Teaching and Learning in Panajachel: Classroom Happenings and Humilities

My students have just been blowing me out of the water these past few weeks with their thoughtfulness and sense of community. I have a few stories to share.

Joel’s Volcano Surprise: One of my students lives in a pueblo across the lake, and rides the boat every morning to get to school. Sometimes he will arrive 40 minutes early, and other days he will be 30 minutes late….he has no control when the boats decide to leave but he is ready every morning at 7:30 to ride across. There have a been a few days he has arrived at school feeling a bit nauseous. “The water was really bumpy this morning” he explains as he holds his stomach with one hand and hands me his homework with the other. Well we’ve been studying volcanos these past few weeks and one Joel exclaimed, “I’m going to make a volcano cake and bring it to school!!” Wow, what a fun idea! That would be so kind of you! I said, but in my head it was just another great fun idea that my kids had, they have a lot of them but often are forgotten by the next recess. Well sure enough the following Monday he shows up to school with an incredibly Volcano cake, complete with M & M ash fall and red frosting lava flow. “It made it allllllll the way across the lake!” He explained to our class. Lucky ducks, got to spend science class that day explaining the parts of the volcano as they took bite after bite. Wow, the thoughtfulness was just so incredible. His older sister told me, he really did spend the weekend planning the candy parts of the volcano and how he would successfully package it to make it across the 40 minute, bumpy boat ride. Joel Rocks!

Joel and the Cake!!

Anonymous Glue Stick Delivery: As simple as it sounds, glue sticks are hard to come by in Pana….as is construction paper, post-its and notecards. The last time I was in the states I stocked up on kids glue sticks and presented them to the class as something I wanted to share with them. I know how much we love doing projects with glue sticks, so I bought our class a set of glue sticks. It is so important that you all help me take care of our glue stick collection. Because once they are gone, I can’t get any more. They nodded in understanding, buying into the preciousness of our Elmer’s gluesticks. Well a few days later we were working outside and it became apparent during clean up time that one of the caps of our precious glue sticks was missing. It was adorable how 3 students made it their mission to find the lid and searched under all the tables, corners and cubbies….but no success! I knew it was an honest mistake but we talked again in class about the importance of taking care of our things, especially when someone else is sharing them. This classroom is our community and our space so it is our responsibility to take care of it.

The next morning I arrived at school to a new glue stick with a very special anonymous note. The note read something like this: Miss Allison a gift for you. I now you are sad becuse we lost a glu stck. You shared with us and I share with you. It is not a gud glu stck but it was myne and now it is yurs. Thank you for shar with us alwas. From – it dos not matter

I was almost tearing up reading the note. Not only was this student thinking of my feelings and sharing with the class her glue stick from home…she was doing it with zero desire for any sort of credit or recognition! She didn’t even sign her name! Now I know who it was because their penmanship styles are so unique but I was so so humbled by her actions and learned a lesson of pure generosity for myself. I presented the note and glue stick to the class and how special it was that this student was not looking for any credit or recognition at all. They were all in awe!!!!! I approached the student after class because I wanted her to know that I knew it was her and I was also sure to tell the story to her mom. I am learning more and more every day from these precious children!

Competitive Giving

The last story of pure student humility and generosity I have to share, happened a few weeks ago. We were reviewing for a multiplication quiz by playing Bingo with multiplication facts. The students know that the winners of review games are given the opportunity to pick a prize from my prize basket (erasers, fun pens and pencils.) When prizes are in the mix, stakes are high….everyone wants that tacky, sparkly pencil from Miss Allison. Well I sensed the competition and was starting to second guess the offering of prizes all together, afraid that their focus was too heavy on the prizes rather than the learning and test review. Well I had 3 winners who excitedly pushed their way to the front of the room to collect their winnings. Well the first student picked out a cool crazy blue eraser and walked right back to his seat and gave it to his friend sitting next to him. Seeing his example, the next two winners also picked their prizes and gifted them to someone seated at their table……My jaw dropped….these are 7 and 8 year olds!!!! It was some competitive giving and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the sense of community that I felt that moment in Miss Allison’s 2^nd and 3^rd grade classroom!

These are just a few glimpses into some of the most memorable teaching moments yet…don't get me wrong, everyday presents new challenges and surprises but these moments are what help define and reaffirm my purpose and the joy I get from going to work everyday.