Caja de muertos (Coffin Island)

The Legend: A man named José Almeida once fell in love with a woman married to one of the most important men in the Virgin Islands. Since he couldn't conquer the islands, he befriended her husband and became involved with piracy. When Almeida returned a while later, he found that his love's husband had died, so he married her immediately and they set sail. Unfortunately, tragedy struck and Almeida's wife was killed in a pirate attack. He sailed to a small, uninhabited island and buried her in a glass coffin inside a cave. Almeida is rumored to have come back to the island often--and even to have buried some of his treasure there. According to this legend, that is how Caja de muertos (coffin island) was named.

The body is mostly on the left with the feet sticking up on the right.

The Alternate Explanation: When looking at Caja de muertos from afar, the shape of the island resembles a body laid out upon a flat surface.

Taking advantage of the long weekend, I was able to explore this small, now-uninhabited island. A short ferry trip from Ponce gave way to rock formations covered in greenery, bright blue water, and patches of white sand between the rocks. A map of the island marked hiking trails to other beaches and the lighthouse. 

Playa Pelícano

Not knowing any  better, we walked like lemmings with the rest of that day's islanders to Playa Pelícano. Here, the water was rocky for about the first five yards but then it changed to soft sand. Since most of the other tourists were further down the beach, we almost had a private beach. 

Then it was time for a hike. Despite being clad in flip flops, we decided to find the lighthouse, but instead we encountered a series of lost hikers. Aside from the map at the ferry entrance to the island, none of the trails are marked. After a few conversations in English and Spanish, including a little boy who told us "you walk and walk and walk and walk and walk..." we figured out that the upper fork led to the lighthouse and the lower fork to Playa Carrucho. 

The Cactus Forest

The first part of the hike involved walking through what we called the cactus forest. Cacti on both sides of the path towered at heights up to twelve feet. Seeing such a dry climate seemed odd considering the rest of the greenery. The second stage was entirely uphill and turned out to be quite doable in flip flops, though it was made entirely of broken pieces of stone, so some stepping strategy was required. Overall, the entire hike took about 30 minutes (one way). The lighthouse was closed and bore some graffiti, but the view from the top was worth it, spanning over the ocean and hinting at the mountains in the distance.

The view from the lighthouse.

On our way down, we decided to switch beaches and headed to Playa Carrucho. What an upgrade! No rocks, beautiful sand, and crystal clear water. This was the type of beach that could make one throw around the word "pristine". Luckily for us, very few of the lemmings had found out about this beach and we spent the rest of the day there.

The lighthouse is still in use.

Though we never found the cave or any hint of past pirates, Caja de muertos was a perfect day trip. I will definitely be back, just like Almeida.

Dear Diary

The Diary of Anne Frank is often found on eighth grade curriculum-- a nice cross-curricular unit typically nestled under Nonfiction or cozied next to Drama. The book [or play] simultaneously reminds us of the best and worst of humanity, represents a historical era, and dredges up a variety of themes about adolescence, among many other topics. Of course, this play is generally introduced with an important dose of background information on World War II and the Holocaust.

 In my previous classroom experiences in the United States it was not uncommon to receive a flood of facts, dates, and names spit out in quick succession to answer the question, "What do you already know/what have you already heard about WWII?" Here in Puerto Rico, aside from a few responses, what I heard was the sound of crickets.... or more accurately, coquí*. The students explained that they read briefly about it in Social Studies, but it was only a few paragraphs because they had to cover all of Western Europe. With several days to transition from Nonfiction to Drama already built in, I'd planned on delving into WWII and the Holocaust to connect units anyway, but I'd never before had the opportunity to introduce students to a historical period that was, until now, a big question mark for them.

It was fun to play History teacher and see their interest sparked a bit by John Green's Crash Course World History video about WWII and an article giving an overview of how the war began/how other countries became involved. When we read a primary source of German laws for Jewish citizens to follow, their interested transitioned to shock when they realized stripping people of their rights was only one check mark on the Nazi docket. After reading an article about children during the Holocaust that detailed the different types of concentration camps, their shock became disgust. And finally, when we read an article about the Holocaust denial movement, my students got angry. They were ready to meet Anne.

The play (by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett) was entertaining for them to read and I was surprised how much they got into it-- one student bringing a long wig to "help" him read his lines better as a female character, even.  Thanks to the popularity of the book and film "The Fault in Our Stars", many of my students were familiar with the fact that the secret annex is now a museum in Amsterdam. Naturally, I heard a chorus of:

"Miss! Let's go on a field trip to the museum!"
"It wouldn't be that hard to organize!"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! But Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiss!"

3D Secret Annex Tour.

While taking over 60 kids on a field trip to a foreign country from Puerto Rico was nowhere near within my power (not to mention budget!), I was pleased to find that the museum offers a 3D tour of the secret annex on their website. It's a mixture of computer graphics and recreated/computerized photos of the rooms, but you can navigate throughout the entire building and even meander around each room. Videos and sound clips are located throughout to give additional information about the characters and the building itself. My students certainly enjoyed pretending they were "walking" through the annex.

Another still from the 3D tour.

The next exciting internet find I came across is the Anne Frank Tree, a digital representation of the tree Anne could see from the annex window. The tree is now filled with virtual leaves containing the name, location, age, and message of those influenced and inspired by Anne's diary. A quick scroll through some of the leaves shows a wide variety of countries and people have written their messages in multiple languages. Which is pretty cool, considering Anne never knew her diary would be published and so widely read.

It was fun to play History teacher and then teach a play that made students say, "Miss, that hit me in the feels!" Hopefully you will be seeing some leaves from Puerto Rico added to Anne's tree soon.

*Coquí are very small tree frogs that live in Puerto Rico. Whenever it gets quiet at night you can hear them very clearly and it sounds like they are saying "coquí".

A coquí

Wheel of Progress

This is an update relating to the previous post about the PBIS classroom management system I've been trying out this school year. The mixed-and-matched method I've been using involving the clipboard and "The Wheel" (as my students call it) to select students to win prizes for their good behavior has been in effect for six weeks now. It's easy to tell that the students love seeing their name projected on the board in a color wheel and they get quite excited when the wheel slows near their name. Likewise, the prizes have also been going over quite well-- the "Listen to Music for a Day" coupon being the most coveted. Until last week, however, there wasn't much to suggest the level of impact this method has on students. And then it became exceptionally evident.

A crude picture, but this is what The Wheel looks like. You can find this resource at http://www.classtools.net/random-name-picker/

The largest of my classes has emerged as the most talkative. It's collective talking, so the sources are difficult to pinpoint. Since I know I will never win a shouting match against 26 7th graders, I'd been giving them both verbal and nonverbal cues to stop talking. Though this has saved my voice and somewhat works, the wait time was too long and we were not accomplishing everything on our daily docket. Last week the students were especially talkative every time there was even a second to spare. I announced that we were not going to spin The Wheel because they had not earned it. The students seemed disappointed and apologized, but I expected no lasting effect.

The next time I saw them for class, the first student walked into the room, said hello, and went to put their backpack down next to their desk. Nothing out of the ordinary. But as the second student walked into the room, the first student turned and immediately whispered "Shhhh!" At first I thought this was a joke between the two of them, so I continued getting the projector ready. But when the third student stepped across the threshold into my classroom and the second student wasted no time in whispering "Shhh!", I started to get the idea that something was up. Amusingly, this cycle went on with students reminding each other to be quiet before they had even entered the room until the entire class was seated and silently doing their bell work before the bell had even rung.

This unusual behavior continued during the lesson, producing silence when normally there would have been conversing. Occasionally, when a student did talk out of turn, they had to answer to the wrath of their classmates and quickly learned not to repeat the mistake. Suddenly, I did not need to remind them to stop talking and the wait time whittled to nothing. At the end of the class period I made sure to tell them that their good behavior was appreciated and had earned them The Wheel once more. We spun The Wheel to pick three winners for prizes and the students seemed happy with themselves.

So far, this new behavior has continued during other class periods. Now that the students have made the direct association between their behavior and privileges, I hope it remains ingrained in the long-term. Though I wasn't expecting such dramatic results so quickly, I'm glad to see that a little positive reinforcement can go a long way.

Second Year Kick Off

I emerged from my first year of teaching surprisingly unscathed. A few chaotic moments struck, such as the first time the power went out in class (I soon adapted to this because it happened quite frequently for a while), the time a student accidentally sent my entire desktop computer crashing to the floor (it remained intact, say what you will about slightly older technology), and the time a student choked on a piece of candy in class. Though hard to forget, the chaos was few and far between. In fact, most of my first year was characterized by positive interactions with hardworking students. And a healthy dose of middle school humor and sass.

After gallivanting off to Wisconsin to spend a great, albeit brief, summer with family and friends, I am back in Puerto Rico for my second year. While my mentality for my first year was mostly focused on survival, my goals for this second year are all centered on improvement.

First bulletin board of the year.

First on the docket: classroom management. Last year I used a tally system in which each class acted together to try and earn more tallies than the other classes. Detentions followed the school-wide policies and rules and were given to individual students as needed. As far as rudimentary classroom management goes, it mostly worked most of the time. That system was pretty bare bones, but gave some semblance of positive and negative behavior. The flaws, however, were that it did not reinforce positive behavior in individual students and the rewards were not immediate when the class did succeed as a whole.

This year, I looked around for new ideas and eventually took bits and pieces from several methods before concocting one to test in my classroom (essentially, this method is PBIS). On a clipboard I have a spreadsheet with each student's name, the date, and spaces for recording tally marks. I selected five positive behaviors that I wanted my students to do daily in my classroom:

• Raise their hand (RH)
• Respect others (RO)
• Be on-task (OT)
• Be prepared (P)
• Listen attentively (LA)

At the beginning of each week, I select one of the behaviors for students to focus on and write it on the board to remind them. If students are "caught" doing the behavior, they receive a tally next to their name. I also tell students that they can earn tally marks that day for two more of the behaviors that I have secretly picked, however I will not tell them which ones I am looking for. (One student already asked me if not telling them which additional behaviors was just a ploy to get them to do all of the behaviors. Yes, yes it is.)

The number of tally marks that a student has at the end of each period is the number of times their name will go into a Rewards Drawing. Because my school is "paperless", I do the drawing online using this website  which puts the names into a color wheel and selects one at random (the students have been enjoying seeing how many times their name is on the wheel and waiting in anticipation while it slowly spins). Because I want to get them hooked on this system, I have started by drawing three names each class period, but I will eventually lower this number. When a student's name is drawn they have their choice of the following rewards:

• Late Work Pass: Student may hand in homework 1 day late without losing points
• Sit by a Friend for a Day
• Listen to Music During Work Time

The rewards are printed coupons that I made, but the student gets the instant gratification of seeing their positive behavior pay off, which they have thus far seemed stoked about. I also explained to students that part of being responsible is not losing their coupons because they will not be replaced. 

Though it is only our second week of school, parents and students seem to like this system. While I'm sure there will be a moment or two of chaos, I hope that this year brings an abundance of positivity and lets students know that their good behaviors are appreciated.

The Hunger Games

This Spring, when I broke the news to my 7th grade students that they would be reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I was shocked to hear a series of groans:

"But Miiiiiiiiiiiiiss, I've already read that book!"
"Oh, I saw the movie like a million times so I don't have to read it, right?"

Though the students who had read it before enjoyed The Hunger Games, I could tell I was on a mission to make the book interesting a second (or even third) time around whilst still helping the first-time readers navigate Panem and keep spoilers at bay.

My stab at a Hunger Games bulletin board.

I do not agree with the method of teaching this novel with students competing against one another as tributes because it glorifies the Hunger Games-- something the novel itself discourages. However, I did give students a taste of how much strategy the tributes needed in order to survive by staging tribute interviews. Each student assumed either the role of a tribute (of their own creation) in an attempt to win sponsors or the role of the interviewer (channeling Caesar Flickerman) to ease the tribute's interview and schmooze the audience into sponsoring the tribute. Each interview was scored as a pair and the rest of the class voted via text message on Poll Everywhere to anonymously say if the pair had won their sponsorship. The students quickly learned that both roles were equally important in order to achieve success, which helped us focus on the significance of minor characters in the novel as well.

Student Work: Cinna's Design Book

Because many of my students were already familiar with the novel, we were able to delve deeper into the text and focused on characteristics and consequences of dystopian societies, using cameras as a way to manipulate situations on television, symbols and other literary analysis, and various activities using the text to support arguments they made-- the most entertaining of which was a heated mini debate on whether Katniss and Peeta's relationship was real or fake (arguments could not be made unless a page number and example were provided).

Student Work: Katniss and Peeta Scrapbook 

At the end of the unit I gave students seven choices for a creative project. As I had hoped, each choice was completed by at least one student. Many students opted to create a survival handbook for the Hunger Games, several created their own soundtrack to the novel with descriptions of how the lyrics connected to various points in the novel, a few created and drew their own versions of the costumes Cinna created for Katniss with explanations of why her look was important at that point in the novel, some put the Gamemaker on trial in a mock trial against a tribute, one pair made a scrapbook of Katniss and Peeta, a few comic books depicting a scene from the novel were created, and a couple students created their own dystopian societies to present to the class.

Student Work: Dystopian Society (Map)

Though many had read it before, the students seemed to really enjoy this unit and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them become more and more engrossed in the novel, angry at the Capitol, curious if our future could ever head in a dystopian direction, and defensive about what "real" love is.  Watching the students utilize the talents they have to create something entirely their own demonstrated that, with their creativity and innovation, the odds will be ever in their favor.



 Here are a few more projects:

Student Work: Comic Book

Student Work: Comic Book

That's Genius

You are not a genius. But, if you've ever experienced a moment of spontaneous inspiration that you simply cannot explain, you may have a genius, according to Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk "Your Elusive Creative Genius" (video below). Gilbert explains that in ancient Rome "genius" did not refer to a person, but to a creative spirit that rained inspiration and aid onto writers, musicians, dancers, etc. The benefit of this view, she explains, is that if a work flops, the genius is also partly to blame; similarly, if a work is highly successful, a writer must give credit to their genius and cannot claim it is solely of their own creation. It keeps creative minds sane.

I watched Gilbert's TED Talk approximately three years ago, shortly after seeing a documentary on the white-tailed tropic bird. This bird mesmerized me with its long, sleek, white tail that trails through the air as the bird glides and dives near ocean cliffs. And I felt it: my genius, if it had a form, would be the white-tailed tropic bird. I promptly changed my laptop background to a picture of the bird rocketing above the waves to remind me to write. Inspiration, no inspiration-- it need not matter because eventually my genius will chip in to do its part. I used to wait until the first line of a story or poem would attach itself to my brain to begin writing, but I wanted to learn to start with nothing and create something. To this day, my laptop background is still the white-tailed tropic bird.

One problem:
I haven't been writing.

I've made stabs at stories and penned a poem or two since then, but my writing habits seemed to write themselves off. A full-time teaching job has not helped, try as I might to adopt the philosophy of my Puerto Rican coworkers to not bring much work home. Somehow, not-writing became my routine. But then my genius showed up.

The salt sections were to the left, the beach to the right. 

Yesterday was our first official day of Spring Break and so a few friends and I ventured to the Southwestern-most tip of the island to Playa Sucia. The beach is part of a natural reserve--and the DNR was there to protect it, knowing it would be busy. There were areas of the ocean that are saturated with so much salt that the water is pink! Another section looked identical to a frozen lake with a light layer of smooth, glittery snow sitting peacefully on top, not a wave disturbing it. These areas are not part of the beach itself, but are along the road leading up to it and they are used to "mine" salt.

Playa Sucia, from the main part of the beach.

The beach area was stunning, of course. Puerto Rico never seems to stop showing me the extravagance of nature and I've learned I'm a sucker for anything ocean-related. Along the right side of the beach were some rocky cliffs, easily hiked, that lead up to a lighthouse. We took in the various views from each cliff edge, all showing the same view but in a slightly different way. At the very top, just before we decided to enter the lighthouse, I saw them. White birds trailing a banner of white after them through the sky. I thought I had seen them near Guayama at the beach, but after seeing them up close I realize I was mistaken. They were magnificent.

Two of the white-tailed tropic birds that stopped me in my tracks.

I half-skipped half-ran to the edge of the cliff to watch them and attempted to snap a few pictures. Three years ago I was enchanted by a documentary on white-tailed tropic birds, and yet part of me never expected to see one in real life. Since moving to Puerto Rico I'd been keeping my eye out for them, just in case, but they had become more of a symbolic ideal of creativity and writing that I only hoped, but did not actively seek, to return to.  But there I was, watching them pirouette above ocean cliffs, swoop down above the waves and somehow gracefully shoot back up to the cliffs like it was the easiest thing in the world. And I realized that was the end of my excuse to not-write. Because you simply cannot stop a creative spirit.

 Gilbert's TED Talk, "Your Elusive Creative Genius"

Something's Gotta Give

One of my classes and I started off on the wrong foot this school year; in fact, let's call it a peg leg. I wasn't originally supposed to teach the class, and though I was definitely willing, the following problems quickly battered the ship:

-We had no textbooks. Since the school purchased access codes to an online version of the textbook, I was informed no more hard copies would be purchased.

-When I tried to access the online textbook from my classroom, I couldn't project it large enough for students to read and the audio function would not play loud enough for the class to hear.

-Pop-up settings in the computer lab prevented students from accessing the text during class. This same problem occurred for most students at home.

-The school is "paperless" which means no copies and no handouts (unless students print them on their own). Printing each story would have been a ridiculous amount of paper.

It seemed for a while that each time I found a way around a problem, it would only cause another to surface from under the sea foam. I was frustrated and the students were flustered. Eventually, I took to hauling 22 textbooks from an upstairs classroom down to mine (and back again!) on days students needed to interact with the text.

In addition, this particular class loves to talk. Loudly and in disregard to anything else happening in class. In no time, my classroom had a palpable animosity coming from both sides. Consequences were set and administered, parents were contacted about behavior, and I knew this was not how I wanted to teach. Never had I thought I'd have a class where the teacher and students felt pitted against each other. It's not sustainable; something had to give.

I began by catering more to student interests. For example, we created a mock outline for a compare/contrast paper about Batman vs. Superman. Slowly I was winning over individual students. But it wasn't enough. Small groups replaced the majority of whole class discussion: students would break into smaller groups where they could better hear my instruction and then each group would present their discoveries. Class was going significantly better, but it wasn't until this week when the something finally gave.

 In past units, homework was graded and that was that. This time around, students are given graded assignments back with comments and are expected to fix any errors to make up the points they missed. It didn't seem revolutionary in any way, but it pushed the ship away from rocks trying to sink it. How? Because it gave the message to students that they are expected to succeed because their teacher wants them to. Because homework is for practice not punishment. Because if they put in a little more work they will be rewarded for their efforts. Because, even though they frustrate me, I want to help them.

That's what gave. It gave way to a positive classroom environment. It gave way to students proving they can behave better than before. It gave way to more fun with activities. It gave way to palpable respect coming from both sides. And it gave this first year teacher one heck of a learning experience!

Into the Blue Then Into the Blues

I love Frank Sinatra; he's the perfect accompaniment for ballroom dancing, writing, doing the dishes, and cooking [note: for the best results I'd recommend doing the last two listed items whilst also ballroom dancing alone in the kitchen]. Almost two weekends ago I couldn't get "Come Fly with Me" out of my head because I had an opportunity I would have never imaged before arriving in Puerto Rico: I flew in a very small airplane over the coast and part of the Caribbean Sea piloted by one of my co-workers.

We were celebrating another co-worker's birthday and Robert offered to take the birthday girl and a few more of us up in his plane. Around 11am we headed to the "airport". I use quotation marks because the airport was essentially a field of tall grass, a few abandoned buildings, a hose, some rickety-looking hangars, and a paved stretch of asphalt serving as the runway.

One of the old hangars.

The plane was small and could only seat the pilot and one passenger at a time, so we took turns waiting on the ground. When it was my turn to climb inside, I was amused by how closely the inside of the plane resembled an old Oldsmobile my father used to have-- give or take a lot of gears and meters on the dashboard, of course. Despite only seating two people, the dashboard allotted for quite a bit of leg room. We put on the headsets so we could hear each other talk, then took off down the runway.

This stretch is perpendicular to the runway.

I was expecting a jolt when we left the ground, but none came. It wasn't as jarring as a large commercial plane, in fact, it felt just like driving in my father's old Oldsmobile; a bit bumpy at times, but reliably comfortable. We flew over the coast near Arroyo and glided over part of the Caribbean Sea. As we doubled back I had the option to pick if I wanted to fly over Guayama and see the buildings or stick with the sea. Since I couldn't keep my face away from the window to try and take in all of the water, rocks, mangroves, and sandbars, I couldn't part with the sea. These things are beautiful when you're level with them, but seeing them from up above and being able to see mangroves and sandbars hidden from you on the ground is amazing. The water whitened and jostled to show movement, but from the sky everything was placid.

After we landed Robert took another skyward trip so I waited on the ground where my heart was promptly stolen by a black lab mix puppy. One of my co-workers had given the puppy crackers which he chewed with utter joy. I noticed he was having trouble swallowing the crackers because of all the salt and went in search of water. By one of the abandoned buildings there was a water dish that had once been white but was now saturated green from various vegetation/mold growth. With no other options, I washed the bowl under the hose as best as I could and called the puppy over to me. He came right up to me without any qualms, drank some water, then laid down in the shade. 

"My" airport puppy. You can see the bugs in the picture.

The poor little guy kept squinting his eyes and appeared to have some type of eye infection. He wasn't putting all of his weight on one of his back legs, his ears were dirty, and I could see bugs leaping off him (the only thing that stopped me from petting him). My brain raced with the possibilities of taking him to a vet and adopting him, but currently it does not appear possible. When Robert came back he said this dog was relatively new to the airport and that, unfortunately, airport dogs don't last long. What he was referring to was that the dog was abandoned at the airport, and because the airport is basically a field far away from water, the dogs left there don't survive very long because of lack of food and someone to turn the spout to refill their moldy water dish. 

Stray dogs are a huge problem in Puerto Rico. After meeting "my" airport puppy, I researched the entire next week to see if there was a way I could finance adopting him. While this adoption is sadly iffy at best currently, I do plan to adopt a stray from Puerto Rico before I leave for good. In the meantime, however, I came across some fascinating information about strays on the island, including the statistic that there approximately 3-6 stray dogs for every square mile in Puerto Rico. Because there are so many strays, most of the animal shelters are at-capacity and are forced to euthanize animals because they can't afford to keep all of them. 

I came across several organizations trying to combat this problem and they even offer overseas adoption for people in the States. The dogs are rescued from streets and beaches, given all of their shots and treatments, and are sent on planes to the arms of their new family in the States. If you're interested in rescue-adoption or information about the organizations check out: http://www.islanddog.org/home.html

For more information on the dog overpopulation of Puerto Rico there are tons of sources. Here is one from the Huffington Post which mentions what life is like for these dogs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cesar-millan/saving-the-satos-stray-do_b_1470597.html

While I'd love for Fate to give me the go-ahead to adopt this airport puppy, I realize that this poor little guy is one of many. It makes me sad that I can't rescue him right now, but I will take a dog home with me when I leave Puerto Rico for good. The day at the airport started high and went rather low, but it was a great experience to see more of what Puerto Rico has to offer: both the beautiful and the bitter.

You Say Tomato, I Say Manipulation

It's that burning question: Should Puerto Rico become the 51st state, remain a commonwealth, or become a free nation?

Not wanting to overstep my boundaries in a culture I'm just being introduced to, I have carefully avoided blurting out this question in the the event that it would be unwelcome and/or appear to be a loaded question coming from an American with little knowledge of what this question is really asking. But on Halloween, waiting out an Elementary School Halloween party, amongst superheroes, witches, zombies, princesses, and an assortment of furry animals, it came up in conversation with one of my Puerto Rican colleagues, the High School History teacher. And I have a feeling you won't find this printed in many US textbooks.

Oddly enough, it began with a rant about tomatoes. The tomatoes here are very orange and very expensive. For example, four medium-sized tomatoes, undeniably orange, are packaged together and fetch the price of $7. After agreeing with this complaint, the History teacher said, "But you know why, don't you?" Actually, I had no idea unless it was a cruel ploy to withhold the good tomatoes.

"Produce is so expensive because Puerto Rico is not allowed to trade with anyone except the US," she explained.

I mentally walked through the local grocery stores and recalled the signs on each produce item saying where it was from. Costa Rica. Chile. Mexico. But how is it possible to only trade with the US when Puerto Rico clearly gets produce from other countries?

Let's say you pick up the bananas from Costa Rica in a local grocery store in Puerto Rico. Those bananas did not travel from Costa Rica to Puerto Rico. They went from Costa Rica to the US to Puerto Rico. Why do this when it would be cheaper to export from Costa Rica to Puerto? Because Puerto Rico's commonwealth status prevents it from trading directly with countries except the US, which allows the US to collect an additional profit from the item it's "trading" with Puerto Rico.

Taken aback, and moderately confused, I asked about the role the US plays in relationship to Puerto Rico. And, more importantly, what's in it for both parties?

Being a commonwealth gives Puerto Ricans US citizenship, military protection (somewhat), and welfare money. Puerto Ricans can still not vote in Presidential elections unless they move to the US.

"That's it? Why is that appealing?" I asked.

My colleague went on to explain that the welfare money was somewhat ridiculous in proportion. In her hometown, she said approximately 60% of the people who lived there did not work. And not because they were old or prevented by any other means. It's because the US welfare gave them paid houses, paid cars, cellphone plans for $10/month, and even free wi-fi. Why work if you don't have to?

But this welfare, she explained, is likely doing more harm than good. Because some of the people receiving this money are content with not working, but still desire attaining a more extravagant lifestyle, it is not uncommon to sell drugs on the side, leading to potential violence.

What does the US get out the relationship if it's paying a crazy amount in welfare? Though it sounds like a lot of welfare money, when you consider how small the island is (though somewhat densely populated), it's not really all that much to a large country like the US. Especially when the US collects additional profits from Puerto Rico for trading produce, the exports that come from Puerto Rico like fruit and coffee, and the booming tourism industry. Though the US is giving money to Puerto Rico, it's collecting far more in return. Additionally, because Puerto Ricans have US citizenship, they are eligible to be drafted during wartime.

Essentially, the US is bribing Puerto Rico with the welfare money, dangling cellphones and lifting the curtain on paid houses to say, "See? You NEED us. Look what we will give you. You'll never have this without us." According to the History teacher, some Puerto Ricans believe that this is true (also for additional reasons, I'm sure), which creates a split on the issue of statehood, remaining a commonwealth, or becoming a free nation. Others see what the US is really gaining from the relationship and noting how severely it pales in comparison to what Puerto Rico is gaining.

I asked my colleague for her opinion on the statehood, commonwealth, or free nation question. She is on the free nation side and explained that Puerto Rico has very fertile soil and a nice climate, which allows it to produce an abundance of crops, helping it to be self-sustaining. These resources would also make it an appealing trade partner with other countries. Furthermore, with a lack of welfare money from the US, people would no longer have the luxury of not working; this means that the drug and violence problem would eventually diminish because people would be in the workforce and able to make ends meet without ridiculous added costs from things like shipping bananas to the US before they arrive in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico has never been a free nation: it was under Spanish rule before the US snatched it away as a war prize. It's an interesting and saddening dynamic between the US and Puerto Rico--and one that is often neglected in schools and textbooks in the US (how convenient....). Though I'm sure this barely scratches the surface of the issue, whenever I see those orange tomatoes I will now think "manipulation" instead of "expensive".

A Vacation from.... Vacation?

Friday night we were sitting at a table at Tranquilidad, a restaurant on the shore of the ocean, watching brief flashes of lightning illuminate the dark clouds above the waves and excitedly talking about our mini vacation the next day: Culebra. Nobody could wait; a three-day weekend was exactly what we needed. We were musing the luxuries of the beaches we would visit when one of my friends suddenly said, "Wait... so we're talking about taking a vacation from vacation?" What irony! Here we were excited about traveling to a tiny tropical island for the weekend when, we were already living every day on a [relatively] tiny tropical island. What a problem to have!

Saturday morning we left Guayama at 530 in the morning and began our sleepy drive to Fajardo to catch the ferry over to Culebra. After waiting in line for tickets, we boarded the ferry and a mere 45 minutes later, were greeted by the bright blue water lapping the shores of Culebra.

Aboard the ferry.

In our rented white Jeep (which was new! no car problems allowed on vacaction!), we arrived before our hotel room was ready and, upon recommendation from the manager of the hotel, we went to a place called Zaco's Tacos. The atmosphere, people, and food were so good that we came back again the next day.

Next stop: Flamenco Beach. This beach is usually voted in the Top 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World. And it's easy to understand why! Green mountains in the distance, light colored sand (not quite white), and vibrant blue water welcome many tourists with brightly colored umbrellas.

A buoy marked a line where the bright water drastically darkened (indicating deeper water) and we swam out to snorkel there because a coral reef was hiding under the water. I'd only snorkeled once before and wound up being catastrophically concerned with the fact I was able to breathe underwater, so unfortunately I didn't make it to the reef. The few that did make it saw a few brightly colored fish among the purple and yellow coral. Next time, and with flippers, I'm determined to see it!

Flamenco Beach

We spent the remainder of Saturday at Flamenco, remaining even until we were the only people left on the beach as the clouds ceased casting pink on the rock face of the mountains and the whole sky darkened (and, less pretty: the bugs came out to bite us).


That evening we decided to check out the night life in Culebra. This tiny island is described in my travel book as "going back in time" because of the relaxed feel, zero rush for anything, and lack of chain and large businesses. Due to this, there wasn't much in way of nightlife, but we did find a bar called The Spot to hang out and even ran into a few other American teachers from the San Juan area and the bartender from Zaco's Tacos.

Zoni Beach

Sunday was for Zoni Beach. Farther off the tourist track-- the públicos (taxis) won't even take you there-- this beach only had about 15 people other than ourselves. Despite Flamenco being ranked in the Top 10 Most Beautiful Beaches, I'd have to give the award to Zoni. Similar to Flamenco, Zoni had the light colored sand, vibrant blue water, and green mountains in the distance. Zoni has less sand, but the green mountains and other islands (including St. Thomas) surrounding it make it seem like you are in the middle of a giant green bowl filled with water imitating a paint sample strip. Throughout the day the affect of the white, pastel blue, robin's egg blue, turquoise, bright blue, deep blue, and very dark blue arranged so that you could almost physically touch the lines where the colors merged never lessened. (Painters and Crayola employees take note)

Check out those colors!

We spent several hours being pulled, kneaded, and shoved by the ocean whilst enjoying conversation and the fact that we didn't have to do anything else. Every so often, just as one of us would become complacent with the ocean, we'd get a slap of salt water to the face. But when you're in a bowl of paradise this is nothing to complain about!

Heading back to Zaco's that night to watch the Patriot's game, and being the loudest table even by Puerto Rico standards, we relaxed and celebrated before going back to The Spot. We made a few more acquaintances that night and it was a fun night of conversation, silliness, and entertainment.

Leaving on the 1pm ferry today brought the reminder of reality back to us: another, albeit short, week of teaching in Guayama. Now that vacation is over, I guess we're just on regular vacation. Oh darn!

You're Not Really a Teacher in Puerto Rico Until...

There's a joke around here that you're not really a[n abroad] teacher in Puerto Rico until you have car problems. Today was apparently my initiation.

We (the rest of the abroad teachers and I) left Guayama a little past 8am with a full itinerary: see two caves, hit up the Bacardi Factory, then we'd split into two groups as half the group had a baby shower to attend. Divided into two cars, we began our adventure. And all was well until I noticed the meter on my car was well above the red zone. 

Both cars pulled over at a conveniently located bar, and put oil and water into my car and waited for it to cool off. Roughly 20 minutes later we were on the road again, heading to Cueva Ventana. My car began overheating again when we encountered hills, but we made it to the first cave.

The Entrance of Cueva Ventana

The walk up to the cave was easy; in fact, someone had made steps. We came to an opening which was somewhat covered in tree roots, and some of us (myself included) decided to go in that way, since it was a short-cut to Cueva Ventana and seemed like an excellent adventure. While the rest carried on around the path, we pulled out flashlights and held on to overhead roots to avoid sliding down the slippery sides inside the cave. There was a drop of about five feet, but a rope attached to the ceiling allowed us to repel down and continue into the center. Bats occupied the ceiling of the cave, but for the most part it was just a dark expanse of mud. Still pretty cool. As soon as we clambered up the side, we were outside the entrance of Cueva Ventana ("Window Cave").

The Ventana

Cueva Ventana was significantly larger (and more exciting) than the little shortcut cave. The stalactites and  stalagmites formed intricate labyrinths on the walls that made you feel like you were inside a coral reef; they were also the perfect size for a child to move an action figure through a stone "forest". Flashlights helped us navigate the muddy cave, annoy some of the bats (on accident), and muse over the graffiti as we wondered if Orlando and Laura are still together, despite their heart-shaped declaration in the cave. And then we reached the ventana ("window"). Absolutely beautiful.

We were on our way to the second cave, when my car overheated for the millionth time and we concluded that it probably wasn't a great idea for me to keep driving the car. The other car continued on and the rest of us in my car stopped at an Advanced Auto Parts where they sold me a new cap (I'm not sure for what exactly) and put water-- a ton of water-- in the car. Seemingly fixed, we made our way to San Juan to try and meet up with the others at the Bacardi Factory, their destination after the second cave which my group skipped.

After many wrong turns, because directions are never easy in Puerto Rico and Google Maps clearly likes to mess with people, we made it to the welcomed commercialism that was the Bacardi Factory. We signed up for the tour and immediately used our free drink coupons (we had to shut off the air conditioning in my car to keep it from overheating). Accidentally, we wound up on the Spanish tour, which I looked at as more opportunity to practice. For the most part, I could only understand snippets of what the guide was saying, but the videos which used clearly annonicated Spanish were much easier. 

Fun facts from the Bacardi tour:

-There is a law that rum in Puerto Rico must be aged for at least one year

-Bacardi started in Cuba

-Coca Cola and Bacardi joined forces to create a drink called Cuba Libre ("Free Cuba") which is basically a rum and coke, but with a lemon. Without the lemon, they call it rum and coke.

-Once the founder of Bacardi was exiled, he traveled around and created Bacardi distilleries in other countries.

On the Bacardi tour

Post-tour my group went to Caguas and found a Chili's. Ironically, the first Chili's I've ever been to. After a nice dinner break, we began the trek back to Guayama, with a seemingly functioning car. About 30 minutes away from home, the meter was well above red again, the check engine light (usually on) began flashing, the oil light came on, and the car emitted an impressive cloud of smoke. Figuring it was best to just keep going instead of worrying about a tow-truck and staying on the shoulder of the road in the dark with no streetlights (Puerto Rico doesn't really have them), we carried on and had the misfortune of hitting every red light possible. As I pulled into the driveway, the car died. Still half in the road, it had to be pushed the rest of the way into the driveway. That's pretty lucky.

Today turned out to be a little more of an adventure than I was expecting, but it was great to see more of the island. We essentially drove all over the island and the view, let alone the cave, was amazing. And hey, now I'm officially a teacher in Puerto Rico!

The Right Book At The Right Time

Being an English teacher, I'm predisposed to be a book nerd. (Vice versa may also apply) But I think even occasional readers will agree that every once in a while, usually through sheer dumb luck, or through the recommendation of a friend, you find yourself with a book that registers so completely with something you're experiencing that you just sit back and say, "Yeah."

Before I left for Puerto Rico, my friend Ally gave me the book All Roads Lead to Austen by Amy Elizabeth Smith and the instructions to begin reading it on the airplane. It's a nonfiction book about an English professor from California who goes on a year-long expedition in Latin America to set up Jane Austen reading groups (reading the Spanish versions) with the locals. Smith (the author) experiences Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Argentina and reads each of her three selected novels twice to get different perspectives from different countries. All the while, Smith is trying to answer the question "Are Jane Austen's novels applicable everywhere, even in other languages?"

The frustrations, curiosity, and excitement presented by traveling and grappling with new everything are perfectly illustrated in this book. Struggling with Spanish, meeting new people, seeing new places, learning a new culture, teaching, and finding solace in literature are in the forefront for Smith--and for me at the moment. In her book, Smith argues that you cannot separate people from place; "We don't know a place until we know the people, and that takes time, patience, and serious reading skills." In each country she visited, Smith made a point to read local literature. With each novel read, she was able to gain a deeper understanding of the culture in which she currently found herself--and the jokes too!

The beauty of literature is how universally it connects people and cultures all around the world, whilst still managing to impart wisdom specific to locations, populations, or situations. So why didn't reading occur to me before? Smith's book made me start thinking that I have been trying to get to know a place, instead of a people. Sure, I know a little bit of history, but I don't know local literature that has colored the way people see things. It's a different way of looking at a place, a different kind of understanding. I may be here to teach literature, but I can learn it here too.

Smith says it best when she writes, "Immersion in a new culture can inspire huge changes, but so can reading. Any bookworm knows how a truly powerful book can motivate us toward major change." Now, put the two together and you have major changes in perspective, in appreciation, and in action.

And sometimes all it takes to create change is a book given to you by a friend, at exactly the right time, that makes you sit back and say, "Yeah."

West for the Weekend

Thanks to Puerto Rico technically being part of the United States, we were lucky enough to have a four day weekend. Naturally, this meant it was time for an adventure. Our destination was the West coast of the island-- more specifically, San Sebastián.

Friday night was pretty relaxed and we headed to the movie theater. The movie we saw (We're the Millers) was in English, but had Spanish subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Apparently this is typical, though I did notice a few Spanish titles also playing at the theater.

Saturday afternoon we packed up the car and drove a little over two hours to San Sebastián. The road went up through the mountains, which were partially covered by fog, and then gave way to tons of bamboo trees before taking us to the residential area.

As soon as we arrived in San Sebastián I thought, "THIS was the Puerto Rico I was expecting." Everything was tightly packed together; brightly colored houses, small businesses, lots of trees, some lizards, a mountain view a short distance away from the houses, and the ocean not far off. To give you a comparison, in my city, Guayama, things are much more spread out. My neighborhood is colorful houses quite close together as well, but you need to walk or drive a ways to get to any of the small businesses and large/chain businesses are quite prevalent. As far as foliage is concerned, it's mostly planned (like palm trees next to the sidewalk) and there aren't many natural patches of trees. You can see the mountains from most places in my city, however, the ocean requires some driving to reach.

That evening we went to a town called Moca because there was a festival. Immediately it was like being back home at a county fair. There was a massive amount of cars trying to park in various places in the grass, people milling about the various fried food stands, a stage area designated for live music, and some rides that have definitely been around since at least the 80's. There was even a Tilt-a-Whirl! We listened to some live merengue music for a while, then made our way to a bar to play pool, talk, and dance.

The bar--I'm not sure what it was called--was partially outdoors. The main section with the actual bar, juke box, and pool tables was indoors, but suddenly there ceased to be a roof and more tables and trees made up the other half of the bar. While here, I got the chance to do a little salsa dancing and had quick lessons in how to dance both merengue and bachata. I love dancing, so this was the perfect end to our first evening.

The pier I jumped off of, into the ocean!

Sunday was for the beach. We drove about 45 minutes to Crash Boat Beach, which is a pretty touristy beach with boat and scuba rentals, jet skis, bright umbrellas, and various food vendors. There is a long pier that stretches into the water which I made sure to jump off of, even though it was kind of scary. We hit a few patches of clouds, but otherwise it was a perfect beach day of sunshine and salt water.

Another shot of Crash Boat Beach.

Our last evening in the West lead us back to the festival in Moca because El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico was the musical entertainment. Apparently this group is the most popular Salsa group in Puerto Rico. The ensemble was quite large with trumpets, an upright bass, multiple drummers, a pianist, and three old, but energetic singers who salsa stepped their way through the entire concert. For reference, when I say "old" I mean this group is celebrating 50 years together this year. Several couples took this opportunity to show off their salsa dancing skills, which was amazing to watch. I wasn't able to take a video of the performance, but I did find the following one on YouTube, so take a minute to experience El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico:

El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico 

Today we slept in a little, stopped at the bakery, and then meandered our way back to Guayama. It was a great four-day weekend and I think I'm ready for another school week.

Four Weeks Does Not a Seasoned Teacher Make

Tomorrow marks the completion of my first month in Puerto Rico! How has that happened already?? We're already four weeks into the school year, but it feels like we just started a few days ago. Here's what's been going on in my classroom.

The Ups:
--Routine is sinking in. For example, I have my students in each of my classes read silently (anything they want) for the first 10 minutes of class. At first I had to remind them what to do, but now they are starting to sit down and begin reading-- before the bell even!
--I survived (and I think I made a good impression) on Parent Night. Essentially, I "taught" the parents of my 7th grade students about what we're doing in class this year for about 15 minutes.
--Students are coming into my classroom before school, during recess, during lunch (except now they know they're not supposed to), in between classes, and after school. It can be a bit frustrating at times because there are constantly kids around, but I'm glad they're not afraid to ask me questions.
--I brought quite a few popular adolescent books (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, A Series of Unfortunate Events, etc-- thanks to my mother for purchasing most of them at Saver's!) and I allow students to borrow these books either for the day, or they can check them out and take them home. Most of my students have been taking advantage of this mini library and a few students appear in my room throughout the day to read me passages they really liked or to ask if they can borrow the next book in the series because they're hooked. This makes for one very happy English teacher!
--The first big writing project is now underway in each class. 7th graders are writing Flash Fiction stories, 8th graders are writing autobiographical narratives, and 9th graders are writing a comparison-contrast essay after selecting two of the three stories we've read and discussed in class.

The Downs:
--The school is "paperless" which means no printing or copies or handouts. This is taking some adjustment, especially for differentiated instruction and keeping students focused. Without something tangible in front of them, I have noticed students tend to get more distracted. (In case you're wondering, I do have a projector and students copy activities into their notebooks)
--A student in my 9th grade English class does not speak or understand much English. Getting around the language barrier and finding ways for her to get something out of the class is proving to be a challenge, but I'm working on some accommodations that won't over-step what my principal told me I'm allowed to do.
--My 9th grade class is troublesome. Until today, I assumed it was because of something I was doing wrong as a first year teacher. The students do not stop talking; some of them blatantly ignoring instruction. It turns out this particular group is like this for each of their other teachers. (Whew!) And so, a few detentions, and the realization that they won't respond to yelling but WILL respond to my silence, later, I think we are finally getting somewhere.

The new teacher gig is definitely challenging, but thus far I'm enjoying it. In the four short weeks we've been in school I feel like I've learned a lot about teaching--and noted that I need to re-learn some things too. I think the most helpful thing is just to keep trying new things until something works, because, even with the best of intentions, four weeks does not a seasoned teacher make.

Re: Driver's Ed

      Let me preface this by admitting I am unbelievably good at getting lost while driving. If there was an award for the number of times one could get lost following simple and clear directions, or an award for being impeccable at driving past the turn one was supposed to take, or an award for realizing one is going the wrong way but that turning around is not an option for quite a ways, I would be a shoe-in.  This summer, after living 15 minutes North of Eau Claire, WI for 24 years, I managed to get lost on the way to a pizza place I'd been to a hundred times. However, the benefits of being a slightly unfortunate road voyager are that I get the chance to see some places and things I wouldn't otherwise have passed, and I have extra time to make some observations, be they traffic or otherwise.
      Driving around a new place takes a while to become comfortable. The roads are unfamiliar and the landmarks are meaningless until you get some practice. But you still have your basics, right? Stop at the stop sign and red lights, watch for one-way signs, yield signs, and merge lanes. Driver's Ed has your back no matter what the roads are like....right? Not in Puerto Rico!
      One of the first things that I noticed about driving in Puerto Rico (other than that the traffic signs are all in Spanish) is the sheer amount of traffic coming from every direction imaginable, all at once, with no rhyme or reason, but at a very slow pace. There are no horns blaring (usually); it appears that road rage is minimal. Very different from driving on the mainland where as soon as the guy in the red truck has to wait an extra eight seconds for the driver ahead of him to put on her sunglasses, he's leaning all his body weight on his horn and shouting obscenities out the window. How can cars be coming from every which way if people are adhering to the Right of Way principle? It's simple: the idea of Right of Way is essentially null and void in Puerto Rico. From what I've observed in the two weeks that I've been here is that this is because of how much traffic there is. If people had to wait at stop signs until the cross traffic stopped, they'd be waiting literally for hours sometimes. Puerto Rico is a small island with a LOT of cars and adhering to Right of Way quite a bit of the time would be impractical.
      This is not to say that cars go whenever they feel like it. When you're waiting at a stop sign here, you stop initially and then keep inching forward until the cross traffic has no choice but to wait for you (because you are now completely blocking their lane) and the line of cars in your destination lane have to let you in because you're angled in front of them. Surprisingly, this is common practice. That being said, people are expecting it to some degree, which decreases the likelihood of an accident which would have been imminent on the mainland. Once in a while, when you can't merge, if you look to the people in the cars around you, you can reach a sort of nonverbal agreement that they will let you in. I'm still rather amused that this is how driving works, but when in Rome... or Guayama!
      It also common here for cars to make one-lane roads into two-lane roads. Even mid-turn. I've taken to assuming that if I'm turning there is a 70% chance that another car just slipped into my blind spot because it felt like turning at the last minute too.

The mountains that catch my attention.

      On my accidental drive, naturally past the turn I was supposed to take, toward the mountains today, I realized I was getting a little perilously low on gas. I was headed to the office of my Internet company to switch routers (for the second time-- however they were very helpful both times) and looked at the mountains a little too complacently. When I remembered to pay attention to where I was going instead of the pretty scenery, I saw a toll booth immediately ahead of me. Whoops. Luckily, the car ahead of me clearly made the same mistake and we both sneaked through a space in the median and did some U-turns. After getting the router sorted out, I figured I'd better stop at a gas station, which was conveniently located next door.
      This was my first time putting gas in my car in Puerto Rico. Like what I assumed was normal, I opened my gas cap, took the lever of the gas I wanted, and proceeded to fuel my  car. Except that nothing happened. I put the lever down, and put it back up. It beeped reassuringly at me. Yet pulling the trigger did nothing. Finally I decided to go into the gas station. In some terribly pronounced Spanish I asked if Pump # 8 was working. He said yes and looked at me expectantly. Finally it dawned on me to ask if I had to pay for gas before I put it in my car. And, for any of you who travel to Puerto Rico (though this might have been central to this particular gas station... I'll get back to you on that), you do have to pay for gas before you put it in your car.
      It's kind of like being in Driver's Ed all over again; ignore Right of Way, creep forward instead of waiting, feel free to make an extra lane, and pay for gas before you pump it. Definitely some unfamiliar territory. But at least  you can always get the satisfaction of stopping the pump at an even dollar amount!
 

First Week of School

      Thursday was the kickoff for the first day of school--and my first day as a real teacher! The week leading up to that was spent working in my classroom; I put up some semblance of decorations, tried to organize, started rewriting the syllabus for each of my three classes, and began lesson planning. When Wednesday night rolled around my classroom was essentially ready. Not so much the teacher.  I had a plan for the next day, with the exception of Homeroom which I would have for an entire hour and didn't want to bore by spending that 60 minutes reading school rules. After creating a few more things for my classroom and making some notes of things to discuss with each class I attempted sleep. 

My first attempt at a bulletin board, located in the hallway outside my classroom.

   

       The next morning I arrived at school half an hour early to try and collect my thoughts. I was still in a state of nervousness when my first batch of students, 7th graders, filtered in. Their eyes were huge, taking in everything around them, looking extra relieved that they had made it to the right classroom. It was their first day on the High School side of the building; their class schedule was completely different, their classrooms were completely different, procedures such as homework being posted online were completely different. They looked like rabbits frozen in the backyard when someone opens the door quickly. Already we had so much in common!

    

     To my surprise, the day went very smoothly. My 7th and 8th graders were exceptionally well-behaved, though my 9th graders absolutely love to talk. Constantly. I integrated a classroom management procedure called Teacher vs. Class that one of my new co-workers introduced me to. Each of my classes now has a chart that says "Ms. Kramer vs. [Class Period]". If the class does well following directions and being quiet when asked, they receive a tally in their column on the white board; if the opposite happens, or if the majority of the class is unprepared, I receive a tally. At the end of the day, whoever wins receives a tally on their official chart on the wall and if they beat me at the end of the quarter, they'll get some type of prize. The 7th graders and 8th graders thus far are getting really into this, but 9th grade doesn't seem to care as much. I think I just need to win them over first.

      Friday also went smoothly. Our school has a block schedule with 90 minute class periods and a two-day rotation. This means I see each class every other day for 90 minutes. Friday was Cycle B, so I saw one group of 7th grade, 8th grade, and 9th grade. Again, the day went quite smoothly. 9th grade proved to be a challenge yet again, so I doled out two "see me after class" instructions and, without knowing beforehand what was coming out of my mouth, explained that the behavior of the two students was not acceptable and was disrespectful and disruptive. And yes, what followed was the age-old teacher comment "and you can do better than that." I suppose only Tuesday will tell if it was effective.

      Overall, even with a few challenges, I think the first week went well. I found that I felt more comfortable being the sole teacher in charge than I had expected and that getting to know the students, interacting with them, and trying to correct their behavior came pretty naturally.  ¡Gracias a díos!