5 Things I Said Before I Became a Teacher That Are Complete Bull

(5) Then - My students will all love each other and I will leave every day knowing they love me. 
Now - Will the kids leave every day knowing I love them?  Yes.  But will they always love me?  I'm afraid not.  And I'm okay with that.

(4) Then - I don't need to give grades.  Rubrics are the best.
Now - Ain't nobody got time for that.  Rubrics are great for big projects and assessments.  But for the every day math worksheet?  Sometimes a 5 out of 5 or a checkmark {or the recycling bin} is all I can manage.

(3) Then - I will spend at least an hour on each subject and I will set a timer so I don't run over.
Now - Oy.  Scheduling is the bane of my existence.  I barely have time for 50 minutes per subject.  And who has time to set a timer?!  And what if I remember to set one and the timer goes off and I'm not finished?  AH!  An hour-ish and miniiiii lessons will have to do.

(2) Then - I will differentiate every lesson I teach to make sure I reach every student.
Now - I will make sure my lesson is heard/seen/experienced by as many students as possible.  I will make it as engaging as possible, and when I see fit, I will differentiate.  Right there.  On the spot.  But not always before the lesson or on the weekends.  Because there are only 24 hours in a day people.

(1) Then - I will return all tests, papers, and work within three days of completion and with thorough feedback.
Now - HA!  Haahahhaha! HA!

Have any more to add?  Leave them below in the comments!

Brrrr- it's cold in here!

Yikes, y'all!  I said, Brrr!  It's cold in here!  There must be some teachers in the atmosphere.  Yikes... some horrible/cheesy "Bring it On" throwback for ya.

But really, winter has officially hit the Balearic Islands.  Fall completely skipped us and the weather has become this rainy mess of a winter.  The humidity, rain, and chill in the air come together nicely to make your bones feel completely frozen.  I cracked and went out and bought a coat this weekend {who brings a coat to an island!!?} and THANK GOODNESS that I did!!

The rainy, gray, day that was my Monday

Turns out my classroom has ZERO heat!!  None, nada, NOTHING!!  And it was COLD today.

Me freezing my tushee off!

 Some of the teachers grabbed this small space heater for me to use.  After three hours it had heated the three feet all around it.  And nothing more.

And it was raining so my kiddos were of course going up the wall with zero recess time.  Love that.

BUT, in all seriousness, it's rainy and gross but all else is great here.  When all I seriously have to report is that it's COLD, I guess that means things are going pretty well :)  It is winter after all...

ESL is lots of fun and I am loving pulling together activities for my kiddos to do.

Today we played a game with the alphabet.  I was so into it that I completely spaced on taking pictures.  The kids were pretty into it too...

Hope your Monday was a great one and it's off to a great start!!

Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert!!

Y'all... I am such a teacher nerd.  Like, TpT Lovin, marker hordin', pen obsessed, binder enthusiast, and clipart addicted.  {Aren't we all though?}  However, I'm slowly realizing that while this is the norm for me in the schools back home.  It is SO not the norm here.  And by the people surrounding me.  WHAAAAT???

The program I am working through is organized by the Spanish government.  In order to teach English in Spain, you do not need to have an education degree.  So almost all of the people who do this program come straight out of college and have different degrees.  I do not know of any other actual teachers in the program.  I feel like I definitely have an upper hand because I am comfortable in a classroom, but nobody else gets the teaching aspect.  Nor do they have a love for all things TEACHER!  Like, when I suggested that we create a tub full of all our lesson plans and games we make... I got blank stares.  That would've killed in a teacher's lounge!  And when I purchased an uber cheap printer at a local store... I got asked why I would spend the money.  And when I told them to let me know of any game ideas they have so I can make them online and share them... they thought I was crazy.  And the teachers here are not much different.  At least the teachers I work with.  They love themselves some workbooks.

My collection of teacher supplies so far.. Meager but a start!

So maybe this isn't the same teaching environment.  Maybe I really am a SUPER teacher nerd.  I think I'm okay with it.  Who's with me?

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Hey y’all I am super excited to announce the winner of my giveaway!!  It’s Laura R over at Adventures in Mutligrade!  Be sure to check your e-mail, Laura, so you can collect your $25 gift card to TpT!  Thank you to everyone who entered!! {And be sure to check out her super blog while you're at it!}

All is great here in Spain.  We had been on a serious apartment hunt this past week and finally found one last night!  We’re going to move in this afternoon and we are SO excited to have a “home” after living in hotels for the past two weeks.  I’ve had to hold off on all shopping knowing that I would have to move anything I purchased.  I am SO ready to go hit up Zara.  It may be a little while before we have wifi.  I'm still sitting in a café in order to get a little bit of internet :)

 

Today was supposed to be my first day of work but the teacher strike is still continuing in Spain.  We are living in Palma, which is the largest city on Mallorca.  But one of my school’s is in a smaller city outside of Palma, called Sineu.  We took the train out to Sineu yesterday to find my school and see how the strike is affecting the smaller towns.  Well, it seems as if the smaller towns are the ones really affected by the strike.  Which makes sense I suppose, because how often do the smaller towns have a reason to speak English?  They aren’t huge tourist destinations.  Or the base of larger international companies.  As we walked through the {beautiful beautiful} streets, we saw evidence of the strike hanging from windows and doors

Check out those green shirts

Green shirts everywhere

Even green shirts with the Catalon flag!

And on our way home, we got to even see some of the strike in action!  Teachers were holding a protest in downtown Palma.  We got to walk along, cheer, and support the teachers here, which was awesome! 

 

It was amazing how peaceful but LOUD it was.

Funny side story… I was telling my mom about the protest and she was very worried about “riots” or “violence”.  All it took was a reminder that these people striking are teachers. They’re like me, and any other teacher out there!  I laughed pretty hard at that one J

I hope y’all have a great week!  I am still working hard to finish Unit 3- Opinion Writing as soon as possible!  I am hoping to have it completed by the end of next week.  I apologize for the delay, life has certainly caught up to me these days, but moving into an apartment and getting into a routine will certainly help {I HOPE!!}.

The woes of living in Spain...

Are few and far between.  Except that as a teacher blogger, it is near to impossible to find internet.  The initial flat/piso we were staying in had internet graciously illegally provided by the restaurant downstairs.  We then booked an apartment for the week that was supposed to have internet.  But we’re in Spain and when you are told there is internet, it turns out it may just be in the lobby.  And it may or may not work.  And you may have to go across the street and blog at a café while drinking café con leche.  {Which are heavenly, btw, as I currently am sipping on one at said café}.  This also makes it a bit more challenging to finish my most recent product {Opinion Writing- Unit 3}, which I am working on bit by bit every day!  Thank you to those of you who stop by and read my blog and support me- it makes the running around much more worth it J  We’re off to explore the Wine Festival in a nearby town!  Happy Saturday teacher friends!  Be sure to enter my GIVEAWAY celebrating reaching 100 followers on Tpt!!  The winner will get $25 to TpT!  It ends Monday!!
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May I also mention that as I sit in a European café, sipping coffee, working on my laptop, I feel this crazy need to smoke a cigarette... So very Carrie Bradshaw of me.