Mr. Atterbury's Class!!!

Mr. Atterbury's Class!!!! First of all I want to tell you how badly I miss ALL OF YOU! You guys would love it here! I want to thank you so much for the amazing letters you sent me. I honestly was brought to tears. It was a nice reminder that I have wonderful students thinking about me at home. You guys really made me happy! I hope that each and every one of you are having a wonderful semester. I have cards for you from my students when I return to the States and a letter written by the class telling you all about my students. I cannot wait to get back and share my adventures with you all as well as my pictures! We have seen so many amazing rocks and minerals in the caves that I have been in and I have had an amazing opportunity to actually learn and teach Braille to a student who is visually impaired. What a coincidence that we just learned about Louis Braille and the Braille system of writing! Be good for Mr. Atterbury and I hope to see you all soon!

The Final Countdown

Hi everyone! I know you are probably wondering if I am even alive, but here I am to tell you that things are great! School has kept me very busy lately and the prospect of leaving has kept me further from the computer and more busy adventuring and enjoying every last bit of San Pedro before I board my flight on Sunday. The end is so near but I still have one week left of teaching. I have been teaching after lunch every day for the past few weeks and then on Thursday and Friday I am substitute teaching while my teacher is at a Professional Development meeting in Belize City. I will be honest with you, I am so scared! My kids are amazing but their energy level is through the roof (I attribute this to the sale of candy and soda all day at the canteen) and I am not sure if I can last an entire day! Of course I am being overly dramatic, seeing as I have already substituted for 2 days so far, but it is a daunting task. I will try and blog before I leave. We have a lot of going away activities planned this week with friends and locals and we are all excited about Pedro's Star Wars themed going away party for us on Friday. I won't tell you what I am going to be yet, but I will be sure to post pictures! Wish me luck this week!!

Writing Prompt 3

Now that you have experienced the cultural heritage of Belize, what have you learned that gives you insight into the children and families you are working with?


One thing I have learned while staying here in San Pedro is that students have a lot of freedom. Students are allowed to walk to and from school without adults and go wherever they want in town without adults. I was surprised to see students leave school for lunch each day and return at the appropriate time. Students are also allowed to walk around school and use the restroom without asking. This is a big cultural difference and something that I really had to get used to when I began teaching. Students in America are constantly monitored in class and have little freedom in what they are allowed to do on their own. Here in San Pedro the students are allowed to do everything without supervision. On the first day that I toured the school many of the classes did not have teachers in them when we visited. This is a cultural practice that is expected here. After becoming accustomed to this I realized that it is something that starts at an early age in the Belizean culture. When I participated in the Easter camp students who were as young as 6 came and left camp every day on their own. At first this custom made me very nervous because I did not like the idea of students wandering the streets alone but after a while I got used to the idea and began to see the benefits of it. If students are allowed to be independent they will learn that area in all aspects of life and ultimately it could lead to their maturity at an earlier age, which is something I have seen here among the students. I have also noticed that they have more respect from adults and are treated more like smaller adults rather than children. It is a neat dynamic to see and is something that I have grown to appreciate. 

Writing Prompt 4

So far this week has been like a roller coaster! We started out on Monday with a really tough day. The kids were really keyed up and had a really hard time focusing throughout the day. The usual behavior plan that I use was not working for my students and I knew that I needed to switch things up. On the plus side, the class did our first science experiment together. The students got in groups of three and were given a glass coke bottle, a cup of ice, and a coin. The students were to hold the glass in the cup and cool the top of the bottle and then place the coin on top of the bottle. They then put their hands around the bottle and the bottle heated up and caused the coin to pop off of the top. The students loved it and had a great time doing a hands on activity. I was really impressed with their ability to understand how heat caused the reaction after seeing it happen. I had my visually impaired student hold the bottle to create the heat so that she could participate actively in the experiment. I have also continued to take her out of the class for an hour each day to help her work on her braille. We continue to practice feeling and memorizing letters as well as typing them on the machine. We also use manipulatives for her to feel and then decipher what each object is. We then spell each word out by sounding it out and then type it on the machine. For example, I had an Easter egg for out first object. Dayanara felt the object, decided it was an egg, and then we sounded the word out and typed it on the machine. Dr. C brought a few braille books from home as well as some games that we are just beginning to use. I am also continuing to try and differentiate my lessons so that she can participate as much as possible. I continue to write out workbook pages for her in large bold print so that she can read and also help her write her own responses. We have been working on sounding out words when I spell them for her. She is very strong in Spanish so sometimes it is easier for me to spell words in Spanish for her or to use Spanish words just to get her to practice sounding out words that I spell. During math we use manipulatives such as cotton balls to help count and add and foam stickers to practice her shapes. I try to call Dayanara to the board to help underline and identify words as well to keep her engaged in each lesson. She is continuing to show progress and I am excited to see where the next week takes us. Unfortunately she is in Cayo visiting her Grandmother for the rest of the week but we will continue our work when she returns.

Writing Prompt 2

As you participate in the service projects, identify something you learned during your service week about the Belizean culture that you didn't know and that is important for you to know as a teacher. As you start to recognize how cultural difference impact education and teaching, you can bring that awareness into your classroom next year.

One thing that I learned this week about the culture of San Pedro was that they plan many camps for their students to help enrich their learning when they are not in school. We helped out with an Easter Camp during our week of service projects which included fun crafts and entertainment as well as read alouds and other enriching activities. We also have started to plan a reading summer camp for the students of San Pedro. Students come for a week long camp of reading enrichment and development. We are planning full lessons for volunteers to use in order to help strengthen students' reading skills over the summer break. I know that we have summer camps in the states but I don't think we have specific camps geared towards reading especially during our educational breaks. I believe that these camps that are made both fun and educational would help students to garner a better feeling towards reading. I think this could keep skills sharp during times of recess while also engaging students in activities to develop their skills further and help them to appreciate learning on a new level.

Adventure is out there, and I finally found it in Wonderland

The movie "Up" is one of my favorite movies of all time. The story is funny, sweet, sad, and adventurous in all the right ways. I have always loved the catch phrase "adventure is out there" that is constantly mentioned in the movie and during this trip I have used it quite often. Well folks, I finally found my adventure. Today was the best day so far. Every day I wake up thinking that it can't get better than this, but it does and today I have hit a peak. Today was a free day so we could do whatever we wanted to. Colin, Tony, Bailey, and I decided to try climbing through The Crystal Cave! This cave is not very popular because it is known for it's level of challenge. It has been open for six years and does not see very many visitors compared to the others. You are warned ahead of time that it is a treacherous adventure and that you must meet certain qualifications to go. We decided that we were up for the challenge and called our friend Diego, who was our guide for the ruins. Diego agreed to take us to the cave and we planned the trip on the spot.

We woke up this morning and met Diego around 7:30. He took us in his car to The Blue Hole National Park where we got our gear ready and hiked for about 30 minutes to the mouth of the cave. The hike was no typical walk in the park. We were constantly climbing up and down rocks on slippery terrain getting further and further from civilization. Finally we reached the mouth! It was beautiful and so exciting to see. The cave is a dry cave and you have to rappel to get into it so we put on our harnesses and got a quick 5 minute lesson on how to rappel and off we went! Colin went first, then Bailey, and then me. I have rappelled in rock climbing before but never like this! We basically were strapped to a rope and were told to put one hand behind our bottoms and the other on the rope and tighten or loosen our grip in order to go down. We could walk down or begin to jump down. When it was my turn I climbed up onto the huge rock where the rope began. Diego strapped me in and I leaned back and began my descent. It was amazing! I decided to try jumping down and the feeling was so cool. I was free falling for 30 feet over huge rocks in the jungle going into the mouth of the cave and I was in control of my own destiny! I finally reached the bottom and sent the rope back up for the others to come down.

Once we all got into the cave we just took in our surroundings. I can't begin to describe to you how big this cave was. It was very scary, but absolutely breathtaking. We began our journey at 10:00 and quickly descended deeper into the cave. We quickly understood why the cave was for expert cavers. The ground was slippery and muddy and there were no man made hand holds anywhere. Everything was up to us and Diego's guidance. We had to get down and dirty fast by squeezing through tiny holes, free climbing 50 foot walls, and shimmying down huge rock faces. I was in heaven! I love to climb things and this was nothing but that. I think it was good that the cave was so dark because we couldn't see how far we would fall if we made one wrong move. The cave was immense and seemed to go on forever. There were massive stalactites and stalagmites that loomed over and under us and all of them sparkled because of the quartz deposits. Everywhere we went was just breath taking. I really could never describe to you how amazing this experience was! We crawled and climbed for quite a while constantly testing our limits but not a single question or worry came from the group. I was really proud of how well we worked together and with our amazing guide Diego!

We finally made it to the beginning of what they call "Wonderland" and we stopped for a snack and to take off our shoes. The air was very thin because we were so far back in the cave. We even had the chance to sit in pure darkness for a while before we made it to this point. It was one of the most eerie things have ever done. Before we went into Wonderland we took off our shoes once again so that we didn't ruin the formations we were climbing on. We then began to free climb up huge stalagmites using calcium deposits as footholds and upper body strength as our savior. You could tell when we made it to Wonderland. It was pure quartz crystal all the way around us. Everything we saw sparkled when our head lamps shone on them and the sight was astounding. We took many pictures but it really doesn't do it justice. We climbed all the way around the outside of the huge cavern through Wonderland and then circled back around to where we left our shoes. We put our shoes back on and began our trip back going up this time! We free climbed the entire way back and were definitely challenged by the slippery clay and our mud cakes shoes as well as the steep rocks we were ascending. We took a slightly different route back and finally made it to the point where we could see light again! For the first time in four hours could smell the fresh air, it was almost overwhelming. We had one last obstacle to overcome before we made it out though! We had to jump onto a huge, smooth rock and climb our way up it into a tight crevice. I wanted to go first and I will be honest it made me nervous, but I somehow made it up, dangling on the side for a moment over a huge drop to the ground and finally finding footing and making it to the top. I felt so accomplished at that point. We worked really hard but had the time of our lives doing it! We all made it back to the mouth and ate our lunch inside the cave before climbing back out.

Once we got out we hiked back to our car with smiles on our faces. Then we drove to The Blue Hole and swam in the water to cool off. It was a nice reward for working so hard and it helped to cool down our muscles. We hiked 1,200 feet into the cave almost 85 feet below the jungle floor and then hiked all the way back out. Once we finished swimming we were exhausted so we changed and headed back to the hotel. Diego was an amazing guide and became a friend during the trip. We all got his email and promised to send pictures and goodies. This trip was really something that I can't do justice by describing. It was an experience like nothing I had ever done and challenged my spirit of adventure and my will. I saw things that can never be matched in that cave and will never forget the beauty of Wonderland. Adventure is out there, and I finally found it.

ATM: Not just a machine...

Well today we went to the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave better known as ATM. We rode on the bus for about an hour and a half and then unloaded our stuff. We each got a helmut and began our hike through rivers, up rocks, down twisting paths, and finally to the mouth of the cave. The cave is a water cave so the mouth looked like an exotic grotto of sorts. It was breath taking. While waiting on the entire group to get there we got to swim in the water, go into the opening, and climb on the rocks. I could have stayed there all day! The water was a crystal clear light aqua and the rocks were huge and ominous. The stalactites and stalagmites framed the cave as if we were in a movie. The entire thing seemed so surreal.

Once everyone arrived we split into two groups and ventured into the dark caverns. We waded and swam through the water for most of the trip, engulfed by sparkling walls of calcium deposits, limestone, and quartz. We also saw granite, cinnabar, and hematite, as well as some iron oxide deposits! For those of you who had me for Science at Eaton, I was thinking of you all!! I took tons of pictures to show you each when I get back! It was amazing to see what we had studied all semester actually in nature. The guide was impressed because I answered all of the questions about what types of rock each was and how it was formed! Everyone kept laughing at Ms. Bilotti and I because we were so excited about the minerals! While we were in the cave we had some pretty tricky challenges to overcome including, rocks to climb over, and caverns to get into. One of the trickiest spots was a long passageway about the size of my chest. The passageway was completely underwater and we had to tread water while going through the passage sideways. There was also a part called "The Neck Cutter" where you had to squeeze your neck against two sharp rocks because they were so close together.

At one point our guide found some clay and he drew on my face in a decorative Mayan design and told me that I was the Mayan Sacrifice! It was a big joke because Mayans actually used to make sacrifices very regularly in the caves to the gods of the underworld. See, the Mayans believed that the caves were the underworld and that they could connect with the gods better while practicing rituals in them. They would travel through these caves by torch light and would stay in them for days meditating and connecting with the gods. We saw a lot of pottery in the cave from the Mayans as well as a few skulls and even a full skeleton that had been sacrificed!! It was very eerie to see but so amazing because we real really got a good feel of their culture.

We also went through the main chamber of the cave in our socks so that we did not ruin the formations. That was really fun because we could feel the cave floor under us, but boy were my socks destroyed! On the way back our guide let us go a secret way since we did so well in the cave. We got to do some more climbing and it was amazing! When we finally got out of the cave it was pouring rain so we ate lunch at a picnic shelter in the jungle and then hiked back. The tour was unbelievable and I felt like I was watching a movie the entire time. I will definitely post pictures when I get back because this short description doesn't even begin to do it justice. Can't wait for tomorrow when I am doing the harder cave!

Mayan Mania

I love being inland! I came on this trip looking for adventure and I have finally found it here on the mainland! Today we woke up and ventured to Caracal which is a site of Mayan ruins. We had a wonderful tour guide named Diego who showed us the ropes after a long and windy bus ride. We explored the ruins and learned a lot about the Mayan culture and their history. It is amazing that we are here during the sacred year of 2012 when their official calendar ends. Now, for those of you who are worried that the world will end including my STUDENTS who used to always ask me, I have some news for you. The world is not expected to end according to Mayan legend. There will simply be a change in world order and a new calendar will begin! The only problem is that they did not create a new calendar so they will have to modify and use the old one. There will be special alignments in the cosmos but these are things that happen regularly every 20 or 50 years. The Mayans were very big astronomers so they were good at predicting this type of thing.

After exploring the ruins and hiking to the highest point in Belize I was exhausted! The hiking was no joke! The Mayans created very steep stairs on their temples for ritual purposes which made it hard to get to the top of these giant buildings. We finally saw the last temple and settled in for lunch just in time for an afternoon rain.

We finished lunch and headed to a secret waterfall spot on the way back past the river. Once at the spot we had to park and hike a good ways down the most dangerous and steep path I have ever seen. When we got down the path we were met with a gorgeous waterfall and cliffs in a valley surrounded by jungle. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs... So we all changed into our bathing suits and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the pool and around the waterfall. I was so excited because in every country I have visited I have made an effort to jump off of a cliff into water and this trip was no exception! I climbed up a huge rock wall almost 50 feet tall and jumped off of a cliff into the waterfall. It was amazing!! One of the highlights of my trip so far! I jumped off many other jumps and even fought the current and made it to the rocks under the waterfall. It was so exciting and just breathtaking. I was one of three from our group and the only girl to jump! After a while of jumping we all swam back to shore and dried off and were on our way back in no time. The day was exhausting but I learned a lot and had a great time! I apologize because now that I am inland I have to blog from my iPad, so I am sorry if these are hard to read or have errors. I am also unable to upload pictures right now so pictures of all of my excursions will show up this weekend! Stay tuned!

Chicken Bus Fuss

Well the past few days have been a blur. Life has been very relaxing. Easter Sunday was nice and calm. I skyped with my family for a long time and went to a local barbecue on the beach. The barbecue was amazing and I even saw some of my students. I spent the rest of the day at my secret paradise spot on the beach. Good news to everyone... I finished The Hunger Games! I am so proud of myself. Now on to book two!

Today we woke up and got packed up to head inland. We walked on the beach to load the water taxi. The water taxi was quite chaotic when everyone got on and it was packed. We rode the taxi for two hours making multiple stops and finally ended up in Belize City. As soon as we got off of the taxi I could tell the vibe in the city was completely different. The island light hearted feeling was gone and it felt a lot less like vacation and a lot more like life. We ate lunch on site and I enjoyed a nice Coke, one of the first since lent had ended. After lunch we met Morgan Freeman and he piled us into a tiny van to drive to the bus station. Just kidding. It really wasnt Morgan Freeman, but I am still confident that it was his twin brother, or maybe his second cousin twice removed...

After Morgan dropped us off at the bus station we grabbed our book bags and idly stood in almost a stupor of confusion. Of course Dr. K and Mike knew what to do but this was new territory for the rest of us. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! I packed for an entire week in my tiny little book bag! Go me! So anyways, back to the bus station. We meet a toothless man eating watermelon who tells us we can ride the "Chicken Bus" for 7 dollars Belize all the way to San Ignacio and of course we are all about it! Cheap rides equals more money to spend on gifts and adventures. So we accepted his offer and he told us it would leave in one hour and we could go sit on the bus and reserve our seats if we wanted. I immediately wanted to go to the bus so we wouldn't have to keep moving around so much but on further contemplation agreed that this would be sweltering. So we played cards in the station for an hour until the man came back and told us it was time... Let me also preface this by saying this bus station smelled like my Grandad's packing house, which is not a pleasant aroma. There were people everywhere and there was a sense of urgency everywhere. So we follow this little toothless man and his watermelon smile to the gate but already on the otherside about two million people were running to our bus.

It was pure pandemonium. There were about 100 people running to get on an old rickety school bus with their luggage and all of us knew right then that this was going to be an adventure. Boy did we regret not saving our seats. We slid through an opening in the fence and ran to the emergency door at the back of the bus. There was already a crowd there. Women throwing their babies in the air, some hanging on to the sides of the bus trying to lift themselves up. Everyone was shoving. Everyone was pushing. There was a man at the edge of the door with his hands out lifting people into the bus and another man pulling them up from the bus by their shirts. I finally make my way to the front of the line. The toothless watermelon man yells at me in urgency "step hard and push!" when I know good and well I can easily get into the bus on my own. So I make split decision to do what he says and I grab onto this little man's neck, place my Sanuks in his hand and jump.

I grabbed the back of the seat and slowly pulled myself up while the man in the bus shoved my back forward. Phew,I had made it. Next was poor Alyssa. I felt bad because she was shorter than me so it was more of a reach.I made sure to stay and grab onto her to make sure she got up and then turned to find a seat but the bus was entirely full except for a seat next to Tony. I ran to the seat and jumped over the back and slung my purse into the poor guy's lap. At this point I was laughing hysterically. The scene that had just played out was beyond chaos. It was flat out comical. The rest of our group was still loading the bus and began filling in the seats that were already stuffed with two people and luggage. Last but not least Colin and Mike got on the bus. They decided to just stand but then the man came back and told them they had to sit down so Mike squeezed into a seat with a woman and her babies while Colin smushed in with Tony and I.

So there I was. I had made it! The bus took off with a fury and we were bookin it. Sweaty, cramped, tired, and smelly we trucked along through multiple stops on our way to San IGnacio. Luckily within 30 minutes or so Colin moved seats since some people unloaded and Tony and I temporarily had the seat to ourselves. Then at one of the stops I offered to move over for a man and his daughter and we now had four people in this tiny school bus seat. It reminded me of a scene in the movie Sin Nombre. If you have not seen the movie i completely recommend it to the adults who are reading the blog. It is a powerful movie about Latino culture and gangs. If you are familiar with the movie, just picture the train scene with people jumping on and off without a stop. Overcrowded cars and an element of chaos at all times. What a sight we must have been. Getting off that bus I was dazed and confused. We walked a short hike and finally ended up at our hotel. We had literally been traveling all day and were all worn out. We dropped our stuff in barren rooms with no air conditioning and three to a room. Some offs us are even sharing beds. Then we went off adventuring, got dinner, and now I'm here. Reflecting on today causes me to have outbursts if laughter. I recommend the chicken bus to anyone who visits here, unless your last name is Budd. In that case YOU WILL NOT like it. I know you guys dont deal well with disorganization and that is what I love about you all! It was a once in a lifetime experience and I loved it!

Adventure Is Out There...

Hi everyone! I first off want to apologize for being MIA the past few days. Things have been busy here and to be honest I just decided to take a break from computer life for a while. This week we have been working on our service projects as I previously mentioned. The past few days have really flown by. On the 3rd we continued our Easter Day camp for the students of San Pedro. I worked the morning shift and then spent the afternoon at the beach or doing some work. On the 4th Shannon, Kristin, and I went to the Ministry of Education in the morning and met Dr. Armstrong about planning a reading summer camp for the students of San Pedro. We got a template and the books and are now in the works with the planning. We are recruiting the help of the rest of the crew but this will be the main aspect of our service hours. After our meeting we did some planning and then headed to the Easter egg hunt at the camp. This was absolutely crazy but so much fun. The kids were so wound up and so excited that all of us were there. We had a great time but afterwards we were all exhausted. We all headed back to Pedro's and Bailey and I stopped at the Humane Society to ask if we could volunteer. It turned out that we could walk the dogs that afternoon so we headed to the dog kennels along with Parker, Tony, and Jessica and walked the dogs for a while. Afterwards we got to play with the adorable little puppies. We had such a great time but it was SO hot.

That evening was the wonderful KARAOKE night. Yes, you heard me right, Karaoke. We had a wonderful evening as a group and yes I did participate. Everyone is so friendly here and we had a grand welcoming when we arrived. Since we do stick out so much, and we have been here for so long, most people know who we are which is a definite plus.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to our second excursion. A professor from the High School, Mr. Guilharry, took us to the North end of the island. We loaded into 4 golf carts and headed out on a one and a half hour ride over beaches, rough terrain, through the jungle, through the ocean, and to our destination. Almost halfway through the trip one of our golf carts died after going through a huge puddle so we had to wait on the side of the road in the jungle for another golf cart to arrive. Finally we decided to all pile into three golf carts and just continue our journey. I actually got to drive the last 45 minutes and let me tell you, I have never felt so uneasy on a vehicle in my entire life. I was flying over bumps, fishtailing in the sand, and trying my best not to sink in mud. I made it though! And I even got asked to drive again. There was no one around us when we arrived so we put on our snorkel gear and headed into the ocean. I decided to swim off on my own and do some exploring. I tend to get nervous when people swim around me because everyone runs into each other. Also, I think that if you swim in a group you don't get as much of an experience because the large group of people scares a lot of the sea life away. I ended up spotting a huge ray and a barracuda! I was so excited, but for the first time I felt a little bit nervous when I saw the huge fish. It was about 3 feet long and at least 5 feet away from me. After swimming away from the fish I explored some more and then headed back to shore.

Then we all drove a little further down the beach to make lunch. Our guides had collected conch shells during our snorkeling and made conch ceviche for us as our first course. I have honestly never had something that amazing before! The conch was sweet mixed with the spices and the tartness of the lime juice and vegetables. I recommend it to anyone who ever has the chance to try it! After that they made us grouper tacos, and then chicken tacos. I was literally in heaven. Everything that touched my mouth that afternoon was divine. After lunch we headed further down the island and split into two groups. Half went fishing while half went snorkeling again. I decided to go fishing but of course I ended up shelling and that consumed the rest of my afternoon. I found some beautiful corral to take home to my Mom and some to keep for myself! It began to get late so we all decided to start our excursion back. On the way back everyone was absolutely exhausted. The view from the golf cart was like something out of a movie. I looked to my left and the full moon was rising into a lavender and periwinkle sky engulfing an aqua ocean. To my right the orange sun was setting into a deep purple sky framed by the Belizean jungle. The breeze was strong and the air was thick and the ride was bumpy. We returned back to Pedro's a few hours later and I decided to shower and relax for the night.

Today has just been a day of relaxation. I have visited the ocean and worked on my book. Oh wait I forgot to mention, I am reading The Hunger Games. For those of you who know me I know your jaws are dropping at this very moment. I am not much a reader, and when I say "I am not much" I really mean "I do not read". It is something I am ashamed of and have always tried to get into, but for some reason I am not capable of finishing books. I think I get it from my Dad... :) But anyways, Dr. K had the books and everyone keeps talking about them so I have made it my goal to finish the book while I am here. It is going smoothly so far and I am very proud of myself! Im sure my brother will be thrilled when he reads this, because he constantly makes fun of me for being unable to sit and read. Regardless, the rest of the day should be pretty low key. I will make sure to post within the next few days but I do want to warn everyone that the posts will not be daily like I was previously doing. Thank you all for staying tuned and I miss every single one of you! Happy Good Friday! Enjoy the weekend with your friends and family, and keep me in the back of your minds.

Lazy days and Mondays

Yesterday was what I would call a "lazy day". I woke up and went to yoga with Lauren and Shannon and then we got fresh produce from a little stand by the yoga place. I got some fresh salsa and homemade chips and a cucumber with vinegar. It was a great refreshing snack after a nice work out. After that we came back and worked on our computers as a group. After that I spent the day by the pool and playing cards with Colin, Bailey, and Tony. Bailey and I had quite an interesting game of spades. The game came down to a double blind ten and we lost at the last hand. It was a lot of fun! It was overcast and rainy so we enjoyed spending time together and chit chatting. For dinner we all went into town to get food from the stands and some of us got pizza here later on. We ended the night playing cards and relaxing at Pedro's and just enjoying each other's company. Today we woke up and four of us went to the public library to run an Easter day camp with the local children. We did crafts and games with them and also had a snack. The kids were great and everyone had a great time! After wards we got lunch and headed back to Pedro's. Mike just got here and I have been doing class work and blog work all day. Tonight should be pretty low key. Nothing too exciting today, but still loving Belize.

Writing Prompt 1

What were you unprepared to handle in your assigned classroom and how did you respond? What strategies did you use to figure out what you needed to do?

This week I was posed with this question to think about during my blogging process. There are a few things that come to mind but the first thing is definitely the behavior management issue as well as appropriately engaging a student who is visually impaired. During my first week of teaching I taught every day after lunch. On my first day I was completely blown away by the lack of behavior management as well as the noise level. Classrooms here are run so differently from those in the states and that was quite a shock. Some how it works for the teachers who teach as Isla, but it did not work for me so I decided to make a change. I created a behavior plan and decided to enforce it on my second day of teaching. My plan was to have the students play a game called "Teacher versus Students". I first described my expectations of the students and then introduced the game. If the students accomplished one of my expectations I would give them a point, but if they failed to accomplish the expectation I would give myself a point. If the students won at the end of the day I told them that they would receive a prize. The prizes were the school supplies that were donated to our group. The students took the the game quickly and loved it! I was thrilled! We played the game every day that week and it got more and more successful. It was amazing to see the transformation just because of a little game. I also awarded students who had exceptional behavior with a small red ticket. Students wrote their names on the ticket and I put them into a bag. At the end of the week I raffled off larger school supplies to students who had tickets. The kids loved this as well and it was another great incentive for them to behave well.

My second issue that I struggled with this week is something that is not as easy to address. As I have mentioned before I have a visually impaired student who typically does not get to participate in classroom activities. I really wanted to differentiate my instruction in order to include her in everything that we did. So, the second day of teaching I drew huge words on pieces of construction paper and made cut out smaller words for our activity. This way Dayanara could read the letters and do the activity. I also brought bold markers in and a pad with large lines on it. I wrote every worksheet out on large lined paper so that Dayanara could read it. I also monitored her work and helped her write things that she could not during individual work time. I also had Dayanara pass things out and underline words on the white board. This way she felt included and was always participating in the instruction. Every day I pulled Dayanara out for an hour and a half to work on her Braille and also her Braille Machine. I also brought in flash cards with large print to help her practice her phonics and math facts. On top of that I found all of the books in the library with large print and practiced reading with Dayanara and sounding out words. We used many manipulatives so that she could feel materials rather than try and see them and these also helped her to learn more of her Braille. We made a lot of progress in inclusion and her Braille skills but I still have a lot more work to do in the upcoming weeks!

Sharks, Rays, and very long days

Some of the crew at Hol Chan

Me with one of the sea turtles!

Hi everyone. Sorry I have not posted in a few days. I have had internet issues and computer issues. For some reason computer karma is not working in my favor. But, I will fill you in on what has been happening around here! On Saturday we woke up early and headed to George's for a delicious Belizean breakfast. This is my favorite breakfast spot because the food is so good and their pineapple juice is AMAZING!

After George's we rushed to Ramone's dock to load our boat and head to our diving spots for the day. We loaded this tiny speed boat and drove to a spot to get our flippers and snorkels. Once we got our supplies we loaded a huge catamaran. The boat was absolutely gorgeous. It was white with a huge blue sail. The front of the boat had a large white bed on a trampoline and four bean bag chairs around it. We had about 25 people on our cruise, mostly people with our group but a few we had never met before. We all settled in and we began our voyage to our first stop which was Hol Chan. This is a natural reserve of the reef where you can park your boat on a mooring line and snorkel or dive. Our group snorkeled with a guide all around the reef. I swam next to our guide and was absolutely amazed by what we saw. My favorite fish was the parrot fish because it was so colorful. We also saw rays, live conchs, grouper the size of my body, and tons of other creatures. I was even lucky enough to spot one of the two rays we saw! We also saw multiple sea turtles feeding on the bottom! This was my absolute favorite animal at Hol Chan. The turtles were huge and very surreal to see. I felt as though I was looking at a TV during the dive. After Our adventure at Hol Chan we loaded the boat again. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the bed up front along with Bailey, Jessica, and Parker. We enjoyed some chips and salsa along with some cold waters and a lot of sun.

Then we came to our next stop which was Shark Ray Alley. This was my favorite of the two. At Shark Ray Alley the guides dropped a bucket of sardines in the water and we were allowed to get into the water and watch the sharks and sting rays feed. I got to pet a huge nurse shark and a giant sting ray. The shark felt rough like sandpaper, while the ray was smooth and almost slimy. My favorite shark was the giant nurse shark. It was bigger than I was! I followed it most of the time swimming over top of it and observing it's characteristics. It was so amazing to see it feeding with the other fish and interacting in it's environment. I am hoping this granted me some good karma when I return to surfing at Wrightsville!

After this excursion we headed to Caye Caulker which is a small island about an hour and a half from San Pedro. The island was very natural with a few shops and stands along the main street. Dr. K and I ate lunch at a two story restaurant overlooking the inlet. The view was amazing and so relaxing! After lunch Kristen, Parker, and I went exploring on the island. I got a bracelet and headband for myself and a few other gifts for my family. At 3:00 we met back on the boat and set sail for San Pedro.

We arrived back to Ramone's at about 4:30 and rushed back to Pedro's to prepare for the Miss Isla Bonita Pageant that night. After getting ready the girls all headed to the high school for the pageant. We were so worried we would be late because we were told the pageant started at 6 but of course, in typical Belizean fashion, when we arrived no one was to be seen and none of the tents were set up yet... so we went and got dinner and reserved our front row seats for the night. When we returned we all settled in to enjoy the pageant but I was quickly summoned by the principle and asked to bring the other girls and volunteer at the tents that were selling food and prizes.

I worked at the tent selling toys and sweets while the others filled in where they were needed. We ended up working the entire night and barely getting to see the pageant. I was on my feet for 5 and a half hours and was very exhausted, but it was worth it to get to help the girls raise money in order to pay for their schooling. The pageant was a lot of fun, but by the time 11:00 rolled around I was wiped out. We returned home after the pageant and all of us went straight to bed. The experiences of the day were extremely different and definitely once in a lifetime opportunities. I cannot wait for the other excursions next week! Adventure is out there.