The Good Things:
- Predicted Correctly: Saw new places, High school problem-solving based curriculum, Quality discourse and friendships with colleagues, Sufficient planning time (for a change!), More confidence at times
- Felt Mislead: The number of days off
- Unanticipated Rewards: Learned the kind of travel the relaxes me best, Spanish better than expected, Successfully expanded comfort level for some new situations (including conferences), Salary bonuses, Staff treated faculty exceptionally well, I'm better at living in a city than I was during college, Little culture shock of the city/country.
The Drawbacks:
- Predicted Correctly: Less theater, Missed friends, Calendar duration, Unlevel sidewalks frequently affected my back
- Felt Mislead: Overall student attitudes, School had many ineffective policies
- Unanticipated Negatives: Poor mattress frequently affected my back, Pollution (minimal wind) on main streets, Unable to recharge my batteries during the teaching day due to discipline issues.
- How long is the school year? Pretty long... it starts one week earlier and ends one week later than the Chicago suburbs.
- Job expectations? 5 sections of Interactive Math Program grades 9/10, supervise breaks approximately one week in four.
- Salary? $45,000 goes far here for a lifestyle of travel, eating out, and still being able to save money. The average teacher in the local suburb of Chia earns $12,000. That must be why the largest bill here is 50 mil -- the people in our neighborhoods are the only ones commonly carrying them around.
- Kids? Some are super nice, like anywhere else. Sweet, empathetic, and motivated. Many lack respect and discipline, but it's not a Colombia thing -- it's a part of this school's culture.
- Insurance? Just like food and other goods can be domicilio (i.e. home delivery for very little money), so can doctors and medicine. The copay was about $13 US.
- Feedback to students? While maintaining up-to-date Sharepoint and online grades websites, and giving rubrics for 95% of assignments, there is a consistent complaint of "I don't understand how my grade was calculated." Behavior-wise students respond very well one-on-one for the most part, and very defensively when in a pack mentality.
- Acceptance of methods? Students routinely say they want to work in groups, but when they're given the chance they basically use it as a social structure that validates giving up on anything the least bit challenging. They also want their questions answered now, which is likely how they were raised. On both topics, many students made a lot of progress this year. Some never tried.
- Safety? I've had zero issues. That includes walking around at night, occasionally getting taxis off the street, and carrying around the equivalent of thousands of dollars US when absolutely necessary. Several other teachers have made rather thoughtless decisions that backfired, but that is not to say they aren't good or smart people. When you live in any big city there can be theft. As the economy worsens, so does the theft.
- Housing? I've got had a good location, rarely had any issues with hot water, and had excellent Internet service. It's a 25 minute walk from school when I go the longest (safest) route, and 5 minutes to the grocery store and gym. Two beds, two baths, a stainless steel counter in the kitchen, nice flooring, cleanly tiled bathrooms.... I have been taken care of!
- Medical care? I shied away from some appointments that I could have had to look at my sprained ankle in the fall and to have cleaned my teeth, but the opportunities were there. If you are given "incapacidad," you are not allowed to return to work until the end of a 1-3 day period. You cannot be docked pay with that diagnosis.
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