Catching Up
November 19, 2006
Ah life on the mine. November has been an interesting month. We had a visit from our boss, James, last week. Of course he didn’t actually tell us he was coming; we had to find out from someone else altogether. The flight schedule now prevents him from coming and going on the same day, so he had to stay three.
Last week was also the week report cards came out, as well as the week that two of my students left. I had two conferences, my ESL class, and after school activities. On top of that, the boss decided to observe us. That required two separate meetings and then he wanted another general staff meeting too.
I told him I thought it was a bit ridiculous for him to observe me. Not only is this the first observation in two years, but he gave us no guidelines or criteria to follow. I still have no idea what his expectations are. And he still has no idea what I do in my classroom.
The best part of the story came at the end. My kids have been working on a newspaper. It’s part of their writing work. On Friday we had scheduled an appointment with Terry, the acting GM, to conduct an interview regarding some break ins that have been happening. Well, James decided he wanted to have a meeting too so he rode with us to the office. Our appointment was for 2:15. James plane was scheduled out at 3:30. Terry was late for the meeting and didn’t show up until almost 2:45. Regardless, he invited me and my students in, ordered a round of Cokes and proceeded to be interviewed while James waited outside. By the time we were done, there was little time left for the boss.
He is gone and now life is back to normal. We had a few friends over last night for chili and homemade tortillas. Today we went to the club for a craft fair and lunch. We were all thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home. Now here we are. We have two more weeks of school before we go out on break. I am psyched to raft the Zambezi and maybe ride in a helicopter. I am also excited about the prospect of hanging on a beach for a week. It should be a good break, but first we have to make it through the next two weeks.
MJR
Ah life on the mine. November has been an interesting month. We had a visit from our boss, James, last week. Of course he didn’t actually tell us he was coming; we had to find out from someone else altogether. The flight schedule now prevents him from coming and going on the same day, so he had to stay three.
Last week was also the week report cards came out, as well as the week that two of my students left. I had two conferences, my ESL class, and after school activities. On top of that, the boss decided to observe us. That required two separate meetings and then he wanted another general staff meeting too.
I told him I thought it was a bit ridiculous for him to observe me. Not only is this the first observation in two years, but he gave us no guidelines or criteria to follow. I still have no idea what his expectations are. And he still has no idea what I do in my classroom.
The best part of the story came at the end. My kids have been working on a newspaper. It’s part of their writing work. On Friday we had scheduled an appointment with Terry, the acting GM, to conduct an interview regarding some break ins that have been happening. Well, James decided he wanted to have a meeting too so he rode with us to the office. Our appointment was for 2:15. James plane was scheduled out at 3:30. Terry was late for the meeting and didn’t show up until almost 2:45. Regardless, he invited me and my students in, ordered a round of Cokes and proceeded to be interviewed while James waited outside. By the time we were done, there was little time left for the boss.
He is gone and now life is back to normal. We had a few friends over last night for chili and homemade tortillas. Today we went to the club for a craft fair and lunch. We were all thoroughly exhausted by the time we got home. Now here we are. We have two more weeks of school before we go out on break. I am psyched to raft the Zambezi and maybe ride in a helicopter. I am also excited about the prospect of hanging on a beach for a week. It should be a good break, but first we have to make it through the next two weeks.
MJR
posted by Bronx to Timbuktu at 5:17 AM
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