Week 3 Reflection

This week with my small group math activities I worked with number recognition with the younger students and multiplication with the older students. With the students working with the number recognition it seemed as if they were working simply with memorization. There is no reason behind why a number has the name that it does, but that is just the way we know it. There did seem to be some thinking when the students were putting together the hundreds chart, but not as much when it came to them putting 1-10 in order. I noticed often times that the students would simply guess the answers. This didn't only happen during the math activities, but when we went into the classrooms and observed any subject the teacher may have been teaching. 

 We knew coming down to Belize that the education system was different as well as the students learning abilities and styles, but there were still things that surprised me. This week one thing that surprised me was that some of the students struggled with multiplication. We based our lessons on the Belize national curriculum, therefore in Standard 1, and this late in the school year, the students should have been able to do the basic multiplication problems. We were able to adjust well to the fact that they were unable to do it. With us not knowing where the students stood as far as their learning abilities and academic level, we had to plan for what we knew. When I realized that the lesson may have been too easy for the students, I had them touch of the topic that I had planned for the next group. When I felt that the lesson was too difficult, I used the lesson from the previous group. That was the beneficial thing when it came to working with a variety of grade levels. There were also adjustments that have behavior as well. There were times that the students would argue over the materials or simply hoard the materials. I had to adjust by portioning out the materials rather than just dumping them on the table and allowing the students to just grab them. 

 This weeks experience has taught me that I have a few natural teacher qualities. It's nice to know that part of this comes naturally rather than having to alter so much to the job. It has also made me realize that it is important to start the year with the students and establish rules and the expectations of the classroom. Being students ourselves and just showing up, having no background with the students, and being complete strangers made it to where we didn't have as much control over the stations as we would if it had been our own personal classroom. 

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