First off on the list is my blog makeover. I worked incredibly hard on my blog design for several hours today. Just a little background, I started this blog in 2010 when I first got pregnant with my oldest daughter. It then evolved into a place to share giveaways from other blogs. Yes, I know shameful. I'm sure I'm not the first teacher to use their blog for the sole purpose of earning more chances to win giveaways. I mean have you seen some of the stuff that these blogs are giving away!! Craziness, I tell you. Well, here is my blog all prettied up in my favorite colors. It took me quite a while to come up with my name too, but I am quite happy with it all.
I'm missing home right now. My husband, our two babies and I live in the Philippines, but my heart belongs on the island of Guam. Next week is Spring Break, and we will be flying home for a little time with my family. I can't wait!! Have to get through 3 more days of school, and we're off.
So, living in the Philippines has been great, but the only thing is we have lots of crazy animals here. This humongous lizard is commonly found here, and according to the locals this one was just a baby. WHAT?! Yeah, exactly what I said. Oh, and he's being held by my wonderful husband who is also a teacher.
Here's a little something from my classroom. This is my morning command center that everyone sees when they first walk into my room. It houses the attendance check-in clipboard, date, work turn in organizer, extra copies binder, homework board and supply essentials that get used on a daily basis. The best part about it is after a couple of weeks, this place runs itself. AWESOME!! It has been a working progress all year, but I think I've got it tweaked to where I like it. There will definitely be a repeat of this next year.
Since this is my first Five for Friday party, I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Gina, and I teach Grade 4 to 4 students at an international school in the Philippines. I have been teaching for 6 years, and my first year teaching was at a school in Tucson, Arizona. I have 2 beautiful daughters,ages 1 and 3, and they are truly the air that I breathe. My husband is also a teacher at the same school I work at as a Grade 5 teacher. Yes, we do a lot of collaborating together, and we are total opposites in everything we do in the classroom. I was a little apprehensive about working with him, but it has been great..no joke!
The past five years here have been been both a challenge and a blessing in my career. A challenge because access to teacher supplies that are readily available back home are nowhere to be found here, think bulletin board borders..yes!!you can go ahead and gawk.. PD is nonexistent unless you want to pay the hundreds of dollars for legitimate programs. However, there is a silver lining. Being here has pushed the boundaries of my creativity and resourcefulness as a teacher. I have had to think outside the box for simple projects because of unavailibility of simple things like borax or legit 3 ring binders. Teacher blogs have helped me a ton, and it has become my own personal source of PD.
It really isn't as bad as it sounds. I do my own research for lessons because we are given the freedom to decide how a lesson is taught. Our accountability does not happen as a result of weeks of testing, but rather in the observation of a child as a whole. Parents trust us to do our job, and really they just want their kids to enjoy learning, and that is what we do. Because of this trust, I find myself working harder than the day before, but it's because I want and not because I have to.
Although I am thousands of miles away from home, education is still the same, parents are still the same, and kids are still the same.
Whew! That was a long one. Thanks for hanging out, and I hope to see you all real soon. PEACE!
