{"id":2238,"date":"2013-09-08T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-08T23:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:31","slug":"first-week-of-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=2238","title":{"rendered":"First Week of School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having\u00a0transitioned from youth ministry eight years ago into full-time teaching, I\u00a0grew to expect the hectic pace of the opening of a new school year to leave me feeling unprepared, a bit anxious, and completely overwhelmed.\u00a0 BUT\u00a0at least\u00a0THOSE beginnings\u00a0had the virtue of being\u00a0somewhat predictable.\u00a0 We’d stock up on fast and easy foods for lunches, set our alarms early, get all the kids up, dressed, fed and out the door to the van.\u00a0 On the very first morning, I\u00a0would always make\u00a0sure we got a picture of our kids outside and ready to hit the road.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Once at school,\u00a0I\u00a0could count on the bells to ring every 50 minutes or so, ushering in a new group of high school students to whom I would explain the very same concepts and procedures as I had to the kids during the previous period.\u00a0 Melissa and I tend to work hard, especially that first week,\u00a0but there was never much literal sweat involved.\u00a0 Ever.\u00a0 This year: profuse sweating.\u00a0 And that’s just ONE of many differences.\u00a0 For example, no easy grab-n-go lunches this year.\u00a0 I’m missing the “Lunchables”!\u00a0 Melissa has\u00a0to start\u00a0the lunch planning\u00a0 the night before.\u00a0 Fresh fruit needs to be cut.\u00a0 If the kids want peanut butter sandwiches, bread needs to be baking.\u00a0 Water bottles need to be filled and chilled.One morning Melissa realized that even though we had no mini bags of potato chips to throw in the lunches, she could bag up some popcorn.\u00a0 So she popped some on the stove … working by flashlight.<\/p>\n\n\n

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And why flashlight?\u00a0 Well, school starts at 8:00\u00a0am and our goal is to leave the house at 7:00 am. To have time for prayer and Bible reading and finishing lunches and making breakfast and rousing the kids and getting dressed, we’ve been getting up a little after 5:00.\u00a0 Which is actually not all that different from the past few years in Indiana, except here the power doesn’t come on typically until 6:00.\u00a0 A few fans and a few overhead lights are powered overnight by the “inverter”\u00a0– basically big rechargeable batteries.\u00a0 Sometimes the inverter runs out of juice before the generators get turned on at 6:00, so you do what you can by flashlight.Another big difference that is tough to get used to as an American: we don’t have our own vehicle.\u00a0 The mission owns several trucks and vans and they are USUALLY available to us for sporadic use. But between break downs and the transportation needs of various projects going on elsewhere throughout the day, we don’t have a vehicle\u00a0to call our own and\u00a0leave parked\u00a0on the school grounds\u00a0all day.\u00a0 So we have been hitching a ride with Angie Bundy – our next door neighbor and our principal – who has graciously invited the six of us to SQUEEZE in to\u00a0her family’s\u00a0Patrol with her and her four kids!\u00a0 Pile in lunch boxes, computer bags, book bags and water bottles, and it gets a bit tight.\u00a0 On the plus side, the Patrol has an AWESOME air conditioner!Once at school, Melissa and I have both had to adjust to some major changes.For Melissa: She’s dealt with non-English-speaking students before, but this year she has 18 students between her first graders and her kindergarteners and Melissa is thinking that 10 of her 11 kindergarten students speak little to no English.\u00a0 The first day of class ended with\u00a0Melissa nearly in tears.\u00a0 She\u00a0was distraught over the thought that\u00a0several of her students were quite naughty and nearly uncontrollable.\u00a0 Many completely ignored her even when she called them by name.\u00a0 But over the next few days, it dawned on her that the majority HAD NO IDEA WHAT SHE WAS SAYING\u00a0 TO THEM OR ASKING THEM TO DO.\u00a0 And the fact that they didn’t even respond when Melissa called them by name?\u00a0 Maybe because she wasn’t pronouncing their names correctly!\u00a0 (It turns out, for example, that Hans is pronounced Ahnz!)\u00a0 The second day, a sharp young lady who speaks English, Creole, French and a bit of Spanish was hired to work as Melissa’s aid.\u00a0 It’s a trial run and there’s question as to whether the school can afford to employ her long term, but Rose was a huge blessing to Melissa throughout the rest of the week.\u00a0 We’re praying that God provides a way to keep her on!For me: I have been used to teaching high school English classes.\u00a0 Now I have 5th and 6th and 7th graders for multiple subjects.\u00a0 I need to brush up on my math skills and world history facts!\u00a0 My students are great so far, though, and have lots of personality.\u00a0 And they have surprised me with the depth of discussions we have managed in class already.\u00a0 Also new for me: having my own kids in class.\u00a0 Caleb is in the 7th grade this year, Hannah is in 6th and Samuel is in 5th.\u00a0 The 6th and 7th graders are with me for everything but History and I have Samuel’s class for English and World History and then Samuel as an individual joins my 6th grade math\u00a0class.\u00a0 Hannah is taking 7th grade math and Caleb is taking pre-algebra with a couple of the other 7th graders.Bonus challenge for both Melissa and me: the power has been going out for an hour or two at unexpected times about every morning.\u00a0 If you need to make copies, access the internet, or charge a computer, you’re just out of luck.\u00a0 In Melissa’s classroom, there are so few windows that when the power is out it gets quite difficult for students to see the work they are supposed to be doing.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, FANS\u00a0are also missed when the electricity stops flowing!<\/p>\n\n\n

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My students – ready to work!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Samuel sits at the picnic table to do some of MY homework after school.\u00a0 Got to keep the water bottle handy!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Hannah coming in from lunchtime recess.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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The younger kids love the swings and monkey bars before the school day starts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Principal Angie addresses my students during chapel on Friday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Squeezing into the Patrol.\u00a0 This was the end of a school day and Sarah looks like she's been through the wringer!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

In the midst of all the inconveniences, we have the energy that the Lord provides and we are feeling quite at home and very blessed.\u00a0 We are constantly aware of … and in awe of … the fact that we are here and getting started with the work God has called us to do in Haiti AND that it’s only possible by His provision through wonderful, supportive brothers and sisters in Christ like YOU.\u00a0 Thank you so very much!<\/p>\n\n\n

I would appreciate your prayers for us during Week #2 – this week I add a significant duty to my schedule.\u00a0 I will be teaching English as a Second Language to a group of 30 adults twice a week.\u00a0 So, starting this week, on Tuesdays and Fridays I will have to hurry out of Cowman at the end of the day and catch a ride back to the main mission grounds where I will hold class from 3:30 to 5:00 pm.\u00a0 It’s a Bible based curriculum and the students will be from all walks of life.\u00a0 I’m very excited about the chance to share God’s word with them, but a bit nervous about taking on this new role!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having\u00a0transitioned from youth ministry eight years ago into full-time teaching, I\u00a0grew to expect the hectic pace of the opening of a new school year to leave me feeling unprepared, a bit anxious, and completely overwhelmed.\u00a0 BUT\u00a0at least\u00a0THOSE beginnings\u00a0had the virtue of being\u00a0somewhat predictable.\u00a0 We’d stock up on fast and easy foods for lunches, set our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2248,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions\/2248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}