I'm Not in Kansas Anymore

This is an amazing place for students.  Not only does the school have great financial resources, but the teaching staff is phenomenal.  We have 40 teachers and learning specialists in the high school for only 200 students (about a 1:5 ratio).  I teach popular classes so three of them have 16-20 students, but two others are very small (4 and 5 students).

I think I've gone through the looking glass and been transported to the set of an Asian version of Pleasantville.  The students are exactly what I hoped to find - friendly, very polite and funny.  A number of them are very concerned about my neck injury, and genuinely want me to recover quickly.  They mass outside the doors five minutes before class begins so they won't be late, which is quite a change from searching for frequently tardy or missing students.  This week my grade 12 class and I realized that the old teacher had forgotten to leave two sets of student research papers that are necessary for graduation.  If I don't find the papers, the students will have to redo the work.  In the U.S. the students would have been yelling and calling their parents to complain.  These students seemed nonplussed and I even had them laughing when I suggested that we each pitch in $50 to send someone to find the teacher in Saudi Arabia (and kick his ass).  The students also seem years behind American students in social development.  I don't think premarital sex and teen pregnancy are going to be major issues here.  That is not to say that some of the boys don't have drooping beltlines and some of the girls don't try to show a little too much skin, but it seems more wholesome somehow.  I do suspect that some serious drinking goes on, but I'm not getting the impression that drugs (other than a little marijuana) are a problem here at all.  I'll be interested to see later if my first impressions are accurate.

This week we spent several half days in trust exercises and community building games.  The kids had a blast and we all got to know each other better.  They finished up on the school's climbing wall.  I will have to screw up the courage to try it sometime while I am here (if I can get my feet and hands to stop shaking long enough to even reach the first foothold).  We also did skits on the major school rules.  My advisory had technology, and we did everything you're not supposed to do.  I don't think anyone will soon forget the infamous line - "I need to use the computer to get on www.hotstuff.com.  It's like Hotmail only better."  The teachers did a fashion faux pas show with baggy pants, inappropriate t-shirts and other clothing, and one teacher in drag with a miniskirt, purple pumps, a tight top and a pink wig.  We made sure all of the cameras and phones were put away before we started!  I had a great time emceeing it.


So, I survived my first week and am ready for a great year!