Type A Personalities Beware

Last school week was a bit nutty. We officially started back on Monday but we never got back to our regular schedule. Samoana is on block scheduling so each day we are supposed to have 4 one hour and twenty minute classes or 3 one hour and twenty minute classes + a homeroom or assembly. This is what really happened:

Monday: Assembly, Homeroom, 1st, 2nd (for 10 minutes), Assembly

Tuesday: Assembly, Homeroom, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th (all 45 minute periods)

Wed: Assembly, 1st (1 hour), Homeroom, 2nd (1 hour), tsunami warning --> run up a mountain

Thurs: Optional School

Fri: Optional School and everyone goes home at Noon 

Because we never got back into a solid routine before experiencing another tsunami evacuation, school on Thursday and Friday was made “optional” to the students. Though this is setting back our teaching schedules even farther, it was a smart move. In this time of chaos, school is most important for providing kids with a solid routine. School should run according to plan and act as a solid support system. We weren’t providing stability at school,though, so it was better to wait for a fresh week to start with a clean slate. Besides having an inconsistent schedule (the administration was changing the schedule 3 and 4 times throughout the school day on Mon and Tues), we were with out power and had many students still staying home to continue cleaning up from the disaster.   

It was funny walking through campus Thursday and Friday and only seeing 150 students or so. On Thursday I only had 7 kids total, and on Friday morning I filled my class with about 15 as I was adopting the kids who were just roaming campus. (We weren’t even going to kid ourselves that learning was possible these days, so we played trivia games and chatted). 

All this would definitely drive a Type A personality to insanity. I had to leave my Type A tendencies at the door upon moving here. I still keep meticulous records and lesson plan about 200 times more than many teachers, but you have to do it with a “this-just-might-not-work-out-nearly-as-planned” kind of attitude. Don’t expect strict, logical schedules that are announced ahead of time. Nope. Here you must be able to go with the flow and keep your cool while doing it. The schedule may change, and you will have no warning to prepare a lesson. It’s a crash course in thinking on your feet. 

So Type A personalities beware! Samoa is not for you!