CASEY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
CASEY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
“The quickest way to acquire self-confidence, is to do exactly what you are afraid to do.” (2/4/19)2/4/2019 It’s been a little over a week since our return home from the Dominican Republic, and all I’ve wanted since we landed in Buffalo…is to go right back! If you ask anyone that’s seen me over this past week, they will tell you that I’ve said “I just want to be back in the Dominican!” at LEAST twice a day. The last time that I went to the DR, I was extremely ready to come home on the day that we left. I had missed my friends and my family, and I was feeling really homesick and ready to be back in my own house. Although I was excited this time around to see my friends and family, I wasn’t really feeling homesick on the day we left. Once we got off the plane, I was immediately happy to see my mom and my boyfriend at the airport, and I was happy knowing that I’d see the rest of my friends and family throughout the week. However, after I saw everyone, showed all of my pictures from the trip, and talked about the amazing things that we did and accomplished while we were away, I found myself ready to hop back on a plane, and head back down to the DR!
I was fortunate enough to have gone on this trip before back in 2017, but this time was different. Like I said in my first blog, I was very nervous for this trip, especially because I was going to be doing it “alone,” since I wouldn’t have my friend Shannon there with me. When we landed in the DR on that first Tuesday, I was very sleep-deprived from my nerves keeping me awake the whole night before travel, so I had a really tough time accepting the fact that I had decided to go on this trip again, would be away from home for almost three weeks, and would have to figure it out “alone.” But that, being “alone,” didn’t end up being the case at all. Tamara, Wendy, and my eight other cohorts that went on this journey with me, were honestly some of the best and most supportive people I have ever met. Everyone worked together when there were problems that needed to be solved, everyone was there for each other when they needed it, and I think everyone helped each other make the most of our time in the DR. I knew that if I was feeling anxious and stressed, or just down about something, I could walk into B2 or C5, or even stay in my own house, and find someone to cheer me up. If you can believe it, this trip was even better for me than the first time. The first time I went on this trip, I had an amazing group of people there with me as well, so they made my first time away from home SO special. We all worked together very well, and were there for each other when we really needed it. So, I think that this time around, the reason I had an even more life-changing experience, was because of myself. It took a few days to adjust, but after that, I have never felt as happy, confident, and ready for any new experience that life wanted to throw my way, until I went on this trip. I don’t want to sound like one of those cliché people that say “My life is forever changed because I studied abroad!”…but it is. It’s true. I can’t think of enough good things to say about this program that Buffalo State has created, and I feel so honored that I was able to experience it not just once, but twice. I will be forever grateful that I was able to go on this physical journey to the DR, but also on my journey towards self-worth, self-confidence, and finding value in the things that I can do, and lives I can change through teaching. So, even though we were “only” there for two and a half weeks, I miss the Dominican Republic so much. I miss waking up every morning to a beautiful sunrise, hearing “Hola!” from each one of my cohorts as we saw each other every morning, teaching an amazing group of Pre-K students, experiencing new things, making new friends and lasting memories, and feeling on top of the world, every day! So, although Buffalo was ever so kind as to greet us with open arms with freezing temperatures and -30 degree wind-chills, I am happy to be home (at least a little bit 😉). Since we had two snow days last week, I finally get to start my Graduate classes, and substitute teaching, this week! I am so eager and excited to get back to work, and see where these new challenges take me!
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(1/25/19) Today was a very relaxing day for my cohort and I, as it was our last full day in the beautiful Dominican Republic! After sleeping in for the first time in weeks, my roommates and I hung out in our house and wrote some blogs, then head out to the pool! Everyone ended up by the pool at some point during the day, but I think my roommates and I laid out in the sun for almost four hours! I think we were all trying to get that little bit of tan before we headed back to the cold and gloomy Buffalo. After some relaxation, we all took some time to get dressed up and ready to go out to our final group dinner! We walked to the restaurant on the beach that we had ate at the first week we were here, Onnos. We all ate a delicious dinner, hung out for a while, then waited for a taxi to take us back to Nanny Estates. We were all pretty tired, but we managed to all stay up for a few more hours to hang out, listen to some music, and spend some time together before we head home tomorrow. I am lucky to have travelled with some amazing people, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to have spent the last two and a half weeks with. (1/26/19)
I am currently packing the rest of my belongings into my suitcase, and getting ready to head home! It has been a surreal experience, being able to come back to the Dominican Republic once again, and experience exciting and amazing new things, while seeing some familiar faces along the way! I can honestly say that I am so proud of myself for overcoming some of the fears and doubts I had of myself coming into this trip. I have gained some newly found confidence on this trip, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of my time at Buffalo State brings me, and what new adventures await. I will be forever grateful for Buffalo State for allowing me the opportunity to have this experience not only once, but two times over my course of attending the school. Although I have had a wonderful and exciting last two and a half weeks, I can’t wait to get home to see my friends and family! BUFFALO, HERE WE COME! Today we had the pleasure of observing in a Montessori school, located in La Cienega, called Tres Mariposa’s Montessori. While six of my cohorts and I were teaching at Coral over the past week and a half, the remaining two were teaching at this Montessori school! Every time that they would come home from teaching, they would tell us how amazing the school was, so I was very excited to get the chance to see it for myself. Up until this trip, I had honestly never really heard of a Montessori school, and if I had, I don’t think I pictured it quite like what I saw today. A textbook definition of Montessori learning is: developed by Dr. Maria Montessori, a child-centered educational approach based on scientific observations of children from birth to adulthood. It is an approach that values the human spirit and the development of the whole child—physical, social, emotional, and cognitive.
From what I learned today, a Montessori school is a school where the students determine if they’ve done a great job, and the pride that they feel in their work is what’s valued, not the praise given to them by peers or teachers, such as “Good job!” Instead, teachers may say things like “You worked really hard on that. How do you think you did?” Asking questions like this, instead of giving immediate and constant praise, lets the child become confident and develop intrinsic gratification for themselves and the work they produce/complete. While we were visiting this school, we were able to observe in three different classroom settings. In a Montessori school, the procedure for observations is a lot different than anything I have ever done before. Usually when I’m observing in a classroom, I find an empty seat in the classroom, and watch what the teacher and students are doing. While I’m doing this, I may also get up during a lesson and try to help students that I see are struggling, walk around the room to closely observe what the students are working on, or talk with some students that come up to me while I’m observing. However, in a Montessori school, observations run completely different. When you observe in a Montessori school, you are a fly on the wall. The work that the students are doing, and the procedures that they are following, may be disturbed by too many observers, or by interacting with the students while they work. So, in each classroom that I observed in, I was moved to a chair that was designated for observers, and watched a Montessori classroom in action. We were advised that if students were to come up to us and ask us a question, or tried to interact with us, that we not really respond, and if we did, to only tell them that we’re there to observe, and that they should get back to work. It was really weird to observe in this way, because I’m used to interacting with students while making observations, instead of not talking, not getting up, and pretending I’m not there. Now, for what I observed in the classrooms: it. was. crazy!! In the best sense of the word. Here are some of the things that I observed while sitting in on three different classes, just to put my awe of this school into perspective. To begin, these are some observations that I made in every classroom that I visited. First, almost every room that I observed was designed with an open concept, meaning, although there was a roof over everyone’s head, there were not four walls surrounding the classrooms. Some classrooms had completely open walls, kind of like they were on a porch outside, while others had some walls, but still some spots where the children could walk right outside, or at least see outside while they worked. Second, the teachers and the students talk in a whisper voice. There is no yelling, no screaming, and all communication is either quiet, or non-verbal. Third, the students were working independently, without the help of a peer or a teacher. If a student did need help, they could ask for it and receive it, but many students were always working alone, and completing tasks without any assistance. Fourth, in each room, students were able to pick up the next lesson or activity they were going to work on, called a “Work,” and complete it once they had finished the activity grabbed prior. Students are given a sheet, sort of like a checklist, that lists off the subjects necessary to complete throughout the day, using different works. Once a student has finished a work in a certain subject, they can move on to another, or complete the work that’s next in line for that same subject, getting more difficult as they move up the levels. Another element of these classrooms is that each class has a pet! There are cats, dogs, fish, hamsters, chickens, and goats. Each class is responsible for feeding, washing, and taking care of the needs of the pet that’s assigned to their room. This gives the students a chance to take responsibility for something other than themselves, and work together for a common goal. Finally, in each room, whenever a student was going to be working on a new work, they would go and grab a woven placemat to work on. Whether it was on the floor or at a table, the students would take a woven placemat and set it wherever they were going to work, and all of their materials would be set and used on top of it. Now, for some more specific things that I was able to observe in the different classrooms. The first classroom that I observed in was the primary room. This was the first room that I observed in, and when I sat down at my chair, I was immediately in shock. Each child was working independently, completing a different “work,” with no assistance. There was one girl, about the age of 5, who was sitting alone at a table and practicing how to fold napkins for a place setting. Another student, also around that age, was sitting by the kitchen area, using a full-sized knife to cut up fruit for the students’ snack! There were other students who were working on activities in the areas of math and writing, but I was most in awe of the ones who were practicing life skills like preparing a table setting, and cutting up their own food. The second classroom that I observed in was the elementary room. This room was full of students who ranged from about 6 to 8 years old. When I entered this classroom, I immediately felt relaxed. There was soft music playing in the room, which had an open concept to let the fresh air inside for the students. This classroom was where I saw a classroom management strategy that I really enjoyed. Just like in the other classroom, there were students working on all different types of “works,” but in this room, some were independent, while others were working in pairs. One student who was working independently got up from his seat because he needed help, and walked over to the teacher. Now, back home when a student needs help, it usually goes one of three ways: 1. The students will raise their hands and ask for help. 2. The students will raise their hands, but still shout out the teachers’ name. or 3. The students will get out of their seats and tap on the teachers shoulder to get their attention, or come up and call their name multiple times until they’re answered. But in this classroom, this is how this student received help. First off, when the student got up to get the attention of the teacher, she was already working with another student on something. So, this student quietly walked over to the teacher, and put his hand on her shoulder, lightly. He waited there with his hand on her shoulder, until she, without taking her eyes off of the student she was already helping, grabbed the students’ hand, and held it. The student waited there holding the teachers’ hand until she was done assisting the first student, then she quietly walked him back to his seat to help him. I absolutely LOVED seeing this strategy! First of all, the teacher was able to finish her conversation with the first student, without getting interrupted by the second. Second, the room stayed quiet, without the student who needed help yelling her name out over and over again, or coming up and tapping her shoulder until she responded. And third, when the teacher took the students hand in hers, she was able to nonverbally let the student know that she knew he was there, and that she would be coming with him, ready to help him, when she was done working with the first student. The whole interaction was so calm, and made for really good management in the room; provided help for the students when necessary, but in a non-chaotic way! The final classroom that I observed in was the “Anido” room, which had students from 1 to 3 years old. This observation was the most unique experience for me, because we were observing through a window, located in an enclosed box, OUTSIDE of the classroom. The reason for this sort of observation is that the students in this classroom are so young, that they still do not know the procedures of having observers in their classrooms. So, if I were to have come into the classroom with them, it would have disrupted the work they were doing, and I would have been a distraction in the class. So, I stood outside of the room, looking through a one-way window, observing the group of students. These students were so young, and they were acting as if they were little adults, already! One girl, no more than 2 years old, was standing at a sink washing dishes, while another was standing next to her to dry them and put them on a rack! The rest of the students were seated in a circle, listening to every direction given, and participating in every song, without much redirection needed. It was crazy to see children so young sit and listen with such poise, and to only require a hand on the shoulder to alert them that they were getting too loud, or needed to be somewhere else than where they were. After our observations, we were given a chance to debrief and talk about what we had just witnessed, as well as ask any questions that we had. I learned a lot from the short amount of time that I was in this school, today, and I would love to be able to go back to the U.S. and observe in a Montessori school there! After debriefing, we were given the opportunity to actually talk and play with the students! They came outside for recess, and after some brief introductions, we showed them how to play freeze dance, and they showed us how to play some of their favorite outdoor games! It was nice to see the students out of the classroom, because when they’re in there, they look like little adults. But, once they got outside, they ran around and danced and played just like any other child would and should! All in all, the whole experience in this school was absolutely amazing, and I am so happy that I was able to catch even a glimpse of what a Montessori school is like! Once we were done observing, my cohorts and I continued on with a relaxing day! After saying goodbye, we walked to a restaurant across the street from the school, and were able to eat lunch together as a group down by the ocean! We all ate enough food to fill us up for the rest of the day, then headed back to Nanny Estates for some relaxation by the pool. Today was my final day teaching Pre-K at Coral. When we entered the classroom this morning, I could already feel myself getting sad, knowing today was the last day I’d be seeing these kids! Although there is a language barrier, and you only work with the class for a week and a half, you form a strong connection with the students you teach. There’s something about communicating, teaching, and learning from someone that speaks a different language than you, that makes it all the more special. We taught our final lesson today, and it was about the numbers one through ten! Every morning, the class goes over the numbers one through ten in Spanish, and sometimes when we ask certain students to repeat the numbers to us in English, they can up until the number five. So, we decided to teach a short lesson where the students would be able to review the numbers in Spanish, as well as learn them in English. We started off the lesson by writing the numbers one through ten on the board, going over each one with the class in Spanish. Then, we went over the numbers again in English, having the students slowly repeat after us a few times, just to have the names really sink in. Once we had finished the review, we sang a really cute song with the students that reinforced their learning of the numbers, as well as got them up and moving. The song was called “The Ants Go Marching,” and counted up from the number one, adding ants to the ant march one by one, until there were ten marching in all! As we sang the song, Olivia and I marched around the classroom, each asking a student to march behind us in a line as a new ant was added to the song. By the end, there were two groups of ten “ants” marching around the room! We then split the class into two groups and did one final review game with popsicle sticks. Olivia and I took ten popsicle sticks, and used them to show the students how to count from one to ten in both Spanish and English. Then, we would hold up a certain number of popsicle sticks, and ask the students to tell us how many we were holding up, in English. My group did pretty well with this review, and almost all of them were able to tell me the numbers one through ten in English by the end of the lesson! Once we finished up our lesson, we used the rest of the day to just be with our kids. As the day went on, I got more and more sad with the thought of leaving these students. Like I said, although there is a language barrier, you really start to form bonds with these students. We played outside with the kids, sang songs with them in the classroom, and took some pictures with them before we left. When it was time to say goodbye, our teacher told the class that it was our last day and that we had to fly home soon. When she said this, the room got silent. The kids looked up at their teacher, then over to us, like we had given them horrible news. Although they are so young, and it was such a short time to be with them, I still think that they were sad to know that we were leaving them. They all ran up and gave us their final hugs goodbye, some kisses on the cheek, and just like that, we were done teaching at Coral. As we left the school, I realized if I feel that strong of a bond with students that I’ve only worked with for less than two weeks, I can’t wait to see what kind of positive relationships I can form with students back home in classrooms that I will lead, someday. Thank you to the Pre-K students of Coral, you have changed me in more ways than you’ll ever know. Today was our final day at the Mariposa DR Foundation for girls. But, before we went to the foundation to say our goodbyes, we taught our second last lessons at our schools. Olivia and I had planned to teach a lesson on the numbers one through ten in Spanish and in English, but our plans were changed quickly when we entered the classroom to find a substitute teacher! Although we were not able to teach our lesson, it was a really interesting experience to see how the pre-k students reacted to a teacher other than their own. We noticed right away that the students must already have a relationship with the teacher that was subbing, because the level of respect and excitement shown between the teacher and the students was astounding. This teacher kept the students engaged throughout every lesson that she taught, and through every activity that she wanted them to participate in. The students were respectful of her, participated in every activity they were asked to do, and had huge smiles on their faces the whole time. Although this was the case, I don’t believe that the teacher was left any plans like substitutes are usually left in the US. The teacher went over every section of posters and review that was hung on the walls of the classroom, but once she ran out of posters and corresponding activities and songs, she had the students color for almost two hours. Although different than we had first anticipated for the day, it was cool to experience a substitute teacher with a class of students here in the Dominican Republic, compared to back home. Once we finished at the school, the bus took us to the Mariposa DR Foundation for our final group lunch, and our final day with the girls! Once off the bus, we were greeted with a delicious spaghetti lunch, made by Freddy. We were then able to come together and meet for another debrief session, this time with Tricia, the woman who started the foundation itself. This debrief session was very emotional for many, and really put into perspective how much working in these schools and with this foundation impacts us all. Tricia asked us to go around in a circle and answer three questions: “What was your goal in coming here?”, “What was your favorite part of this experience?” and “What do you hope to take back with you to the United States?” Since I have been on this trip before, I wasn’t sure how it was going to impact me the second time. But, I feel like I was impacted even more this time around. So, when the questions got to me, I found myself feeling emotional about the whole experience. For what my goal in coming was, I said that I was looking for new experiences. Since I have been on this trip before, I was looking for new things to experience, and to build on the things that I learned the first time around. For my favorite part of this experience, that was easy: teaching full, whole-class lessons to a group of students. When I taught here in 2017, I didn’t feel like it was really teaching, but more small-group activities, games, and songs. However, this past week I was able to teach four whole-class lessons to a group of pre-k students, and we still have one more to teach tomorrow! Knowing that I was able to teach a group of students that speak a different language than me only built on my confidence as a teacher, and my ability to teach. And finally, the question of what I hope to take home with me from this experience was what made me slightly emotional. While observing my pre-k class, and while teaching, you can see that the students don’t really take anything for granted. They have basic notebooks, barely sharpened pencils, broken crayons, dried out finger paints, and broken toys. But, each of these things, when given to the students, is used like it’s brand new. No matter what work the students are given to do, and no matter how little the students have, they all seem to not take anything for granted. So, that’s what I want to bring back to the states with me. Someday, I want to have my own classroom, and I want to teach my students to appreciate everything that they are given. Materials will be used correctly and never wasted, technology will be used only when necessary, and students will be taught the value of everything they have and are given while in school. I mentioned how I feel that students in the United States take things for granted, because everything that they could ever need or want in school is usually right at their fingertips. But, in the classroom that I’ve been working in, that’s not the case, but the students still seem to be learning just as much, while also seeming happier than students I’ve worked with back home. My answering of these questions, along with others in my cohort, made me emotional, but in a good way. This debrief made me hopeful for all of us as future educators, and hopeful for all of the students that we will come in contact with and teach. Once we had finished our debrief, it was time to do our farewell activities with the Mariposa girls. We first worked together with the Mariposas to complete another bilingual book like we had made before coming here. However, this book was only four pages long, was about Cabarete, and was written in English by us, and translated to Spanish by the Mariposas. After this activity, Emma had us complete one more activity that I absolutely LOVED. She first had us all take one piece of paper, and write out name in the center of it. Then, we passed our paper to the person to the left of us, giving them a chance to write on it as well. When we were handed a new paper, we were asked to look at the name of the person written on it, and write one good thing or one compliment towards that person. So, by the end of the activity, we each had a piece of paper with over ten nice things and compliments written on it about us. I thought that it was a very good idea, and a very sweet activity, because it gave us all the chance to tell each other the great things that we think about each other, or something we want someone to know we think of them. Once we had finished this activity, it was time to say goodbye! Every day for the last week, we would finish teaching at our schools, then come to the Mariposa DR Foundation for Spanish class, as well as time to work with the Mariposas. Seeing the Mariposas become part of our schedule every day, so it was sad knowing that today would be the las time we’d see them, at least for now. No sooner than we hugged each other goodbye and took some pictures, we were gathered onto our bus, waving goodbye and yelling “Adios!” to our beautiful Mariposas. Today was a pretty laid-back day for our group. We started off our morning by taking a short drive to the Mariposa Foundation for brunch. The brunch that was prepared was a traditional Dominican breakfast dish called “Mangu.” This dish consists of mashed plantains and onions, fried salami, fried cheese, and eggs. We were also served some amazing fresh pineapple, and some fried plantains. Once we were all done eating, we sat down with Emma and Meriam, two volunteers who made a HUGE impact on us while we’ve been here, and had a debrief meeting about our previous week in our schools, as well as the Mariposa Foundation. During this debrief meeting, Emma asked us to talk about the positive things we were going to take away from the schools and the foundation, anything that we wished would have went differently, and any suggestions were had for them as they took in more volunteer groups in the future. I loved this debrief meeting, because it gave everyone a chance to say how they have been feeling over the past week, and we got to hear from one another how it was going while teaching in our designated classrooms. I talked about how much I’ve loved teaching whole-class lessons with my pre-k students, and I really hope to be able to teach the students in my future classrooms to appreciate everything that they have to work with, just like my students do. Like me, most of us had nothing but positive things to say about the school and the foundation, but there were some areas of improvement that were brought to attention. It was nice to know that our thoughts for improvement might actually be used by the school and the foundation to make the next group of volunteers’ experiences even better than ours!
Once we had finished with this short debrief meeting, knowing that we’d have a final debrief on Tuesday with the founder of the foundation, we headed home to take the rest of the day off to relax! We laid around the pool for a bit, then a few of us walked the beach to the strip of shops along the street that Nanny Estates is on. We walked around looking for some souvenirs, and I was able to practice my bargaining skills with a woman who worked in one of the tiendas. I was able to get some pretty cool things, and made it back to Nanny Estates just in time for B’ili to make us a whole-group dinner! B’ili, Sam, and Keiayrrah had all of us over to their house, and B’ili made us all some DELICIOUS homemade chicken and broccoli alfredo! It was absolutely amazing, and it was so fun to all sit down together for a home-cooked meal! I love this group, and I already can tell how much I’m going to miss them once we get back to the states. Today, my cohort and I headed to Salcedo, a town a little over two hours away from Cabarete, in order to visit the previous houses of the Mirabal sisters. Last night, we all gathered together to watch the movie "In the Time of the Butterflies," and also had some background on the sisters and their story, from reading Julia Alvarez's book, "In the Time of the Butterflies." Here is just a little background on how the Mirabal sisters gained their incredible significance to the Dominican people: Rafael Leonidas Trujillo ruled as a dictator in the Dominican Republic from February of 1930, until his assassination in May of 1961. Trujillo wanted a “whiter population,” and was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths during his ruling. If your skin was darker, or if you were Haitian, he would have you executed. The most well-known and tragic story of these killings that we’ve been told, at least to me, was the Masacre del Perejil, or the Parsley Massacre. Dominicans and Haitians say the word “parsley” with different accents, so they used this word to tell them part. They lined people up in the center of the town, and asked each one of them to say the word. If it was in the Haitian accent, they were killed on the spot. It’s been said that the river ran red for days due to the amount of blood that was shed on that day. So, because of acts as terrible as these being done during Trujillo’s rule, there were many people who wanted to rise up against him and try to overthrow the “government,” or the dictatorship led by Trujillo. Through encounters with different people, and terrible things brought upon their family, three of the four Maribal sisters became part of the movement against Trujillo. They seemed to mostly stay out of trouble with Trujillo and his men, until November 25th, 1960. The three sisters were found dead at the bottom of a cliff, due to them “swerving off the road” on their way home. But, it was later discovered from the marks on their bodies and the extent of their injuries, that the sisters had really been assassinated by Trujillo’s men. They were beaten with bats, and strangled, before their vehicle was pushed over a nearby cliff, with them in it. These three women later became known as the “Tres Mariposas,” after their nicknames being given to them during their help in the uprising. Because of their amazing story of perseverance, and hope of one day being able to help bring freedom to all people of the Dominican Republic, they have become a symbol for strength and women’s empowerment. The fourth sister DeDe had not been with them that day, and lived on to tell their stories until she recently passed away in February of 2014. Today, we had the pleasure of seeing some of the previous homes of the Mirabal sisters and their families. The first house that we were able to visit was the sisters’ childhood home. They lived in a small yellow house that was surrounded by beautiful gardens, an outdoor kitchen, and a fence covered in murals and paintings. On the side of the house, there were also two large paintings of two of the Mirabal sisters, Minerva, the sister who first joined the movement against Trujillo, and DeDe, the last remaining Mirabal after the assassination of her three sisters. The paintings were more beautiful than I had remembered from the first time. The strength in the eyes of Minerva, even in just a painting, really showed how passionate she was about the movement, and how strong she really was. Across the street from the house were two pieces of history that really got to me, today, and when I visited here in 2017: the frame of a car, and a memorial sculpture. The frame of the car was the only salvageable piece of the Mirabal sisters car that they were in on the day they were assassinated. It was hard to look at the frame, seeing how badly it was mangled, knowing that it was the only piece of the car that they could save. It made me think of how horrible the torment was that the sisters had to endure before they were killed, and how it was only made worse by their bodies being pushed over a cliff in that vehicle. On a lighter note, the memorial sculpture, once again, was beautiful. It was about 15 feet tall, and made of metal and stone that was painted white, grey, and black. These colors represent the reign of Trujillo, the pain brought on by his rule, and the freedom and liberty brought to the country by the three sisters. The sculpture was topped by three metal posts sticking up into the air, each representing one of the three assassinated sisters. Once we had finished looking at this sculpture, and touring the house, we drove bout 3 miles away to the sisters’ houses from their childhoods and early adult lives. As soon as we stepped foot on the property, the first house we saw was the house that the sisters had lived in when their husbands were imprisoned. After reading the book, “In the Time of the Butterflies” by Julia Alvarez, it was amazing to once again see the house in which many parts of the story had taken place. We took a tour inside, and were able to see the families dining room, living room, and each sisters room. I forgot how hard it hit me the last time I was here, seeing the belongings of each sister, knowing the horrible things that were done to them, and the suffering they endured to help free this country. The room that was the hardest to look at was Minerva’s, since it had a glass case at its center, containing Minerva’s braid. Dede cut the braid off of Minerva, to have something to remember her by. The braid was a lot smaller than the case that it was placed in, because it has shrunk over the years of it sitting in there. Once we finished touring the rest of the rooms, we were taken outside to the beautiful gardens that surround the house. In the center of this garden was a memorial and grave site for the three lost sisters, as well as Minerva’s husband, Monolo. Each sister, and Monolo, were given a rectangular plaque, with their names engraved onto the top. In the center of these four rectangles was a pyramid that was made of stone, symbolizing eternal life, covered in moving water, symbolizing life, and was missing its point, symbolizing a life cut short. On our way back from the sisters homes, we stopped at a restaurant in the town of “Moca,” which had a breathtaking overlook that allowed us to view the beautiful towns of Moca, Salcedo, and Puerto Plata. All in all, this whole day was filled with things to take your breath away, both in a positive, and negative way. I'm glad that my cohorts were finally able to see some pieces of history to go with the story of the Mirabal sisters, and really saw how much they meant, and mean, to the people of the Dominican Republic. Today was a day that I have been looking forward to since the day I was re-accepted into the program: The Monkey Jungle and Zip Lining Adventure tour!! When I first came to the DR in 2017, the thing that I was most afraid of, other than being out of the country alone for the first time, was zip-lining! We had discussed in class some excursions that we’d want to do when we got to the DR, and when everyone else expressed their interest in ziplining, I was petrified. I am a very cautious and anxious person, and I’m also afraid of heights, so ziplining was something that I NEVER even imagined doing once. But, ziplining back in 2017 was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my whole life. So, when we decided as a group to go on this adventure this time around, I was ecstatic! At around 9am, the Iguana Mama tour bus picked us up and took us to the Monkey Jungle and Zip Lining Adventure tour! As soon as we stepped off the bus, I was instantly overwhelmed with excitement to not only experience this again, but to have my cohort experience it as well! When I was here the first time, we ziplined first, then went in the Monkey Jungle. But instead, this time we started by visiting and feeding the monkeys! The beginning of the tour took us to a 3-acre enclosure, inhabited by squirrel monkeys! The monkeys that they have in this enclosure are so adorable, and were really excited for us to come in and feed them, since we were the first tour group of the day. When we entered the enclosure, I remembered how much I loved the monkeys the last time I was here. Sadly, this time, the experience did not go as well for me. Although I still found the monkeys adorable, and it was an amazing experience to be able to feed them and have them climb all over me, I found myself scared this time. The way that the monkeys were jumping around on my head, shoulders, and back, and the sounds that we were making while fighting over food around me, really freaked me out. I finally started to feel more comfortable with the monkeys bouncing all around me, and I let the tour guide put some seeds on my head for the monkeys to eat, just like my cohorts did. Of course, as soon as a monkey landed on my head, it pooped on my shoulder and back! I took pictures as it happened, not aware that it was even happening, until someone yelled “It’s pooping on you!” So, since we had gone to the monkey jungle first, I had to stay in my stained shirt through pictures and ziplining! Once that had happened, I was all the more ready to go ziplining, and get away from those monkeys! We walked out of the enclosure, sat through a meeting on how to be safe while ziplining, and it was finally time to go! My cohort and I were all given harnesses, helmets, gloves to help us stop ourselves at the end of the ziplines, and a rope to connect us to the zipline itself. Once we were all hooked up with our equipment, it was time to go! We took a short hike up to the first line, and my excitement grew with every step. It wasn’t until we started walking up the stairs to the first line that I started to get butterflies, just like I did the first time I had been here. I volunteered myself to go first because I was so excited, then gradually felt my nerves coming back. But, just like last time, after not even five seconds on the first zip line, I was already smiling ear to ear, and screaming “Woooo!” Other than the initial butterflies, there were only two other times where I felt uneasy during the trip. First, the fastest zipline on the tour, which can get up to 65 miles per hour. I was not first for this zip line, so hearing the screams of some of my fellow zipliners gave me a lot of anxiety. But, once again, it’s a mental thing, and once I started going down the line, it was one of the coolest views and experiences I had been through. The other thing that got to me was the 54-foot free drop off the side of a platform, into a cave! I was not excited about this the first time I was here, so I definitely wasn’t ready for it this time. It took me a few minutes to get the courage to take the leap, but once I did, I closed my eyes, asked the guide if I was hooked up, and just jumped! It was cool to experience jumping into a cave once again, but like last time, it was scary! Once we had finished that free drop, and the final zipline of the tour, my cohorts and I boarded a bus to take us back up to where the monkey jungle began. Once we had taken off our equipment, we were given a DELICIOUS lunch of cheeseburgers and hotdogs, something I’ve been craving since we landed on the 8th! All in all, although some parts of the day were a little scary, I was able to face my fears once again, and I still had an amazing time. I just wish that all of my friends and family were here to have experienced it with me! Today was our final day teaching this week! We still have two lessons to prepare for next week, but when we woke up this morning, we all caught ourselves saying “Thank God it’s Friday!” It’s been a long week for all of us, and I think we’re all excited for a break this weekend with the monkey jungle and ziplining adventure, as well as the Mirabal sister’s home tour! But, we had just enough energy for one more lesson this week. I wish I would’ve known this morning how much energy I actually would have needed to get through the crazy day that we had, because when I say it was crazy, it was CRAZY.
The lesson that we had planned for today was to teach the students the English words for different body parts. These body parts included their head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, shoulders, arms, legs, knees, and toes. This lesson was my idea, and one that I had been looking forward to teaching since we got our placements at Coral. When I was here in 2017, I was placed in a third- grade classroom, and worked with my partner Shannon to plan a few activities to complete with our class. One day when we were teaching, the teacher walked right out of the classroom, and left us with all twenty students! Shannon and I didn’t know what else to do after our activity was over, so we sang “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” with the students over and over again, getting faster each time we sang it. The students seemed to really enjoy it, and the Spanish lyrics to that song have stuck with me ever since. So, when Olivia and I got the OK from our teacher to teach different body parts today, accompanied by that song, I was so excited! When Olivia and I first got to the classroom, it seemed very empty. This morning it looked like it was going to rain, so when school actually started, only eight of our eighteen kids were there! We didn’t know what that meant for our lesson, so we just observed from the back of the room while the class went through their morning routine. When they were done, the teacher brought out an old-school projector, and hooked it up to a small laptop that she had borrowed from another teacher. She began to play a video, and it seemed familiar right from the first beat, but we couldn’t tell what it was. About five seconds later, all you could hear from the video, as well as the students, was “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees, and Toes!!” The teacher had known we were doing a lesson with that song, and had the video loaded onto the computer for us! We sang along with the song, and the kids already knew all of the words in English! Since she played that song in the morning, and they knew the words already, we figured that the teacher had misunderstood us yesterday, and didn’t know we were going to be teaching a lesson on body parts. But, after the second time of playing the song, the teacher pointed to us, and signaled that it was our turn to teach! Olivia and I went up to the front of the room, as usual, and began our lesson on body parts, which to me seemed kind of pointless since the words were already known. Since they had sang the song multiple times in English, we thought we’d try singing it with them in Spanish! No sooner than the completion of the first verse did we realize that the students know the song better in English than in Spanish! However, we learned quickly that they knew the words of the song, but they didn’t make the connection between the words of the song, and the actual body parts they were pointing to! So, Olivia and I went back and forth, and went over all ten body parts that I had listed before. We pointed to each body part, asked the students to say the name in Spanish, then told them the name in English for them to repeat with us multiple times. Once we had completed our mini-lesson, we asked the teacher to play the song for us one more time. The students all stood up with us, and sang along! However, before the song was over, the teacher looked at me and said something in Spanish that I couldn’t understand. Before I could question it, our teacher walked out of the classroom with the principal, and left us with all of the students! We thought that she might have ran to the bathroom or stepped out for a short conversation, but she didn’t end up coming back to the room for almost an hour! I think I can speak for Olivia and myself when I say that that was one crazy hour! We weren’t sure what to do with the students, and when we asked them where their teacher was, they said “No se!” or “I don’t know!” So, Olivia and I just had to wing it! We tried singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” with them again, along with “Tootie Tot” and “Baby Shark.” As we sang, some of the students kept saying “Yo estoy cansado!” or “I’m tired!” This was disheartening to Olivia and I because we didn’t know what else to do with them, especially with the language barrier! The rest of that hour was filled with students drawing on the chalkboard, running around, screaming, and even an attempt by one student to run out of the classroom. HOWEVER, although to a bystander the classroom may have looked like chaos, I think Olivia and I did a good job at making sure it was at least controlled chaos. We kept the students busy for the most part, played games with them, I drew on the chalkboard with them, and the teacher seemed pleased when she returned to the classroom. All in all, today did not go at all how I had planned in my head. But that’s the thing about teaching, it doesn’t always go as planned! That’s one thing that I’ve learned throughout my time at Buffalo State, as well as in my various placements: to be a good teacher, you need to be flexible, and open for change! Although the day was a little chaotic, I still believe that the students learned something, and were happy to have us there. I also told Olivia, after “making it out alive” today, I feel confident enough to teach any class back at home! Today, Olivia and I taught our third lesson, and I have to say, it was my favorite lesson we have taught, by far! Last night, Olivia and I took about an hour and a half to plan out our lesson, and collect all of our materials. We knew that Olivia was going to read her bilingual book about the four seasons, but we didn’t know what lesson we would create to match the book. I told Olivia that I thought it would be a good idea to make the students another worksheet like the ones the teacher makes, but section the paper into four sections, each dedicated to a different season. What we were going to do was after teaching the students about the four seasons, we were going to give the students the sheet to color, so they could decorate four different areas of the paper to match the four different seasons. However, Olivia mentioned how we saw that the teacher and the students like to reuse things from the environment, and things like beans and corn, to create different projects and pictures. So, we decided to collect things from the environment to give the students, in order to decorate their pictures. These things included sand from the beach, small leaves, and some flowers. The only thing that we didn’t collect from outside were cotton balls. When we got to the school, our teacher had the students ready for us to teach, once again. Olivia started off the class by doing what I did yesterday, reading her bilingual book with the teacher in both Spanish and English. After she had read her book, she told the class that she had just read them a book about the four seasons, and that we’d be teaching them how to say the seasons in both Spanish and English. Olivia turned the lesson over to me, and I pointed to the posters that the class already had on the wall that showed the four seasons. I pointed to each season, asked the students to tell me its name in Spanish, then asked them if they knew it in English. I then went over each season in English, asking the students to follow my lead, and repeat the English word a few times. The students did really well with their pronunciation of each word, which made me laugh thinking of how bad my Spanish pronunciations probably sound! After we had gone over the seasons, we played a song for the students that talked about the four seasons. In this song, each season is connected with a different movement. When they talk about Winter, the students say “brrr,” for Spring they shout “Hooray,” for Summer they stomp their feet, and for Fall they pat their knees. We played the song and showed the students these movements a couple of times, and they seemed to really enjoy it! Once we had finished playing the song, we went back to the poster in their room that has all of the seasons on it, and pointed to each one again, hoping the students would connect the season with the movement they had just learned. Most students were able to do this, and some were even able to say the English word for the season without our help! Once we had finished our review, it was time for the fun! We split the class into two groups, one working with Olivia, and one working with me. We did this because we had discovered how hard it was to manage the class without having a common language, so we thought that splitting the students up would make the craft easier to explain and complete. Once the groups were made, the students, Olivia, and I got to work! We went step by step to show the students what we wanted them to do on their worksheets, gluing various objects to each section, representing a different season. First, we helped the students glue cotton balls onto a drawing of a snowman, representing the “snow” of Winter. Second, the students were able to glue on a real flower under the Spring section, as well as color a drawn one. Next, the students were given sand to glue onto a little beach scene we had drawn to represent Summer, and were able to color a corresponding sun and beach umbrella. Finally, the students colored in a picture of a tree, and glued small leaves onto the section to make it look like leaves were falling from it, representing Fall. Once the students were done, their crafts looked AMAZING and so cute! They all wanted to show us and their teacher when they had completed a section, yelling “Mira!” or “Look!” It was nice to see the class enjoying our activity so much, and the teacher even let us take their completed work home when we were done with the lesson! Like I said, so far, today was my favorite lesson to teach, because I feel like the students were engaged the whole hour that we taught! They all seemed to learn all of the seasons, were excited to work on a craft with us, and were proud of the work that they were able to complete! I am so excited and happy to be able to take the idea of a craft like this home with me to Buffalo, since students are getting too used to using technology like tablets or Ipads, and are forgetting about useful things that are all around them. |
AuthorHello! My name is Casey, and I just graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Childhood Education. I had the pleasure of studying abroad in the Dominican Republic in January of 2017, which was an absolutely amazing experience! I am so excited to have been given yet another opportunity to expand my knowledge in the field of education, while simultaneously exploring the beautiful culture of the Dominican Republic, once again. When we return at the end of January, I will be starting my Master’s program with Buffalo State, majoring in Curriculum and Instruction, with a minor in Early Childhood Education. ArchivesCategories |