JULISA
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
JULISA
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
When we first walked into the foundation, I think the group had that same facial expression…all jaws dropped because of the beauty. It was nothing to what I expected…because it literally looked like heaven. My first though was “wow this is just incredible what they are doing for these girls”
I built so many connections with the girls and I had so many amazing conversations with them. Even though they are young they still seemed very mature and were very kind to all of us. My favorite thing we did was play baseball because we all seemed to enjoyed it and even Sam (the only boy in the group) enjoyed himself very much. My cousins play baseball all the time and have been playing since they were little and I always used to watch their games but never played myself. Playing with the foundation was my real first time playing baseball and I loved it! Another thing I enjoyed very much was when two of the girls from the foundation (Zori&ChiChi) took us to get out nails done one evening. We had so much fun getting our nails done and I was so happy I got to know the area where they live. Being in their mini town made me feel so calm, and I felt like I can take a big exhale because it just reminded me so much of when I was younger at my grandparents house. All these girls really have a special place in my heart and I will never forget them ever. <3<3<3
0 Comments
My last day at 3 Mariposas Montessori was super exciting and sad at the same time. So many people there touched my heart in so many different ways at that school.
On the last day the group came to observe while Kassia and I taught, and I worked on a couple lessons and finished reading the book (Las Hermanas Mirabal) to Ray. After, as a group we gathered both classrooms on the playground and we introduced freeze dance to the children. The kids had so much fun listening to music and dancing, and so did the group. Then the kids taught us a few games that were super fun too and we all were so happy enjoying ourselves. Before leaving I handed out my thank you notes and got a lot of hugs from both staff and students. The kids in both of the classrooms also gave me a thank you note and it was so precious; they all tried there hardest to write their names in my letter and it made me so happy to have something to take back home with me. When I left Sarah let me know that I was always welcomed back, and I fore sure know that I will be back soon! After getting really connected to the 3Montessori Montessori Staff and children I felt really sad knowing I was going to have to leave them very soon. ):
I felt so proud of my self for the first time in really long because I saw these children learning from me. For example, I started reading a book to a child name Ray and we split up the book into three days, and I explained the history of the book. (The book I read was called Las Hermanas Mirabel/ a children’s book version) and these were three sisters that helped/ fight A LOT to make the Dominican Republic free and a better country for the people. I explained and read the story throughout a series of days. In the beginning when I asked him if he knew who the Mirabel sister are he said he had no idea. On last day before I started reading he told me their names and their story and I asked him how he knew so much about it and he said that he asked his mom and she also told him the story of what happened. (This made me feel like I did something right, because I only went to the school in mornings and after a long day he remember what we read and he asked his mother out of interest.) Another time I felt very proud was when Sarah (The owner of 3Mariposa Montessori) introduced me to a lesson of the body parts. (brain, kidneys, liver, heart, stomach, small/large intestine.) Sarah told me that this was something knew for the students and that they were going to have to ask me for a lesson on the work. (This made me feel so excited and happy that she can trust me with this) I ended up teaching the lesson to five different kids at five different times. (Which helped me teach it better and better each time) I was so happy watching the children become so interested in this science lesson. My favorite part was when they would finally get to use the stethoscope and their eyes would glow up when they would listen to my heart! <3 After my first day I went home thinking about what lessons I could create for the primary classroom. (This was the classroom that I was assigned to for the rest of the two weeks). I looked up a whole bunch of Montessori lessons online and I just couldn’t find something that inspired me.
When we went to the foundation for our orientation I was looking up at the trees and recognizing how big the leaves are and was wondering what I could do with them. (But I couldn’t think of anything in the moment) The next morning I woke up and was trying to think of lessons that were at Bennett Park Montessori in Buffalo and in second’s poof an idea popped in my head. I was remembering a lesson that I worked on with the three and fours in Buffalo and it gave me an idea to do a lesson with numbers and leaves, instead of numbers on a long roll up paper. I had an idea of what I wanted to do but I wasn’t sure exactly what or how it was going to work out, nor did I even discuss with my teacher my idea because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do until it was all in front of me. The first step was getting the leaves from the tree at the foundation, so I had two of the tallest people from our group jump and grab leaves from the tree. (Sam& Casey) they got me 10 leaves, so that I can do number 0-9. While creating this lesson I felt stressed and worried that the children and teachers wouldn’t like it; but when I went to the school the next day my teachers were so impressed and the students were lined up ready to learn my lesson I felt so happy and great that these kids wasted to learn and were so interested. After noticing how the children wanted more lessons on numbers I created another Montessori lesson using candles 0-9 and they used beads to put the amount of each number. I am so proud of both my lessons because they both made it to the shelf and the students are using my lessons everyday to learn. I was so excited to see what 3MariposaMontessori looked like being that I was at a placement in buffalo Bennett Park Montessori. I just couldn’t wait to see the similarities and differences between the two schools. I absolutely loved my first placement, it was amazing! I had such an amazing experience at Bennett Park and it made me fall in love with Montessori education.
On my first day I was only suppose to observe and not talk to any children, just to see how they do things in the school and how the run their classrooms. Once the children found out that I spoke Spanish they couldn’t help them selves but to talk to me so I had to keep redirecting to start their work. I got to observe half the day in the Primary classroom (ages 3,4&5) and the other half observing in Elementary (ages 6,7&8). It was so interesting to see the differences between the two classrooms. I noticed that in the elementary classroom the children were helping each other a lot with the rules and their works and supporting each other, which I that was so cool. In primary they are still young and learning but it is still impressive to see how they were even helping each other at that age and learning the rules of Montessori. I saw that teachers in primary do a lot of reminding and redirecting but never once did she tell the students that they were doing something wrong, the students got to self correct just with a little reminder from the teacher. The entire time I took my notes in Spanish so that I can look up words/ phrases that were unfamiliar in Spanish. I also was doing this to better my Spanish because I really want to be on the road to cleaning up the way I speak and write in Spanish. Eventually I want to do the bilingual program at Buffalo State and I hope I can become the best I can be. It was one of my goals to this trip to continue learning this beautiful language the best I could. After leaving the first day, I had a lot in my mind about all the similarities and differences and couldn’t wait to go back the next day to actually be involved and get more information about Montessori education. One of the major differences I saw were that the children were doing way more everyday life skills, like using real knives to cut their fruits and vegetables and they were practicing cracking egg; where as at Bennett park I never saw that before. This day I had the most amazing breakfast before leaving to the Taino farm. I was really excited because I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Taino farms. I also was really excited to go tubing in the river because I have never been in a river in the Dominican Republic before. (There are a lot of rivers in the D.R. and its popular to go swimming in them often). When we got to the Taino farm the women that was giving us the tour was explaining how they grow their plants and what exactly all the things around the plants do to help them stay alive and reproduce. She was explaining how they use fish to grow all their plants, so they reproduce a lot of fish as well. I really was thinking of my father the entire time because he is really passionate about our back yard and what he grows and I think this is something he would definitely be interested in. Tubing was one of the best experiences ever! I enjoyed it so much because we got to start at the end of the river (away from the farm) and float all the way back to the Taino farm. My dad always tells me to go to the rivers here because they are so beautiful and it really was gorgeous. I definitely would do this again. The cable cars were so much fun! I am so happy that I am getting to so many different things that I have never done before in the Dominican Republic. We went so high up in the cable cars and a lot of people were terrified but I wasn’t I felt amazing being that high up; it was relaxing. Once we reached the top of the mountain it was absolutely gorgeous! We got to tour caves, gardens, and I got to take a picture with a humongous Jesus statue. (In the picture it looks like he is holding my hand). After telling my mom about this, she told me she went there before went she was 10 Years old, and I thought that was so cool because I never knew that. After going up the mountain in the cable cars we took a tour Puerto Plata and it brought back so many memories. I have a lot of family from Puerto Plata and I used to go there when I was really young. Walking the streets of Dominican Republic brought me so many good memories from when I was very little and it the best feeling ever. We got to see so much artwork and ate really yummy ice cream. I saw a man painting a woman selling platanos (plantains) on the street, and it made so happy because my grandpa says that he met my grandma while she was selling platanos<3<3. The feelings I have had rushing through my body throughout these day have been incredible! I truly cant believe how blessed I am to get to experience all of this! <3 Today we woke up really early (earlier then the sun) so we got to watch the sun rise which was beautiful. I already knew that it was going to a lovely day visiting all the schools in Cabarete. Before going I had all the pictures in my head imagining what the schools would look like because I have never seen inside one here before. My grandparents live next to a privet school in the capital of Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), and when I was little my cousin and me would wake up every morning stand on a chair and grab on the bars on the windows (a lot of house have bars souring windows and doors for safety) and we would watch the entire school out side in their uniforms saying the pledge; we never missed a morning. I always was so curious about what the school looks like inside and how the classrooms were set up. I noticed that a lot of the schools we visited looked similar to each other and that they did not have much supplies. In one of the schools the teacher was asking for some basic materials like blank paper and pens which broke my heart because I feel like we really don’t realize the excessive amount of supplies we have in our classrooms in the U.S. until we see other classroom conditions (especially papers and pens). Although these schools had very little supplies, I noticed something very big that’s similar in every school; which is that they are all very resourceful. They will anything and make it into something useful, and I was told during our tour that the entire country is like that as well. After being told about all the different ways that the schools and the county as a whole is resourceful, I realized this whole time I have been wrong about my grandma. I always would say my grandma loved beaten down things rather then something new because everything in her house is used in different way that I’m not used to. Now I learned to call my grandma resourceful which I think a beautiful thing. I think making these connections and learning how to be resourceful is going to make me a better teacher, because now I will be sure implement it in my classroom in the future. I used to not understand why some teachers are so against technology and would think it is not necessary in the classroom, but when I see that students here in the Dominican that only have a paper, pencil and textbook to learn I understand a lot more now. Visiting the Coca farm was an amazing experience for me!
The last time I visited a farm in Dominican Republic I was very young and I feel I didn’t appreciate it as much because I was so young. I remember bits pieces of my first time but I mainly remember the drive there because my grandfather put my cousins and me on mini plastic chairs in the back of his pickup truck. (Which is common/normal in the DR) (My older cousins who live in the DR, were also with us in the back of the pickup making us laugh by singing horribly to us). I think I remember this moment so well because at the time I thought it was so cool and fun to not have to wear a seat belt or even be in the car, but I really cant remember the farm or what it even looked like. When I visited the cocoa farm it was a NEW experience, which made me really happy and excited. I noticed when we got to the farm that Freddie’s mother Margo (Who is an elderly women) was washing meat and getting ready to prepare and cook food for lunch with some women; this instantly reminded me of both my grandmothers because they usually are done cooking by noon. (And they always make enough to feed a village). (Cooking is how a lot of Dominicans welcome you and it truly makes them happy when you eat a lot). While Margo and the other women were cooking Freddie took us to tour his families farm and we got to see so many different plants, flowers, and animals. I loved all the beautiful unique trees and flowers that they personally grew. My favorite animals that I saw during the tour were the piglets! Pigs are one of my favorite animals but not to eat just to hug and cuddle. (: After the tour we went back to Freddie’s house where all the women and children were and we learned how to make hot cocoa. (Which was all natural from their family farm) While drinking our cocoa I finally broke out of my shell a little and spoke Spanish to the young girls. (I asked for their names and ages) The oldest told me she was 16, and I was shocked because she looked a lot older or perhaps just very mature. She told me her name is Aranza and I told her that I wont forget her name because my cousin in Santo Domingo (Capital of DR) too has the same name. (: I also asked Aranza about her hair color because I noticed she dyed it redish, and she told me she did it her self, which I found really cool. The food that the Doña and women cooked was delicious; she made Arroz(rice), Pollo guisado(chicken), habichuela(beans) y maduros(sweet plantains). I am very familiar with the food and what is, but at the farm I learned that this meal is called La Bandera. (The flag) After leaving the farm my thoughts were scrambled because I was tired, happy and excited… really really excited to tell my parents and family about this inspiring experience. I found this extremely inspiring because I watched how hard every single family member works just in their everyday life including the young girls. One of my Grandmothers always tells me that “no matter how young or old you are you need to work your hardest…don’t let people make excuses for you whether your young or old because ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. (: <3 There are a few days until we leave to the Dominican Republic and I am feeling extremely excited and a little bit nervous. I feel excited because Im ready to return to the Dominican, but nervous because going to Cabarete is something new for me. I am so glad I get to experience and learn more about the Dominican Republic during my time there; every time I visit I learn more about the country and culture and I just know this time is going to be full of amazing new experiences. I am really eager to go to the Montessori school and the foundation interact with the kids and girls in Spanish. I have always dreamed about going to a bilingual school to interact with the children in a different language, and now not only do I get to do that I also get to do it in whole country and I cannot wait! and I am also really excited to meet the girls at the foundation to see if I build any connections and I know I will definitely learn from these girls. I am very familiar with the Dominican culture because my family is from there, and I visit a lot, but I have never been to Cabarete before and can’t wait to see what more I can learn about the Dominican culture there.
|
Author¡Hola! I am studying to be a teacher in early childhood education with a concentration of Spanish. The most important things in the world to me are my family and helping people. I am a vegetarian and I love animals, which is why I have a farm in my backyard. Becoming a teacher has always been a dream of mine - I am so excited to finally make my dreams come true. I am truly grateful and blessed to get the opportunity to teach, help and get to know the Dominican Republic during our trip abroad and I am eager to see what I learn from this experience. ArchivesCategories |