Respect and Reward

So this idea's been rattling in my head for a while (to all the teachers reading my blog, this goes out to you).

Respect in the classroom.

Now that we're coming to the end of our time in Peru, I feel like I can talk on the difficulties of teaching in Peru, and teaching in general.  In Peru, the children love: being competitive, and hitting each other.  With being competitive (in activities), we've just told them to calm down, and tried to be just.  With hitting each other, we tell them sternly to not do it, and tell their teacher if things get worse than a little hit.  From what I can tell, that's the only difference from American children. (oh, and they really love copying things from the board for some reason).  Now on teaching, sixth graders are sixth graders.  They're loud, don't want to pay attention sometimes, and can be difficult to teach sometimes.

Onto respect.  I feel like despite us spending so much time with them, we have yet to gain their full respect as teachers.  That feeling, my friends, is not a good one.  For example, we can't get the class to a full silence without the teacher there (attempts elicit laughter/mockery).  Maybe it's because we're too nice, or we're just too gringo for them to take us seriously.  While I feel like we succeeded in teaching them the material we wanted them to learn, which is great (some of them spontaneously broke out in "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" Tuesday!!), I still kinda regret not fully gaining their respect like their teachers have.  Again, maybe it is because we don't yell enough (Peruvian teachers yell a lot), or because we can't really do much to punish them.  (the Spanish component might have something to do with it as well)  Either way, for all student teachers I've ever had, for all teachers that have had a difficult class/student, I completely understand, and am sorry.

The beautiful part of this, however, is that we can see how far they've progressed.  I think some of you know how good it feels to see when a lesson has gotten through. That's where reward comes in, and makes my qualms about respect irrelevant!  See, the best part about teaching (and volunteering), is getting something back in return for all the sweat and tears you put in.  I think in the end, that's what I'm going to let define my time here.  Because honestly, seeing my kids sing in English was pretty awesome.


#totheteachers #6daystillthestates #notsickanymore #whenisitgoingtostopraining

I guess we're doing something right?

So our wonderful Site Coordinator, Kate, came by 711 today to talk to the teachers about a field trip we're taking the kids on next week (we're taking them to the La Salle greenhouses!), and to observe us teaching.  She talked to the 6C teacher for a while, and told us that he said that the Duke volunteers coming to teach has been a really positive experience.  So much so, that he wants to try and work out something where Pro-World volunteers can come teach at 711 year-round!

That's really great to hear, and it's fantastic that we've made such a positive impression.  Made my day.

#unexpected #icanteach! #howawesomeisthat

Highlight of the Day

• Watching my students say, "Hasta la vista, baby."

#Priceless

711

So after teaching all three classes, I think I can comment on how things are / are going to be. All the students have a uniform, which consists of tan button down shirts with epaulets and matching tan pants (sometimes with a hat), and then a sweater if they're cold. All the students are super cute - upon walking into the school, we're immediately surrounded by students excited to see us (calling out "¡Profe!", short for profesor), and in some cases, I'm called "ProfeDavid." It's adorable :)

Emily and I are teaching 3 different 6th grade classes, the oldest in 711. What's interesting is how each of the 3 classes differ (mostly) based on the teacher. In 6A, the profesora is really strict, and the class is super quiet as a result. In 6B, the teacher is pretty chill and nice, and the class is really energetic and fun to teach. In 6C, the teacher seems good…but today when Emily and I taught his class for the first time, he kinda dipped out on us for all of the class, except for the first ten minutes. Read: Emily and I had to control one of the more inherently rowdy classes by ourselves (not that bad but still). Regardless of the class dynamic, I love teaching these kids, and I think that the next 7 weeks are going to be excellent. (this week we focused on icebreakers, trying and failing to remember names, and gauging their level of knowledge of the environment and english). After I work in the greenhouse tomorrow, I'll post about that aspect of my project work.


#socute #imateacherquestionmark #myspanishisbetterthanithought