My Schedule

So I thought I would give you guys an overview of what my week looks
like and what the student's day looks like.

School starts at 7:50. Teachers are expected to be there at 7:20 if
they teach first period. I am always early because I like to use my
mornings prepping. Classes are segmented into 45 minute periods. I
believe the students have all of their Chinese classes for 45 minutes.
However we teach for 90 minutes. I love teaching block period so much
nicer and am enjoying my schedule so far. I teach three classes of
Calculus AB to High School juniors. I usually teach two classes a day.
However on Tuesdays I only teach one class. Class 3 meets Monday,
Wednesday, and Thursday during first and second period. Class 1 meets
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during third and fourth period. Class 2
meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during fifth and sixth period.
That means that I am teaching 4.5 hours each week. My center principal
requires us to stay at school for eight hours each day so that we are
available for students and seem like we want to be there. Therefore I
get around 35 hours of prep time during the week. I use the tons of
prep time wisely since Calculus is a difficult subject and I work
really hard to make each lesson interesting or fun.I believe this is
less teaching time and more prep time than most teachers get in the
States, but my salary is about the same as I would get as a first year
teacher in the States. But don't forget housing is getting paid for
and the cost of living is much lower. I think this makes it a real
nice job to have. I personally love it so far.

The students go to class for eight periods in the day. So they are in
class from 7:50 am until around 5:30. They have some breaks in the
middle and after lunch from 12:30 to 1:30 there is a break. That is
usually when students come into the office to ask questions. On
Tuesdays and Wednesdays the students have club meetings during 8th
period. So on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have to stay until around
5:30pm to be a club advisor. I am the adviser for Glee club. I will
talk about that more later. Students have dinner on campus at 5:30 and
then after dinner they have mandatory study halls. Then it is to bed.
Most of the students live on campus and are from different parts of
the country.

The students wear khaki capris or skirts for a uniform. They have
polos or button up shirts as the other part of the uniform. I have to
make students put on their uniform in class. If it becomes too much of
a problem I am supposed to inform their banzheren or homeroom teacher.

Speaking of homeroom teachers. Each grade is separated into two
homerooms. The students in that class stay in the same room the whole
day. The students in the homeroom become very close. So teachers have
their own desk and computer in an office and go to the room which the
students are in. This is quite different from American education. This
also means that the rooms are not really decorated or personalized. I
was really looking forward to when I got my own room. I guess I will
have to wait. However this year there were around 80 juniors and 40 in
each homeroom. This was too many for one class and would not give the
students a Western learning atmosphere. The two homerooms were
separated into three classes. The students were sad to be separated
from the people who they spend practically the whole day with. This
also meant that students had to move from room to room which was new
to them. I think it will give them a taste of what it is like to go to
classes in American high schools. However often students visit during
the breaks and hate to leave to go back to their homeroom. Both of the
homerooms our on the third floor of the building. However class one
has to go upstairs to the 4th floor to one of the spare rooms to take
Calculus from me. So when I teach in that room the desks are not
cluttered with books. The rooms in on the third floors have all the
students textbooks, SAT study books, and all of their school books on
their desks. They are stacked high with stuff. They live in those
classrooms so all of their stuff is there. But because of this
separation class sizes are 27 or 28. That is much more manageable.

Our school year started September 1st. The semester ends around the
16th or 17th of January. We had last Monday off for Mid-Autumn
festival. Then I think we get a week off for national holiday in
October or November. We get a day off around Christmas. We hold a
Christmas party so that the kids know about the holiday. Then we get
two or three weeks off and second semester starts in February. So then
I have the students until May 9th the day of the AP Calculus test.
After the test my students will study for the SAT or TOEFL. They will
also work on getting college apps and personal statements for college
apps. However I stay until the beginning of July which is the end of
the school year. So I guess their school year is shifted back a month
since "winter break" is shifted back a month. However since I don't
have students from May on I am told I am going to be super bored.
Right now the other math teacher is teaching the grade 10 classes. So
we may taking turns teaching them and collaborate on the curriculum.
Anyways that just means you can visit me after May 9th.

I mentioned students studying for tests. When they are bored in class
they will take out flash cards. They will use some loaded words in
class. When they do I just know it had to be some SAT or TOFEL vocab
word. Last week I had a student who looked at her test score during
the break in the middle of my class. She ended up crying and was upset
the entire second half of my class. She did above average and
considering she was only a junior it was a really good score. I told
how when I took the SAT my junior year I did ok. However the next time
I took it I improved my score greatly. Mainly because I had been
exposed to more math. So I told she has plenty of time to improve. The
students will keep taking these tests until they get a perfect score.
This is a very different environment then I am used to. It is
interesting seeing the differences.

The other things to note is that students have a mandatory 30 exercise
time after the first block. They also do things called eye exercises.
They happen a couple times during the day. I believe they happen near
the end of the second block. They are also at the beginning of 5th
period. They think students eyes are strained from being in school so
long that they need to work them. They rub their face, temples, and
massage the scalp. It takes about ten minutes out of my class. None of
the students really like doing them, but they have to. I told them it
is just another hoop to jump through. I explained the phrase to them.

So that is an overview of the schedule and some key points in the
different education systems. If you have questions or want to know
more about a topic. Feel free to comment. I got the comments as
e-mails and I think I can reply back.