PROGRESS

Second day in a row of blogging; gold star worthy? Well, maybe not but its definitely progress (first reference to the title of this entry).

I did a little blog research and found a round about way to post word documents onto a blog. So, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite class activities we do in 3A. Each quarter, the students write an entry for the Student Edition of our class newsletter. We brainstorm 22 things that happened throughout the quarter that were significant to us and then write a paragraph about it. The students all draw a picture of the event as well (which I couldn't figure out how to publish on google docs) and it makes for a hilarious letter for students and parents to read and remember about third grade. We published our first newsletter at the end of October and just sent home the second one last Friday. I showed Keri both editions of the newsletter and she happily noticed tremendous improvements in almost everyones writing. I got this idea from Aubrey who learned it from her cooperating teacher in the U.S. and will probably use it for the rest of my teaching career. I am so incredibly excited to see what the students come up with at the end of fourth quarter and hope that someday they look back on the progress (second reference to the title of this entry) they made throughout the year. I still can't believe that in just a few short months those kids will be leaving my class for good but it still amazes me everyday how much their brains can soak up and absorb. Somedays I wish I could stay in Guatemala forever, or at least until my current students graduate and go on to do awesome things, kind of like what Mr. Feeney did in Boy Meets World.

I've been battling some internal ethical issues lately with the kiddo I tutor after school. I won't go into to many details for the sake of privacy, but basically I haven't been standing up for myself when it comes to being paid by my tutee's (tutee...hilarious word) mother. She is inconsistent, "forgets to pay," and pays me a third less than any other tutor gets paid in the school. Its my own fault that I haven't done anything about it (though we are meeting this Wednesday to discuss the issue) but for some reason I just can't get past the fact that this student needs to be tutored much more than I need to be paid. After getting a little more perspective from some insightful friends, however, I realize that probably isn't the most rational mindset and that if I continue to let this happen, it won't just happen to me and it could happen to me in other areas of life as well. Anywaaaaaay, the point is that today my tutee (hehehe) and I were reading a book about Rosa Parks and at the end there was a map of Alabama to help the students understand the whereabouts of the events in the story. From there the conversation went a little like this...

"Miss Hannah, is Alabama close to Seattle?"
--"Well, no, actually they are really far apart! Here lets look at the map..."
"I want to go to Seattle! And you go to Colombia!"
--"Yes! I would love both of those things. Will you show me on the map where your family is from?"
"My mother is from this pueblo near Barranquilla but the rest of my family [awesome English sentence!] is from Bogota"
--"Why did you leave Colombia? Why did your family move to Guatemala?"
"Well, my father, he is ingeniero quimico and he job in Colombia, one day it is no more! So he go on the computadora and buscando, buscando, buscando and then AH HA! A job in Guatemala! I said 'NOOOOOOOOO! I don't want to leave Colombia!' but you know what Miss Hannah? My mom and my dad, they want the best for me. And I have a mother, a brother, food, a father... my life is perfect."

*At this point I couldn't decide if I should smile or cry. I think I may have done a little of both :)

"Miss Hannah, why did YOU move to Guatemala?"
--"Well, I wanted to be a teacher in another country and I thought Guatemala looked like a wonderful place to be."
"You can no be a teacher in Estados Unidos?"
--"I could, but I wanted to try something new, meet new people, do different things."
"Aaahhhhh, well I am happy you are here"

Okay, I think I need to remind you that this boy is NINE years old, knew almost no English when he entered school, and get bullied like crazy almost everyday. What insight he has; what wisdom! I think we could all learn a little something from that conversation. I know I was so moved that I have since told this story at least five times. Now if this isn't progress (third reference), I don't know what is. Not just in his English learning abilities, but in people appreciating what they have. If this third grader can be genuinely thankful for food and family, hopefully someday we can all feel that same way. In a world that seems to want more and be grateful for less, this one boy stands above everyone else and loves life.

Alright, its time I progress (4th) as a teacher by getting more sleep. Thanks for reading, people. To be honest, you are the reason I write and the reason I will be very thankful someday that I have this blog to look back upon. So, cheers to you! Have a great week and remember, our lives are perfect :)