Big Changes!

I cannot believe I have been here over two months. When I first arrived, I felt like I had all the time in the world, and now I feel as though it is slipping away from me too quickly! Where is my time going? I always feel so busy- at school and out of school. Especially in the last couple of weeks!

Here's what's been going on...

... in School:

Back in the beginning of February, our principal left to take an administration position at some kind of adult education school in Dubai. We (as in the foreign teachers) weren’t exactly sure what changes that would bring, good or bad. One characteristic of our environment that took a drastic turn was the level of effective communication between faculty and administration. WOW.

I constantly think about just how much gets lost in translation here. The culture of relationships between people, business and personal, is so different than at home. When Thais have news that isn’t good, they simply don’t give it. You are left to find it out for yourself. In the U.S. we have a problem with this, because, well, it simply is not efficient. This, my friends, is where I have had to learn patience. And I consider myself to be a very patient person. Had our principal not sent us an email from his new post one week later, the teachers might never have known, or been left to find out through the students. The principal of NICS, for better or for worse, was our liaison with the Thai administration.

Since the beginning of March, we have also lost the associate director to the mayor’s other school, gained a new director (and the director he usurped was actually demoted), lost a teacher to the mayor’s other school, and just today, in the middle of midterms week, a new teacher began working. Please note, also, that we found all of this out by chance- no one ever informed us of what was happening. In addition, Teacher Meaghan is in Bangkok, gathering resources for our new library, and we have to cover all her classes too. Oh, did I mention it’s midterms week?

Meanwhile, I was asked by the associate director to be responsible for the hiring. At first, I thought he just wanted me to filter through some of the resumes that were coming in. But then, he was asking me to schedule AND conduct the interviews  AND make the final decision (the mayor actually makes the final final decision).  In my meeting today with the director, I found out the mayor has asked that before the directors send the prospective new teachers to him, I need to have given my stamp of approval.  (I am quite flattered by this- last week I interrupted a meeting the board was having with the mayor. He seemed quite bothered by the interruption. It was a completely awkward moment, and I thought for sure I had made it to his “bad” list.) To add to that, I’ve been handed schedules, been asked to attend meetings with the board and mayor, and a HUGE stack of books magically appeared on my desk- I am now to select the textbooks for next year. Seriously?

I am still just working through being a teacher! Figuring out how to balance different instructional methods, make the curriculum relevant to the lives of the students I teach, employ effective methods of assessment… And now I have this. Secretly, though (and I guess it is not such a secret anymore), I kind of like it. It’s a good feeling to be handed a lot of responsibility. It’s a challenge. And, I get hands-on experience with how school outside of the classroom, the politics, the relationship to the community, etc., all works. And it works HARD.  I am not making all these decisions on my own, however. I don’t think I know enough or have the wherewithal to, simply because of lack of experience. I am constantly looking things up online, conferring with the other teachers (there are only four of us, and I have been working there for the least amount of time), and have sent a few emails to people with experience at home. I want this school to live up to its potential!

Today, in the meeting with the directors about the need for collaboration and communication between administration and faculty, I communicated as best as I could, and as diplomatically as I could, the huge disconnect. More than anything, if we are going to meet students’ needs at this school, we all need to be on the same page. And, we also talked about some basic needs- curtains to eliminate the glare on the whiteboards, more than one copy of the books we use for literature circles, giving the students a twenty minute break in the morning instead of working straight through to lunch…I think, although I can never be too certain because of the whole “lost in translation” factor, that we have finally sorted out this issue of communication. Which will lend a hand to sorting out all the other issues…

…And I had no idea I had so much to write about this! I have so much more to write about: a walking tour of my city, a trip to the temple, going on an adventure to a Thai friend’s ranch, and a visit to the local orphanage. I guess all of this will have to wait until tomorrow… or the day after J