1 month anniversary. School and students

Alright, i know I've been teasing this and i hope not to disappoint but here goes. The Langley Academy. I'll try and give you a brief rundown of how the UK education system works. So the school system is split up into primary school which goes through year 6 and secondary school which goes from year 7 to year 11. After year 11 they can apply to the 6th form which is essentially their upperclassmen high school years and choose their specialty (science, art, history, etc) and earn their A-levels. They need to have a certain amount of A-levels to even think about applying to a University. They earn the A-levels either through coursework or taking standardized tests at the end of the courses. The other option is to choose to go to a technical school after year 11 to learn a trade (hair dressing, masonry, etc.) or apply for an apprenticeship, or go directly into the work force. Also in year 2 the children are assessed and if they are qualified talented enough they are skimmed off to go to grammar schools which are for high achieving students and are very posh and they also go through year 11. This kind of sucks because the best and the brightest are taken away leaving the rest to go to Public schools and Academies. Academies are privately funded but dont get any delusions of grandeur, they are almost always built in the absolute worst areas to try and bring stability to the students in these types of areas.
The Langley Academy has replaced the Langleywood school from what i can tell was a pretty rough place. The school has a Principal who runs the day to day business side of things and has final word on any major student related issues like exclusions. He would be almost like a one school superintendent. They also have a head teacher who is more in the classic American version of a principal role. From there on you have some vice principals, all of the heads of dept., and we have 8 behavior managers and then one school police officer. I will tell you one thing, this job would be impossible without all of the support they have in place from all of these people.
Now as for the students, well i cant really get into any specifics due to the fact that my name is attached to this and the students have found out about google.com so i have to keep things to overall impressions. The school does have an effective discipline system which is based on warnings. If a student gets one warning it is their name on the board, 2 warnings is a seat change and a note to their carers in their planner, 3 warnings is a 15 min detention, and 4 warnings is removal from class by a behavior officer and a 1 hour detention, and a letter automatically generated and sent home that same day. There is also a Gross Misconduct (GM) equal to an automatic 4th warning and can result in an exclusion. You can only give GM's out for a student swearing directly at you, fighting, drugs, or any other major offenses. If a student gets excluded (suspended) they are actually not sent home, they are sent to an inclusion center on campus and given work to do from classes in silence, so it serves as a pretty good deterrent.
Now as for the students themselves. Disclaimer!! This is not indicative of all students, far from it. 60-70 percent of the students are amazing. But thats boring to talk about so i'll focus on the minority of bad students, but also know, this isn't one or two bad kids per class. I have one class with over 10 kids like this. I have a class that every student is like this, literally. Its really hard to describe but they are not necessarily any worse than american students, its just that the offenses are different. For example in CA we probably kicked out 30-40 kids for drugs each year. In 3 years Langley has only kicked out 1. The kids just don't bring drugs to school, not to say they don't do them, but they leave it at home. Also the kids don't fight. At Portola Middle School we had fights all the time, but here its rare, probably 1 or 2 per year, whereas in the states we had 1 or 2 or more per week it seemed like sometimes. What the kids do here though is backtalk, like for real, they backtalk and are defiant in ways i cant even begin to portray to you. I have never, ever, had a kid refuse to give me a mobile phone in class when i asked for it. I had 5 refusals the first day, straight up, "No i am not giving you my phone, so go away and stop bugging me" and they go back to texting. Then i have to shell out warnings and get behavior managers involved. They don't care though. If you ask them to do something they say no or just straight up ignore you even if you are yelling their name 1 foot away from them, they continue with what ever it is they are doing. An absolute show of disrespect.
Now I've had loads of kids like this, but when you combine it with this next bad trait it makes for more than a challenge, it can be "crying at night" "want to quit" bad. IMMATURITY. No joke, i have never met or seen so many whiny 5 year olds in teenagers bodies. For example, if i was to employ the waring system we have in place in the states 90% of the students would behave badly, get a warning, and accept their punishment. Here, oh no... no way.
(Disclaimer: This next thing is hypothetical, but it comprises exactly a normal thing, this is not literal but something similar did happen)
I have told a student "do not throw that, or you will get a warning", he/she then looked at me and threw it and when they got a warning, acted as if i was the most unfair, unjust, tyrant around and threw a stomping feet honest to God temper tantrum in class. This is a high achieving 14 year old mind you with good test scores. I was hanging my jaw at the end of the first day. I have had activities planned that should have taken 5 minutes take 1 hour and 40 minutes because the students will not stop talking. I have taken over a half an hour to say a sentence getting no more than 2 words out at a time before the talking would start. Two weeks ago i was going to quit, it was so bad. But i was comforted by some of my colleagues (all male by the way) who said they went home crying on multiple occasions in their first years.
But apparently its all part of a test with the kids. The teacher turnover rate has been so great since the swithc to an Academy school system that they are left feeling constantly abandoned. My most challenging class (which i am determined to get in line and learning, and they are slowly coming around) had 6...SIX teachers last year. Crazy, and they have had no discipline in over a year, so yeah, it can get bad. But apparently its all a test according to Tom my British teacher friend. I told him, that i felt like i was failing that test. He said "No! Everyday that you show up, you pass. They are saying, Do you have the balls to stick with us through all of our bullshit and teach us? And after you stick around for a year or 6 months, they respect you. Apparently my other friend Roger from Canada had a nightmare year last year and this year he has even rougher classes, but now they instantly respect him just because he stuck it out and came back instead of leaving. Needless to say, these types of conversations with Tom and Roger, and all of my other colleagues have kept me from walking out, and each week is getting slightly better.
Also, the greatest thing about Langley is that all Fridays are half days and there is a Pub across the street. Now we don't all go out and get pissed drunk (seriously we don't), but there are probably 40-50 teachers there after school lets out and that pint of cider, that "friday and work was hell but its the weekend" pint of cider is the most delicious thing i have ever tasted. Everyone is there, Everyone, and we all trade war stories and laugh ourselves silly at our choice in profession. It makes everything worthwhile. Then i go home with Pete and we have a hot meal on the table prepared by our lovely wives, and everything seems like it might be okay. At least for 2 days.
Thanks for reading, and leave a comment (even if its just "Hi"or subscribe if you read this, because i would be curious as to who is) and keep coming back. Hope you enjoyed. The next blog is will be dedicated to Jon Shin who really wants to know what i think about UK culture. So next time, i'll let you all know what i think, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Teeth. Later. Love you all.

Flat-mates and School

Alright, well...where to start. Pete and Cam showed up at our doorstep with all of their stuff and moved in, which was monday the 30th of August. Kelly and i painted all day and also arranged for the couches and chairs to be cleaned, which they desperately needed. We all went out to the White Horse that night, which is our local pub and got food and commiserated with Pete and Cam about what a horrible situation that they had just gone through. A good time was had by all and the Pub also had some pretty epic lasagna for only 2 pounds.
The following morning Pete and I woke up and made the trip to Langley to check out our new teaching post. Let me say this, The place is pretty freaking cool. 3 stories and absolutely beautiful. We managed to talk to one of our Lab Techs for about 2 hrs about everything and found out what we were teaching. Both of us had 5 preps which was daunting to say the least. All of the kids at our school are ability banded and stay with each other for most of their classes throughout the years. In the states you teach specific subjects, say Bio in 10th grade, Physics in 8th grade, and so forth. Over here they learn a bit of each of the 3 disciplines in each year so you don't teach anything specific you just teach your year group. The year groups are also one ahead of what we would stay in the states, so year 7's are equivalent to 6th graders. Im teaching year 7 (2 blocks/double lessons per week),2 bands of year 8's (4 lessons per week), year 9's (2 double blocks and 1 single lesson, so 5 times per week), year 10's (same amount as year 9's), and i split one 6th form class called BTECH which is science in the working world (i see them for 2 lessons per week and there is only 6 people in the class and they are mostly year 12's and one year 13), i also have a Home Tutor Group (HTG)that i see every day for a half an hour and also one lesson on mondays. The HTG is a pastoral care class where i act as a guidance counsellor, we do team building activities, and i also check planners/uniforms/equipment, so its kind of like a homeroom. I am also responsible for talking to the kids about problems in their classes and call home if a teacher wants me to for any problems.
 I was scared about doing lesson plans for all of these classes but soon found out that what i am to teach is set by a Scheme of Work (SOW) for each class so i know exactly what is to be done during each lesson and what practical/Lab/demo is associated with each lesson. The facilities of this school are amazing and the budget for science since it is a science specialized school are absolutely off the charts. Theres literally hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of science equipment from Microscopes, to Live animals, to an honest to god thermal image video recorder (2500 quid for that). Its crazy. We got really excited for our classes and what we were going to do. We talked to HR, made sure everything was in order, and headed home.
The following day (Wed.)we had our first day of school, but it was an INSET day (as would be the following 2 days) where we just did teacher training and met our colleagues. Very quickly we had a strong group of friends made up of Pete and I, Peter Brozny whom i will now refer to as Brozny for the sake of confusion, and Chris the new English teacher. We also have Tom who is British teaches History and is new as well. Also Roger who is in his second year and teaches science and his fiancée Romina works there as permanent Cover/Substitute. And there is also Hayley who is Cover/Sub as well. Thats pretty much our crew that we met the first few days. We also had some pub time with everyone after each of the INSET days, which was a fun way to get to know everyone.
Alright, the science dept as well is awesome. Our dept. chair Andy Morgan is a really really inspiring fun teacher to work under. In the following weeks he has given me so much advice and listened to all of my problems patiently and has been a tremendous support. Laura is also amazing and she is the assistant chair and has really helped me and the new teachers as well.
The INSET days were fun but my only complaint was that we talked a lot about the academy Ethos, but all of the new teachers could have used some training on how to use the schools new computer systems, and how to fill out the litany of paperwork that we are required to do on a daily basis for assigning house points, recording behavior incidents, and what forms to fill out if we call home. But we have kind of been figuring out all of that as we go along. We also got our laptops, which have had a variety of issues but are now working okay, and we got a few scant minutes to set up our classrooms.
Over the weekend Kelly and i continued to make home improvements and got out to London on Sunday to go to the Hillsong church again and walk around the city. Super fun.
Alright sorry for the disjointed nature of this but theres been a lot to keep straight in my mind. Next edition will be the first week of school, and my worst day in recent memory where Roger and Thom literally talked me out of quitting (spoiler alert, things have gotten better since then). I'll post it up tonight or tomorrow depending on when i get the time. Love you all, and i miss everyone. Kelly says hi and her blog will be up and running this weekend as well. Later.

....Continued

Alright, well without looking at the old post i believe i left off with Kelly going off to Maidenhead by herself and myself going into the city to meet some teachers. Keep in mind this is all without phones so pretty much all day Kelly and i assumed the other person was probably dead. Well it took me about and hour and twenty to get to the correct stop on the tube, the train i was on had to make 26 stops before i got there which is probably why it took so long. The induction was painfully boring except for the bright spot where the bank official who came there told me i couldn't set up a bank account until i had an address (and we couldn't get a flat until we had a bank account), so i freaked out in my head and then just turned to the person next to me who i had met 5 minutes earlier and asked if i could use their address, problem solved. I met that day Pete Dunlap and his Wife Cam (science teacher at Langley and she works in advertising remotely), Peter Bronzy (Science teacher at Langley from Canada), and Chris Sommers and his gf Carly (English teacher at Langley and she is a supply [substitute] teacher, both from Canada). They were all really cool and we have all since become friends, i got Pete Dunlaps' number and suggested we meet up in London the following Sunday to just hang out with the wives and do some walking around, they thought that would be cool. We all had drinks given to us after the induction and it turned out to be quite fun. Also had an interesting conversation with Chris about our mutual love for the band Thrice, but when i asked him if he dug the Get-up Kids he said it was a bit before his time. I inquired as to his age and he is the same age as the first students i ever taught 5 years ago, 23. I felt very old, but oh well. I rode the train home in good spirits and to both of our surprises both Kelly and  I were alive at the end of the day. She had got her phone unlocked (mine was too new and therefor i would have to wait two weeks until they updated the unlocking hacks), put down a holding fee on the place, and found out we could move in on Saturday which was awesome since it was Thursday and we would only have to pay for lodging for one more night which at about 70 quid a night was quite steep. There was only one problem though. We only had about 900 pounds on us and would have to pay a 1800 deposit and first months rent before we could move in, and if we didn't have it on Saturday we would have to wait until Tuesday to move in since Monday was a bank holiday. This all wouldn't be that big of a deal except our American bank only would let us pull out 300 pounds per day from the ATM. We also had no way of calling them since we didn't have phones. Friday morning we woke up and ate a final breakfast with Dee at the B and B and got a cab over to a new guest house in Maidenhead that was owned by a really lovely Indian couple who couldn't have been nicer to us. We figured out the we could video chat with my mom and have her call our bank and impersonate Kelly with Kelly feeding her the security info through the computer. It was pretty awesome and we were able to pull out 500 on Friday leaving us about 500 pounds short. We also had to pay our guest house fees. Bollocks, we were going to have to wait until Tuesday to move in. Luckily we took a chance and got a cash advance on our credit card and ended up being able to move. 

We spent ALL of Saturday cleaning and throwing all of the previous tenants things away. We also needed to get a new mattress since the one in the bedroom looked like it was covered in blood.

Kelly at our flat in the widow/balcony (kind of) area.

A There happened to be a mattress store across the street so we threw down our bags in our new place (after making 2 trips across town carrying them by hand from the guest house to the apt.) and went to the mattress store hoping to spend no more than 200 to 250 on a new mattress. The salesmen (one older and a younger manager) were very nice but informed us that they were a predominantly high end mattress shop and the only double they had in stock even remotely close to our price range was for 350 plus 30 for the mattress removal. We told the older gentleman there our story and he started begging the manager to please, please let us borrow something so we didnt have to sleep on the floor or find us something we could afford, it was really nice of him and i was kind of touched. He was really pleading especially because we were literally their new neighbors. The manager said that he would see what he could do and came back up 5 min later and said he would sell us the other mattress for cost + the removal fee, which ended up being 250 total. It was really cool of them and a total blessing. We carried the bed across the street and up the stairs and set it all up. We bought some cheap bedding and cleaned until the wee hours of the morning. I also happened to mention to Kelly that Pete and Cam were staying with some friends but had worn out their welcome and needed to find a place soon. Kelly was like, "whoa, i know what you're thinking and no they cannot stay with us, what if they are super weird". I assured her that they weren't but she could decide when we met them the next day in the city. I emailed Pete and we set up to meet the following day. Kelly on the way into London did eventually say, "I guess it wouldn't be too bad to have some company for a while and we do have that extra bedroom. So yeah they can stay with us as long as i don't think they're weird". Kelly and i were getting kind of lonely so i said that sounded great. We met them at Hillsong church, which was awesome, like Rock Harbor times 10, and went to a little place called Belgo for luch which was great. After that we all walked to Covent Garden and watched the street performers. The 4 of us commiserated on how the move had been VERY hard so far, but we had all experienced pretty much the same stuff, which was comforting in a way.

Kelly in Covent Garden

Right as we were about to open our mouths to tell them they could move in with us for a bit if they liked, Pete told us they had found a place in Windsor but couldn't move in until Nov. 1st. But they had also posted on Gumtree.com and found an interim place in Windsor for the ensuing two months. We still offered our place to them should anything go wrong, and they said thanks, but Kel and i were a bit deflated since we were kind of looking forward to playing the role of the Good Samaritan and also having some company. They did also mention that the people they were talking to sounded a bit sketchy but everything seemed to be on the level for the most part. 

Casey in Covent Garden

We hung out for a while a parted ways to go back to our places that evening. Kelly and i went out for Curry chicken sandwiches that night and i brought my computer to check some emails if i could wrangle up some wifi. We ended up meeting a guy who was from Orange County sitting at the table next to us. He had lived here for 13 years and had never met another person from Orange County. Crazy he even went to a Canyon High School which was in the Orange Unified School District that i had taught at, small world. I managed to get online and had an email from Pete and Cam. The place the had got as an interim place had been a scam and through an elaborate con (which i would have fallen for as well, it was very legit sounding) had been bilked for 800 pounds. They asked if they could come over to our place for a little while and i invited them to stay for the whole time until their place opened up. We spent all of Monday painting and about 14:30 we heard a buzz at the door. We had roomates...

                         This is a good place to stop. More soon, sorry if this is boring but its also so i can remember all these stories as well. More about the school, the differences between cultures, and the horrible children in a day or two. Miss and love all of you who are reading this. Kelly is also starting a blog so stay tuned.

First Post - 3 Weeks in the UK and counting...

Alright. So i know i haven't really been able to talk to too many people over gchat or skype or anything recently so i thought i'd get a blog going to keep everyone in my life updated on whats going on over here across the pond, hope you enjoy. To be completely honest we've had a very rough go of it so far, but still are really enjoying everything, so please dont think i am complaining, it's just that the first little bit of this trip has been very hard, but punctuated by some bright spots and getting better.Also if anyone feels the need to correct my grammar in this post, go kick yourself in the face.
After a wonderful summer in Oregon spent getting in shape and preparing for our trip we left for the United Kingdom. The plane ride was actually pretty cool since we somehow slipped through a loophole and didn't have to pay for baggage fees. We got to sit in the exit rows and they even had on demand movies. Kelly and I watched Hot Tub Time Machine (overhyped)  and i think i watched some episodes of the Office and 30 Rock.
Upon arrival we were met by Melanie from the agency that got me the job and she kindly drove us out to Windsor where we were staying at Dee and Steves B and B (deeandsteve.com) which was a great little place to hunker down for 3 days while we figured stuff out. We slept for 30 min and then walked out to meet a leasing agent to show us some places. I had a good feeling that of the 5 places we were about to see we would have to pick one and just hope it was good enough. This was where things started to go wrong. We only go shown 2 places, one was way out of our price range at 1075, and the other that was for 800 quid (pounds) was tiny, in an out of the way location, had horrid furnishings, and smelled like permanent smoke. Well, we scrapped living in Windsor. After that little debacle and now no prospects we went for some food. We walked though the city square and eventually stumbled upon the castle (still havent toured it though) and ate at The 3 Tuns which was a 200 year plus old pub. Ordered BLT's and they were absolutely nothing like what we were expecting. Bacon here is like undercooked oily ham (good, but not on a sandwich), a few flakes of lettuce and one half of a tomato on untoasted white bread. After all of this the room then started to spin (because i had now been up for over 24 hours) so Kelly and I made our way home, and went to bed a 6:30 pm. The next day we decided to take the train into Maidenhead to look at apartments over here. We found a leasing office and they were able to show us an unpromising place around the corner that afternoon. In the interim, we went to a phone store to try and get our iphones set up, but found they would have to be "Unlocked" in order to accept a British SIM card, ugh. We did find a guy to do it at a kiosk in the mall but it would be 10 quid each. Whatever, we left our phones with him. So Samantha the leasing agent reluctantly showed us the place. Believe it or not the space was absolutely awesome and for a really cheap price, it was huge as well compared to the other places we looked at. There were draw backs however, it has no parking whatsoever, or any parking anywhere close by, but thats okay because we have no car. Also its on the 4th floor and only has stairs. And the last bit, it was really really horridly disgustingly filthy. I guess is had been sitting for over 5 months and had never been cleaned. We needed to think about it, but we went to a pub that night and ate some fish and chips and decided that it we would take in and fix it up.
The next day i had an induction for the school and had to leave Kelly by herself to put the deposit down on the place and pick up our phones and take the trains by herself while i made my way into London to meet my fellow rookie teachers...Shoot, i have to go, but i'll continue the story tomorrow, i promise