I'm blessed to be able to teach in a very good school. Not very good in the sense of high academical level, or great discipline. I teach in a public school on the rough end of Antwerp. More than 60 percent of our pupils are first or second generation immigrants, the other 40 percent are mostly people from social housing projects. Pupils in jail or fighting from our pupils close by is not an exception.
The school however is great in the fact that most of the teachers are really commited to their students. There's a good atmosphere in collegiality and the direction is great. So, among the teachers, it's quite common to exchange material. I know I can always count on the teacher of visual arts to help me if I need drawing papers, colours, etc. The teacher of make up graciously provided me with samples of pictures of wounds to illustrate the theme of pain visually, etc. Likewise, I've offered materials for christmas, the The Father Damian action for my collegues in 'general moral', etc. Not all the material collegues offer can be used, but the generosity and simplicity of it is something I truely cherrish.
I couldn't help but laugh a bit though, when the teacher of general moral happily offered me some of her material on sexual education that I had asked her for. (She has a great movie about the development of a baby in the womb.) One other thing she gave me (honestly without a second thought) was a booklet about the anticonception pill. Like most people here in Belgium (even Catholics unfortunately) she doesn't know what the teachings of the church about anticonception are. It wasn't the gesture that made me laugh though, it was kindly ment. But I did read the booklet, and it said quite openly that it was made by a sexuologist, commisioned by a manufacturor of the pill. The strange thing is that that doesn't 'ring a bell' with most people here, no matter how educated they are. If I came to them with a study on 'good foods' sponsored by MacDonalds, they would of course be sceptical, but not here. *L*
The school however is great in the fact that most of the teachers are really commited to their students. There's a good atmosphere in collegiality and the direction is great. So, among the teachers, it's quite common to exchange material. I know I can always count on the teacher of visual arts to help me if I need drawing papers, colours, etc. The teacher of make up graciously provided me with samples of pictures of wounds to illustrate the theme of pain visually, etc. Likewise, I've offered materials for christmas, the The Father Damian action for my collegues in 'general moral', etc. Not all the material collegues offer can be used, but the generosity and simplicity of it is something I truely cherrish.
I couldn't help but laugh a bit though, when the teacher of general moral happily offered me some of her material on sexual education that I had asked her for. (She has a great movie about the development of a baby in the womb.) One other thing she gave me (honestly without a second thought) was a booklet about the anticonception pill. Like most people here in Belgium (even Catholics unfortunately) she doesn't know what the teachings of the church about anticonception are. It wasn't the gesture that made me laugh though, it was kindly ment. But I did read the booklet, and it said quite openly that it was made by a sexuologist, commisioned by a manufacturor of the pill. The strange thing is that that doesn't 'ring a bell' with most people here, no matter how educated they are. If I came to them with a study on 'good foods' sponsored by MacDonalds, they would of course be sceptical, but not here. *L*
