January 16, 2012 – School has started and now I have more work than I know what to do about – by Carol

School:  While it wasn’t great arriving at the school the last two weeks before the summer break, it is very nice to be here for the beginning of the year.  I was happy to see that most of the windows and doors had been fixed at the school.  A great deal of the trash and litter was gone, but I was most grateful that all the goat and chicken crap had been scrapped out of the rooms.

The first week was mostly spent organizing classes and sorting out what teacher would teach what and which home room every student would have.  The first week the students mostly sat in classrooms with few teachers and little to do.  Although they all looked very nice in their clean new uniforms.

I am currently writing five grant proposals to request funding for a poster contest, a school newspaper, Girls Talk club, Substance Abuse workshops and building a guidance office.  The good and bad about all this – is I was given one week to do it.  So while it is going to be a crappy week – it will be over shortly.  And honestly, no one can have that high of expectations with the time given to work on these projects.

The teachers workshops project is still moving along and I am most excited about this project!  These teachers  have very few good thoughts about being teachers.  It doesn’t take very much conversation on my part saying things like “nothing is more important than being a teacher” or “the entire future of your county is being shaped by what you and your colleges are doing” – for them to be encouraged.