Sitting
in the back row of benches nestled among several female staff with whom I am
quite friendly and with the advantage of having a wall to lean against, was
where I found myself in the principal's office for the first meeting of the
school year. For most of the day my thoughts kept flashing back to the same
time last year. At that time I was directed to one of the few western style
armchairs in this same office and before very long I realized that I was in the
exalted company of the privileged few.
The staff secretary, the vice principal and the senior most staff sat in these
comfy chairs and I felt like something of an imposter. None the less the
protocol of remaining in the same seats was upheld and there I sat for the 3
days of meetings, blissfully unaware that these meetings would decide so much
of what would happen at school in the rest of the year. This time around I was aware enough to avoid
those seats of privilege and to head for the back row where the comfort of a
wall to lean on would be a blessing when the meeting continued for over 3
hours. I also knew to volunteer for what I wanted to take responsibility for
and to speak up if I wanted to escape from onerous (to me at least) duties.
This year
we began by standing on the road in front of the school to honour the coffin
bearing the body of the Garab Rimopche's beloved father, as it drove by. The day began casually with all the staff
standing around in the sun chatting despite the solemnity of the occasion. This
time when the meeting commenced, our principal was in place behind his desk and
not still making his way to Rangjung as a newly appointed leader and this gave
a air of organized formality to the proceedings as well as providing us with an
agenda for the next few days. I was also much more familiar with the consensus
style decision-making and secret ballot voting that would determine who took
what responsibilities in the school. Even those not particularly keen to take
on burdensome roles were nominated and graciously accepted when they were voted
in.
When we
broke for lunch the entire staff seemed to disappear into the woodwork in
seconds and I was yet again the only one with a packed lunch prepared and the
expectation that I would consume it at school. Last year this made me feel lost
and confused being left alone in very unfamiliar surroundings but this time I
realized the extended lunch break gave me time to walk home and share the break
and the breaking news of the morning with Ian who was already done for the day.
I also fondly recalled the many lunchtimes during term time that I have spent
at school marking, assisting students with "doubts" and catching up
on the paperwork I needed to, in the solitude of the empty office. I look forward
to adopting the same approach again this year as it affords me the opportunity
to mix with students with whom I don't have classroom contact and to expand my
knowledge of the student cohort and influence.
By the
late afternoon I was happily reminiscing about the new level of understanding I
had, despite thinking that I had learned very little about the system in my
first year when I left in December. Sitting at the back I was unconcerned about
the lapses into Dzongkha that inevitable occur when the discussion gets heated.
Actually I was grateful for the opportunity to allow my thoughts to wander and
to reflect on the way the school has evolved and my knowledge of procedure
grown. Last year these lapses had me stressing about what vital information I was
now missing and how I could possibly know what to do for the first few weeks of
school. There were some important decisions made, but the priority for me was
the allocation of teaching classes and by the end of the day that had still not
been decided. I had however happily avoided being Literary-In-Charge opting
instead to continue my responsibilities with photography club and table tennis
club. Perhaps I will come to regret that decision since I am once again the
only staff member with responsibility for 2 clubs and photography club consumed
a great deal of my scant free time last year. This year at least I will have an
assistant and I intend to become better at delegating to both him and the
students.
By the
time we were dismissed for day one it was clear that there is an expectation
that we will document more of what we do both academically and in terms of
extra curricular commitments this year. I cannot say that this surprises me as
I was somewhat surprised at the lack of record keeping in 2011, after the very
strict requirements of Australian schools. Without a teaching load allocated I
felt free to enjoy the evening with the magazines which arrived from Australia
that day, and not have to immediately launch into the teaching preparation
which will come soon enough.
Day two, which was a saturday by the way, also began in a very businesslike manner and much to my relief allocating
teaching duties was the first agenda item. Faculty groups were left to split
their loads and report their decisions to the newly appointed
Timetable-In-Charge and the English teachers easily came to a consensus about
who would get what. I argued for spreading my influence and affording students
who had not had a native English teacher (namely me) last year that chance,
which allowed me to continue to teach class XI but ultimately meant meant that
I would change my home class. On the up side class XI curriculum is familiar to
me and I like it for the most part. On the down side I will have 4 new sections
of names to learn and I was disappointed about the loss of my original home
class with whom I have developed a very close relationship. Since the board
exams are the real bugbear of the system and teachers' lives, I figured with
one year of experience under my belt it was best to volunteer for at least one
such class and face my demons over the coming year. I therefore requested one
section of class X English and am relived that there will be 3 of us teaching
that course, so we can hopefully share resources and support each other.
Inevitably to balance the loads and responsibilities not everyone got exactly
what they wanted but I believe that the compromises were fair and a balance was
achieved. By far the most pressing business of the day was the meeting of the
Admissions Committee and they were locked in discussion and hard at the
decision making process long after we mere teachers had resolved our class
allocation issues. While staff were milling about and chatting I was able to
distribute the chocolates from Bangkok and hard cheese from Bumthang that I had
purchased as souvenirs. That process had me marveling about how I could now
address all of the staff with at least one name and felt confident about which
titles applied to whom. At tea breaks last year I was battling with trying to
put names to all the faces.
As a
saying goes, "Well begun is half finished" so it now looks like we
are well on the way to a successful 2012 academic session!
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