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| a picture from my first day |
For the past three weeks, I have been a first grade teacher.
Me, without any experience teaching.
Me, without nearly as much Spanish as I'd like to know.
Me, in the midst of a time in my life when the future is a mystery.
But I said yes. I said yes to the adventure of it all. It's a decision that I've questioned a lot in the past three weeks, but at the end of the day, I always remember why I said yes. Because life is unpredictable, and if you try to make it predictable, you're only depriving yourself of all the wonder that is out there. Teaching first grade is probably the farthest out of my comfort zone that I've ever been. Between not knowing where I was supposed to go, not getting to school on time, getting picked up an hour late, not being able to communicate with the other teachers much, not knowing how to discipline the kids, not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing, and all the rest; it's been a crazy three weeks. As difficult as it's been, I wouldn't change my mind for anything.
The first couple days were some of the worst. The kids hadn't had a teacher for a while, and they asked me every five minutes if they could go outside. On days like that, I felt like all I ever did was yell at them to work, sit down, be quiet, work, sit down, stop, work, please! Almost every day, I wrote a letter to the mother of the most difficult student in my class. She wanted me to spend more time with her kid, even though I was already spending half of my time with him. Things like that made me think back to all the teachers I've had in my life and see what kinds of things teachers go through, like being blamed for the student not trying/working. But in all this, to see the progress was amazing. Between my first day and my last day, their behavior was so much better, and they learned so much in their classes. Math problems that were hard for them are easy now. They raise their hands and get a lot more work done than they did at first.
Now for some of my favorite moments:
One morning there was a frog in our classroom. The students were so excited, but they had to go to the devotional in the cafeteria. So, I worked hard to get the frog outside in that time, and when they came back (at like 8 am), they asked about it. I told them he wasn't there anymore, and they were so disappointed. About 5 hours later, one of my students came to me and said, "and the frog, Miss?"
I told a student that I was originally from San Diego. She told me, "That's where Drake and Josh are from!!"
A student told me she was from the states - Nueva York. I'm not sure why, but it just cracked me up. Too cute. From the states, but she still calls it Nueva instead of New.
I always read my Bible during my breaks, and it was a good conversation starter. I had a conversation with a girl who told me that she was trying to be a Christian but she couldn't because she likes secular music. (Honduran Christian culture is very conservative, and Christians here basically don't listen to any secular music ever.) But I got to talk to her about how it may be a cultural issue, but that she can still be a Christian and like that music. And she was a friend from then on.
When we watched the Lion King, my kids clapped when Simba beat Scar. After the movie was over, they ran around saying, "Simba gano!" (Simba won!) It was hilariously fun.
When I come in to school, I say good morning to the kids. Then they stand and say, "Good morning, Miss Bollar. Good bless you," all in unison. Adorable. Between that and getting lots of hugs, it's not a bad way to start the day.
Jessica came a few times to help, and it was very helpful indeed. I asked her to take a picture of me and the class. She told them she was going to take a picture of them and they all groaned and whined. And I said, "conmigo!" Then they all smiled and cheered.
Yesterday, the students drew pictures on the board for me. One student drew me as an angel. Isn't that adorable? All the pictures they do have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Usually the Bible too.
We have a lot of activities in the language book for writing sentences. Here are some of my favorites:
Orange is orange.
I watch the worms.
Summer is June.
George Washington is beautiful.
It's also funny how they sometimes help each other with their work and then end up with the same hilariously wrong answers. For example, 24-3= 0! Yeah, definitely 0.
And when I told them that Monday is my last day, they were all indignant. One student fell on his face. Another turned around and just yelled, "why are you leaving?" They looked so sad; I teared up too. It stinks that I'm leaving when they still have four days of school left, but it feels like the right time.
And now, some pictures for your enjoyment!
And this has been my life for three weeks. Monday, I say goodbye.
