Traveling abroad with students

I had a whole post typed out, describing my trip in Europe, and then it disappeared. I guess that's what I get for trying to type it up on my phone in Airplane Mode...

So, I spent the beginning of my summer break with eighteen students, three other teachers, another group from a school in Missouri, and an EF Tours tour guide, traveling around Europe--specifically Germany, France, and Spain. We had a jam-packed trip, and were exhausted every night. The students were really awesome, and I'm glad they were able to go, especially to experience the language and culture that they were learning in context. Overall, it was a really great trip. I'm hoping to plan one for the future of just the German-speaking countries, though.

Because it was so jam-packed full, I'm going to try to give you the highlights of the trip, since the details would go on for far too long.

We left June 8 and had an overnight flight to München. Once we arrived, we waited for the other school from Missouri to arrive and then went full-force ahead into the day. We first went to Dachau, a concentration camp. It was unfortunate that we went to a concentration camp on the first day of the trip, because the students were so exhausted that I don't think they were able to appreciate it fully. After that, we spent some time at BMW-Welt, with some awesome cars and motorcycles (did you know Mini Cooper is made my BMW? I didn't!), followed by a walking tour of the city, and finished by dinner and then finally the hotel. We were exhausted. Needless to say, I slept like a rock.

The next day, we went to Neuschwanstein, which is the famous castle that Mad King Ludwig II built (and that the Disney Cinderella castle is supposedly modeled after). We had a tour of the castle and time to look around after. Then we went to Oberammergau and had an awesome tour of the Passionstheater, which is where they perform the Passion play of the life and death of Jesus Christ--but only every ten years!

The following day, before heading to Heidelberg, we had a really interesting 3rd Reich Tour, where we walked around Munich and were told of all the places that were of importance in the making of and during the 3rd Reich. It was really interesting to see, because you wouldn't know it by just looking at the places as-is. Then, we had some free time, where I finally got to buy my very own Dirndl :-) There was a lot of traffic on the way to Heidelberg, so we made it in time for dinner and that was it.

The next day, we had a tour of Heidelberg, including the castle and the wine cellar, followed by plenty free-time before dinner, in which I bought some German kids books and German movies for my classroom.

The next day, we drove to Paris, stopping in Reims for lunch and to see the cathedral. Once in Paris, we had a delicious dinner and a boat tour on the Seine river (which could be romantic, just not with three other female teachers and 18 students). The students LOVED seeing the Eiffel Tower and took full advantage of the free-time afterward to take pictures in front of it, buy delicious crepes, and buy a zillion Eiffel Tower figurines from all the street sellers there.

The following day, we had a bus tour of Paris, and time to visit the Notre Dame. On the way to the Louvre museum, we saw the famous bridge of locks (with an INSANE amount of locks, let me tell you.) Once in the Louvre, we had just enough time to see the Mona Lisa and the Napolean apartments (although the students were so exhausted, many of them booked it for the Mona Lisa and then sought out benches until it was time to go). Then, we went to dinner, wandered up the Champs Élysées and finished the night by climbing the Arc de Triomphe for one of the best views of Paris.

Although we normally spent every day with the other group, sometimes only one group wants to go on the extra excursions offered by EF Tours. The next day, my school wanted to go to Versailles, and only half of the other group wanted to go. The other half went to the Catacombs, the Eiffel Tower again, and Montparnasse/Sacre Cœur. I decided to go with them, which ended up being a lot of fun and really cool to see. We met up with the rest of the group/my school at Montparnasse/ Sacre Cœur (where there's a lot of really cheap shops). After dinner, we went to Montmartre Tower, for probably the BEST view of Paris.

The next day, we were supposed to have a train to Avignon, but there was a train strike, so we had to take a bus for 12 hours. I secretly love long bus and train rides, because it's a chance to sit and think and watch the beautiful scenery pass you by. I love putting in my earphones, playing my current favorite music, and just looking out the window. Although, after 12 straight hours with 40 teenagers on a bus, that tends to be a little less lovely. We stopped in Avignon really late, so we could see the outside of the Pope's Palace, which was amazing, but we didn't get to see the Aqueducts. So, we got to stay overnight in Avignon just to take another bus the next day (this bus was planned) to Barcelona. We stopped in Carcassonne on the way, which is a really cool medieval city, with a fortress and everything. Once in Barcelona, we had dinner and went back to the hotel.

The following day started out with a bus tour of Barcelona. After which we had a tour of La Sagrada Famíla, which is a church that isn't projected to be finished until 2026, and will have been in progress for over 100 years at that point. It was an amazing church, both on the outside and inside, and every single detail has a specific reason behind it. Goudi really put a ridiculous amount of thought into it. We had free time after the church, which was meant to explore the main shopping streets of downtown Barcelona, but the students were enraptured with the Mediterranean Sea and preferred to spend the whole time lying on the beach (save for 10 minutes where they actually went in the cold water). Oh well, this meant the adults got to split some real Spanish Sangria at a beachside café :-)

The next day we took a train--finally!--to Madrid. This happened to also be the coronation day for the new king, so it was crazy! There were people everywhere, some protesting the monarchy system, and police all over the place. We went to the Prado museum, where our tour guide had prepared a sort of scavenger hunt for us--and the royal botanical gardens, where the students had some free time to rent a little rowboat on the pond. We then had some free time to go shopping in Madrid, although it was crazy crowded because of the coronation.

For our final day before flying home, we had a tour of Madrid, including the bull-fighting arena and a tour of the Reina Sofia museum (with really cool Picasso and Salvador Dali pieces, but no pictures allowed). We had lunch, which was paid for by EF because of the train strike problems, and then my school group went to Toledo, while the other group stayed behind. We had a tour of the city, the church, a giant painting by Greco, the synagogue, and a sword-/jewelry-making place. We had dinner, and then said our goodbyes to the other school and the tour director. And although I was happy to be going home after twelve long (but good) days, I couldn't help but feel the familiar bittersweet sadness in the pit of my stomach. I guess my old blog name (europeanatheart.blogspot.com) was truer than I realized.

So, it was a good trip. It was thoroughly exhausting, as we were go-go-go for twelve days straight, from early morning to late evening. The students were great and real troopers. I'd say it was a successful first trip with students.

Thank God for the Summertime

Somehow a year has flown by, right before my very eyes. When I think back to my very first day at my school, the week before students started, it seems like forever ago. And yet I feel like I just started.

Today was the last day with students. Honestly, last week was kind of the last week with students, because most stopped coming after their exams were done, and grades were due on Monday, so there wasn't much of a point to come after Monday. That was strange and a little frustrating, because I didn't have a proper goodbye. When they left after their exams, I didn't know if they would be back for the handful of classes we technically had left or not. Some promised they would come say goodbye--while others mentally wished me good riddance, I'm sure. Some did come say goodbye, some passed their Well Wishes through other students, and some came to school until the very last day. Don't get me wrong, it was everything I wanted all year, just not at the right time. A work week without would have been great earlier in the year, but there's not much to done once grades are turned in and your room is packed away. The other Frau and I managed to work out a skeletal outline of what we want next year to look like (topics, grammar goals, quizzes, projects, etc.), so we did put the time to good use.

And my brain is buzzing with ideas for next year. I've been waiting for next year since day one of this year! I knew I would make mistakes this year. There would be days that were beyond frustrating and lessons that would flop and whole units or projects I would want to redo. And the beautiful thing about my job, is I get just the chance to do just that. And even the things I don't change might not work on next year's students, so I'll have to spontaneously change it at the right time. That's what I love about the job. Although my content does not really change, the students sure do. I'm fascinated by how students in one class can love an activity or ace an assessment while another class of the exact same lesson can hate the activity or fail the assessment. That's just how it goes. There's no special formula for being a good teacher or engaging your whole class or getting the students to learn your content; instead, there are tons of great methods and theories that all work for various students in various situations. But I wouldn't change that. Sitting around with the students this week reminded me just how much I love this job. I love how, even on the bad days, the classes zip by (unless I'm giving an exam). Weeks may seem long, but but the days generally don't.

When I think about all I anticipated and all I was unsure about, I still feel the same way in some ways. I understand the general workings of my school and responsibilities I have besides planning and teaching lessons. I have a better idea of the curriculum and the flow that it should have. And I have a year's worth of experience finally under my belt. But there's still so much I don't know. I don't claim to be the best teacher, or even close. I know I had some awesome ideas and awesome lessons, but I know I also had some miserable and awful lessons that I do not want to repeat next year. I'm constantly learning and figuring things out, and I hope that never changes.

Graduation was also yesterday, and as a teacher, I was in attendance. I only knew a handful of seniors, because the majority of my students were freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Seeing them all graduate made me think back to my high school and college graduation, and all the hope and excitement it brought. It also made me really excited to see the students I had this year graduate over the next three years. I know the ceremony will be more meaningful to me when I know more of the students. Hopefully I'm here long enough to see them all graduate! :-)

So, now I just have one more half-day--a half-day of stuffing envelopes for my homeroom class report cards, checking off everything on the school's checklist, and saying goodbye to the friends I've made. Then it's off to home for a week for my birthday week and Europe (Germany, France, and Spain) with the school for two weeks!

And now for the perfect song to describe my feelings about summer:

Thank God for the Summertime - Ben Rector :-)

Teaching in the 21st Century

Being a teacher in the 21st century is awesome! There's a ton of technology at my fingertips. I can use Google for finding already-made lessons or lesson supplements, and for all the images I need for teaching vocabulary. It's really excellent, and Google makes my life a zillion times easier.

There are, of course, downsides to all this modern technology. We are dealing with students who not only have shorter attention spans--because they expect to be constantly entertained--but also have an obsessive compulsion to be on their phone while watching a movie and listening to music, so why can't they be texting their best friend, updating Instagram, and learning in my classroom, all simultaneously? I mean, really, multi-tasking at it's finest, right?

And while that's frustrating, I can deal with that. I can take away phones after too many warnings. I can try to come up with exciting games to review material and video clips or songs to aide in the learning process. I can incorporate as much technology as possible. What I can't do is help what they do at home. I'm not talking about cyber-bullying, although that does break my heart. I'm talking about how my students have decided they need to know every detail of my personal life and some make it their mission to find out every detail. In a world of modern technology, anonymity is no longer an easy thing. I'm pretty open with my students. I'll tell them how many siblings I have, where I'm from, where I went to school, and how old I am. But I have to draw the line somewhere. But when I try to draw the line, they take that as a personal challenge to find me on every social media site online. It makes me want to delete all of my social media accounts--but then we're back to that age-old argument for so many different topics: They shouldn't control my life! When it comes to online profiles, whatever the site, I'm pretty safe and set all my privacy settings pretty high. I leave it public enough where real friends/family can find me, but try to make it private enough where the unwanted can't find me. But these kids are smart. They know their technology and know how to search for whatever they're looking for. I know how to, too, but I never thought I'd spend an afternoon googling myself and searching for all the places they might find me that I've forgotten about (like the Twitter account I had that I thought I'd deleted long ago, but of course, they promptly found it at the beginning of the year.)

Again, I'm okay with sharing basic information with them, as long as they ask me personally, but things get creepy and uncomfortable, when they come into class retorting that they found something of me online or they discovered my family members online. I can't protect my family from their creepiness, nor should I have too, right? I'm not a wild person or someone with a bad past, so there's nothing damaging to find on me, but it's just an extremely unwelcome violation of privacy. And I can't do anything about it. I can't take their home computers or cell phones when they aren't in my classroom. I hope that telling them I would contact their parents if it continued deterred the behavior for now...I guess I know I'm not cut out for the life of a celebrity.

On the bright side: Ten school days left!

Part of Your World

Wow, it's already been two weeks since Spring Break! Although this year has flown by, boy was I ready for it. After 10 weeks of no breaks, thanks to snow day make-up days, both teachers and students were itching for one.

And after discovering that I had the same spring break as my best friend, who is teaching in Honduras, I figured it was probably one of the only (if not the only) chance I'd have to go to Honduras, especially with someone who knew what she was doing, spoke the language, and knew the place more like a local than a tourist. So, I booked my tickets and counted down the days until I left.

On Sunday, April 13, I woke up at 3am so I could get to the airport in Charlotte, NC by 5. Everyone who has ever had to deal with me in the mornings knows that this was not something I was looking forward to. But the excitement of seeing my best friend and traveling (my how that itch needed to be scratched) overrode that, so it really didn't feel so terrible. Don't get me wrong, no part of me wanted to get out bed when the alarm went off all too soon, but it wasn't nearly as painful as I'd imagined ;-)

I made it to the airport by about 5:15, and breezed through checking my luggage, security, and my transfer in Atlanta. Even though my transfer time was less than an hour, and Atlanta is an enormous airport, I still made it to my gate before boarding even started. Easy peasy!

Then, I got to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The landing strip in Tegus is the 2nd shortest in the world, and to top it off, you have to fly extremely close to the mountains and buildings on the mountains to make it to the incredibly short landing strip. Luckily I found this out after we had landed, so it wasn't so scary, but boy am I impressed with those pilots now! Once I got off the airport and through customs (again, easy!), I looked for my bag. I didn't see it, so I tried asking a worker who was pulling bags to my fellow plane-mates if there were any more coming. He didn't really understand English, so he took my luggage tag and started looking. After a woman interpreted his question of what color my bag was, he continued looking and determined it was not there (which I already figured, since I didn't see it), so I joined the short but slow-moving line to find my luggage. Eventually they informed me that by bag was still in Atlanta--excellent--and would arrive the next day. Stupidly, I didn't pack any extra clothes in my carry-on, but I was able to borrow a few things from my bestie and we bought some of the necessities.

My luggage came just in time for me to pack another bag for our planned trip (within a trip?) to Copán.

So, we set out on Tuesday morning to Copan. We took a bus to San Pedro Sula (think Coach bus) and another bus (think run-down Coach bus) to Copán. We had to get up early, but with the time difference, it felt like getting up for school, so that was okay. The buses (especially the second) were slow, so we napped, read, listened to music, and played games on our iPhones/iPads. In San Pedro Sula we found out that the buses weren't going to be running on Friday, because of Holy Week. This was confirmed by an English-speaking Hotel owner we met on the 2nd bus, but he further informed us that the buses don't run on Thursday OR Friday. I was scheduled to leave on Saturday to go back to the States, so taking a bus after Friday was not an option. Which meant, that we spent only 20ish hours in Copán. It could have been frustrating or disappointing, except that I went into the trip with no expectations--I only wanted to see my best friend and see her life there. So, once we got to Copán, we laughed it off after a while and found some food for dinner before crashing for the evening. The next day, we saw the Mayan Ruins, which would have been disappointing if we had been unable to see them. They were intricate and ancient, full of questions that I don't know have answers. It's pretty cool to see and walk around in and ON such ancient things! Here are some pictures:

After the ruins, we went back to the hotel room, gathered our things, and headed to the bus station to go back to Tegucigalpa. 

Once back in Tegucigalpa, we went did things in and around the city. We went out to eat and went to a cute little town with lots of shopping and some restaurants. I had a papusa, which is like a Central-American grilled cheese, and later probably the yummiest fruit popsicle ever. She showed me her school and classroom. We also hung out at her house and played games on the Wii and Zumba-ed. We read books and listened to music and relaxed. It was really just nice to be. No school to worry about, nothing we HAD to do. We just got to spend time together. And that's all I really wanted in the first place: to hang out with my best friend and see her Honduran life. Check! :-)

Can I just leave this one untitled?

My, how this year has disappeared before my eyes. I don't know how the time between posts flies by so fast. Life certainly has been busy, though. The school year quarters just keep zipping by, and now we're nearly halfway done with the last quarter.

Last week, we had more standardized testing--this time, a test that all students have to pass in order to graduate--and I had to monitor. Unlike the PSATs, I was allowed to do grading and such while the students were testing. No electronic devices were allowed, but I'm okay with that. I got SO much grading done, and I even read a book (The Help, which I would highly recommend!) It was a relaxing start to the morning, but the afternoons were crammed with all four classes that we normally have and crazy, rambunctious students. Only the 10th graders take the test, so my freshman and juniors were hyper from sleeping in and going out to eat for sugary breakfasts. Relaxing morning + chaotic afternoon = just as tiring as normal days!

Last Thursday, we also had the first annual Faculty Follies. This was kind of like a talent show, but the intent was to be as ridiculous as possible. So, the other Frau and I helped in a dance number (Evolution of Dance of Class of 2014--dances to a handful of popular songs while they have been in high school) and we participated in the 12 Days of School (a parody of the 12 days of Christmas). It was a good time, and we raised money for the PTSO as a result.

This past Saturday was prom, and a bunch of the teachers dressed up and went to the prom. It was fun, but also strange! A few of us had Door Duty for a while, directing the students entering the prom, and then we just wandered around and got our picture taken together. It was fun to see the students all dressed up, but it was certainly strange being on the other side of it. I don't quite feel old enough to be on the other side...

This is the last week of school before spring break, and I'm headed to Honduras for a week to visit my best friend. I couldn't be more excited! I will write a post when I get back to share everything.

Being the mean teacher for a day

This week was a long week, let me tell you.

Without getting into all the long details (if you want them, feel free to email me privately), on Thursday, I was helping out with a school activity (and thus not present for first block) that resulted in some chaos and my usually awesome students making some very stupid choices. I was furious at them. I could not stop thinking about it the whole day. I could feel the angry adrenaline rushing through my veins whenever I thought of it and whenever I retold the story. (Don't worry, that side-effect has passed).

I knew I needed to talk to my class about it, but I didn't want to waste more class time or get into arguments. So instead, I began class like I usually do--greeting them at the door with a handshake and the bellwork was on the board for them to start with. The only difference was that I did not smile. I was very quiet and very stone-faced. My students knew I was very upset with them. They quietly did the bellwork (normally there's chatter and phones are out until I ask them to put their phones away--but not today) and then I went over the bellwork with them--still stone-faced.

We talked about what would be on the upcoming exam. Then I asked them to take out a piece of paper. I reminded them that I'm not here to teach myself German, because I already know it; and that I'm not in this job for the money, because by now, we all know that teachers don't make that much. So, they shouldn't apologize to me, but instead to themselves. I asked them to write a letter to themselves to apologize for wasting their own time to review for the exam. (Thanks to my mentor teacher for that suggestion). Then I stood there with my arms folded and my face stern while they wrote. Some of the responses were full of regret and some of the responses were full of the expected teenage "it's-not-my-fault" mantra. But I hope I got them thinking.

We worked for the rest of the block in silence. When the students had questions, I walked to their desks and responded quietly, still without my usual smile. It wasn't easy. I mean, it was easy to look angry because I was! But it wasn't easy to be a mean teacher. That's just not my style and I don't like it. My next two classes that day were abnormally lighthearted and silly--productive, but silly. And I definitely needed that after my angry morning.

There's a "rule" in teaching that they say often, especially to new teachers--No Smile Til Thanksgiving (some even say Christmas)--because that apparently shows the kids who's boss. I just can't do that. I have to get to know them and show them I care, and I do so by talking with them and smiling and laughing. Not smiling doesn't have to mean that you're being a mean teacher, but for me that's how it feels. Every teacher is different, and I'm not saying either is better, but it's just not my personal style. Maybe my classroom management would be better if I tried to follow that rule better, but at least for now, I think I'm doing okay.

Although I think they absolutely deserved the lesson and my "wrath" (that almost feels too strong of a word), I'm looking forward to resuming class on Monday with my usual smile and laughter.

Weekend Update

Well, school is chugging right along. Time sure flies and we're somehow already wrapping up the end of our third quarter. I don't know how I'm already three-fourths of the way through this year!

It's been good. Everyone says the first year is the hardest, and if that's the case, I think I'll be just fine.

I went into this year expecting it to be rough. I expected long nights at work, late nights continuing working at home, weekends filled with schoolwork, and to be tired all the time. And it has been exactly that, but it's been good. I am often at school until 6pm, although I've been trying harder later to just go home. I quickly get behind on grading and spend weekends and planning periods trying to catch up. I'm tired more often than I'm not and the best part of my week is crawling into bed on Friday night and turning off my alarm. That feeling is pure joy ;-) And I think about school all the time. But I try really hard not to, and I try really hard not to talk about it all the time. Not because it's bad to talk about it or think about it, but because I need to have other things in my life and other conversations in my life, otherwise the likelihood of a burnout is higher. I also expected the classes to be rough and students not to listen. But teaching as the teacher is a whole lot different than teaching as the student teacher or intern. I still have days where they don't listen, and I'm by no means a pro at classroom management, but it's a whole lot better than anticipated.

This whole year has been significantly better than initially expected. Maybe I mentally over-prepared myself for the worst, which I'd say is better than expecting perfection. And I can only hope that next year will be even better.

Of course, I already look back on things I've done--lessons I planned, activities I designed, and tests I wrote--and wondered what I was thinking. I kind of can't wait for five or ten years down the road. I'm so curious what things I will think were absolutely ridiculous or stupid, and what things I'll have kept the same.

And on the non-school side of things, I've joined two small groups through church, which definitely helps from keeping me a home-body ;-) One is on Tuesday, which forces me to leave school at a decent hour and socialize/praise God instead of stay at school until far too late and go home to a hungry cat and my bed. The other is on Saturday and starts this weekend, so I don't know much about it yet, but it'll also get me out of the house and socializing/praising God. I'm excited for these groups and to see what God will do in my life through them!

My mom and brother are coming down to visit in a week and a half, and I am SO excited! I have no idea what we'll do, but I have no doubt we'll have a fun time. I foresee board games and movies and forced cuddling with my brother (me forcing him, obviously. He pretends to hate it) and lots of hugs from my mom.

And in a month and a half, I'll be flying down to Honduras to visit my best friend, where she's been teaching for the past two years. We're going to do a little traveling, I think to the beach, but mostly I'm just really excited and ready for some best-friend time. And also for a vacation ;-)

Hasta luego (that's me, practicing my Spanish for Honduras, ha)