Another 2 weeks have flown by. I can't actually believe that's it's October already! Where have the past 2 months gone?? Seriously, where? I suppose they've gone to hours and hours of teaching, lesson planning, grading, etc. And that's a good thing. Just the other day, I left school thinking about how much I love my job and how this was definitely the thing that I was meant to be doing. And let me tell you, that is an amazing feeling. So let's recap what's happening in school:
I am enjoying teaching math more than I ever thought possible. If you know much about me at all, you know that math was always my least favorite subject. I have always said I'm terrible at math, but really that's just in comparison to all of the other subjects that I never had to even try to understand (I don't mean that to sound like I'm bragging, at all). There's just something about introducing a new concept and then seeing that ah ha moment on the kids faces when they get it that I absolutely love. The other day I was working with one of my 6th graders who generally struggles a bit and he would call me over after each step of the problem he was working on and ask if it was right. His face absolutely lit up every time I told him it was correct and congratulated him. It literally made my entire day.
We've had some fun in my language classes lately as I decided to take a week off from drilling the grammar concepts in the book. The kids get so bored with the textbook and I can't say I blame them. I know native English speakers who can't tell me how to form the tenses these kids are trying to learn. This week, we learned vocabulary for giving directions and then did activities with said vocabulary. My fifth grade classroom became a town on a grid system and each student go to decide what location their desk would be. We took turns directing each other from place to place. They had such a fun time with this. Perhaps my favorite thing this week was the map project I gave to each class. The students were to make up their own town and draw a map of the town. They could be as creative as they wanted and include whatever they wanted as long as they labeled everything in English and presented to the class in English.
Perhaps the most noteworthy thing I can think of as I sit here writing this is how much I laugh with these kids. They say that laughter is life's best medicine and I think that's the truest thing I have ever heard. If you follow my other blog at all, you may know that I have been at odds with my own mind, if you will, for quite some time now. Coming here in such a state was terrifying, I won't lie to you. Most days I don't want to get out of bed and barely have the motivation to do anything. Just functioning is a struggle. But then something happens when I hear my little 4th grade boys giggling and I ask them what's funny and one of them says to me, "Miss, I am a princess!" and they just crack up laughing and I can't help but bust up right along with them. Or when I hand out a math test and a kid says to me, "Wait, I need this first..." and puts on a bear hat. These kids can make me laugh hysterically when it takes everything in me just to paste a fake smile on. I am so grateful for their ability to do that, it's those little moments that keep me going.
I suppose that's really all I've got for you this evening. Thank you for following along with my journey. Until next time, much love from Honduras to you!
grt
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