Blond Be Gone

This here is the "Father of Math" who has amazing skills in multiplication tables

The boys in the picture on the left are Stefano, Dannis, and Gustavo. Gustavo is the kid who wrote the essay I published earlier. All 3 are trouble makers but not terrible kids.

The girl on the left is Josselyn a cute 3rd grader. Then thats me and Katy. I had a terrible hair accident in Honduras where they dyed my hair a hideous blond. Luckily Katy works at some ridiculously priced Rita Hazzan Salon where it costs like 300 dollars to have your hair colored, but if you offer yourself up to be experimented on by one of the assistants in training its free! So Thank you Katy, they fixed my hair and back to brown hair I go.

To all of my friends who want pics Im guessing this is it and I might take these down later so get them while you can and if you complain that I'm going to Togo and you wont see me for 2 years blah blah and you need a pic blah blah....All I have to say is draw one.

Final Countdown

I know its been a long time and my apologies but this past month has been busy. There's been a lot of frustration and lots of struggles trying to finish out the year and get my students to actually study and do their work. However, there have been some really great moments too.

I assigned my 9th graders a paper the Friday before review week which is basically a week in which they believe they shouldn't do any homework. The assignment was to pick a historical leader from a list and analyze his or her rule according to Machiavelli in the Prince and all of them turned in their papers. I was so proud of them. Not only that but some of the papers were really good. This one student in particular didn't think he could write a 5 page paper and I really pushed him to do it and I went to talk to his mom to make sure he did and he actually wrote 5 1/2 pages and his papers was one of the best ones. I almost cried when I got them all and started reading them (that when I knew it was time to leave because I've clearly gone soft).

Im definately tired of some of my kids. The 8th graders in particular. That class has become a battle of wills between me and the class. Little do they realize Im the one who gives them their grades. However, the cynical part of me knows that when I leave these parents will just wave some money around and their kids' grades will magically be changed. Failing in Honduras just doesn't mean failing.

They just passed a law saying you can't fail 1st graders. Not only that but in grade school if you fail a quarter the teacher has to give you a recoup which is basically the final exam over again to give you a chance to pass. If you fail the year you get to take one exam that covers everything again and if you pass that you pass the year. If you fail that you can go to summer school and your given a review of the exam and you study all summer and take the exam again in the fall and only then if you fail are you held back a grade. Its ridiculous. I'm so glad they dont have them in high school, but of course these kids expect a million chances when they get to high school.

This week is finals week and I caught 2 girls cheating on their final exam. I wanted to give them a 0 for the entire quarter but I can only give them a 0 on the exam. But the parents still wanted a chance for them to make it up. One parent agreed that her daughter should fail the quarter but the other mom just cried. I wish I could have said "cry to someone who cares" in Spanish. The cheating here is out of control and examples need to be set.

The good news is I just met the World History teacher for next years 10th graders (my 9th graders) so Im able to give him samples of their work and talk to h im about what we've covered. He just got his Masters in International Studies. I'm very excited about it because he seems like he'd be a good teacher and he's already taught in Puerto Cortes at the other bilingual school several years ago. But this way I can follow up with my 9th graders and know that they're being taken care of.

I have 12 days left and while I'm excited to leave I'm really sad to leave my students behind. I really love a lot of them. Tomorrow is my last day with my 9th graders and 7th graders. Hopefully I dont shame myself and cry in front of them. I'm just so proud of so many of them and how far they've come. I'm also proud that I was able to help in some small way.

A lot of days being a teacher is discouraging. You wonder what you're doing and if you're really helping anyone. I've often felt like my kids haven't learned anything. And its true that grading these finals I've still been somewhat discouraged, but when I read my 9th grade papers I knew I actually did something right. I just wish I had more time to do more with them. It seems like I've been counting the days till I go home for forever but now I feel like I'd do anything for one more week to work with my kids to get that one last thing in.

I enjoy my students a lot and students I've met. Like Miss Annie's class. I've made some friends with some of her 3rd graders like this little boy Naun who calls himself the "Father of Math". I'm going to miss him a lot. We play chess sometimes and everyday he'd come up to me and say, "Miss Meghan I will win today to you in chess." I'll have to post pictures later when I get a chance. There's also Josselyn who apparently loves me because I let her play basketball with me a few times. Its kind of nice to have little 3rd graders run up to you and hug you. It almost makes you wish you could teach little kids but then you remember large groups of small children are scary so its best to stick to just making friends with a couple.

So as my time here comes to an end people have asked are you glad you came? Are you glad you stayed? Did you like teaching us? And the answer to all those questions is yes. I'm glad I came and I'm glad I stayed. I wouldn't change the experience for a million lempiras.