Once again, my week started out a bit rough and got better as the days progressed. We had the conclusions of the first projects for the first and second years this week. This was a bit stressful. I had a lot of grading to do and students were not finishing on time. They were not following the assignment. I had no idea how to continue after this project was finished.
Naomi was in charge of the exhibition for the second years. This was quite the task and she even had to come into school on her day off Tuesday to get some work done. This added some extra stress for both of us.
Slowly I made progress with checking my assignments – which turned out really well. The students were supposed to use some online software to make a floor plan of the school. Even with lots of mistakes, the software made the floor plan look rather professional. A nice display for parents night (Friday and tomorrow) when the parents come to see what the students have been working on.
I also made progress on planning for the next weeks with the teachers I share classes with. We should be splitting the classes soon, but without knowing the date, it makes planning a bit difficult. We are also supposed to request our classrooms on the schedule, but by the time we got to it, the rooms were all taken. How are we supposed to teach without a classroom? Not sure. The schedule thing has been a huge problem from the beginning. I think they need to pay someone just to organize it. Otherwise all of the teachers each waste a lot of time negotiating with each other for who gets to use the classroom…
Somehow Naomi’s exhibition and the parent’s night went smoothly. It was as if there was an unseen director making sure the timing of everything worked out. After school Naomi and I celebrated with a nice dinner. If you remember the link about the school I posted a couple weeks ago, we have another cause to celebrate. Our school has just won a 50,000 Euro prize for being the most innovative school in the Netherlands! That is what the video was about.
Naomi and I spent about 300 Euros yesterday getting some things in town. A couple of the department stores had sales going on and it was a bit like Black Friday. There are so many people in this country. We founded what we needed though, and I even got some new running shoes. The store was nice – they did a little video test to analyze my run and recommend certain types of shoes. Of course the ones that fit the best were the most expensive…I always seem to have that problem.
Speaking of running shoes, it is a beautiful morning and just about time to try them out. Afterwards I think we just might take a bike ride over to Delft. The weather has been beautiful this week, so it needs to be enjoyed before it gets terrible again.
P.S. If you want a taste of some Dutch humor...they boys at school have been doing these little dances in class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmsvEhce_GQ
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