Little Things

This week has been filled with so many little but good things. One thing as a teacher I have really learned to do is focus on the little things. Think of the little progress your students have made so far in the year. Some days it can really feel like they have learned nothing and its all been for nothing. Those are days I break down my day and think well this student did remember to put a period at the end of the sentence. After telling them five hundred times. When they do things like that it is not uncommon for me to start jumping around and praising them. They think its funny but I just want them to feel encouraged. No one forgot periods for the rest of the day either. See little positive things.

Some days I get a little in my head and forget to appreciate the things around me. For instance today after school I grabbed my speaker and just listened to the waves crash and watched the palm tree. I just love how pretty it is here and looking at my surrounding and some days I just forget to look because I have about a million other things tumbling through my mind.

After school teaching has proven to be quite a struggle for me. My after school students are really far behind in their English skills and I don’t know Samoan enough to be able to translate what I am teaching to them. So I am really trying to figure out ways to teach them. I even have one student who does not know the numbers in English. Teaching math is real struggle but today we figured out a system that I can explain it to them and they understand what is going on. So it is a win win for us. Learning everyday.

Eleven pages later and I have finally finished my first online class for my Master’s program. One of ten done. Slowly but surely we will make our way to the end. I have accepted that I will never be finished with school.

Social Studies is one of the hardest subjects for me to teach. One reason is because when I was in high school my teacher did not help me at all. I literally learned nothing. So now the tables have turned and I have to teach it. I spend a long time studying the topic so I know what to say. Currently we are learning about the colonies and the other countries who tried to take over the United States. Right now we are talking Hernado DeSoto. I can usually only give my student about five sentences a day about the topic.  We first break down the sentence and discuss what it means. Then we try to relate to our island. Then we locate where they are and what they are doing on the map in my classroom. The first day they thought the people who owned the slaves were coming to Aunu’u and taking their families. OOPS. One girl was so terrified they were going to take her sister because its not that far away on the map she kept telling me. I then talked about how all of these people are dead and no longer around and cannot hurt us and we are safe. But once they understand what is going on they are very interesting in what is happening.

With Love,

Abby