Full Time Teaching :)

This is a fountain at the end of La Calle de Romance.  When I saw it from a distance, my first thought was that it was covered in snow!  Silly Caitlin, there's no snow in Mexico!!  When I got up close, I learned that it was all bubbles....how fun!  You can pick up some of them and play with them.  I saw one girl throw some at her boyfriend...haha.

This is La Calle de Romance, a little walk where couples can go.  It's too narrow for cars, so it's just for walking.

My first week of full time teaching went pretty well for the most part.  Since I write lesson plans to turn into the coordinator over a week before I actually teach them, I've found that I need to plan everything again to adjust to where we actually are in the curriculum.  Everything changes for my actual plan, and I've found it helpful to plan throughout the week before each day.  We always seem to be a bit behind, which seems to be common for the teachers at Varmond due to the constant volume of content to cover.  I finished up the main content from the February book and fit in time for some review this week, but we've yet to start the March book.  This is in part because this was a short week.  Varmond is hosting a huge fútbol (soccer) tournament this weekend (Thurs. afternoon through Sunday), so we had an early release on Thursday and no classes Friday.  Due to the short week, I was squeezing everything in as quickly as possible.  My cooperating teacher had a history review guide that the students needed to copy from the chalkboard (42 questions).  We did this over the course of three days, but it took a lot of time.  My cooperating teacher told me at the start of the week that we could do the same with my math review guide.  When I realized that there was no way the students would have time to copy my guide, I typed it up and had copies made to hand out.  I decided to look up some internet resources (websites with math games) to add to the guide as optional extra practice.  This was kind of fun to look up, and it's a way I can integrate technology a little bit more.  Technology is very, very minimal in the primary curriculum.  The students have a computer class, but the other classrooms are not equipped with any computers, overheads, etc.  They only have CD players to play the disks provided by AMCO.  The secondary students are required to all have laptops at school to use, but before 7th grade, the technological integration is minimal.

On Thursday of this week, I encountered a challenging classroom situation.  I found out that the Spanish teacher needed to be in a meeting during his class time.  My cooperating teacher asked me to go to their room and teach them in English, so we could use it as time to catch up on our Feb. book.  Well, the students were really confused to see me in their Spanish room, they all wanted to know where the Spanish teacher was, and they did not want to work from their English books during what should have been Spanish for them.  Nevertheless, they at least all sat down and took out their English books.  However, at least half the class was chatting with their neighbors and not paying much attention.  Despite my switching into Spanish to give directions and explain what was going on and telling them that I needed them to be quieter, they continued goofing around.  I think part of it was due to the unexpected situation and part due to the fact that we were working in Language Arts, a content section that is full of really hard workbook pages with unfamiliar words, difficult puzzles, and obscure references to American culture.  Sometimes I can't even figure out the answers to the questions in Language Arts.  Moreover, the students know they don't receive a grade in this content; they just have to fill out the pages in class when we go over them and sometimes as homework.  Few students understand the questions, so they aren't very fun activities.  This means there's really no intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for students to do these pages.  All in all, this made for a pretty crazy classroom.  I started removing 5 minutes of recess for students who were not paying attention, but this didn't help significantly.  They were just completely unmotivated, and I didn't know how to make these pages more interesting.  Looking back, I probably could have tried having time for team work or turned them into some kind of competition.  However, given no time to prepare to teach this extra class, I was just glad to get through it.  It was a good lesson for me, and hopefully the students will take me more seriously now, regardless of whether I'm teaching in the English classroom or another classroom.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Varmond to be a "Staff" person for the soccer tournament.  I think this will mainly consist of telling people where the bathrooms, food, fields, etc. are.   I hope I can also catch some of the games.  From what I've seen at recess, the students are quite skilled in soccer here!!  The rest of the weekend, I hope to see more places in Morelia.  There's some more sections of the Historic Central colony I want to check out.  Also, I borrowed the movie "P.D. Te Amo" (P.S. I love you) from my cooperating teacher, and Sonia and I plan to watch that at some point.  I haven't seen it in English, so I hope I can follow it all in Spanish.

I'll close with some more cultural tid bits:  

• A typical thing said at the end of a visit in the evening or before one goes to bed:  "Que descanses" ("That you rest")
• Calling (on the phone) during the main meal time, La Comida, is considered relatively acceptable (as opposed to our American culture in which it's rude to call during dinner). Since people know they can find someone at home during La Comida, they'll call then.  However, my family hasn't received many calls during our meal tim
• About 70% of Mexicans are diabetic...!!!  (I heard a Doctor give a presentation on diabetes tonight...more on that on Tuesday.)
• A lot of stored a more old fashioned (not sure if I've mentioned this before or not.)  Many smaller shops still have all the supplies in back.  You go to the counter and ask if they have something; if they do, they go look for it and find it for you.  Then they give you a receipt for the things you want to buy.  You take the slip to the cashier to pay for your purchase, get a stamp that says "PAGADO," and return this slip to the other clerk in order to pick up your purchase.  This can at times make for a longer shopping trip, especially if the clerk takes a while to find the item you want.

Time is sure MARCHing on

Haha...sorry for the pun.  That was a bad one.  I do feel like time is going quickly though.  I have just over 3 weeks left here...so hard to believe.

This is my first week completely in charge of the class, and it's going fairly well so far.  I'm realizing how challenging it is to keep the whole class active the whole time.  On Monday, I introduced a couple new things.  When I was looking for something to make a sound that I could use as a classroom management tool over the weekend, the only thing I could find was a baby rattle.  It doesn't look too much like a baby toy to me, so I figured I could at least try it.  It helps some, and I prefer it to shouting above the volume of the students.  I also introduced Sudoku puzzles and the 5 chapter books I brought along with me as things to read/do during extra time.  The students seemed very interested in these.  I also still have my "mail box" in which students can leave me notes.  There's a few students who seem to enjoy writing me notes as they wait after school.

Balancing time has been a bit of a challenge.  I'm just about done with the February book, and I need to start March.  I've also been squeezing in time for reviews for the English exams next week.  Today, I realized that most of the students didn't really understand the homework I assigned in grammar, which my cooperating teacher wants to count as a quiz.  I had to take time today to go back and explain the content again in a different way with more examples and ask the students to look back at their homework to make sure they did it correctly.  The students seemed to understand it better after this.  I think when I'm pressured to go quickly through the content, I take less time explaining content or checking for understanding.  I find it so hard to teach this way.  My cooperating teacher told me today that teachers at Varmond are always expected to cover content very quickly and perfectly while filling in all the pages, so they're always working under a certain level of stress from these high expectations.  I think high expectations are good, but there needs to be some wiggle room to allow for the needs of individuals.  Many times, I can tell that some students do not understand the content sufficiently based on their homework, grades, etc., but there's always very little time to go back and teach for mastery or allow individuals to re-do their work for better grades.

This week I'm mostly trying to get completely comfortable running the entire day and keeping everything moving along.  In the following several weeks, I want to figure out how to keep everything moving while making it more engaging.  I'm trying to at least include more student participation in a large class discussion format for now.  I can tell I need to vary my instructional methods more though, since some students look completely zoned out when they're just listening to lecture regarding content.

I'll close for today.  Here's a couple cultural tid bits:

• Baby showers here are called "Baby Showers," but with a Spanish pronunciation.  I went to my host cousin's this weekend, and it seems similar to ours...with games, food, all women, and gifts.
• If you ever come here, here's a couple basic things to know:  "Con permiso" (with permission) is used to pass by someone on the street or in a room or when getting off of public transportation.  "De nada" and "por nada" (the response to "Thank you") are interchangeable.  I first thought that people were saying "por nada" (for nothing) as in "Thanks for nothing"...as if they hadn't helped me.  Since this would be rude to say in the U.S., I was really confused...until I realized the two were the same.
• They eat pizza here, and it's pretty much made the same way.  BUT...ketchup is the condiment of choice. They pour it all over the top of their pizza slices before eating.  Ketchup packets even come inside the pizza box!  My host dad told me that pizza isn't pizza without ketchup.  I tried a slice like this.  It was okay, but I think I prefer my pizza plain.  

Challenges but Blessings...always

This is La Iglesia de San Diego.  (Church of St. Diego)  I went here for mass, and it is gorgeously decorated in gold over the whole inside.  Since they had a sign with a camera crossed off at the entrance, I didn't take a photo of the inside.  This is the church where my host parents were married....neat, huh?

This week seemed to fly.  I can't believe I have literally one month left.  This week was full of some challenges but also blessings.  The students in one of the classes were caught copying English homework from each other in another class, and my cooperating teacher reprimanded them by telling them that they will not be able to take the trimester exam.  This made me think about how I will handle this kind of situation when I have my own classroom and have to give consequences.  I'm not exactly sure what I would do, but I realize now that rules and consequences is something I need to give more thought to before setting up my own classroom some day.  This week was also challenging in that we are under pressure to finish the February book.  There are honestly too many pages in the book to cover in depth in one month to the extent that students will really understand the content.  Unfortunately, I think my math presentations will have to be cut.  My cooperating teacher told me that we'll likely only have enough time to share the answers.  I think I will have to adapt my original plan, and instead, maybe I can have students share their general problem solving strategies as a large class.  This won't allow everyone to share, but I'd rather do this than just share answers and move on.  I'm definitely learning how to be flexible with my lesson plans so that I can still follow the curriculum and school requirements.

Despite some of the challenges, I do enjoy teaching, and I feel like I'm getting better with time. One day this week, I gave the students a list of pages in their book to work on independently after I explained them.  I really enjoyed giving them work time, since it allowed me to circulate the classroom and help individuals or small groups with specific questions.  This is another way I've found that helps me differentiate.  Students can work at their own pace, are always active doing something, and I'm able to meet their individual needs through 1-1 conversations.  In one of my classes, I also realized that over half the class understood the math page we were doing well, but a chunk were still confused.  I set them to work on the page and pulled a semi-circle of students up to the board for further explanation.  I think this was really helpful, because just about everybody seemed to know how to do the math problems (multiplying decimals) when we were done.  The only tricky part about this independent work time is that I have to eventually pull everyone back together, so that we're on the same page.  Overall though, I think it made classroom management pretty easy.  Only near the end of the day did I have to remove them from partner work to go back to their own seats, since I could tell they were starting to get chatty and unfocused.  The students are responding well though.  When I have them move from teams to their own seats, I tend to include a countdown from 10 so that they move more efficiently and know that I'm serious.  So far, this seems to work well.

Next week, I'm moving on to full time teaching.  I'm excited to see what the week will bring!  I need to finish the Feb. book, start the March book, and do reviews for the trimester exams that start March 9th.  I think I'll learn a lot about time management and balancing priorities!!

This weekend, I'm going to be doing a bit more planning than normal, since I decided to take advantage of some cultural opportunities this week in the evening.  Wednesday night, I went to El Museo del Estado for a torito exposition.  I learned that they throw painted egg shells filled with confetti and closed with tissue paper at the torito and on top of each other's head as a way of celebrating.  My host aunt was so kind as to make sure I was able to have a head covered in confetti.  :) I saved a confetti filled egg, and I'm hoping I can travel with it uncracked back to the U.S.  in a small plastic box I have.  Thursday night, Sonia and I went to a concert at el Teatro José Rubén Romero.  It was a woodwind quintet playing classical music.  I was surprised that maybe only 40 or so people attended, and it was in this fairly decent size theater.  Maybe classical music isn't so popular here?  I learned from my host family that these places have cultural or music events like this EVERY Wed. and Thurs.!!  There's also a place that has cultural events on Fridays.  The best part about all of this?...Todo es gratis.  (Everything is free of charge!)  What a blessing it is to live within a 15 minute walk of all of these amazing cultural places and events that are generally free or very minimal costs!!  Moreover, I feel really blessed to have met Sonia and be able to share all these things with her.  Our host families often are busy with jobs, house chores, and their every day lives/responsibilities, so it helps that we can go out and explore the city together often.  We live 5 blocks away, have some basic things in common, and get along really well...what a blessing!  Plus, we can talk Spanish together at a rate that we both understand, but we're still learning new things, since we can share new vocab. that we picked up.  I feel very privileged to be here and be taking in all of the cultural experiences in addition to teaching.  Even when some days are hard, something good follows it and I am always, always surrounded by a lot of really great, caring people.

I'll close with some fun cultural tid bits.  I must say first though that some of these may just be the culture of my host family and not the culture of all Mexicans:

• Here, we put salt on fruit to cut the acid and prevent canchor sores (How intelligent, eh?)
• The people here seem to eat a lot more parts of the animal (and not just in sausage form!) One comida this week included tamales with entire shrimp inside (yes, the legs, heads, and shells).  I picked these parts off, but my host dad definitely ate the head.  My host brother ate out every part that was edible other than the shell. 
• I drank a really red water that had shreds of lettuce, orange slices, and peanuts in it.  At the end, I asked why it was so red.  I found out it was made with the juice from raw BEETS!  I do not like beets, but this water was actually pretty decent!  (I learned that it's just best if you try something and eat it all before asking what it is....best to avoid any preconceptions.)
• Chile and limón go on absolutely everything...meat, fruit, vegetables, and even french fries!
• Oh, this is all of Mexico:  PDA is not acceptable within the house.  That's why you see it all over the street and in parked cars.  My host mom told me that it's completely taboo for unmarried couples to be in a bedroom together at all and if you're really traditional (like my host grandma), it's completely taboo for unengaged couples to even be in each other's houses at all (even if it's just with the whole family for a meal, visiting, etc.!)  At night, couples will be outside the girl's front door saying good night or spending their more intimate time on park benches, quieter streets, or in vehicles.  This is pretty much the opposite of our culture in which the joke is always, "Get a room."  I think if there were a saying like that for here, it would be "Get a quiet street." However, it seems more acceptable to have PDA here.  Couples constantly walk the streets with the guy right behind the girl and his arms wrapped around her (as opposed to holding hands side by side).  Sooo interesting.  My "norm" is their oddity and vice versa.  Such is life.

Half way done...wow!

Well, I am now about half way through my time here, which I can hardly believe.  It is going very quickly!  So far, I feel like I've gained more confidence as a teacher, improved my Spanish, become part of a new family here, and learned a lot about the culture in Mexico, Morelia, and at Varmond.  I've also definitely had the opportunity to practice being flexible, open minded, and positive.  I find it kind of amazing that I feel pretty much at home here.  There are still times when I can't follow some Spanish conversations well or participate.  However, for the most part, I feel like I fit in here...not to the extent that I could live here indefinitely or for a very long period of time, but I know I'll miss the people, places, and culture here for sure.

Over the weekend, I went with my host family to Copándaro de Galeana, a small pueblo less than an hour away.  There was a Carnaval there which involved a "toro" (bull) parading around the city streets.  Don't worry...it was just men under an adorned, flashy bull costume.  A band came behind the toro to provide music (brass, drums, and woodwinds), and the toro stopped at assigned houses that provided drinks for the huge mass of people that were parading around the city with the toro.  When the parade stopped, there was a dance in the street with the toro.  I have some neat videos of this parade to share but am unfortunately experiencing some technical difficulties with my camera right now.  If I'm able to, I'll upload the video in another blog.  The Carnaval also entailed much of what we would think of as a carnival with rides (tilt-a-whirl, ferris wheel, etc.) and food vendors set up in the middle of the pueblo.  

Toros have been parading around Morelia since Saturday.  When someone pays them, they stop in the street, play music, and dance!  I've heard them pass by my house as late as 11p.m. when I'm trying to sleep!  It's a little crazy, but just part of the tradition here.  They have toros now, because they signify the bad.  They celebrate with them before Lent starts (like our Mardi Gras, except it's a 4 day event here!)

In the school, I'm doing most of the teaching this week, and I'll be completely on my own next week.  This week is a little crazy, because we're trying to finish up the February book with enough time to review before the standardized exams in the second week of March.  Some students are leaving for vacation and need to take parts of the exam early, so that makes things yet more interesting! 

One way I'm trying to keep the focus more on the process of learning while still completing all the pages is by turning all of the math word problems in the book (over 20 of them) into presentations.  I assigned a word problem to each student, I'll give them time to work on it in class/ask questions, and I'm going to have them present their problem to the class on either this Friday or Monday (or some on each day).  I found that this was a great way to differentiate.  I read through all the problems first so that I could assign problems according to students' ability levels.  I'm hoping this will allow all of the students to successfully complete the assignment of being able to explain the process of solving a math problem to their classmates.  I'm also using this as a way to get them talking in English more.  

Classroom management is going fairly well.  The students know that I'm watching them, and making eye contact and using physical proximity has continued to be helpful.  My only challenge now will be to bring them initially to attention at the start of a class or in the middle of an activity when there's more noise in the classroom.  I want to find something that makes a noise (like a stuffed animal or whistle) to use as a signal to start class, bring the class back from team work, etc.  I think I'll be making a little shopping adventure this week or weekend.

Okay, well I need to get ready for bed now.  I'm not sure how soon I'll be sleeping.  Two more toros just went by our house complete with bands.  (I've given up on early bedtimes during the Carnaval.)

La Comida Mexicana (Mexican foods)

I thought it'd be fun to begin this blog with photos of foods that are all quite delicious here:

                

 "Pan Tostada" with "Atole"         

This is toast...yes, toast, that comes pre packaged aaaand pre-toasted.  Crazy, huh? Atole I may have mentioned.  It's like a thick, milky tea. Possible flavors may include: Strawberry, Chocolate, and Cookie.  I know there's others. These are just the ones I've tried.

     Mexican Tacos

Left: Taco with steak and salsa

Right: "Choriso" (spicy pork) with beans

Top: Quesadilla with "la salsa verde" (green salsa)

  Note: It is made with thick mozzarella cheese and not enclosed like our quesadillas.  

          

The Equivalent of the 

Mexican Sandwich:      

Bottom: "Una tostada"    

(a crispy tortilla)

Middle: Cold refried beans 

      pureed and ham

Top: cooked potato and 

     carrot cubes; fresh 

     lettuce, tomato, and

     onion; cheese, "crema"

    (cream), and la salsa

     verde (green salsa).

All the food groups on one 

delicious tostada.

 "La sopa tarasca"

This is a fancy and DELICIOUS tomato soup with "la crema" and chiles that have a lot of rich flavor but are not at all spicy.

                               

"Ejotes verdes con salsa mexicana"    

Green beans with Mexican Salsa 

                

"Puntas de filetes con salsa verde y corundas"

Pork tips in green salsa with beans and a tomale-like bread covered in cream.

My teaching went pretty well this week, and I learned some important lessons!  One I learned was in spelling.  I was able to turn two of the workbook pages into a game.  However, since the students rarely have an opportunity to work in teams, they are not accustomed to how to behave in this setting.  I learned quickly that I needed clearer rules, and they needed to be rules that were fair.  If anything at all seemed to give an unfair advantage to one team, the students were sure to point it out.  At the beginning of the game in which students needed to listen to clues and write spelling words on the board, students crowded around the board to help their teammates and ended up shoving and pushing each other.  I had to stop the game to establish clearer rules about only one person from each team at the board and walking instead of running to and from the board to avoid accidents.  In future game/team settings, I will be sure to give more explicit rules in advance to avoid such problems.  However, I did enjoy using a game versus the traditional way of filling out the workbook pages.  It provided a nice change of pace, since we had over 2.5 hours of class in a row without a break.

I did learn that classroom management is much easier if the students are constantly engaged in some activity or given some task to do.  In a lesson today, I continuously gave the students something to do next.  I noticed that the only students talking or goofing around were those that finished early, so I kept giving them new activities.  I eventually had to bring everyone together so they'd be on the same page.  Eventually, I want to integrate more additional activities outside of the curriculum to keep those students who always finish early engaged in something and challenged.  I realized the importance of this technique of keeping students engaged when I observed my 6th graders in another class.  They were giving presentations one at a time to the class, but during each transition between presentations, the students had nothing to do.  The room erupted into kind of a recess time every single time there was a transition, and it took a long time to bring them back each time.  I don't blame the students.  I think we adults do the same thing if we're at a conference or event and there's a break in the programming/activity.  We start to chat with those around us.  If that is what we do, how can we expect our students to behave any differently?  When my students are given a task, they are overall hard workers during class....even if it's just another workbook page!  They work pretty quietly and diligently as soon as they have something to do and know and understand exactly what is expected of them.  I think I just always need really clear directions at the start and a constant "What should I do next?" list of activities.

This weekend, there is a Carnaval in just about every city or pueblo in Mexico I think.  It's a pre-Lenten celebration (kind of like an extended Mardi-Gras but with more cultural events added in.)  In Morelia, it started on Thursday and will last until Tuesday.  I plan to catch some of the events in Morelia, and I might be going with my host family tomorrow to a neighboring pueblo for their Carnaval.  More on this on Tuesday!

I'll close with a few interesting Spanish phrases/words I've picked up while here.  Some are different from what I learned in H.S. Spanish:

• "Padre" = Cool  /   "Bien Padre" = Waaay cool  ("Qué padre"- "How cool"  is a common phrase here)
• "Andale pués" is their way of saying "well," "um," or filling up space.  It's often used right before saying good-bye
• Everyone here says "Bye" but with a really odd accent (to me).  I'm sure you'll hear me use it when I return!
• "Panza" = Stomach (not "estómago")
• "Cholla" = Head (not "cabeza")
• "Pasto" = Grass (and it's what they use to refer to the lawn...not "césped")

Sights of Morelia

This is La Casa de La Cultura.  It is an ex-convent and now houses some cultural events and Mexican art work.  The pegs sticking out of the side of the top of the building are the rain gutters.  These is a pretty common style of gutter on the older buildings.

This is the gaspacho that Sonia and I ate.  It is just a cup of fruit, but it is covered in limón and orange juice, chile, and cheese.  Most of the fruit here is eaten with condiments on it (in shops, at parties, at school, everywhere).  The flavor was a bit strong for me, but I ate it all!

This is the fireworks shooting off from the Cathedral.  There are fireworks from the Cathedral every Saturday night and sometimes other nights, too.  I can't believe I saw fireworks in February!

This is the Cathedral downtown all lit up at night.  You can see all the people packed around to see the fireworks!

This is the aqueduct in Morelia, one of the most famous architectural structures.  It is a very long structure, probably spanning at least a mile long.  It used to carry water within the city but is no longer in use.  I ride along this structure every day on my way to school.

I can't believe that this is my fourth week here, and I'm coming pretty close to the middle of my time here!  Wow! 

This weekend was fun.  I saw more of Morelia, since Sonia and I walked around Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon.  I love that I am within walking distance from all of the major cultural/historical attractions.  I will have to check more of them out during my time here!  I have photos of some sights above.  Other places I've visited include El Museo de Dulces (museum of sweets) and El Museo de Arte Colonial.  Since you can't take photos in many of the museums here, I don't have photos from these places.  However, I learned a couple interesting things.  Sweets/candies is a major product made here, and it has been since before the Spanish colonization.  Sweets are still made with natural ingredients like the pulp from fruits and sugar. At the museum, we got a little test taste after watching how the sweet was made. :) At the art museum, the Colonial art was all Christian and included many crucifixes.  I learned that some of the crucifixes were made from the husks of corn (how resourceful!).  Something I find sooo interesting is that all of the images of Christ and the saints in all of the churches and museums here have completely white skin, even though we know that Christ wasn't actually white.  I think it must be the Spanish colonial influence.  (As an aside, the toy dolls are all mostly white in stores/markets.  It bothers me that I haven't seen more images of Mexicans represented in the dolls, especially since they're clearly the majority here.  It really opens my eyes to the "White" power/privilege on a more global level.)  Well, that's about all for my cultural update.

On the school front, I'm keeping quite busy.  We're a bit behind in the February book.  It is hard to keep up with the breadth of material and still make sure students are understanding the content.  Today, I went back in math to review one of the pages and answer questions students had.  At the same time, I need to think of some additional activities for the advanced students.  When I gave the students work time, three of them had already done the page.  I have some sudoku puzzles (A puzzle in which you have to fit the numbers 1-9 in each box, each row, and each column) from a book I brought along, which I think might work well for them.  It would still relate to math, since they'd have to practice thinking logically.  I also think it could offer them a challenge, since the puzzles are sometimes challenging for me!  As I take over more of the classes, I want to integrate more activities for students to do when they are done with their work.  Too often, students have dead time as they wait for others to finish their work.

I asked my host teacher if I could convert some of the workbook pages into activities or games to complete them, and she said that would be fine.  I plan to find some ways to do this, since I think it would be much more motivating and engaging for the students.  I also think it would make classroom management easier.  Many times when there are behavioral problems in the class, I can tell it's because the students are bored and not interested in the content or the typical lecture/worksheet way in which it is always presented.  

As far as classroom management, I've begun trying out some non-verbal ways of managing the class.  The students are used to hearing a voice telling them to stop doing something, but instead, I've been trying to use the "teacher look" and proximity (walking closer to/standing next to those who are talking).  This has been fairly successful so far.  Students notice that I'm watching them, and they snap back to attention most of the time without me having to say anything.  Since students are slow to move back to their seats from group work, I've started giving them a countdown from 10.  This seems to help a little.  As time goes on, I hope to experiment with some more classroom management techniques.

I'm going to get going.  I think either tonight or tomorrow I'll be helping my host cousin make some baby shower invitations, since she is expecting in late March! 

Trying to Think Outside the Box but Teach Within It

Here is a photo of me with my cooperating teacher, Miss Monica.  We are decked out in red and pink for Valentine's Day. Note the palm trees surrounding Varmond School.  I looooove them.

On Friday, we had a Kermesse at school for Valentine's Day.  Each grade had 1.5 hours free to go to the party. They could play games, purchase food and V-day gifts, and attend the Disco (the name for dance places here).  This was very exciting for the students.  Above I've included a video of the students dancing to give you an idea of what it was like.  I think this song is popular here, since it was also at my host mom's uncle's b-day party.  I think it's funny, because it reminds me of the country songs that we dance to in the U.S., and everyone here seems to know how to dance to it and enjoy the song!

This week in school, I taught how to make pop up (3-dimensional) heart cards in Composition, so my students could make them for their V-day card exchange.  Each student received a name of a classmate and had to make a card for them.  Overall, the cards turned out very nicely, and many of the students enjoyed making the pop-ups.  I quickly learned the challenges of giving clear instructions to a group of 27-28 students at one time.  Since making the pop-ups was really challenging for some students, I made sure it wasn't a requirement for the assignment.  One thing I learned about the Composition curriculum is that there really isn't a clear assessment method set up.  The grading seems pretty subjective to me.  I plan to write a general rubric for comp. work so that I can be sure that I'm grading more fairly and designing assignments in which the students know exactly what my expectations are.

In math, I came up with a really brief kinesthetic activity that worked well.  For teaching multiplying decimals by multiples of 10, I had students stand and take steps to each side saying "multiply" and "divide" to help them remember which way to move the decimal point for each operation.  I liked that this was a quick, effective, and fun warm up.  Afterward, all of the students seemed to remember which way to move the decimal in the problems!  I think I need to include more activities like this that are brief, since this is about all we have time for normally.

I was able to talk about the challenges of the curriculum with my cooperating teacher, and we seem to be on the same page.  There's always so much content to cover, and almost none of it overlaps or is connected.  Each content area is pretty much a separate subject entirely, which makes for a curriculum with a lot of breadth and minimal depth of understanding.  We must cover 7 content areas during the week, and we only meet with each class for 1.3 to 2.5 hour each day depending on the day.  Also, because we are required to have the students fill out all the workbook pages, regardless of how valuable they will be for our students, there's only so many of our own ideas that we can include in the classroom.  It's frustrating to have to teach within this box all of the time.  My biggest challenge is to think outside of this structure a little.  I still need to work on being more creative with the workbook pages and the few additional activities that we can include.

One student made a really interesting observation, which spurred a lot of reflection for me.  He asked me how long I've been studying Spanish.  It's been about 8 years for me (a little less, since I didn't take Spanish every semester in college).  He then noted that they, in sixth grade, have been learning English for about the same length of time!  Honestly, they've spent much more time than me in English classes in this bilingual school setting.  Here I am in this Spanish speaking country, able to use my Spanish to communicate with my host family, colleagues, and others around the city.  I still struggle with the language barrier here and sometimes need people to talk a tad slower, but overall I can function living here.  When my students try to talk to me in English or ask me question, it's usually a big chore for them.  I can tell that they are still translating one word at a time many times and often searching for words they don't remember or know.  In their writing, their grammar often reflects Spanish grammar patterns more than English ones.  This tells me that they're still not able to think in English in the way that I can think in Spanish.  I find this really problematic, because they've certainly had more time devoted to their foreign language than I have to mine.  I think this problem is partly rooted in the fact that the curriculum does not include many opportunities for talking in English, which I believe is an integral part of language acquisition!  One of my major goals now is to restructure the way in which I utilize the curriculum books so that the students are talking in English much, much more.  I want them to gain a level of comfort and confidence speaking English.

All right, well I best be going.  Frida, my host sister's 4 year old daughter who is visiting today with her family, has been begging me to play a game with her!  The game is called "el lince," and I've never seen it before or heard of it.  I hope I can learn how to play!

This weekend, I hope to check out some of the museums here.  I live in the historical center of the city within walking distance (of 20 or 30 min. max?) of all the major historical buildings and museums.  Cool, huh?  I also home to rest my voice a bit and recuperate more.  My cold is muuuch better, but I still have a bit of a sore throat.

I will leave you with this Spanish Joke I learned this week:

--"¿Quál es el pollo que te quiere más?"  ("Which is the chicken that you want most?")

--"¡'Po yo!  (Which is an abbreviation for "Pues yo" which means "Well me!")

--Jajajaja (this is how you write "Hahaha" in Spanish.)