Learning

This year I have learned so much about teaching--I'm afraid I'll forget a lot of it before I'm actually in the classroom. I've especially learned about teaching kids with disabilities and teaching ELLs (English Language Learners). As I'm learning, I'm seeing so many things I did wrong in my short experience with teaching in Guatemala. I remember being there and having the thought I'm so glad I'm going to spend four years learning how to do this better. The biggest thing I want to take away from Ed. Psych and my special ed. class right now is the idea of reinforcing students instead of punishing them. I've learned that punishment may stop a behavior for a day, but it doesn't really do much long-term good. Reinforcing good behaviors, however, makes all the difference. I have to say that in my field placement classroom last semester there was a lot of punishing going on and it just made a very negative environment. No one wanted to be there most of the time--teachers or students--and sending kids out into the hall all the time didn't seem to help a whole lot. In Guatemala, I tried to use a team points system to get kids to behave, giving the different groups points for co-operating and not disrupting class, and it actually worked really well. But then I started to take away points when kids didn't behave, and I lost control of the class right away. That makes sense to me now. Reinforce, don't punish.
I've also been able to apply some of the things I'm learning in my ELL classes to the English class at the Adult Education Center and helping people with their reading and English there. Last week at the AEC all of the students were tested and a bunch of them moved up to the next level, which is a good thing, but I'm going to miss them :( Also, one of the guys who I was helping to fill out job applications got a job last week so I'm super excited about that! Except that means he can't come to class anymore :( I'm really enjoying getting to know the Nepali people there-they make up about half the class and lately I've been really interested in Nepal and that culture.
That reminds me of the other exciting thing this week. I applied to go to Indonesia next Jan Term on a missions trip with Partners International. SO excited about that! It would be the first time I've traveled away from North and South America, which would probably be a good experience for me. In my life, any time I've been in a different country, I've been able to either use English or Spanish, so it will be interesting being in a place where I really do not speak the language. I will need to do a significant amount of fundraising for that. I trust that God will provide if he wants me to go on this trip.