First Excursion

I guess I'll start off by giving everyone a way to view my pictures.  I haven't quite figured out how to add pictures yet...so I will just post the link.  I'm trying to add captions to all of the pictures, but it takes a very long time! The internet here is very temperamental as well!  http://belizepictureskristen.shutterfly.com/

Friday was an interesting day at the school.  The students that were on Drumline (I guess that is what they call it) had a parade.  The students did not get to watch it, but apparently they just walked around a couple of blocks playing.  While they were doing that I was in Teacher Hector's room playing with the students.  We played a racing spelling game.  One student who cannot spell very well and probably has a deficit of some sort, Tayza, read the words out loud.  I realized she could not even read many words though...so I whispered the words in her ear and pointed to the letters that made the different sounds.  She is one of the students I will be working with a lot after break!  We also played this game called silent ball.  You have to catch the ball and remain quiet...you can't make ANY noise at all.  We played heads down thumbs up, and we played 4 corners.  Even though it was a "free" day I feel the students were still learning how to follow directions by playing these games and they were also working on spelling with the one game. Around 10 AM we all headed to the beach.  It was crazy.  I didn't think it would be so much work at first but watching kids play and making sure no one gets hurt was almost intense.  I played in the water with the kids at first, but it was getting tough because I would have 4 students holding on to me at once...it wore me out!  But after all was said and done I had a great time.  I tried chicken cheviche....it was interesting.  Not as delicious as the shrimp cheviche though!  That night we had lasagna and it was delicious.

Saturday was a long and eventful day. I went snorkeling and it was honestly the most exciting thing I have EVER done.  So exciting that i want to change my major back to Marine Biology....but I'm not.  My pictures and tell the story of what I saw a lot better.  It was amazing.  We went to Hol Chan and we went to Shark Ray Alley.  That night we went to the Elementary School's beauty pageant.  It was pretty intense.  After being on a boat for 9 hours...then walking there we were exhausted.  The pageant lasted until 11:30 too.  It was called Miss Isla Bonita.  There were 4 contestants.  There were dances and a lot of run way walking with a fashion show.  It was definitely a one of a kind experience.

Sunday was a free day.  I was able to finally clean up the room a bit and fix up a clothes line in our room.  I'm happy about that so my clothes can finally dry.

Today (Monday) we have done some service work.  We are helping out with a Easter program at the school library.  One of my students was there, and another student that I pull out to work with was there as well.  It was a nice experience and we basically just told the story of Easter and did a few crafts.  We made Easter baskets and "stained glass" crosses (out of black construction paper).  I will be helping out with that for most of my hours I believe and I'm going to help make some lesson plans for some of the children's books that we brought down to Belize.  It should be a fun week of service work and helping the community.

What were you unprepared to handle?

I was unprepared to handle how the students all wanted to talk to me at the same time.  I am the type of person that cannot handle 3 people talking to me at once because I can’t focus on what people are saying.  I have handle this party by just toughing it out…it seems to be getting a little better now with time and I can normally follow what 2 or 3 students are saying at one time.  Another way I have handled this is telling the students to hold on and by calling on them one at a time to hear what they have to say.  Moreover, there have also been times when I asked students to raise their hands and I will call on time.  I also have tried to make sure that I talk to every student individually at some point in time.  This has helped but there are still times, like when I first get to school, that all the students are very excited and all of the students want to talk to me.

Meeting the Students

The past few days I feel have been busy but filled with fun.  Sunday was about the laziest day we have had here yet.  We just rode our bikes to the beach and had a group dinner.

Monday was a tiring day for different reasons.  I went to the high school to help with the testing.  In Belize, school is very different from the U.S.  The students must take a test to get in to high school.  So if you are in Standard VI, (eighth grade) in order to go to form I (ninth grade) you must take the state test.  I helped a student that has special needs take his test.  I just helped with the read aloud, while another teacher helped with the writing.  The student seemed very eager to learn more about high school, but he seemed overwhelmed with all the things in high school.  It was still interesting to talk to him in between the tests that he took.  I found out that he is a student at Isla Bonita so I will be seeing him some at the elementary school.  Monday we went to dinner at a cheap place (Nery’s) but the food was wonderful.

Tuesday was probably the busiest day yet in San Pedro for me.  I started the day off in Teacher Hector’s room working with the students.  I worked with all the students but I focused mostly on the students falling behind.  I really tried to get to know the students more though before jumping right in and teaching them.  I like to build that rapport with the students I come in contact with.  I made sure to talk to all of the students.  They seem to really like seeing someone from UNCW.  They are very curious and they like to know a lot about other people.  I read to the whole class and after that I jumped straight into meeting the students that have weaker areas in reading, writing, spelling and behavior.  It was very interesting.  The students here have fewer problems with behaviors but there still are students that have difficulties with their behavior.  There is a huge different in behaviors from back home to here, mostly in field experiences at homes “bad” behavior was when a kid cussed in class, or punched another student, but here “bad” behavior is when a student runs around the classroom.  It is definitely something different to handle.  The students are very open with me and I asked them several questions.  I feel like most of the students that I have worked with need phonics so I am using a book I got from UNCW called 100 Easy Lessons.  So far it seems to work well and the students LOVE the interaction they get from it.  I was very impressed with Teacher Hector because he really wants to help all of the students.  He told me that he wants me to tell him about some of the things I do with the students.  He also wants to know about every student I am working with and what I can do for them and such.  It is nice to have someone so eager to learn about what I am doing for the students.

Wednesday I ventured back to the high school.  I was able to meet the students in IE.  I really enjoyed working with all of the students and hearing how the different teachers taught the students.  I was slightly saddened to find out that the education in Belize is not free.  I think that is one of the toughest things I have learned.  I know education in a privilege anywhere you find it because there are countries with no education, but knowing that there are kids out there who want to be in school but can’t afford it breaks my heart.  Most of the high school students I worked with seemed a little unmotivated, but they all said they wanted to be at school.  I really talked with the students and tried to get to know them.  I didn’t work individually with any students yet at the high school, but after Easter break I will.

Today I was back at the elementary school.  I started the day off seeing the students in Teacher Hector’s room.  I feel a little bad because the students really want me to stay in their class all day, but with what I am doing I can’t.  But after the first 15 minutes I worked with Standard I and Standard II students to help them learn how to read.  We worked on 100 Easy Lessons.  I have found that this book is a little more difficult to use with a larger group.  I had six students and I used the Teacher-Student game with them, but there were still times when it was hard to monitor how each student was saying the words.  After I completed Lessons 1 and Lessons 2 with the students, I switched and worked with Infant I and Infant II.  Luckily Parker helped me out.  It was 5 students that I worked with today, but normally there will be 6.  Parker helped manage the behaviors while I went through the lessons with the students.  For these students, I feel like the very structured setting helps them at least with reading.  From what I understand, they do not have major problems with math, so it may just be that these students need to catch up and focus on reading for a bit.  After working with these two groups, I feel like I need to spilt the groups up into groups of two each day.  I feel like if I lower the number of students I will lower the distractions and can move quicker through the lessons.  I am hoping to cover two lessons a day so that way I can at least cover almost 30 lessons with the students by the time I leave.  I know that when I leave, there won’t be extra help there for the students so they won’t be getting those lessons.  I wish I could stay until I finish all the lessons in the book!  After I worked on reading, I worked with a student (Maddi) on behavior.  I think that she acts out for attention, but I’m not positive yet.  She shows a little defiance at times as well, but with me she completes all of her work.  When she works with me she is in a quiet room though.  It is really hard to figure out exactly what is helping her do her work.  After working with Maddi, I worked with Dayanara and Elizabeth on Dayanara’s braille.  She is so excited about learning braille because this is finally her chance to be able to do everything…but her excitement almost interferes with her learning ability.  Dr. C Has been wonderful enough to order some games and books for her though.  I can’t wait to see how she does with games and books.

Visits to the Schools

So I’m awake at 6:30 on a Saturday…I would have NEVER imagined that!  I feel like the time goes by slower here.  Sometimes all of us from UNCW will go to the beach or something and we feel like one hour has gone by but only 15 minutes have gone by!  

So I have experienced a lot in the past few days.  The beach is amazing.  We have been going to a dock at this place called Ramones.  It is absolutely beautiful.  You can see fish under the dock while you are swimming or lying on the dock.  I am getting sunburned, but that was pretty much expected with how pale I am.

On Thursday, I went to the infamous chicken drop.  What happens is there are the numbers 1-100 on a 10 by 10 huge board.  People pay $1 for the square they think the chicken will “drop”.  You can make no more than 4 bets in the same round.  People volunteer to put the chicken on the board.  If you are chosen you have to spin the chicken in a circle 3 times, shake him up and down 3 times, and blow in his butt!  Then you drop the chicken and wait for him to use the bathroom.  If you are the winner you have to use the $100 bill to pick up the mess! It was definitely an interesting experience.  After the chicken drop most of the group went back to the Inn and we played trivia.  It was interesting and literally just random knowledge.  My team came in 4^th or 5^th I think.

Friday was one of the best days so far because we had the chance to go to the schools.  I was so AMAZED by the high school.  At San Pedro High the students were presenting their science projects, but there were projects of all types going on.  Students had animals, propane, food, all kinds of things.  I played twister with a few of the girls because one person made a Twister that relates to language arts.  I really liked it.  Basically instead of going by colors you go by pronoun, noun, verb, or interjection.  And they are all scrambled up on the twister board so students have to look at the words and find the correct one.  So on the spinner yellow would be pronoun, red verb, blue noun, and green interjection.  It is definitely something that I’m going to take back with me and use in my future classroom.  After the language arts room we went to the math magic room.  It was really interesting because the students were explaining to you different concepts like geometry (shapes and lines) and converting fractions to percents.  We were able to play a little trivia game with the different areas they had set up.  We also went to the animal room where students had puppies, a huge dog named Rufus, a parrot, and many other animals. 

After going to the high school we walked down the street to Isla Bonita the elementary school.  I was able to walk around a few of the classrooms and meet the students that have special need in reading, math and behavior.  I was placed in Hector’s room and spent about 40 minutes with the students.  They were so adorable.  They already started giving me things like pictures and notes.  I could tell they were really excited to have someone from UNCW in their classroom.  They also talked about going snorkeling during the school day and going swimming and to the pool.  If that happens it will be great, but it is something that could never happen back home!  I found out that I can work with students in the conference room and the teachers seem to know the basic needs of their students which is very nice.   After meeting my class I went back to the High School.  I was able to talk to the Principal and the Guidance Counselor a little.  They both seemed very passionate.  I could tell they really want some help for their students with special needs and they really want all of the students to excel in school. 

As of right now I’m going to the high school on Monday.  I’m going to help with the testing that the High School gives.  I think it is a placement test in to high school.  There are a couple of students that need help on the test.  One student needs help writing and another needs help with reading.  It should be interesting to see what their test covers and how the students handle the testing.  I think Tuesday I will be heading to Isla Bonita though.  I’m not sure exactly how my schedule will run but hopefully there will be time to figure that out.  I am kind of worried that 3 weeks isn’t long enough, but I know that every little bit of assistance helps.  I just know I’m going to want to do more.

Last night was fun.  We all hung out at the Inn.  They were serving Paella.  It was delicious.  It was like jambalaya except so much more amazing. We were able to spend time together as a group and get to know each other.  I realize that on this trip, we are probably all going to get to know each other pretty well.

First couple of days!

Hello from Belize! I made it!  It has been an interesting experience so far.  My first flight was a tiny Skywest-United Express.  It was a small plane with maybe 40 people!  I didn't think I would sleep on the plane, but with the flying white noise I passed out!  Houston was a HUGE airport.  Then I flew from Belize City to San Pedro on a very small plane! Like 10-15 people I think!  It was awesome though because I could see the ocean and smaller islands.  I can't get my camera software to download right now, so the pictures will be up later.  I just started taking pictures today though! I'm trying not to over do it with the pictures.

It is so interesting and different here.  I honestly feel like I could live without my cell phone and the internet now if I had my family here.  The atmosphere is so different and its easy to just to relax.  You get the chance to meet so many interesting people as well.  We haven't ventured to the schools yet, but we will tomorrow.  I'm excited about being in the schools.  So far this place kind of reminds me of the Bahamas because when Jonathan and I went, we went walking around the town.

We went to the beach today.  I loved it.  Its so nice and clear.  And relaxing.  It was a little rough, but not rough like in Wilmington.  The waves break really far off shore because there is a coral reef, so the water is just wavy and calm.  We had lunch at a "fast food" place. Fast food in Belize is close to food just being cooked on the streets though.  I don't eat a lot in the heat, but I tried fresh homemade watermelon juice.  It was amazing.  Its so nice to get juice that isn't loaded with sugar and other flavors.  It literally tasted just like a watermelon.  We are off to the chicken drop tonight...there is a youtube video if you look want to look it up or you don't know what it is! ;)

Talk to everyone soon!

Preparing for Belize

So I created my first blog to share with people my adventures in Belize.  I'm overly excited, nervous, anxious, happy, ecstatic, and so many other adjectives.  I'll be the first Special Education student from UNCW to embark on this experience, and I'm going with Elementary Education and Secondary Education majors...so I know it will definitely be a one of a kind experience!  San Pedro, Belize does not have special education services for their students.  So at this point I really have no clue what I will be doing in the schools for their students.  Hopefully I will be able to at least help the teachers learn ways they can help students with special needs whether it be a learning deficit, behavior problem, or something more serious like blindness or deafness.

This trip for me is a big deal.  For starters, I LOVE warm weather.  I'm always cold, and if I had it my way at my apartment, the temperature would be set on 75 degrees all the time.  Also, I'm a beach person.  I love it.  I can deal without technology and other things in life if I can spend time on the beach.

But, while these things are great, my most valued thing of this trip is that it is a chance for me to accomplish my personal goal in life.  All I have EVER wanted to do in life is to make a difference.  Growing up it just seemed so easy and such a simple goal.  I never thought it would be as hard as it is today.  I remember saying to someone when I was younger "I wish that there was a job for community service".  I know that sounds kind of confusing, but I thought it would be so neat to just help others all day when I was older.  So, in high school I started thinking that if I wanted to make a difference, I would have to major in some sort of science.  Now, in college, I have had so many majors in science, 6 science majors (marine biology, environmental studies, biology, chemistry, biochemistry, computer science)...I only actually declared 2 or 3of these majors, but I still had completely had changed my mind for all of these majors. But to be honest, with all these majors I just couldn't feel settled down in the major.  I like science, but its not something I feel I can do every day.  So, one day, at home with my parents, it hit me.  Being a teacher is a great "community service" act.  Teachers have the chance to make a difference EVERYDAY and give back to the community in a way.  I still remember all of my teachers from daycare until now, and I can honestly say that probably 80% of these teachers have made an impact on my life.  Now, since I have heard about Belize, I am even more inspired to follow my heart in making a difference.  I know that as long as I impact one student or teacher I have made my difference in the "world".