Orientation and teacher days

The entrance to the school
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La Rentrée des professeurs

As in the states, back to school is done in several steps. For me, this meant that Friday, September 1^st was my first day. (Actually, I had already met the leaders to get acquainted with the administration and the building. At this meeting, I was told that the community is very demanding, that the students have a lot of pressure, that I must watch what I write in all correspondence with parents, and that the school is well-known. I felt like I was in Pleasantville. I already knew that the match between the schools was right on.) However, this was the official day to meet the other new teachers at the Collège Victor Hugo at 40, Rue de Bel Air in Nantes.

after they crack, they combust!

A detention slip, French style
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At 9h30, I entered the parloir (yes, I was the last new teacher to arrive.). The principal, Monsieur Chauzeix, the principal adjoint, Monsieur Henry, and the Conseillères Principales d’Education, Mme Le Gall et Mme Tourais were present to welcome everyone and educate the staff on the history and the various procedures that are particular to Collège Victor Hugo. Collège means Middle School for those of you who were wondering. The school was once a religious school, then a hospital (which the remnants of the plastic or rubber curtains hang in the windows of my classroom), and finally, boys, and then a mixed public school. The school is well known in the region and elsewhere, as about 40 students from Pays-de-la-Loire and Bretagne reside at the school. They come for sports mostly: synchronized swimming, ping-pong, soccer, basketball, hockey, and tennis. It is the only school in the county (département) that has an internat (dorm). These students are in the B section. The A section are the musicians. Both groups have special schedules that accommodate their special training, but we were warned that these students are also the ones who have the highest tendency to craque due to the many pressures placed on them by school, parents, and coaches/conductors.

The CPE has a function that deals with discipline and seems to have the most student interaction among the administrators. Mme Le Gall told the new teachers about les élèves qui s’explosent (literally, the students who explode). Apparently, after they crack, they combust! As I just recently did, I filled out this form to hold a student for detention. It is held every Wednesday from 13h30-15h30 (yes, there is no school after 12h00 every Wednesday.). So, this form states boldly that the student is requested as retenue, or held back. I love that the form is like a letter. It reads: J’ai le regret de vous informer que votre enfant… (I have the unfortunate duty to inform you that your child…) This needs to be filled out, including the motif (reason), the work they will do (yes work is used as punishment here!), and the administrators and myself must sign it and send it to the parent so they have ample time to react and get their kid in line well before they even serve their time. Besides this wonder, there are also other little things to fill out for any special occasion. She calls them coupons, and I just couldn’t stop thinking how much my mom would love to sit and clip all the coupons for me like for the supermarket. Each class you see in a day needs a coupon d’absences with which section of the grade you have, which room, etc., and an extra one if you are the first class they have in the morning and again after lunch so the attendants can come and collect the attendance coupons. Then, if a student leaves the class, there is a formalized coupon called “sortie de cours” (leaving class). God help me if I need to send a kid out to meet with any of the eight pre-selected locations. I will spend three minutes filling out this coupon! There is also the coupon for meeting with the guidance counselor, which I still don’t understand, the coupon if there is in incident in class, and a coupon that I THINK I only receive, not write. This one has to do with students who are late to class because they were at one of five pre-selected locations. If they were not at any of those locations, they cannot enter your class, and you must send them to the CPE. This coupon, called the AUTORISATION D’ENTRÉE en cours will eventually be filled out by the CPE anyway, since the latecomers see her and then get a talking to (I suppose – is she scary with them, or does it go on their record?) and then are given this coupon for one free entry to class! Twice a day (right before lunch and right before I leave for the day), the attendance coupons must be placed in the transparent boxes. No joke: they were so clear that I couldn’t find them at first! Seriously though, even though it was so much information for me that I sort of forgot, I am glad that it was offered.

Speaking about discipline, it was during the official first full meeting on that same day that the info was repeated, but this time with celerity, and that statistics about the offenders were presented. Not only were there figures on how many students were expelled or kept home for a few days, but the details were available on how many per grade, what was the frequency per type of offense, how many were repeat offenders, and how many teachers wrote these students up. I had such a headache – so many numbers, and so much information – but it was also because it was hard enough to listen to the principal without 50% of the other teachers talking loudly at the same time. They weren’t just whispering; they were having a grand old time! Okay, so, there were 160 exclusions for 106 students. 84 were kept out one time, 12 two times, and one 9 times. 65 were due to behavior, and 25 were due to a refusal to do work. I just find this fascinating! It gives a general idea of what’s going on.

There was one funny conclusion to the formal meeting: Monsieur Chauzeix listed the last topics as the sujets fâchés (topics that make us angry). Quite direct!

The meeting wrapped up and we had a toast offered by the principal. YES! We had champagne and noshes on the school grounds. In fact, the assistant principal refilled my glass! We need this kind of welcome in the states!!! I felt it was a very nice gesture, and it definitely made the transition back to school easier for them, and the French language to flow more freely from me!