March Madness

I titled this blog at the beginning of March when I was thinking "Wow, it can't already be March...that's madness" -- Oh yeah, and I guess it had a little bit to do with basketball ;)

Now as I'm sitting down to actually write in it, it's already March 25th! Where does the time go?

The third parcial at school just ended and I can't believe we're already in the fourth and final parcial of this year.

My life in weeks looks like this:

3 weeks until Semana Santa
5 weeks until Heather comes to visit
11 weeks until the last day of school
12 weeks until I go to Guatemala with Carrie
14 weeks until I'm home!! (I'm already under 100 days)

I just finished giving my recuperation exams, and I've gotta say I'm really glad I only have one more set to go. At Santa Clara any kids who are below failing (60%) take a recuperation exam. If a child gets above an 80% on the exam, that score is then averaged with their original grade. If a student gets less than an 80% that's their final grade. Recuperation exams is hands down my least favorite thing about the Honduran culture at school. I think they're absolutely ridiculous and really unfair to students who paid attention all parical and actually studied for their tests. The thing that frustrates me most is that these students who had 40 and 50 percents in spelling come in to take their recuperation test and get 70, 80, 85, and 90 percents. So obviously it's not an issue of them not being able to do it or understanding. It's just that they don't care or their parents don't care enough. I just can't believe they have the opportunity to do better than kids who do care. So for example... I have a little boy who has a 45% in spelling and then after the recuperation he has a 69%. But I have another boy in my class who tries so hard and only got a 66% in spelling and doesn't have the opportunity to take a recuperation exam. Then I have two other girls who got 75% on their spelling recuperation and now both of them have an even better grade than the boy who got an 85% on his recuperation. Ughh!! It's so confusing and I'm sure all of your heads are spinning by now. What it boils down to is that I just flat out don't agree with the way recuperations are done. I think the new rule should be the students can take the recuperations, but the highest grade they can get is a 60% (which is passing). That would make it fair to all of those kids who have grades lower than 70%. Just my take on the matter.

In other news...

I'm participating in a March Madness bracket and I'm currently tied for second place...

Dan:  45
Anne: 43
Bridget: 43 
Jeff: 33
Lacey: 27
Andrew: 23


I lost one of my final four teams, but my two top picks are still going strong -- I'm hoping for the best! Carne Asada is on the line so I really want the win!

Ok, now I just have to take a minute to gush about my students...

My little guys are super cute and I love them so much! I was telling Anne today that teaching little kids a second language is like raising a baby. Babies are so cute when they're born but then they start to become little people and they're so much more fun. They start talking and walking. They start laughing, laugh at your jokes, and even make some of their own. That's how my class is. My kids have been adorable since day one, but now they laugh and joke with me. They understand so much more English and tell me as much as they can before using Spanish. I've been laughing so much more with them and it makes my days much brighter!

I wish I could capture funny moments like these on video...

On Tuesday Valeria blew me away with how well she could read. Our story this week is called "Get Up, Rick". I split my kids up into reading groups on Tuesday's and Thursday's. This Tuesday as we were starting to go around the circle to read, Valeria asked if she could read the whole story to me. They had only read the story once with their fourth grade reading, so I thought she would need a lot of help with some of the words. But oh my gosh -- the girl just knocked it out of the park. She read fluently and with enthusiasm. When she got to the page that said "Cock-a-doodle-doo" (the story's about a rooster) she said "Cockaly-doodaly-doooo". I just burst into laughter. It was too cute! I was so proud of her that I sent her to Peggy's office to read to her too. She was really excited to read to Miss Peggy. She had a huge smile on her face when she came back into the classroom. It would be beautiful if I could have all of them reading like that by the end of the year :)!

Today Katherine comes up to me and says "Miss King...Jose Francisco, Carlos, and Lidia are talking, talking, talking, talking ::as she makes a talking gesture with her hands:: and I'm ughhh ::as she shakes her head back and forth and makes crazy circle motions with her hand::" It was classic! I was laughing so hard and then all of the other kids started laughing too. I love those moments in my day.

It's been a long road but I can finally visibly see the progress my students have made -- can I get a woot woot!?!?

I LOVE my life, I LOVE the people in it, and I LOVE my job!!!

Happy Friday to all of you!

"There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart … pursue those." -A C Benson