tomorrow is the first day of school!
about 6 days ago our orientation to dhaka merged into all-out prep for students. teachers teachers teachers! running around and on a mission...
AISD is an exceptional school. special even among other international schools, i've come to understand. i've had a sense of this since the cambridge job fair after interviewing with superintendent Plotkin and MS principal Pado. they are rock stars, in their own scholastic way (of course there was also the amazing marketing DVD that some of you guys were so lucky to see). well, it's really the case; this place has just plan good "school culture." it's quaint, energetic, welcoming, cooperative, service-oriented - the learning is student-centered and inquiry-based, the teachers have resources, supplies and professional development at their fingertips - an unlimited supply LITERALLY. and the kids love the place so much that you have to kick them out at night and open up a youth hang-out space there on the weekends. people involved with this place are really proud of it.
and this school culture is powered by the administration. i feel so fortunate to get to see a team like this in action before i really jump into my own career - i've never known administrators like this before, or a school like this.
it feels like AISD is transplanted right out of an Ed school textbook. This school is succeeding at all the research-based techniques that public schools sometimes talk about but are far too swamped and challenged to master -
it's a special place, and an elite service. i've learned that school tuition is a hefty price tag way more than my annual college tuition. the US embassy pays for its employees' kids to go and many foreign governments and businesses send their kids as well. only about 15% of the students are caucasion american. the student body, then, comes from an educated and worldly social class - generally a quite privileged groups. severe learning and physical needs students are also very few (but increasingly included)
MIDDLE SCHOOL! and now here is my story - i'll be working with 6th, 7th, 8th grade history and language arts the first half of this year. wow is MS ever different from high school, i'm fast learning - touchy feely, artsy crafty, all emotional and such. i had to make bulletin boards with sparkle trim this week - LOTS of them! my first ever. i'm also going to run the MS photography club on thursday afternoons, oh yeah. feeling excited tonight; please keep me in your thoughts, i'll need it -
ps - i miss home!!!!!
