Teach, Eat,Plan, Sleep Repeat (Eat and Sleep Optional)

Teach, Eat, Plan, Sleep, Repeat

I forgot how much the first couple of days of school puts teachers in survival mode.  We forget to eat lunch, voices are kaput, barely able to keep eyes open and of course that heart attack when a parent shows up 30 minutes after dismissal to ask where her kid is. Yikes! 


Besides teaching, during a simple school day we as teachers need to take inventory and organize school supplies, field parent questions and emails, label workbooks and textbooks, prepare for the professional development meetings, tie the shoes, wipe the tears, clean up the room, make copies, sharpen the pencils,  settle arguments, notice good behavior, notice bad behavior, decide whether a student is really sick, keep everyone on task, explain why it is not time for lunch at 8 in the morning and ensure that everyone is safe, happy and healthy from 7 am until 4 pm. We go home, adjust plans for the next day, go to sleep as early as possible and then repeat.

The pay is awful and the stress is high. Standards and expectations are constantly changing, best practice one year or even one month is completely different than the next. With the influx of technology the speed of change in the education realm is astronomical. Once you finally get used to one program, it is scraped for the newest and greatest fad that expires before the ink is even dry. Also, we are now teaching and instructing little ones who are used to being entertained by multiple screens at one time. Students who struggle sitting through any activity that lasts longer than 5 minutes.

Then why teach? Because there comes those moments for every teacher, in between the corralling and the planning, the tear wiping and shoe tying, when a light bulb goes off and a student finally understands or gets something and NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. You would walk through hoops, jump through fire, stay up all night every night for that one little moment, the one glimpse of understanding, self-awareness and achievement. The moment when the student realizes that he is important, that he capable of learning and that has done something that was impossible for him before. Then you realize there is no where else you'd want to be. So bring on the new programs, the long nights, and the never ending to do lists ....we have students to teach.

A Michigan Summer

   Culture Shock is very much like the childhood experience of hoping from a hot tub to a pool and back again. It takes a while to acclimate to the new environment and then once your body has adjusted, the place you just came from be it the hot tub or the pool suddenly seems unbearably hot or unbearably cold respectively. After a year filled with noises, Spanish and congested areas, coming home for the summer to wide open roads, quiet and English is just like dipping your toes into the hot tub. Then of course once you adjust to the States, going back to the Dominican Republic seems once again like a foreign experience.

This summer has been a summer of firsts. My favorite first was meeting my little niece who has born the day after my birthday. I held her every chance I got. Alisha has a beautiful family and being with my little nieces and nephew are the best part of my summers and the hardest part about leaving.




My second big first was getting a Dominican visa. After being almost deported in January for not having the right documentation, I am determined to do this year right, better late than never, right?  It has been (and still is) a very long process. In order to get the visa, I needed to get a new passport, an apostilled FBI background check, apostilled birth certificate, medical check and many, many documents from the school to say the least. Getting documents from the government such as the FBI background check and apostille was a long tedious process, though I think I'm finally past the tough work as I sent in my documents to the consulate offices over 2 weeks ago. Now, I  just wait to get my passport returned so I can fly out. I'm in an interesting position this year as I have no idea when I will head back. I cannot fly without a passport, so even though training starts today, I still have no plane ticket to return. You would think I would be very nervous and concerned, but I feel very at peace with the process. The sooner I get my passport, the sooner I can get started on my classroom, but also prolonging the summer and getting to spend more time with my nieces and nephew is not something that I dread neither. So don't feel too sorry for me, the longer the process takes the more cuddles I can get in with my nieces and nephew.

My third big first is starting my master's. My Michigan teaching license is set to expire in 2020 and in order to renew my license I need to take graduate level classes. I decided to take a couple of classes online this fall through Spring Arbor and am looking forward to being on the other side of the teacher's desk. It's been a while since I was a student (almost 6 years eeks) and I am excited to learn in a classroom setting and discover new teaching methods that have come up in the past years. It is amazing how quickly things change in today's technological era.

In between all these firsts, I have had the chance to enjoy the nature of Michigan and visit friends. I had the opportunity to go kayaking, biking, making silly faces with my nieces and enjoying the beautiful world that God has created.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the Earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. -Psalm 96: 11-12