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Published: November 29th 2006
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What a Smile!
Who could complain about working 40 hours a week with this little munchkin? (Just make sure to ask me on the right day.) Once a week, I have a class meeting with my students. We talk about things we like about the class and things we would like to change and the best way to make those changes. In the true spirit of 5th grade class meetings here is a list of things I love about teaching in Honduras and a list of things that I would change if I could:
Things I Love About Teaching in Honduras:
1. My fifth graders aren't too cool to give me hugs and kisses.
2. The preparatoria (grade between kindergarten and first) kids, for whose class I subbed for a week and a half, give great bear hugs every morning when I come to school.
3. Teachers in Honduras can hug and cuddle kids back without worry of disciplinary action or a lawsuit.
4. Common comprehension problems with directions makes for cute stories. (Example: In the math book, the directions were to find the difference between 6,329 and 2, 145. One student wrote, "6,329 is a big number and 2,145 is more small". If I hadn't written on the board that difference meant to subtract, I would have definitely given her points for that answer 😊)
Que Guapos!
I love the self esteem that some of my students have. The two kiddos on the right have decided they are the most "guapos" (handsome) in the world and have a handshake to go along with that belief :) 5. Miss Jenna's fifth grade section A loves to dance. We do it on a regular basis in class. We even have our own "happy dance" for when the star moves on the Listen O' Meter. You should see us do the moon walk and the running man.
6. I can do stupid stuff on a regular basis and tell the kids its cool and they believe me. (Example: the moon walk)
7. My kids have a strong sense of family and love to talk about their family and ask you about yours.
8. Parents are great at picking me up at the side on the road on my way to school or anywhere else in town. I have yet to walk to school yet this week.
9. My fifth graders love music. From Mozart to Hip Hop, I can play anything and they are content. The best part about playing music during work time is that they dance and sing while doing their homework. Its impressive to watch.
10. Change is good. Students are ecstatic about any small change in the classroom. The start of this week marked a new quarter and my latest addition to class was a
Peer Teaching
When I'm tired, I just let the kids teach the class. (No, not really. Although, when I got fed up with one of the students once and asked if he would like to teach the class, he did give it a try.) homework sheet with a picture of bigfoot on the top, named Harry the Homework Helper. This was very exciting for the students. It will be even more exciting for me if they all turn in their homework.
11. The most exciting job on the super cool student responsibility board is "book carrier", the person that carries my books and materials to the teacher's lounge for me. Who knew?! Side note to the Head Start staff: great heavy work, huh? Brilliant!
12. Pre-adolescent sexually charged fifth graders make for great stories. My favorite still is the little guy that was totally engrossed in coloring a picture of the female gentalia for sex ed during a math class. The latest sexual innuendo in our class is this week's spelling word, sausage. On today's spelling assignment, one little guy wrote, "I have huge sausage." Fantastic.
13. Things don't always translate perfectly. Today a child asked, "Miss, how do you say 'pedo' in English?" "Fart", I replied. "Miss, Eduardo just threw me a fart," which is was literally translated from the Spanish "tirar un pedo". How great is it to correct a child's English by saying "Close. The correct way to say that in
Prepa Pile
A few of the mini munchkins from prepa B and I at the folkloric festival. They are sooo much cuter when I am not responsible for them. English is 'Eduardo farted'."
14. Short answer on quizzes. Example: Science Quiz on Adaptations. The question was "Give three ways in which coloration helps an animal to survive." The student wrote, "*warning coloration for predators to say I am poisonous, don't eat me *camoflauge to hide and * to attack a mate and reproduce." Attack. Attract. More or less the same in Honduras anyway. I gave him full credit.
15. As the weather gets colder, fifth graders love to cuddle. Occassionally they are just wiping their noses on me, but its a small trade off.
16. I'll rarely (by rarely, I mean never) receive recognition from administration, but I'll always receive it from my students. "Miss, I love you." Although my favorite two things that I ever heard from students came during a class meeting when the students were saying things they liked about school. The first one was from a student who pushes my patience to the limit daily, "Miss, I like that you have patience with us." Perhaps, she knows I have it because from time to time I tell her that I am losing it 😊 And my favorite thing that any student ever has said
Miss Alisa?
Another Prepa B kiddo. He cried and cried the first day I subbed because he missed Miss Alisa. Eventually he and I became buddies and I even occasionally get a hug when Miss Alisa is not around :) to me, "Miss, I like that you care that we learn."
Things that need improvement:
1. The administration. This could take up numbers 1 through 50 but let's focus on the positive.
2. My students occassionally tend to care more about my love life (or lack there of) and/or hair color than they do about their science lesson.
3. There are not enough hours in the day to finish everything I would like to do in my classroom or write the cute stories that happen in my classroom on my blog.
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LIBYA
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THANKS FOR BEING YOU!
HI! I'M A HONDURAN LIVING IN NJ FOR THE PAST 30 YRS. I'M VERY PROUD OF YOU FOR DOING WHAT YOUR DOING FOR OUR CHILDREN IN HONDURAS. I KNOW IT COULD BE A LITTLE HARD AT TIMES BEING THAT THAT OUR CULTURE IS DIFFERENT, BUT WE COULD COPE WITH IT! I WHICH I HAD THE GUTS JUST TO MOVE TO HONDURAS AND DO THINGS FOR OUR CHILDREN. I TRY TO GO THERE ONCE A YR. AND WHEN I GO I BRING TONS OF THINS TO GIVE OUT TO THE NEEDY. I'M FORM TEGUZ AND DO MY DONATIONS TO THE CHURCH. ON A FINAL NOTE JUST KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! IT'S OBVIOUS THOSE KIDS LOVE YOU!