Middle School English Teacher.
Lesbian.
Single.
06/17/1990.
32.
Horse (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Nikolette Freeland on Jul 29, 2021 16:16:04 GMT -8
Nikkie was pleased that she'd gotten offered the chance to do a first year teacher mentorship. The new ELL teacher, who would also be teaching the intro Korean class, had been assigned to teach a transitional ELL class preparing ELL students to enter non-ELL English classes in high high school. She was honestly kind of excited to teach the class and get to co-teach with another teacher. She hoped that the two of them would get along alright, and that the new teacher would click well with some of the kids that she'd been working with. It was nice to have a dedicated ELL teacher now though, instead of just a few of the teachers who were ELL certified, including Nikkie, filling in the gaps between their other classes.
Since the new teacher was fully signed on now, she reached out via email to set up a meeting over the summer to start planning their curriculum for the year. She was glad that she knew a number of the students that they'd be working with already, and she was excited to get the chance to talk to the new teacher about the school. It did mean the slightly strange experience of going into the middle school at a time during the summer that she wouldn't have normally, but the principal had okayed her meeting with the new teacher in the offices.
She made sure to get there early so that she'd be able to greet the new teacher when he arrived, and she wondered what he would be like.
Raven Raein Kong
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
25.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Raven Raein Kong on Jul 30, 2021 18:34:15 GMT -8
Raein was nervous. It was the first time he was actually stepping onto the school campus since he moved to Cedar Beach, and it was a bit nerve-wracking. He was going to be co-teaching with the English teacher, which made sense and honestly left him less worried about his upcoming year. But the amount of collaborating he was expected to do with other teachers made him nervous he'd mess it up somehow. He got into the offices and found who he could only assume was Nikkie, considering the offices were all but dead at the moment, minus the secretary who directed him towards Nikkie's office.
He knocked lightly on the door and gave her his best smile. "Nikkie? I'm Raein - err, Raven, the new ELL teacher?" He said to her softly.
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Middle School English Teacher.
Lesbian.
Single.
06/17/1990.
32.
Horse (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Nikolette Freeland on Aug 1, 2021 10:20:25 GMT -8
Nikkie had the time to tidy her office a little bit and get out some materials that she wanted to look over with the new teacher. She was glad that he got there not long after though, so she couldn't get bored or invested in another task. She smiled at him and said, "Hi! I'm Nikkie. It's nice to meet you, and I'm glad that we're able to meet before the school year starts to get going on this planning. Do you have a preference between Raven and Raein?"
She was happy to use either, and she wanted to make sure that the new teacher was comfortable. They'd be working together a lot.
She asked, "Do you want to dive into planning first, or would you want to have a tour of the school? I can show you the area where our classrooms are especially so you can see the set up that we'll be working with. We can move things around of course, but there's always limitations and advantages to a given space."
The new teacher was going to be getting the classroom next to hers with the connecting door, which other than her volunteering, excited to get the chance to mentor, was probably a good part of the reason that she'd been given the chance to be the new teacher's mentor teacher. She did hope that they'd get along.
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
25.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Raven Raein Kong on Aug 3, 2021 18:37:27 GMT -8
"Nice to meet you too. Um... I guess Raein is fine." Raein replied, not used to people actually asking. Usually they just went with Raven because it was easier, but Nikkie hadn't even butchered it like most presumably non-Korean speakers did.
"Um, I'd appreciate a tour of the school. It's uh... A lot bigger than the school I went to." He requested softly. He had been told of his assigned room number, and that he'd be working closely with Nikkie throughout the year, so he was hoping they got along well. He was still a bit nervous, but she had a strangely comforting presence that he appreciated.
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Middle School English Teacher.
Lesbian.
Single.
06/17/1990.
32.
Horse (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Nikolette Freeland on Aug 5, 2021 18:25:17 GMT -8
Nikkie was honestly glad for the chance to get up and move around. She smiled at Raein and said, "Nice to meet you properly then Raein. It looks like we're going to be working together a bunch, so I'm happy we're getting to meet early."
She smiled and waved her hand around the building where they'd met. This is the main offices are, the principal and assistant principal have offices down that way, along with the secretary and attendance secretary. We've also got the school nurse and the counselors in here, and some general office rooms that anyone can use. They're good for meetings with other teachers if you don't want to have those in a classroom or meeting with parents if you don't want to do that in a classroom, stuff like that."
She stepped out of the area where the offices were, expecting Raein to follow her and pointed out the staff lounge with it's kitchen including multiple fridges and coffee machines, staff restrooms right next to it. She said, "The other half of this building is the library and computer labs, and then some of the CTE classrooms for things that need like tools or kitchens. I'm in the library a bunch, but I don't have a great understanding of which is which of the other classrooms."
She led the way outside and said, "We're in the main classrooms building though, across the green. Kids and teachers alike spend a lot of time out here when the weather's nice. That building over to the side there is the cafeteria on one side and the gym on the other, and the sports fields are past it."
Soon enough, they'd reached the second horseshoe shaped building across from the offices, and she said, "And this is the building where our classrooms are. We're down in the corner of this hall, and our classrooms have a door connecting the two of them. They're pretty bare right now, just with the desks and bookshelves that come with the room. I've got some decorations that I'll put up, and I need to rearrange my desks sometime in the next few weeks. The classrooms are sort of grouped by subject, so right here near the entrance is social studies, and then the English team is in the first bend, then you've got math, then art, and the music room and science labs are at the other end of the horseshoe."
She led Raein around, showing him where things were before looping back to their rooms and unlocking hers so that he could see what the space looked like, beckoning him in behind her and going to unlock the double doors between their rooms as well, so that he could see the mirrored room that would be his room. She said, "So what do you think? It's smaller than a lot of the schools in Seattle, but it's decent sized, and we've got reasonably nice classrooms."
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
25.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Raven Raein Kong on Aug 20, 2021 19:12:33 GMT -8
Raein followed Nikkie, looking around as she so kindly showed him around. He was definitely getting confused as they walked around, but hopefully in time he'd get used to it. He was boggled though when she said this was a smaller school than a lot of the ones in Seattle. Suddenly, he was glad none of the Seattle School District jobs came through for him. "I uh... I'm from the middle of nowhere, this school feels huge to me." He pointed to his future room. "I think I can remember where our rooms are." He glanced around, pointing in the general direction of the entrance. "And I can find it from the entrance. And I see a staff bathroom right there, so I think I've got the important things down." he shook his head and smiled, "This looks like a nice school, and I'm excited to start. If you have ideas on how I should decorate my room - perhaps we could coordinate? I'm completely open to ideas. I was at a loss even before I was told I'd be collaborating with another teacher."
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Middle School English Teacher.
Lesbian.
Single.
06/17/1990.
32.
Horse (WA)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Nikolette Freeland on Aug 21, 2021 12:06:25 GMT -8
Nikkie smiled at Raein, who was clearly a little bit overwhelmed, and said, "I like to start out the room with a pretty simple theme, something that the students can add to and personalize over the course of the year. I've done colors a lot of the time, or rainbows. Or something pretty open to additions like nature. It's not like elementary school, especially early elementary, where a lot of the time the kids will get really into a theme, and you've got a lot of different groups coming through the doors. They like having ownership of the decorations some, so projects and stuff that students bring in to display go up on my walls a lot, or I add things that I know a lot of students are interested in."
She paused, looking around her room from the doorway between the shared rooms for a moment and said, "I like the idea of coordinating though. I was thinking of doing rainbows again this year because I'm hosting the GSA again, but I'm not set on that."
She pointed out the bookshelves in the corner of her room and added, "One of the biggest things that I like to focus on as an ELA teacher is having a good selection of books in the room. Some of the kids will work faster than others, and I like giving some free reading time and having options for people who are out of things to do. I can definitely help you with setting up a bookshelf of your own, especially since you being here means that a lot of the ELL kids will be on your side of the room, so the more illustrated books and some of the en face books in languages that we have a lot of language learners for would be better suited to your room."
She paused, watching him, figuring that she should give him a chance to take in everything that she'd said and respond.
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Middle School ESL/Korean I Teacher.
Homosexual.
Single.
06/29/1998.
25.
Tiger (WA)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Raven Raein Kong on Sept 11, 2021 17:46:00 GMT -8
Raein nodded, liking her idea of letting the kids have a say in the decorating. But then he got stuck on her mentioning GSA and barely heard anything else. He was able to wait politely until she finished talking, but then blurted out, "GSA?!" His mind was slowly catching him up to the rest of her words, and he had to agree it would be a good idea to have a good assortment of books, and he wasn't totally sure of the meaning of en face but could guess based off the context, but he couldn't voice that because his brain was still stuck on GSA. And how it was a thing here. It was a shock, but also a relief. Maybe these kids wouldn't have to grow up living in fear of people finding out who they were.
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