Yesterday was my first day at Wake County Public Schools and it was a huge wake up call to public school education in the US. It is hard for me to put into words and I feel that my international teacher friends will “enjoy” this post more then others as I compare a teacher training day at a US public school to an independent school.
We arrived at school and the PTSA provided us breakfast. It was McDonalds. Luckily I had eaten at home already and just had some coffee. Not a fan of Micky D’s. The faculty consists of about 180 teachers, which is about 1/2 the population of XIS. It is a lot of people!!! I guess bigger schools like SAS in Singapore have the same size faculty. The difference here is that at Garner everyone is American and a lot of them are Southern! Not saying this is a bad thing by any means. Just different.
The APs (I think there are 5) introduced the new teachers and with every introduction there was a mention of the school/sports team they follow. For some people would make a wolf sign with their fingers and make a noise when the team was mentioned.
After that initial meeting we broke up into 4 cohorts where we were talked to about grading, health (my favorite), A/B schedule and growth mind set. I will just focus on the health break out session. We were instructed by a nurse to watch a video about how to use inhalers. The video was poorly projected with no speakers.
It just made me giggle. After the video we were instructed how to use an Epipen. It is something important but the pen is kind of idiot proof. After we all practiced how to use the pen we had to sign three papers saying we received the instructions. It really made me think in my 16 years overseas never did I encounter someone that I needed to help with an inhaler or use an Epipen. Are kids more sick here or have more allergies in the US?
Oh and it also made me think about this new type of smoking device I saw online. What if the student brings this in? 
All in all in was a fine day. This school is filled with good people, Southern accents that I need to really listen to understand, and sports fans.
drinking from the faucet 
You will follow ACC basketball:) Do know how you feel……as for the southern accents – your girls will soon acquire them:) Take care – you are going to learn a great deal from your school experience and they will learn even more from you – xo
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I don’t know Gail if I will get into basketball…I don’t think so. As for my girls having southern accents…I sure hope not.
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