So far Texas has been awesome. I have been here a little over 2 weeks now and everything is going very well. I just recently found an apartment, and as of Friday, I began my first year teacher orientation at the High School. There are a lot of new teachers from the Midwest and I just found out that our principal is a UofM graduate. I will be teaching 9th and 10th grade world history and world geography this year. The best part about all of this is that I just found out my entire year is already planned out! I anticipated having to start from scratch and figure out what I was going to teach, when I was going to teach it and how, but my department has already done much of the planning for me.
Since I arrived I have been very busy with football. I went to San Antonio two weeks ago for the Texas High School Football Coaches Association Conference with the other coaches I will be working with this season. Everything was paid for and I got to see both the Alamo and the famous River Walk in downtown San Antonio. The conference was a lot of fun and the other coaches are really cool. When we got back from the conference I got to see the school for the first time. The building itself is almost brand new. There are 2000 students that attend Del Valle High School and from my understanding, most of them are from low income families. The school demographic is 70% Hispanic, 20% Black, and 10% White. Teaching this group of students will be challenging but I think I will survive, lol.
The High School facilities are really impressive, at least to me. The facilities are better here than Wooster! There is a really nice weight room, three practice football fields, and the game field is under construction because they are installing field turf...which is about a million dollar project. The coaches office is huge as well. There are 14 coaches between varsity, junior varsity and freshman. We each have our own desk and I love it. I found out when I got down here that I am going to be an assistant coach on the freshman team. This isn't what I expected but I think it is good for me since everything is so new. I have a lot to learn and the freshman play book is a lot
smaller than varsity. I am also coaching baseball in the spring. I am going to be the Freshman coach and it should be fun. I really like the head baseball coach. He is a old Mexican guy and he is funny as hell.
Yesterday me and several other football coaches went floating down the Guadalupe River. Coach Rich has some property on the water and we all went his house, grilled out and had some beer. We had a floating cooler and we just floated along down the river, drinking and bullshitting...I had a great time.
Tomorrow football season starts. The kids will start coming up to the school in the afternoon to get their equipment and then we have to get them out to practice. I am excited for the season to start but know that I will be working a lot, as most people know, football is huge in Texas and I can only imagine how many hours I will put in over the next three months....
4 comments:
Hey Bobby,
(Nancy here)
This all sounds terrific. We know you'll be super busy, but it sounds like there will be opportunities for some fun, too.
You know Grandpa isn't big on e-mailing, but he reads and enjoys all yours. I'll try to pick up the slack. Grandpa says: "I'll try to e-mail you occasionally, but please forgive the bad spelling -- I was a high school dropout, remember (but I did go back and get my real diploma, not a GED, but that didn't help the spelling)."
Hey Bobby-That sounds sooooo awesome! I can't believe that 70% are hispanic thats going to be a rough road. Hopefully they are all fluently speaking english. Mine usually are not. But then again I have the little ones. I bet you will love it there. Is it all year school (3 months on, 3 months off) or same as ours? Some of the southern districts do it the "year round" way. So you had a good time on the river huh? Are they like our rivers? I just had 2 trips: an all girls rafting trip and a couples kyaking trip-Love it! Jesse and I just bought a house-we have 32 acres all together, 2 pole barns a pond with a little row boat and a small house. I love it, I feel like I am at a cottage up north. Keep posting, I'll keep checkin out your blogs. I can't wait to hear about your first coaching year. It sounds like the older teachers are taking you under their wing. Perfect. Don't forget that being a man gives you a little more power to move up the chain of administration and money-take advantage. It's a little more tough for all of us ladies! Lots of love, Amy
Hog you are the man my cell 734 925 2456 e-mail tb3070@hotmail.com When ever your around please let me know I would have loved to see you. I'am very proud of you I may not see you very much but I am very proud of everything you have done!! I'am sure your Dad would feel the same way!!! Uncle Tom (Big Hog)
Just to add to what I said about 70% hispanic being tough-all I meant was , "If they cannot speak English and you don't speak spanish," Just to clarify. Rick said my comment sounded harsh, it was not meant against any culture. I just meant it would be tough to have such a big differnce between what you are teaching in english and if they understand or not. Hey do you have a spanish minor? Just curious.
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