Growing up in northern Virginia has given me a pretty idealistic idea of how schools should be run in the public system. My schools were always very large, clean, and well organized. The teachers seemed quite happy, and the administration seemed very on top of things. The resources that we had in our county were so great. Every child had their own book to take home, there were multiple computer labs with flat screen computers, teachers could check out laptop carts, providing all of their students with a laptop in class... etc. I was extremely privileged in my school system and I wasn't even aware that I was until I started my student teaching in different counties, and now especially here in my Partnership in Lunenburg.
After getting the notification that I was placed in Lunenburg county, my first reaction was "Where is that?" Lunenburg is a county that I had never heard of, so I had to go straight to Google Maps to see for myself. To my disappointment I first found out that I was going to be driving about 45 minutes everyday to my elementary school. Finding the gas money for that commute every day was not going to be an easy task, but i was excited to get started none the less. I also found out while researching that Lunenburg was quite a rural town, very similar to Farmville actually. I was interested to see what grade i was placed with and what my students would be like, because i had never taught in such a small town before.
After a few days of settling into Longwood and getting acquainted with our new partnership teachers, it was finally time to meet our cooperating teachers at our school. I was so excited when I found out that I got placed in Kindergarten! Even better was getting to meet my new cooperating teacher and seeing how friendly and easygoing she is. The school is two levels, and a lot bigger than I expected actually. Once i got to see the classroom I was so surprised at how large the classroom is and how tiny my class was going to be! I only have 12 kindergarteners in my class! How crazy! I was loving this placement already :)
On day one of class I was ecstatic to meet all of my little kindergarten kiddos. They all came in off the bus and were so welcoming to to me on my first day! Many of them asked me how long I was staying, and some of them asked me if I had taught kindergarten before. They were all so cute! Through out the day I was so surprised to see how smart my class was! They were forming sentences, naming off the presidents on american currency, and even naming off the months in spanish!
Little by little I could tell how much the school was really in desperation for money. The P.E. teacher was cut from the other elementary school, leaving our P.E. teacher to go back and forth between schools. The computer lab has huge, outdated computers, and there are barely enough working headphones to be sufficient in my class of 12. The teachers had access to only two black and one color cartridge of ink per year for their whole class, and many of the supplies they had was purchased out of their own pockets. In the lunch room there is not enough help for teachers to leave their class and eat in the teachers lounge, they need to sit with their students at their table, in fact, their isn't even a teachers lounge that I know of.
I think that working in Lunenburg county will be an excellent growing experience for me as a teacher. My little kindergarteners have so much to teach me already, and my cooperating teacher is so willing to work with me and show me her ways. I am well on my way to becoming a confident, flexible teacher.
