I would arrive around 9 am, pump around 11 am, eat lunch around 12, pump again around 2 pm, and catch the bus at 3:30 pm. In between pumping I drank tea and washed my equipment. It was hard to focus or care about anything else.
I was leaving in the middle of meetings to pump milk, as my timing was out of sync but I appreciated being able to escape. I was constantly watching the clock. Turkish law also provides a two hour leave - so I could come to work 2 hours late, leave for lunch, or leave early each day for the baby's first year. Wow!
But for now, I was just trying to manage leaving Teoman at home, pumping at work, and working. I never did get a desk, and I never did do any work. I was starting all over in the new building - not knowing where the copy machine was, the kitchen, the bathrooms. Not knowing the principals. Not knowing what my department head expected. I was teaching fifth and sixth grade, and the rules were changing .I was starting over here.
I only work with one other Native now, from Scotland. In the first meeting I sat in, she offended everybody in the room with a smile - criticizing the death of creativity in our English program. Our English Coordinator (also a Native) supported her, but she realized immediately no one else did. She told me later,
"I'm too blunt."
"Maybe you just need to be more tactful," I said.
"But doesn't it depress you that our school magazine published an opinion article by an eighth grader - who writing about why she likes Starbucks coffee, used transition words like furthermore?"
Um...not really. I'm more disturbed by her boring topic.
"She learned transition words, and tried to apply them. It's all part of the learning process," I said.
"But she applied it wrong! This is a good student, that we gave a formula and this is the culmination of our teaching! Where's the creativity? James agrees with me!"
Um...who's James?
"I guess I looked at it as she made a great effort considering English is her second language."
"But she did it wrong! And it was approved by our department!"
This is where the tact might have gone a long way. The people that put all the hard work into the magazine - teaching, correcting, providing feedback - it was being attacked. I didn't know if she was right or not, but I surely didn't feel her passion. I kind of wished I shared her passion and wondered if I was one of those bad teachers killing the creative process as well.
But I couldn't think too deeply about the problem - she was making me tired, and I had to pump some more milk.
"I'm too blunt."
"Maybe you just need to be more tactful," I said.
"But doesn't it depress you that our school magazine published an opinion article by an eighth grader - who writing about why she likes Starbucks coffee, used transition words like furthermore?"
Um...not really. I'm more disturbed by her boring topic.
"She learned transition words, and tried to apply them. It's all part of the learning process," I said.
"But she applied it wrong! This is a good student, that we gave a formula and this is the culmination of our teaching! Where's the creativity? James agrees with me!"
Um...who's James?
"I guess I looked at it as she made a great effort considering English is her second language."
"But she did it wrong! And it was approved by our department!"
This is where the tact might have gone a long way. The people that put all the hard work into the magazine - teaching, correcting, providing feedback - it was being attacked. I didn't know if she was right or not, but I surely didn't feel her passion. I kind of wished I shared her passion and wondered if I was one of those bad teachers killing the creative process as well.
But I couldn't think too deeply about the problem - she was making me tired, and I had to pump some more milk.
No comments:
Post a Comment