Where last week was my first actual week at my new job, this week meant I really had to get to work. I started teaching again!
Source: weheartit.com
My week was off at a rather false start. When going out the door I found my bike missing only to realize I had taken it to the gym on Saturday. Luckily I was early to get out the door and I still made it to work on time. Then next thing you know my print outs for my very first class came out wrong and since I didn’t have my ID card yet, I couldn’t redo it. On Tuesday I finally received my ID card, meaning I can now open doors, get my own coffee and print and copy documents. I finally felt like a full member of the team.
There were a few other mishaps I found out in the course of the week. My timetable is a mess. I work late on Tuesdays (till 10 PM), which isn’t all that bad, were it not for the fact that I have an 8.30 start the next morning. My boss told me that is indeed too early (I should start no earlier than 11.00) but due to the timetables being a mess, this cannot be rearranged. On top of that, I found out that two of my classes have been given too much time in the shedule. Instead of 2.5 hours they should last just over 1.5. What a difference that makes!
Other than these little hiccups, I’m doing great. It’s great to be teaching again and I have some wonderful groups of students. It makes such a difference that these are people who are interested in English and are aspiring to become teachers. I have encountered some insanely motivated individuals amongst my students and of course some who are less so, but overall the experience so far has been exceptionally good.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be hitting more snags down the road, but so far, my first impressions are positive to the max. I have already encountered a few areas where I think things might be changed or rearranged. But that’s the fun part of teaching: it never stops!
4 responses to “New job: first week of teaching”
Sounds like the college I went too… at the start of one term, I had a lesson/lecture but no room to have it in and no lecturer!
Oh that’s bad! Never happened to me, luckily.
It’s the same here. I’ve worked one and half weeks and I’ve already received my third timetable. And that’s without the daily changes due to ill co-workers, class-outings and other irregular but necessary activities in the wonderful world of education. But on one thing I do have to agree with our blogger. Teaching, it’s still a load of fun. Especially with overenthusiastic firstyears.
Hahah aren’t you glad it’s the same old, same old? Overenthusiastic first year’s are the best! Too bad most of them will be gone by Christmas in my case.