Been a while…

It’s March 21, 2013, which means that I’ve been here for something like six months now.  And six months gives you a lot of time to reflect, especially when you don’t have much else to do but plunge into the depths of your own mind and think.

Strange how even in a place where progress seems to crawl, life still sprints by.   It’s been a while since I actually sat down to type something and there are a number of reasons for that.  For one, school has been getting the best of me and I’ve really wanted to try and focus on writing lesson plans to better prepare myself.  While my language has gotten better – or at least I have gotten to a point where the kids can at least understand what I’m trying to get across – now I just feel like a crappy teacher.  I assign homework and give tests, but the majority of the time these kids can’t do anything because they still have no idea how to add.

It’s crazy to think that so many kids could have slipped through the cracks, but when you truly experience the system that’s in place here, sadly, it makes perfect sense.  Just like in the states, most kids don’t like school; what’s different here though, is that there’s no one trying to motivate them to change that opinion.  The value of an education isn’t really demonstrated and is rarely acknowledged.

Alas, I’m just as guilty as anyone else.  I just can’t seem to figure out how to motivate them, and that’s something I’m currently struggling with.  I don’t want to threaten them with failing grades or detention, but I also don’t want to be too laid back. This would give them the impression that they can take advantage of me.  And they will, if given even the slightest opportunity to do so.

So, I’m currently in the process of trying to figure out how to better incorporate experiments and demonstrations into my lessons.  I figure, why try and explain a concept when I can just as easily demonstrate it.  The problem now, is how to demonstrate concepts of Atomic and Nuclear Physics in a bare-bones high-school classroom.  Good luck.

So anyways, Thursday’s are the end of my week, and easily my favorite day.  My last class gets out around 1130am, and after having spent the previous six and a half days tolerating the stress of life as a Peace Corps Volunteer (re-teaching myself physics, trying to come up with creative ways to present what I’ve just re-learned, writing lesson plans, grading copied homework, giving impromptu English classes, reminiscing about home and thinking about everything I’m missing, wondering what my friends and family are doing, being careful not to use up all my stored water, wondering when the power will come back on, cursing my cell phone service provider because I don’t have service again, missing a constant connection to the internet, not being able to eat burritos, etc.), I can take an afternoon to myself and do absolutely anything I want.  So today, I decided to write.