Chocolate, Eyebrows, and Shoulder Pads

Are you enjoying these seemingly random titles that do actually play a part in the story of my day?

Wore my WorldTeach uniform to school today, which consists of a blue skirt with the WorldTeach logo on it and a white top. Complete with a little flower I picked up for my hair that has some blue in it.

Andrea, Hannah, and I ate school breakfast this morning (pinching our pennies again, but getting used to it). They were serving ham and cheese with a biscuit, and there was pineapple and pears on the salad bar. Oh and can't forget the carton of milk.

The three football players I took a photo with yesterday - Jipo, Aisa, and Stavin - had asked me if I had ever had Hawaiian chocolates, and my response was no. They come into my classroom before school today bearing a box of Hawaiian chocolates. Nice boys, eh? Turns out they figured out their schedules today and are now in my Marine Science class. Put em to work today. Miss Boschen is still her nice self, but she makes you do work in the classroom.

Tuesday and Thursdays consist of a different order of class periods than Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We started with 3rd period today, and I ran a basic plan in all 5 of classes today. I had two things written on the board 1. Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law." 2. Why are you taking this class? Alright, I had purposes behind both of these. First, since religion is such a central part to life here, which I can already tell, I decided using a Bible verse might be a great segway into my classroom rules. Our leaders in orientation told us it could be a great thing to incorporate if we're comfortable with it. The Bible is something these kids grow up understanding inside and out, memorizing verses, which I have seen in church myself and at the market. Second, this was a simple way for me to get a feel for some of their reading and writing skills.

So they walked into my classroom, I asked them to pull out a sheet of paper, write what the verse means and what it means for this class, and answer question number two. Gave them about 15 minutes to do this, and I was walking around I could already see a general lack of some basic writing skills (This is a blanket statement. Some students had rather good writing). We were told in orientation this would likely be the case. I'm starting to brainstorm ideas on how I can incorporate these basic skills lessons in with some of the science content.

After I took roll call, we had a class discussion about respect and covered the other classroom rules. It was fun to read through all of the responses during my prep, lunch, and after school. I learned a little about each one of my students, gained some insight, and think my method worked for the day. I also explained that every day when they walk into class that they should look at the board as I will likely have some instructions for a little writeup or activity they can start at the beginning of class. It's good to have some routines, and this one helps enforce quieting down before we begin the lesson. It's also a great segue tool, I believe.

After our class discussions on the topic of classroom expectations, I made them do a little memory name activity in order to help myself better remember their names. I have been doing a pretty good job with pronunciations of all of their names so far, and many of you who know me well know that I pick up on names rather quickly, usually. I was able to greet several of them by name when they walked through my door today and should do even better tomorrow.

More kids were present in class today, I had between 13 and 24 students. Still not full classes according to the current registered rosters but pretty good. I also didn't really have many management issues (as in keeping the class under control today). One of my junior classes is a bit rowdy, and the seniors are seniors; overall, I thought today went well. Many students wrote about aspirations of doing better in class and some goals after high school, which is great to read as a teacher. I also explained to all of my classes today that I am here to help. I came all the way from Nebraska to help them. "I'm here to teach you some things about science, but I'm also here to answer your questions, help you achieve your goals, go to college, find jobs, and help make you better citizens." My service here means more than just teaching them some basics of Earth and Marine Science content but seeing the bigger picture.

Fun cultural difference I don't want to forget to mention. Our leaders in orientation had mentioned it, but I sort of forgot until I saw it these first two days of class. Samoan students often reply with a "yes" by raising their eyebrows. The first day I stood their asking questions, I watch them raise their eyebrows and I'm thinking "why are you not answering, and what's up with the eyebrows?" haha, then it dawned on me... oh yeah, they're saying yes. Didn't take long to get used to.

Jay, the boy from church, stopped in my room again after he ate his lunch and chatted with me a bit. Really nice kid, and he even stepped in to say bye before he left after school. Basically have my plan for the rest of the week, and I'll start working on overall plans for next week since we have to start turning in weekly lesson plans to our vice principal before classes on Monday.

I watched football practice for a bit after school, and get this... they have full on tackle practice out there, but the boys aren't all padded up. No shoulder pads or nothing. These are some tough boys. Was cool to see.

As Andrea and I were walking to the main road to catch a bus, it started to rain. Just misting for a while, but then we pulled off and waited by a store for a bit before continuing. Sure, it's sort of cloudy out throughout the day at different times, but rain is still rather unexpected. Just comes and goes, but not a big downpour today.

Last thing worth I was going to mention. I came home was checking my emails and messages. I had posted the photo of me in my puletasi in front of the chalkboard on Facebook yesterday as "First day of school as a volunteer teacher. Check.", and I come home today to 83 likes on the photo and a few comments. 83 likes... I thought it was crazy when I had 61 likes back on a status that announced I had been offered a scholarship to seminary, and here I have 83 likes. Wowza. Thanks for the support, everyone!