Surprising Success

The past two weeks of teaching have flown by. Between teaching two grades, multiple subjects,  a field trip, and chaperoning a beach party, I was wiped out by Friday evening and cannot quite believe all we've packed into the past two weeks at Isla Bonita Elementary School.

How many students can we fit on one golf cart? 

I've been mostly surprised by my ability to teach whatever is thrown at me, whether thats creative writing (which I love), health class (which I have no experience teaching at all), or math (which was never my favorite subject at school), and at two different grade levels. During my US internship I only taught US history in Social Studies to students in grade 8. Here in Belize, we have been asked to teach all 4 core subjects (which are the same as they are in the states - Math, English, and Social Studies) as well as all "extras", including but not limited to PE, Computers, Expressive Arts, and Health. The only one we don't teach is Spanish but thats because neither Jordan, Caitlin nor I speak any! In the past two weeks I have taught lessons on area and perimeter, diseases from the environment, Belize history (which involved more of the kids teaching us than us teaching them), conjunctions, and creative writing. As well as much more besides.

Standard VI presentations 

I love the opportunities to try things I definitely wouldn't try at home, and the freedom, but also the challenge, of teaching with fewer restrictions than we face in the US. For example, last week I spent a few days with Standard VI after their exam. Their teacher wanted the classes to be more laid back and "fun", so I came up with a creative writing activity where they got to make their own books. Once the students understood the activity they seemed to really enjoy the opportunity to be creative, and not be forced to answer an exam question. I also had them watch CNN Student News and then further research and present on two of the topics covered. They amazed me in how quickly the two groups came up with a presentation, and with the discussion we had afterwords.

Bringing learning to real life! 

On Wednesday, Caitlin, Jordan and I chaperoned a field trip for Standard V to the Marco Gonzalez archeological site. After some minor details with transportation we all set off in our golf carts. The students enjoyed exploring the site and learned a lot from Miss Jan, who was our guide. We got to experience some Belizian wildlife I'd hoped to avoid, more specifically speaking, a tarantula I nearly stepped on.

Beach Party fun! 

On Friday the school had a beach party to celebrate the end of term! Because it was one of our students birthdays, our class had their own separate party organized by his family. The kids had a lot of fun playing games like pop the balloon, water balloon toss, easter egg hunt, and water balloon target practice. At the end of the day it started raining and we all ended up in the ocean with our students, who greatly enjoyed a splashing war.