"Hi, my name is Laura Cometa and I had the pleasure of working at Christian American School of Guatemala (CAS) for the 2011-2012 school year as the Director of English. CAS is a small Christian school with approximately 240 students ranging from toddlers to high schoolers. Class sizes are capped at 22, which great for teaching and learning. The goal of CAS is to help our students become fluent in English, which is why our students learn in English for most of the day and why it's important to us to have teachers directly from the United States. 
 

The Director should ideally have the following qualifications: a teaching credential from the United States, 5 or more years of teaching experience, an administrative credential from the United States, and experience in a supervisory or administrative role. Having a Masters degree is preferred. The teachers and students should see the Director as an exemplary teacher who is also a strong manager. The Director should be a United States citizen who went through the American education system and speaks English as a first language. The Director should not speak English with a foreign accent. 
 

As Director, one of the main responsibilities is working with the teachers. When I do teacher observations, I watch them for a full-period class, view the teachers' lesson plans, and take notes to give the teachers individual feedback afterwards. This is also when I complete teacher evaluations on things like uniforms, punctuality, attendance, professionalism, classroom management, and instruction. Every week, I facilitate a staff meeting to inform teachers about upcoming events and foster our teachers' professional growth. When the school year started, I planned 5 days of professional development to build community amongst the new staff and lay the foundation for a consistent philosophy and pedagogy amongst the teachers. When a teacher is absent, I am the substitute teacher, and if a teacher leaves the school mid-year, I must fill in until a new teacher is hired. I am responsible for posting ads to recruit new teachers, interviewing them, and hiring them. Since many of our teachers have never been to Guatemala before, the Director needs to help them get ready and settle in. The teachers have many questions that need to be answered about life in Guatemala, and many also need help finding apartments and arranging transportation. I have created a school handbook to help the teachers understand all of the school rules and policies, and what life is like in Guatemala. Overall, the teachers at CAS have been professional, positive, and easy to work with, but there have been a few challenges throughout the year with teachers who have struggled to meet the school's needs. 

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Of course, another huge responsibility is working with the students. I know all of the students by name and am familiar with their grades, behavior, and learning styles. On a day-to-day basis, I am the one managing the school and the students’ behavior, from the time students arrive until they leave. I handle discipline issues, which includes meeting with students one-on-one, holding detentions, and having parent conferences when needed. I also keep track of students' grades and progress, suggesting appropriate remediation and recommending students for Honors if they need more of a challenge. I make sure that special education students are having their needs met and help the teachers to adjust their practice accordingly. I administer our school's diagnostics; these include entrance exams and yearly diagnostics to determine students' proficiency levels in English (written, reading, and oral), Spanish, and Math. For the English oral exams, I pull each student out of class one at a time to administer a 15-minute oral test. Each morning, I take attendance school-wide and give students warnings for uniform violations and tardies. I keep track of students' attendance (including excused and unexcused absences) and give them grades based on Attendance, participation in Devotional, and participation in the weekly Swimming class. While there are occasional discipline problems, overall the CAS students are a joy to work with -- they are eager to learn, affectionate, cooperative, and respectful.
 

The Director must also be someone who knows how to use technology well and can manage it with ease. The Director creates email accounts for the teachers on the school's domain, runs the copy machine, and helps the teachers with online tools such as SpellingCity and Starfall. The Director is also the school librarian, so he/she needs to use the library software to register new books in the library, add new students, and check books in and out. Alongside the library software, the Director needs to manage the Accelerated Reader program to make sure that students are staying on-track with their reading goals and reading books that are at their correct level. Each month, I also create an English newsletter for parents using Microsoft Word or Publisher. I also manage the online grading program that we use, called Engrade, where teachers input their grades and parents and students can access them online. In addition, creating the master schedule requires experience, a strong understanding of the school's needs, and the ability to use Excel.
 

In addition to working with students, teachers, and technology, the Director needs to be ready to step in wherever needed. The Director is expected to oversee school field trips, handle report cards, and plan events to showcase students' work and involve the parents. As a Christian school, we hold devotionals every morning, which the Director oversees. The Director needs to create a monthly value, weekly Bible verses, and a rotating calendar so that each teacher knows when it is his/her turn to lead Devotional. The Director leads the Devotional every Monday, which includes making announcements and acknowledging students' successes by giving out weekly awards. This year, I have also helped our English teachers by pulling out the Honors students once a week so that the English teachers can review with the rest of the class. With the Honors students, we read novels together, write book reports, do creative projects, and make presentations. This also gives the Honors students a chance to receive more individual feedback on their writing as they draft their book reports. I also pull out struggling students and special education students once a week to check in with them, set goals, and provide tutoring when needed.
 

One of the most challenging parts of being the Director is planning ahead for the next school year. This requires a lot of communication with the school's owners, to understand the scheduling needs for the next cycle. I am responsible for putting together a list of textbooks to order, creating a master schedule, and programming students in their classes. Another challenge of the job is managing your time well. You are often multi-tasking at school and on most days, I bring work home to do in the evenings and on the weekends. There is also a significant amount of work and planning to be done over the summer before you officially start in September.
 

Although there are a lot of responsibilities and some challenges, there are countless rewards that come with being the CAS Director. It is a fulfilling job and it has been one of the best experiences so far in my career. I will never forget the great teachers I've worked with and the amazing students. If you have any questions about the job, I would be happy to answer them."

- Laura Cometa, cometa.laura@gmail.com