I will start with behavior management. My class is very social and wants to talk all. the. time. They also like to take a lot of time between transitions to socialize. Last week, I started timing my students during these times and they realized just how much time they were wasting! Once they made this discovery, they started speeding up during transitions and were able to earn 10 extra minutes of recess because of it! Now I have been tackling the problem of talking. I tried just about everything I could think of last week and nothing worked. I realized that my students really didn't care if they lost part of recess because of talking. I was really at a loss of what to do. Some AWESOME teachers here gave me some really helpful advice which has made a big difference for me. I have combined the two things that really motivate my students to manage my classroom: peer pressure and competition. I moved the desks into groups and set up a point system where each group is competing against each other. The groups earn points by following directions, being respectful, completing transitions quickly, etc and the group with the most points at the end of the week wins a prize. Each group really wants to win, which is where the positive peer pressures comes into play. I have found my students encouraging each other to do what they are supposed to because they want the points. My class literally changed overnight! The last two days have been so great and I am so proud of my kids.
The second thing I wanted to write about was an incredible event (actually, series of events) that happened in my classroom today. We have been talking about health for the last week and a half and have spent the last couple days focusing on spiritual health. Today I was giving an extended version of my testimony (I gave the short version on the first day of school) and there were so many distractions throughout the entire time. It ended with me having to leave my classroom to get my passport because of an issue with immigration and not getting to finish my testimony. Later, I was talking with my students about what had happened and I asked them to think back to when I talked to them about spiritual warfare. Every distraction came at a time in my testimony that distracted us from what was important. It was incredible to see my students' reactions as they connected the dots and discovered what was going on. I took the opportunity to talk to my students about things we can do in situations like this. We then spent time praying for our class. I made a prayer circle in our room and then prayed over each of my students. What an incredible moment we all had together! What's even better is a few students asked me later, "Why do things like that happen to Christians?" I explained that while we will be attacked for being Christians, we don't need to fear because we have a great and mighty God on our side! Today I am feeling so blessed that I am working at a school where I can freely talk to my students about God and stop and pray my classroom and my students in the middle of my day!
Blessings:
27. Supportive teachers who are willing to give me tons and tons of advice when I have no idea what I should do.
28. An incredible school where I can pray freely.
29. Amazing students who forgive me when I mess up.
Prayer Requests:
22. My (and the other new teachers) residency. From my understanding, we were only given a 30 day visa instead of 90. We had to send our passports to get new visas.
23. Rain. Honduras needs rain.
24. My class. Pray that we continue to have great days and there are more opportunities for "real moments."
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