Fan the Master

On Friday the principal of Isla Bonita Elementary School came up to me and told me she needed to congratulate me. She explained that I was doing an excellent job teaching her boys and she was impressed with the amount of work the students completed throughout the week. It feels like last week flew by. I love teaching at Isla Bonita, especially since my students put a smile on my face everyday. One of my students (Andre) was absent for the entire week because he was very sick with chicken pox. Sam was also sick for two days and then skipped school for work on Friday. For the most part, there were only seven students in the classroom all week. One of my favorite activities that I did with my students involved M&M’s. I bought each student a bag of M&M’s and we made ratios and graphs using the candy. It's not often that the students get to do hands-on-activities in school, so this was a special lesson.

In the beginning of the week, Teacher Eiden came into the classroom and announced all of the students’ grades from the previous term. One of the students is failing every subject and the teacher said, “we just don’t know what to do with BJ.” I was shocked and felt terrible when I heard him say those words. I spent extra time helping BJ with his work during the week. I am worried about BJ and what will happen when he gets to high school. The students in Belize like BJ that need extra help don't have the privilege of having a tutor or extra help from a teacher aid during school.

I observed a few social studies lessons this week and found them really interesting. The class is learning about the history of Belize. Also, they are discussing natural disasters and evacuation plans. The teacher told the class a story about a small earthquake that occurred a couple of years ago. There aren’t many earthquakes in Belize, so many people haven’t experienced one before. Anyway, there was a funeral/wake going on and people screamed and ran away when they saw the dead body move and shake and didn’t know it was because of the earthquake.

The power in Belize continues to randomly go out. When we were at school the power went out so the air conditioning turned off. My students immediately made paper fans and fanned me. My students know that I am not used to the extreme heat.