La escualita

Sorry the picture is too big for the blog, but it's awesome so I wanted to make it as big as possible

      I love this picture because almost everyone in it is in motion. So much so that if you look at it for too long, too closely it seems like it could be posed. This is school. For all of August and a good part of September, I primarily stayed on the property and tended to it, but then in September after Colin arrived, schools opened and I really wanted to be a part of it because it's super fun to hang out with little kids, and also it was a way to get off of the property. So every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I would go with Colin and Megan into El Canal and we would have class with 3-5 year olds from 2-5:30. At first I assumed more of a support role because Colin and Megan are here working with VMM for the sole purpose of teaching. It was fun to get to know the kids while not having to do any of the lesson planning, which was nice. When school started, I was told that I would eventually be tutoring older kids who need help in their schools, which I was very excited about! Then when the former coordinator of our school program, Loryn, was down here for a visit in October, she informed me that I would have my own class of 6-10 year olds! She rattled off a bunch of things that I need to teach them, and told me I'd be starting the next week! Teaching the 3-5 year olds was easy, it was colors, numbers, days of the week, but teaching the 6-10 year olds meant I needed to teach them things like the alphabet, how to read, and reading comprehension. I feel like people go to college to learn how to properly teach that kind of stuff, so in the beginning I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do for lesson plans, or how to properly teach them to read. Three weeks in, I still don't really know what I'm doing, but the kids at least seem to be having a good time! I think this coming weekend I'm going to sit down, call Loryn, and really start learning how to teach these kids what they need to learn! My class started at 4 kids, and as of next Tuesday I will be up to 7! After this post I'm gonna get pictures of each of my kids individually and blog about them, so you can get to know them too!