Back To Work

And it's official...summer vacation is officially over. Let's have a moment of silence as we honor our dear, departed free time.

.

.

.

.

.

Just give me a sec to wipe away the tears........aaaand I'm good. I don't think I need to go too in depth on what makes summer so great. Zero responsibility. Sleeping in. Easy living. It's a beautiful thing. And what makes it worse is that my summer this year was extra-good. It involved the padres coming to Europe and all of us making a grand tour of Europe. It involved this guy going home and enjoying 6 weeks of sweet, sweet Oklahoma summertime. It was almost too good. Damn it.

But as of today, I worked my first full day teaching the little niños once again. And I must say, it wasn't all that bad.

Here is a quick shot of my school. Notice how it looks like a prison? Believe me, the similarities go far beyond the bars around the building.

So anyway, I received my teaching schedule almost immediately upon arriving at school. Which might not seem all that remarkable, but (trust me on this one) it is a HUGE feat for my particular school, seeing as how last year I was two weeks into the school year before I even knew what I would be teaching. And I suppose that I didn't even need a schedule last year to tell me that I was in WAY over my head....I taught everyone from 2 and 3 year olds to high school juniors and seniors.

However, all that is leading me up to the beauty of my schedule this year. I will be teaching (drumroll, please) 1st and 2nd grade science, art, and English! Woo Hoo! And only 1st and 2nd grade science, art, and English. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it will be to only have to plan classes for one age group. Let me give you a little scenario so that you can compare and share in my joy for this new schedule.

Last year, on any given day, I might have a 2nd grade science class, a high school senior English conversation class, a pre-school English class, a 6th grade art class, a 4th grade science class, a 2nd grade art class and a 3rd grade English class. Imagine planning out separate lessons for every single one of those grades/subjects. And now imagine only getting to use those lessons for that particular day and then the next day having to plan new stuff for 7 or 8 completely different classes.

Now let's fast-forward to this year. On any given day I might have 4 2nd grade science classes, 2 1st grade art classes and a 1st grade English class. My schedule the next day will be pretty much the same. And the next day. And the next. Planning is going to be a breeze AND I might actually learn my students' names this year. (Which shouldn't be as hard as it is, since about 75% of the girls are named Maria and 80% of the boys are Alvaro or Pablo)

Now, I will say that I'm a little bummed that I won't have any older kids this year. They were usually really fun to work with and overall pretty intelligent. But just take a look at these pictures of some of my 1st graders from last year (in their Halloween costumes) and tell me that you wouldn't love working with them:

So I've decided that since they are adorable, I can handle working with only them this year. And here are a few more reasons why working with them will be great:

1. I can still scare them. If they start getting out of hand, it's not too difficult to give them "the look" and get them calmed down. This doesn't work so well with older kids.

2. They love me. Pure and simple. In their eyes, I'm the coolest guy there is. And who am I to argue with that?

3. They're not that smart. Which is fantastic, because I'm not either. No more planning science lessons about electricity and magnetism. No more sex education. No more being unable to answer complicated science questions. I'll feel so much more intelligent this year.

4. They don't start class until 9. Again, this is another reason you might not appreciate. But trying getting out of bed at 6 a.m., making the hour commute to work, and giving an entire 8 a.m. class, all before the sun comes up. It's no fun. But it's not my problem anymore, because these kids don't start until 9. Which means I get a whole extra hour of sleep. Which means that I will be considerable nicer to these children.

5. They're adorable. Now, I know I already said this one. But it's worth repeating, right?

So anyway, it looks like it'll be a pretty good year. As of now, I'm excited about my schedule. Give me time and I might change my tune, but I don't think that'll be the case.