Forest Hills and Isla Bonita

One of the major differences between my student teaching in America and San Pedro was my relationship with my partnership teachers. In America I had a partnership teacher that helped me phase into becoming the students' full time teacher. She showed me how to write lesson plans and helped me get acclimated into the classroom and the whole school. When I arrived at school in San Pedro I instantly became the students' full time teacher and didn't receive any guidance from my partnership teacher. The only time I saw my partnership teacher in Belize was when I had to give her the lesson plans I wrote. I really enjoyed teaching at Isla Bonita and I really felt like I had my own classroom there. However, I still had to teach specific topics that my partnership teacher requested I do with the students. It was a challenge designing lessons that included student-directed and hands-on activities, since I was working with a small amount of supplies. At Forest Hills Elementary I had access to a variety of school supplies and a copy machine.

Something else that made my two experiences different was the amount of students I had in my classrooms. At Forest Hills I had 32 students and in San Pedro I had 9 students. Also, at Forest Hills my students left the classroom at various times throughout the day to go to things like itinerants or resource classrooms. At Isla Bonita I taught the students all day and taught them art and Physical Education. I was able to give my students at Isla Bonita more attention and time because there were so few of them.

Obviously my student teaching experiences were extremely different. I discussed a lot of the differences throughout my blog. I believe that there are many advantages to having two completely different experiences. One disappointing similarity was my students' attitude toward school. At both Forest Hills and Isla Bonita I had a lot of students that didn't believe school was important and they lacked all motivation to be in school and complete the work. When writing my lesson plans I always tried to include hands-on activities and things that would make the students excited to learn and be at school. During both internships, I learned the importance of never giving up and always showing the students that you care about them.