Hooray! I’m back to my own classes today. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a long day. I have periods 1 & 2 classes on Thursdays. Period 1 begins at 8:00 am. With the hour commute on the train, and the need to arrive early to make sure everything is ready, I have to leave at 6:30 am. The commute is easier at this time of the morning. I spend about 20 minutes getting the room set-up with the projector and sound hooked up and ready to go.
There are four total classes of 11th graders (17 students per class). Two are meeting 1st period, and two are meeting 2nd period. Thomas Potter, the art teacher and I have to meet the 1st period combined classes and give them a spiel about our class. Then the students make their choice and off we go to our classes. I end up with 23 students, and 10 go to art. We repeat the process 2nd period, and I get 24 and he gets 12.
Thomas grew up in San Antonio, and his last teaching position was in Dallas, Oak Cliff. It was a much different scene than the Martin Cluster in Arlington where I’d been teaching. He moved to Beijing last February and began teaching part-time at BHSFIC. They managed to spread him out into enough classes, and even a few technology classes to allow him to be full-time this year. He is living with his girlfriend (now fiancé) from Ireland. They spent 3 weeks this summer touring Southern China and Vietnam. It was more of a bus-riding / hostel sleeping type thing. They got to see a lot that country, up-clase and personal.
After my morning classes, I spent time working in my room, then had lunch at the school. After lunch, I walked across the street to a Starbucks for a needed caffeine “hit”, then back to the school teachers lounge. The administration had asked if I was willing to teach a music elective for interested 10th graders on Thursdays. The class meets a “double-block” of periods 7 & 8. Today, we get to “sell” our class to all the 10th graders. There are nine possibilities, ranging from French and Spanish classes, Math Contest, Physics, Confucius, Art, and Psychology (and Music). I put on my best “sell job”, and ended up with no one for my class. I thought I had a few “hooked”, but when the Math Contest guy started talking about traveling to the US for a contest, I knew I was out-matched.
After school, the Orchestra Club met, and played through our tune we’ll perform for the Club Fair in two weeks. Rehearsal went well. I had written out the parts in “Finale”, imported the file into “Garageband,” and added some percussion and bass “loops” to make it a little more interesting. We all enjoyed ourselves.
Around 5:30, I finished up, and started home. I ran into a group of faculty headed to a “hotpot” restaurant, and my stomach won me over. We rode the train to a station I hadn’t visited before, and had a blast. Good food, and good company! I also had the chance to check out a new shopping area for “odds and ends”. The other teachers tell me it’s a good place for school supplies. I finally got home around 8:45, and Judy was already in bed, looking for musical ideas on her computer for her Christmas programs.