Judy heads to school at her regular time. I\u2019m out the door, not too far behind her. I have to make a lot of copies and there are always complications, since the copier \u201cprompts\u201d are all in Chinese. I also have to print the originals first, which means finding a computer not in use, attached to a printer. It\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve boarded the trains this early (7:45 am). They\u2019re crowded but no more than usual. I\u2019m able to find a seat for the longest stretch of the ride, which is 8 stations.<\/p>\n
After getting the originals printed, and the copies finished, I head up to the music room (4th<\/sup> floor). We have schools from the US beginning to visit this week. These are schools where our 10th<\/sup> graders stayed in the US during the semester break in January\/February. We\u2019re returning the favor, and they\u2019re beginning to arrive. Apparently, my classroom is the \u201changout\u201d area for St. Margaret\u2019s from California. After verifying I\u2019m still having class in the room, I begin to shift all the tables and chairs, setting up for my combined class of 38 students.<\/p>\n My classes go well. The 11th<\/sup> grade class where I was being observed went especially well. We worked on memorizing the first verse of the school song. It took several attempts at \u201cconvincing\u201d the students to sing louder, but after the 8th<\/sup> restart, they began to believe I was serious about achieving a higher level of enthusiasm. We also touched on the \u201cHappy\u201d arrangement I\u2019ve been working on, but it\u2019s going to be more difficult to put together.<\/p>\n After class, I eat lunch, and then make sure the classroom and materials are ready for the 10th<\/sup> grade music elective, the last two periods. After school, there is a faculty meeting. Normally I have orchestra club, but the students haven\u2019t organized themselves yet for rehearsals with all the weird schedules they\u2019ve had the last month. Most of the faculty meeting is a discussion led by our counselor, David, about college recommendation letters for students. The information is good and well delivered. A problem I never considered relates to translation of letters from the Chinese teachers into English, and how that\u2019s going to be handled. I can remember several times trying to read assembly instructions from something built in China that had been \u201ctranslated.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There was always a high level of confusion. It\u2019s important for the students\u2019 futures these letters are correctly translated, with solid English grammar. How that\u2019s going to happen is a serious discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judy heads to school at her regular time. I\u2019m out the door, not too far behind her. I have to make a lot of copies and there are always complications, since the copier \u201cprompts\u201d are all in Chinese. I also … Continue reading