School Life

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Well, I decided it was about time to talk more about what it is I am doing while I am here in Honduras... TEACHING! ...plus I was getting requests from Nana to hear more about school and less about the parties 😊

We are now into our 2nd quarter of school. After missing much time between H1N1 scares and political unrest, we have finally had some FULL weeks of school and were able to complete the first quarter.

It was a rough start and it took me forever to learn the students' names, but after about 6 weeks, I FINALLY learned all of the names of my 4th graders AND 2nd graders. The following names are examples of why it's been so hard for me to remember:
4th grade: Sofia, Andrea Sofia, Andrea Nicole, Maria Jose, Maria Isabel, Camila, Jamilah, Jorge, Jose Armando, Jose Andres F., Jose Andres P.
2nd grade: Juan Diego, Juan Fernando, Juan Jose, Juan Carlos, Ricardo, Rodrigo, Jose Rafael, Marlon, Marcos
Between my 2 classes I have 4 kids named Jose and 4 kids named Juan. One of my 2 Marias has Jose as her second name. One of my 4 Juans has Jose as his second name. The whole thing is confusing, as you can see! But I got it! I've even learned the names of MOST of the 4th and 5th graders in my dance club.

School has been tough. The position that I'm in is not an easy one. I split 2 classes and am supposed to be "co-homeroom" teacher in both classes but it's been a real struggle. I have twice as many students, twice as many parents to deal with, and only half the amount of time with each class. The hardest part is that the school is pushing us to incorporate tons of new things that they see beneficial to education, but we're trying to do too much in not enough time. For example, the school wants us to be learning/encorporating the following things into our teaching: Powerschool (online attendance, grading, data source), e-beam (similar to a smartboard where your whiteboard in class becomes an interactive computer screen through a projector and calibrating a magic e-beam pen), 6+1 traits for Writing, CELL and ExLL Literacy framework (teaching every subject through a variety of literacy frameworks), Plato (standardized math testing online), classroom blogs, and DRA (standardized reading tests).

It's been too much all at once and teachers are feeling stressed.

For me, my position has been hard. While trying to incorporate these things listed above in only 2 periods/day/class, I also am trying to find where I belong. Being in 2 different grade levels, I got to twice as many grade-level meetings, alternate my morning grade-level duties between the two grade-levels, and don't have MY own space. I don't have my own classroom. I am just adding what I can and trying to fit into what is already established.

Don't get me wrong; I'm happy here. It is a great school with great resources and decent support. They pay me well and I'm not miserable. It's just been tough.

They're re-evaluating the position for next year and one of the existing 4th grade teachers is talking of leaving next year, so I'm kind of hoping for my own class. I guess we'll see how it goes.

The school is definitely interesting. Despite stress, I am often laughing at how unbelievable some things here are.

The students are all children of wealthy families who own all the big chains in Tegucigalpa. They're the families that own Chillis, TGIFridays, Burger King, Hotels, Banks, and even the local soccer teams. The following are things I've heard that remind me just how much money these families have:

• "Ms., I'm sorry I was late for dance club, but my maid forgot to pack my dance clothes so my driver had to bring them now."
  
• "My grapes are so dirty! Clearly my maid didn't wash them." (said by my ADULT/married/pregnant co-teacher)
  
• "Ms., can I go call my driver to bring my other pants because I ripped these ones?"
  
• "But Ms., it's not fair for you to keep us in at recess! They're giving out popsicles and all the GOOD ones will be gone!"
  
• "Honduras will go to the World Cup and my whole family will go to South Africa! My grandma too!"
  
• "I'm leaving school early today because I have to be fitted for my Halloween costume."
  
• When asked what they are thankful for on the day of Canadian Thanksgiving, many of them said, "I'm thankful for my mom because she buys me ."
  

Yes, these kids have it all. The parents are also quite interesting personalities. It's been an adjustment but it's also been good, knowing that I am teaching/influencing the future of Honduras.

My next blog I will write about the fun things we've done at school. For now, please feel free to check out the classroom blogs for both of my classes (if you want to see the stuff we're doing at school):

4th Grade Classroom Blog

2nd Grade Classroom Blog

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Comments

[Kari12]

Gotta love the brats
Oh, I remember those spoiled little brats and then I remember children's day when we went to "poor, under priveldged" schools, and what a completely different scene that was. Always made me think I should have been with those students. Keep up the struggle Sarita, it can only get better

[Nanas and Gramps]

School Days
No wonder you had trouble remembering the childrens names, I'm sure Iwould never get them straight. Two split classes sounds tough, but I'm sure you will manage just fine. You are a good teacher and the children are very fortunate to have you, just remember a good teacher makes such a difference to all of their lives, and will always be remembered. Gramps and I miss you and look forward to next year when you will be able to get home for a visit. We are both fine and send you our love. Love always Nana and Gramps.