliberation, we bought tickets to South America for the summer (or, winter, if you look at it from the southern perspective). Hooray! How exciting!
Only eighty-six days of school to go.
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