6:42 a.m. I realized my alarm clock was supposed to go off about 15 minutes ago. Today, we had an early morning as we anticipated getting on the bus to visit the school at Las Brisas. After running on Honduran time, we finally arrived at the school around 8:30 a.m. and waited at the locked gate for someone to let us gringos in. We tried not to disturb the classes as we walked towards the director's office, but this is nearly impossible when we are well-known by many of the students after spending countless hours playing baseball and hand clap games. After greeting the director, we were asked about our purpose for being at the school, etc. I had previously spoken with the director thinking that all the arrangements had been made and we could easily each observe a different classroom to obtain the most information possible from our visit. This, however, was not the case. The director is quite a character at times, and today seemed to be one of those days. He wasn't going to let us observe because we were not certified teachers, even though I explained that we were studying to be teachers...After much convincing, finally, all 3 of us ended up observing a first-grade classroom. It was an overall great experience. I took all kinds of notes to be used not only on the type of education students are receiving, but also to see how I can correlate what I know about teaching with what I saw represented in the classroom today. I was very happy to see the teacher use numerous classroom energizers to help redirect students' attention. She was also very enthusiastic, and really enjoyed her profession. One thing that was adorable, yet sad, was during math class, the students all received bottle caps to use as manipulatives for counting. At home, we have one entire room devoted to manipulatives, but schools here do not have enough money to supply these so they make use of what they can. Also along those lines, students were asked to bring in any small plastic animal toys they had so they could begin learning about them in science class the next day. I really enjoyed being able to observe, take note of teacher phrases, and play with the kids at recess. I would however love the opportunity to supply the students with unlimited pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners because I feel that the lack of materials caused the most classroom disruptions. Students were constantly out of their seats asking another student to borrow their pencil, eraser, or sharpener, and it was only because they did not have one. I'm not positive that this would eliminate the issue of classroom disruptions, but surely it would help. At the end of the school day, noon, we said our good-bye's and thanked the director for allowing us to come. To our surprise, he let us know the door's to the school are always open and we are welcome whenever we want...what a character.
We have spent the afternoon compiling our information, observations, and thoughts about the projects we have been working on thus far. It's hard to say it but this Friday we will be presenting our final reports to the staff. We have only a short time left, and as I'm sure most of you have gathered I am in no way ready to come home. I had a few homesick days at the beginning, but now I feel like I'm just getting into the groove of things and about to leave. The best I can do is make the most of each remaining day. I feel as though today has been quite successful and tomorrow morning we will continuing compiling information and formatting it for presentation. I feel like every day is two, yet I just got here...Before coming here, I thought I could never live here, but now that I'm even more so attached to the people of VS and the kids of the neighboring community I know I will continue to come back, and who knows, maybe I will stay for a longer time next trip. Buenas Noches!
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