My Job(s) for the Year

Let's talk about my job this year. I have two official titles: Profesor de Religión, and Sub-coordinador de Pastoral. These roles are related, but distinct. JVs have taught high school religion at FyA44 before, but the context has changed since the last JV who taught high school religion.

Follow the jump to read about my multi-faceted role at the FyA 44 high school.

Profesor de Religión (Religion Teacher)

Once again, I'm a religion teacher. This year I've graduated to teaching high school religion. Rachel has taken over my previous position teaching religion in the elementary school.

The logistics of me teaching are more complicated this year. The high school is part of a national pilot program called JEC (Jornada Escolar Completa), which means that I can't be in charge of any class on my own because I'm not a certified teacher. Instead, I am technically the assistant to Hermana Vilma, a Dominican nun who is the main religion teacher this year. I think it's great. She takes care of copious amounts of paperwork the Ministry of Education requires, and I teach half the classes. We meet each week to plan, and I usually plan 1 or 2 of lessons for each week.

Sub-coordinador de Pastoral (Sub-coordinator of Pastoral Work)

As long as JVs have worked at FyA 44, they've been involved in the pastoral work. But this year, my role is much more involved. My main boss in this role is Hermana Rosario, the sister of the sacred heart of Jesus who is childhood friends with Pd. Gustavo Gutierrez and one of the most badass women I've met.*

This job involved planning and running the religious aspect certain important celebrations (like the school's anniversary in August) as well as multiple student retreats that we'll offer throughout the year.

I'm also in charge of founding and running the school's youth group. I'm very excited for this work because last year it was something I wanted to propose to Pd. Eddy and Hna. Rosario as a part of my job, but it turned out they were thinking along the same lines and he asked me to start a youth group before I could suggest the idea to them. When everyone is seeing the same need, and everyone is having the same idea at the same time, the Spirit is moving. I've got a lot of freedom in how to run the group. This is my baby, and I hope it will be part of my legacy as a JV here.

The final aspect of my role in the Pastoral office is as a student counselor. Pd. Eddy has asked me to accompany students in whatever they may need. This means meeting one-on-one with students and talking about anything from abusive parents, to how start dating a girl without upsetting your mother, to how to pray. For the last two weeks I've been meeting with students, beginning to make my way through the entire list. By the end of May I should have met with every single student at least once. From there the students take the lead. Those who want to talk to me will (hopefully) come and ask to talk. Those who don't, won't. There will also be some students who I seek out because their homeroom teacher or the school psychologist asks me to talk to them.

Counseling is a new thing for me. I really enjoy it. I told my community mates after the first week of meeting with students that it could end up being my favorite part of the job. I love being in the classroom, but it's difficult to teach lessons that someone else planned, especially when you have very different teaching styles. The pastoral work is something I have a lot more control over and gives me more of a chance to know my students personally as individuals.

The first month of work has been good. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year and all the possibilities it holds to know and serve the high school students of Fe y Alegría 44.

 *Which is saying something. I grew up around a number of badass ladies.