Teaching

Well. Next semester should be an adventure. I'll continue teaching my four math classes every day, which means grading homework for four classes every day. I'm pretty sure that math teachers have more work than other teachers, but I might be biased. Also, the yearbook teacher is in America until March due to his wife giving birth (and wanting to do it stateside for legal/processing reasons), so since I "taught" that class last year, I'm subbing for him for two double periods per week. Our art teacher left in November (I bought his desk, remember?), and since he was the only art teacher we had for K - 12, we've been trying to come up with ideas for art classes next semester. After much thought, the administration finally settled on offering a graffiti/street art class, choir, and batik making (taught by a local Indonesian) for the 9th - 12th graders.

At this week's teacher meeting, the batik class was brought up, because at that time, nobody had met the person who was going to be teaching the class, so nobody knew if he/she spoke English or had ever even taught in a school before. It was recommended that another teacher sit in on the class to help translate, to enter grades in the system, and to try to maintain some semblance of classroom order. Naturally, I'm not busy enough, so I offered to help. I like batik, and it would be sweet to learn how to make it! So for the first half of next semester, I will be teaching 6 classes, and I will have one prep period per day. Aish.

This morning, I met the man who will be teaching it, Pak Agung. He's an older man, VERY soft-spoken and reserved, and doesn't speak a lick of English. Absolutely perfect for teaching a class of 20 rowdy foreign high schoolers. Or not... So we'll see how that goes...

If you are reading this and you have no clue what batik is, I've linked the Wikipedia link HERE, so check it out! It's really cool!