The conditions of a solitary bird are five:
The first, that it flies to the highest point;
the second, that it does not suffer for company,
not even of its own kind;
the third, that it aims its beak to the skies;
the fourth, that it does not have a definite color;
the fifth, that it sings very softly.
- San Juan de la Cruz, Dichos de Luzy Amor
Mark sent this lovely poem to me because he knows how much I love poetry. It will be the basis of a lesson in the classes I'm teaching when we get to poetry as a literary genre. Speaking of classes/school in Costa Rica...I'm struggling with "singing very softly" as an American teacher in Latin America. I came into school two weeks late of student/teacher classes, four weeks late of the inception of the school. My classes were being taught by an Art teacher who is also the mother of one of the fourth grade students. A fair description of the third grade class was made by the Chicago native acting as curriculum/principal who said they were hanging from the ceiling wearing silly things on their heads, loud, etc. After observing three days, the current teacher got sick and had to stay home...I was thrown into the melee at that point. I set up class rules, enforced them, meted out consequences both good and bad, and the class began to be that, a class where learning could begin. I had no grades from last year, no reading levels, no idea of the reading system that was said to have been administered three times a year, the class looked like a dumping ground for anything broken or not in use, you get the picture. Still, I continued. One child said I was too "strict." Another, that I acted like I was her mother. Now, after meetings upon meetings, these two students are my BFF's bringing me food, pictures, and giving me hugs. Their parents greet me warmly in both Spanish and English, asking after my health, my family. Most of the students seem to like to be able to learn. Then, there are some of the other teachers who have been at the school over two years and know more than I do as a result, they think. I've been told to close bathroom doors, told that a student who went home ill was really "triste," told to do this and do that until my level of cultural awareness and acceptance has been met. This may be yet another short time placement for me. I am an American teacher with over thirty years of experience and training in the U.S. plus additional years of experience teaching internationally. It's not this "solitary bird's" first rodeo to use a Texas phrase. Tomorrow is another day, another dollar...oh wait, I think this salary works out to be around $.50 a day.
The first, that it flies to the highest point;
the second, that it does not suffer for company,
not even of its own kind;
the third, that it aims its beak to the skies;
the fourth, that it does not have a definite color;
the fifth, that it sings very softly.
- San Juan de la Cruz, Dichos de Luzy Amor
Mark sent this lovely poem to me because he knows how much I love poetry. It will be the basis of a lesson in the classes I'm teaching when we get to poetry as a literary genre. Speaking of classes/school in Costa Rica...I'm struggling with "singing very softly" as an American teacher in Latin America. I came into school two weeks late of student/teacher classes, four weeks late of the inception of the school. My classes were being taught by an Art teacher who is also the mother of one of the fourth grade students. A fair description of the third grade class was made by the Chicago native acting as curriculum/principal who said they were hanging from the ceiling wearing silly things on their heads, loud, etc. After observing three days, the current teacher got sick and had to stay home...I was thrown into the melee at that point. I set up class rules, enforced them, meted out consequences both good and bad, and the class began to be that, a class where learning could begin. I had no grades from last year, no reading levels, no idea of the reading system that was said to have been administered three times a year, the class looked like a dumping ground for anything broken or not in use, you get the picture. Still, I continued. One child said I was too "strict." Another, that I acted like I was her mother. Now, after meetings upon meetings, these two students are my BFF's bringing me food, pictures, and giving me hugs. Their parents greet me warmly in both Spanish and English, asking after my health, my family. Most of the students seem to like to be able to learn. Then, there are some of the other teachers who have been at the school over two years and know more than I do as a result, they think. I've been told to close bathroom doors, told that a student who went home ill was really "triste," told to do this and do that until my level of cultural awareness and acceptance has been met. This may be yet another short time placement for me. I am an American teacher with over thirty years of experience and training in the U.S. plus additional years of experience teaching internationally. It's not this "solitary bird's" first rodeo to use a Texas phrase. Tomorrow is another day, another dollar...oh wait, I think this salary works out to be around $.50 a day.
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