Encouragement

Today my kids told me I'm the first "good" math teacher they've had. I asked what they meant, and they said "All our other teachers only check if we do our homework, not if it's right or wrong." I explained I do that too; when I come around and check off their homework, I give them full credit if they just tried all the problems.

I explained, "If I give you 20 problems for homework one night, it would be best if I could check them all as right or wrong. BUT, there are 26 of you. So then I would check (and correct) 20 problems for each of the 26 students, which is 520 problems...for only one night's math homework!"

They said, "Yes, but you put the correct answers on the board and show us how to do the ones we got wrong." It was a great chance to explain self-responsibility and how they need to be in charge of their own learning. We check answers so they know what they really understand and what they need to work on. My job is to help them learn for themselves, not just to write things for them to copy without thinking.

I think the message got across.

One girl even told me she used to hate math but now she loves it. Another said I make it "funny." (...But I'm not sure exactly what that means.)

Turtle Liberation Movement: El Sal

Over Thanksgiving Break, some friends and I went to El Salvador.
(You can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

(Appropriate, right? He was hanging out near our hostel.)

We stayed for a couple days at a hostel called El Roble and met some great people, like Alicia (Belgian), Oleg (Russian), and Duncan (Canadian), along with some other teachers from Honduras. We ate well, surfed, played water volleyball (and failed), played cards, and had great conversations.

Oh! And we liberated turtles! (Meaning we released newborn turtles into the ocean.)

The second half of the trip we visited some of my friends from college in El Salvador. My friend Veekee (who I met in El Sal last May) met us at the bus station. She waited there for the two hours that it was late. I was floored, but really it's just another example of the emphasis Latin Americans place on relationship over time.

"Speak of those things that nourish the spiritual life...Godly conversation about spiritual matters very much helps spiritual advancement, especially when persons of like mind and heart are united to God." ~Thomas a Kempis

My visit with my friends in El Salvador can best be described as this. I'm not sure I can express with words the love and understanding they have for one another and for God, so please be content knowing it is immense and sincere.

And to my delight, we made sure to throw down a little linedancing.

Home is where the heart is.