Week 3 - things that I didn't know I liked

Week 3 seems to have hurtled by, which is surprising given that it's a vacation week from school, so I've been at home with my wife and the kids. The main focus has been on getting her a job, and we finally have an interview in hand for her. It's next Thursday (after mine on Tuesday and Wednesday) so watch this space! Things are slowly coming together on the job front, and we've decided to end the kids' endless holiday by signing them up for daycare, more of which when they actually start. 

For this post, I wanted to focus on some of the smaller things that I've found that I like about being here:

1. Driving

Whilst I've driven before in America, it's been very infrequently and usually only a short drive to the shops and back when we've forgotten something. Now I'm out and about by myself (or with the kids) a bit more, I've found a lot of joy on the roads. For example, there's right on red, which means that if you're turning right and there's a red light, you can go as long as it's clear. There's cruise control (I know this isn't particular to America) which I love, as well making sure I don't get done for a ticket. Finally there's the slower speed limits. I thought this would annoy me, but it feels quicker than the stop start nature of Leeds traffic and means I can enjoy the beautiful scenery whilst I'm driving.

2. Supermarket bag packers

Again, I've been in supermarkets before over here, and always felt a little silly/frustrated that there's someone packing my bags for me. However now with 2 kids in tow, it makes my life unbelievably easier to have someone else sort the food for me (including using different colour bags for cold and dry food!), leaving me to play with Sophie, chatter with Jake and pay at my leisure. Take note, Sainsbury's!

3. Manners

The number of random people I've talked to over the last few weeks has been incredible, and everyone I've met is so polite. It's strange that there is a perception of British people have impeccable manners, but I know that I couldn't strike up conversations in parks and shops as I'm able to do here. My accent definitely helps, as does having a couple of cute kids, but even so, the response has been great. My favourite part of all is being welcomed to America by every person I talk to. A typical conversation goes like this:

Them: So where are you from?

Me: England/across the pond

Them: How long have you been here?

Me: Oh a couple of weeks now

Them: When are you heading back?

Me: We're not, we've moved here permanently.

Them: Well, welcome to America!

I've had this conversation at least a dozen times so far and I'm still not bored of the friendliness and manners yet. 

4. Predictable weather

I realise that there is a lot of smugness in most of the photos that I send to my friends and family back in the UK, mainly based on the clear blue skies and sunshine that we've had nearly every day since we've been here. However, what I like most about the weather is that a week in advance, the weather apps tell you what it will be like and lo and behold it is. Makes planning outings much easier. My favourite example is last week, when it said it was going to snow on on Tuesday. I sat there incredulously on Monday afternoon playing with Jake and Sophie in the glorious sun thinking that there was something wrong with my phone. It was cloudy when I woke up on Tuesday and it got progressively colder. By lunchtime there was sleet, and when we were driving home in the afternoon, we got about half an inch of snow, as predicted. 

5. State quarters

The inner geek in me finds money, and in particular coins, fascinating. I like it when new designs come out in the UK and always have a soft spot for the old 50p pieces, mainly from the book The Queen's Nose which I always wanted to be real. However, here, whilst I disagree with having the largest coin being 25c, they have gone to town in recent years by giving each state a quarter to decorate. You can then collect the whole set and mount them (and by "you" I mean "I"). I've started raiding the change slots in my wife's family's cars as well as the penny jar upstairs. I got Jake and his cousin to help, and I think I have around 40 already. I like the little challenge that goes with it, as well as getting people to help out.

As with all of these posts, there will be more to add to this list.

Week 2 - reflections on American education

Today sees the end of our second week in the US, and it's been a busy one. I've managed to notch up another interview, and have 2 second interviews scheduled for the first week in May (next week is a school vacation week...good to know for next year!). I've also done my first paid in America as a substitute this week, as well as spending two whole days in different schools shadowing teachers and asking lots of questions. There's a lot of familiarity in schools (after all, kids are kids the world over, especially in the West) but there's a lot of differences. Some are positive, some are negative, some will need me to be a teacher here for a while before I can gauge my opinions about them. Here are my top 5 observations from this week:

Uniforms

In the US, there are none. Each school has guidelines that run along the lines of no midriffs, no offensive words and no jewelry, but everything else is fair game. It feels strange after the uniformed order of English schools to see children in what I see as weekend wear and my gut instinct says to prepare for a slack day as this is generally what happens in the UK on non-uniform days. I guess that it's normal for them, but apparently there are discussions regarding uniforms. I'm undecided on this, time will tell on my thoughts.

Unified Arts

In the UK, an elementary school teacher is expected to be a jack of all trades; teaching core subjects of English and maths in the morning, then juggling a hefty load of foundation subjects in the afternoon (art, music, science, PE etc). Here, they have specialists for the Unified Arts (art, music, PE for definite, schools vary on the others) and classes attend these without their regular teacher. In one respect I think this is great: you get a good 45 minute chunk per day to mark, prepare, have meetings as opposed to one big chunk of PPA each week, and the kids get specialist teaching (great for my classes in art where I always felt they got short changed!). On the other hand, it's hard to create any flow and limits the amount of true cross-curricular learning that can take place. There doesn't seem to be many opportunities for discussion or liaison between the specialists and class teachers, so it's hard to see a way in which they don't operate independently. Again, time will tell which of these viewpoints I side with more.

Class Size

The average class size that I've seen this week has been less than 20, making me feel as if I've lost a large number of pupils, setting off a mild panic. This I can only see as a positive, as immediately I felt like I had a better handle on the kids even as a substitute (18 names are easier to remember than 30, especially with gems like Talon, Kennis and Tallis...) and I could give more individual attention over the course of a lesson. The smaller class size will hopefully have a knock on effect on my workload, though talking to other teachers this week makes me think that there are other pressures on their times if their stories are to be believed. In any case, the smaller class sizes will make a positive difference to my teaching and I'm looking forward to this closer approach.

Day Timings

Not all schools run to the same timings, but there is a definite preference for an early start and early finish. In both schools I've been in this week, pupils start arriving around 8/8.15, but due to the staggered nature of the school bus routine, there is an awful lot of time wasted (or what feels like wasted time) waiting for everyone to come in, given that the end of the school day is 2.30/2.45. You also end up with ridiculous things like the first graders eating lunch at 11am (though this may explain Kelsey's preference for early meal times) and no morning recess across school. Again, I will adapt to these things, and I've thoroughly enjoyed being home before 3.15 (though this will change when I'm teaching full time), but the pace of the day seems intense for such young children.

Technology

Even what I was assured was a not well off elementary school this week, there was a fully functioning computer suite of new iMacs, a set of iPads and Chromebooks shared across the school and a few netbooks in each class. In one school that I'm interviewing in, their computing budget is $100,000, well over the total learning resource budget for all subjects from my previous school. There is a big push in all schools to incorporate technology, to the point where all pupils have Google logins, and Google Drive and Classroom is being used to share work. I'm keen for to be part of this and to see how my knowledge and expertise can be used to push things even further.

Behaviour Systems

Finally, whilst the general standard of behaviour has been good (polite manners, kids responding to adult instructions, helping each other), there seems to be a massive slackness on allowing kids to talk at any time, and not pay attention. I've had to bite my tongue when shadowing on numerous occasions on things that I wouldn't accept in my class, and when I was in charge, I laid my rules out quickly and clearly at the start of each lesson. I'm not sure if it's across all schools, or just in the classes that I've seen, but it's more commonplace than I would have imagined, or maybe I'm just going to be that strict teacher from England. I think in part it's due to the fact that I've not seen a discernible reward system in place in any school (I'm thinking Class Dojo or house points for example) to give quick boosts in class and focus positive attention on the kids doing the right thing. On the flip side, there seems to be no formal visible system of consequences either, so it may be that schools don't feel they're necessary. However, with the amount of low level disruption that I saw and clamped down on, I may have to dig further as to why I've not seen these things in place.

A "week off" next week in which we'll step up the job hunt for my wife and start talking serious day care, then on with the interviews and further substitute work towards the end of the school year.

My first week in numbers

We've been here a little over a week now, which seems crazy given how long the lead in to the move seemed to last for. It's flown by in a flurry of new experiences and setting up of our new lives, so rather than try and write it all down for a mammoth post, I want to give a flavour of what we've been up to in numbers:

Days of substitute organised: 2 (got these on Monday after talking to the principal of the local elementary school)

Number of interviews attended: 1 (I submitted it on Tuesday night and got the phone call on Wednesday morning. Had the interview on Friday, waiting to hear back whether they want to see me teach! Watch this space...)

Sunny days: 7 (out of 9. Additional stat: I last saw a cloud 5 days ago. It makes a massive difference to how we play with the kids, and it's lovely being able to spill outside armed with towels, toys and suncream with no intention of coming back inside because it's too cold or cloudy)

Tractor rides by Jake: 7 (this includes both tractors. We arrived 11pm last Friday, and by 6.05 the next morning, he was up and asking about a tractor ride)

Times I've opened the passenger side door to get in to drive: 14 (I still can't make it look deliberate. Additional stat: Number of weird looks I've got for doing this: 3)

Times I've cracked my left hand on the door trying to shift gear: 8 (My brain is slowly adjusting to the fact that everything is in the same order (pedals and gears mainly) but just on on the other side of the car)

Cost to fill up the car (a Honda Fit over here, Jazz in the UK): $18 (I couldn't believe this when it happened, given that the tank was pretty much empty. Makes the idea of a long commute a bit more palatable)

Number of favourite foods/restaurants eaten from: 2 (Dos Amigos burritos and Calef's sandwiches. It's a nice change of pace not to have to rush round everywhere because we're on a time limit. We've also had Chinese and pizza, both of which I prefer over here. Slimming World diet starts next week!

Points scored by me in Ultimate Frisbee: 2 (additional stat: Number of times I felt like throwing up during the game: 12. I forgot how fit you need to be to play and how much sprinting was involved! It will act as a good motivation to get fit, as well as a way to make friends).

Uncomfortable yoga positions attempted: 4 (across 2 sessions. My wife's parents bought me an extra long mat that feels like I'm practicing on thick carpet, so I'm hoping to offset the pain of Frisbee (and rowing) with some relaxing yoga too. Not the same without my regular yoga buddy Matt, as there'll be no-one to stop me from falling asleep at the end!)

Hours spend playing outside on the dirt pile with Jake (and Sophie on a towel): 15 (and counting. Jake is loving the ability to be outside all day, and we spend all morning this morning playing on the massive mound of soil that's sitting waiting for gardening season. He's turned it into a regular construction site, complete with toy vehicles and access paths. I don't want to be the one who starts to use it for it's intended purpose.)

Number of virtual babysitters: 2 ( Moving across the world in 2016 is made much easier by being able to reach out to anyone with an internet connection (and in these days of cheap data, that's nearly everyone) with a decent quality video call. I've  been on Skype with my parents twice now where I've needed to go do something, and the quality of the video and the fact that Jake and Sophie understand video calls means that I've left them alone with my parents. This has led to some very cute moments, and Jake insists most days on calling Granny and Grandpa to show them his latest block creations.)

It's been another busy week, but much less stressful than our last in the UK and much more enjoyable (perhaps because we got out to a movie on Tuesday, perhaps due to the sunshine, perhaps because the job situation is moving quicker than we thought!). More to come this week as I venture into the world of American education...