The Overworked Teacher

     I apologize for not updating my blog lately.  I have been really overworked!  My day begins at 8:00, when I arrive at the Poly School.  I prepare my plans, worksheets, and lessons for the day.  The students arrive at 9:30 and I begin teaching at 9:40.  My morning session is with pre-kindergardeners; although the curriculum is not at this level.  I am actually teaching first grade material.  It is funny, because the book that I use, is the same book that I used for reading, during my first grade student teaching assignment!  I teach reading, shared reading, and phonics to two prekinder classes.  So, I only need to plan for three lessons.  I repeat the same lesson to each class.  The classes are 40 minutes long, with a ten minute break in between.  During this time, the KT (Korean Teacher) comes into the room and watches the students.  The english teachers then are free for 10 minutes to prepare, grab a snack, or use the restroom.  The pre-kindergardeners are my favorite.  They are very intelligent for their age and love school!  I also get to take them to the library every M,W,F and on T,THR I teach music.  The curriculum and lesson plans are provided for this and it is really fun! 
     I have a co-teacher that teaches with me.  We rotate between the two rooms.  He teaches, physical education, action time (art), and science.  It works out great.  We share ideas, discipline policies, and support each other. 
     I do not have to eat lunch with the students and the best part, is that lunch is provided to me for free!  It is always Korean cuisine.  But it always me to try new foods.  Sometimes, (I'll admit) it is a little scary.  But overall, pretty good.  I have learned to survive on soup, rice, fried chicken, and eggs. (lol).  There are three korean/american teachers who are great.  They help me out with translations, give tips on where to eat, and tell me the names of the food I like. 
     My afternoon is a little hectic.  I am finished with the pre-kinders at about 2:00.  I have an hour planning period and start my afternnon session at 3:00.  Every day of the week, I have 2 first grade classes (40 minutes each).  I am their vocabulary, writing, phonics, and spelling teacher.  They are really good students, but the planning is intense.  I teach out of four books and believe this:  I teach one unit in 40 minutes!  It is hard to provide all of the information that they need, in such a short amount of time.  Normally, you have a week to 2 weeks to teach a unit.  They all very intelligent children.
     On M,W,F I teach second and third graders Grammar, vocabulary, and writing.  I teach them after the first graders.  We are on a block schedule.  When I am teaching my subject, the other class is learning reading comprehension from the co teacher, then we switch classes.  Similar to high school, except the teachers change rooms, with a 5 minute break in between.  They are my favorite students.  They are all returnees, which means they have lived in america and have been in american schools.  Their english is perfect and they comprehend everything.  Some have even lived in India, Europe, and Dubai.  Tue and Thur, I have my first graders and fifth graders.  I teach reading to the fifth graders.  They are very intelligent also, and remind me of the fifth graders in the states.  They all have a chip on their shoulder. 
     My classes are small and range from 5 students to 12 (12 being the maximum in any classroom).  The students names are translated into english.  So I have for example, John, Lilly, Sara.  There are only a few students that have their korean name.  Boy, do I botch those.  They just laugh, because I never pronounce them right. lol
     I finish my day on M, T, F at 7:25 (when my last class finishes).  On T, Th, 6:25.  I usually stay for an hour, to grade homework.  It is a lot to do, but I love it.  The days go by really fast, the students are great, but I am definitely exhausted.  By the time the weekend comes, I have a beer and prepare my lesson plans for the next week.  All the teachers advise, that after a month, I'll get into the swing of things and I will be able to leave earlier.  I hope their right.