Agradecimiento

Those that know me, may agree that being super positive unfortunately isn't always my mo, so although 100% genuine, it seems cheesy to say that not a day goes by that I don't feel lucky to be here.  Even when the sun hasn't shined for days and I've spend hours on the subway and buses to get where I'm going, I feel grateful.  On a day like today, when the spring sun is shining bright and I spend the morning at a school that is truly wonderful and get information for a project topic I'd given up on searching for,  it's a dream come true to be here.  With the overwhelming, never ending to do list at home, I can be too exhausted and pressed for time to reflect on teaching, let alone research areas I'm interested in.  To be able to do that on a break from teaching, in a foreign land, on a continent I've always wanted to reside in, is a gift.

The least surprising finding I've had is that kids are the same everywhere.  Not uniform of one another but the same in showing wants and needs and in being totally enchanting.  While kids were working in a grade 2 classroom today, I chatted with a few and a boy told me about his family and that he never sees his 17 year old sister because she is working and studying.  His classmate chimed in that he never wants to stop being a kid, to which their other classmate added, "nunca quiero sufrir como adulto/I never want to suffer like an adult".  Sage words indeed.

I need to start grazing through all the notes I've been taking during classroom observations and conversations with teachers, to take out and expand on the nuggets of information.  Another great moment this week was visiting the Gifted & Talented teachers at the top international school in the city.  They shared some of their wealth of information and gave some super ideas about project based learning that I hope could be applied in the classroom setting.  There, and today while interviewing a teacher, I also had some thoughts of how to make cooperative learning with dual language learners more structured to better target academic language learning.  When I had all but given up on the idea that I could learn about my original idea, there it is.  Can't wait to put it all together.  Even more excited to be able to implement all I learn when I return to the classroom.