How have your perceptions of disability and inclusion changed since completing the independent study on inclusive education and the field experience in Belize?

I dont think that my perceptions have changed, I feel that I am able to handle students with disabilities in my classroom better.  I feel that I have more tricks in my toolbox that will allow me to better help students.  I have learned during this experience that if students with disabilities are left alone and not helped they can become a distraction to others, and they can even develop anger issues from their frustration.  
I have a student in one of my classes that does not do very well, and I believe it is because he can not read.  When I walk around the room checking work and answering questions when I get to him he just asks if I will do his work for him.  He has asked me to do his work a handful of times and I wonder if that works in his other classes.  Are some of these students who do have some time of disability in the classroom being pushed through because they are having other people, even possibly teachers, do their work for them? 
I have always believed that if you push students to their full potential they will be successful, but I have really seen that here.  There are so many students here that dont have disabilities but they still need differentiated instruction and they will show what they can do if we just push them to do so.  

What strategies have you used to support children with special needs in your classroom?

Something that I have found to be very interesting in the high school is that there are very few students with learning disabilities because parents dont feel the need to pay for their students to go to school if they are not going to "get anything out of it".  The biggest issue I have noticed is that lack of focus with a lot of the students.  My strategy with those students is to constantly walk to room and tap their shoulder or have them work in pairs with students who are more focused.  I also try to mix up the activities so that students dont have the chance to get bored.  It is much easier to do that here because they only have 45 minutes classes. 

I have also noticed that there are students in my classes who still dont know how to read or they are not very comfortable with reading.  When I notice this I try to use pictures a lot to help represent any word problems and to circle the parts that we are focusing on.  

Another issue in the schools here is that some of the students dont speak English, and that is something that I dont know how to help especially since Spanish is spoken in most of the homes and even sometimes in the classroom by the teachers.  The teachers very rarely speak Spanish in the classrooms, but sometime they have to with certain students because they would not understand otherwise.

April 16 - April 20

This was my second full week in the schools, and I love it.  I have finally gotten to meet the rest of my students because they were gone on a field trip the first week I was there.  I am working with a freshman class who are in prep classes because they didnt do well on their entrance exams.  I am also working with 3 senior classes who I have absolutely fallen in love with.  These kids are awesome! I am just helping with the senior classes because my teacher is pressed for time and she is really worried that she is not going to be able to finish the curriculum.  So I walk around and help students one on one and really get to know them.  I have been teaching in the freshmen class though! Since they are a prep class they are going at a much slower pace than the other freshman, and we are covering one topic in a 45 minute class that would take about 10-15 minutes in the other classes.  Something else that is really interesting here is that they separate the classes by grade, not by topic.  So in freshman math class you learn that basics of algebra, geometry, statistics, etc, and then in your sophomore year you learn the next level of the same topics.  My teacher, Mrs. Iris was joking that her students would be so bored if there was a whole class dedicated to just algebra!  The teachers complain that the students have no motivation to learn and they just dont care like they used to, but from my experience I feel like these students are way more enthusiastic than the students back home.  But one thing that I have learned is that teenagers are the exact same no matter what country you are in. 

Now that you have experienced the cultural heritage of Belize, what have you learned that gives you insight into the children and families you are working with?

Some that stuck out from the cultural heritage that we learned about on our inland trip what that Belizeans come from a culture where religion is everything.  In the ATM Cave we saw a skeleton of a young woman that was sacrificed by volunteered.  This lets me know that the students I am working with and their families are very proud and most likely religious people, and I need to be sensitive when making references in the classroom and when I make examples.  It also explains the crucifixes in the classrooms.  In one of the senior classes, there is a crucifix that is about 2 feet tall in the middle of the board.  Something that has to be noted is that these are the students classroom, and they decorate and they are responsible for what is in there.  So the crucifixes are not something that the school is putting there, it is something that the students are bringing into the classroom.

April 9 - April 13, 2012

Last week we went inland to San Ignacio and it was great! We traveled all day Monday to get there and our methods of traveling were a serious culture shock for me. First we left San Pedro by water taxi which is a boast PACKED with people, and we rode that for about 2 hours.  We arrived in Belize City were we ate lunch and waited for a taxi.  We found a van that we can all fit in and it look extremely sketchy.  The van took us to to the bus station.  This is where it go crazy! The bus station was full of old school buses, and they are known as "chicken buses".  We had to wait in the station for about an hour until our bus was ready to leave.  When it was time to get on the bus one of the Grad Students Mike that is with us told us to RUN to the back that way we could trick the crowd and get on from the back.  We were squished up against the door and they opened it and there was a mad rush to the bus.  I sprinted to the back but so did half of the other people.  They were having to lift us into the bus where we had to fight for seats.  There was about 100 people on the bus.  I was really worried about it being stinky, but all the windows were open and it was fine.  We rode that bus for another 2 hours stopping every 100 yards to let people off and on.  That was exhausting.  

We finally made it to San Ignacio and we stayed at Rosa's.  San Ignacio looked more like what I was expecting a Central American town to look like. We were in the mountains and it was gorgeous.  You could see the houses going up the hills and there were little shops and houses everywhere. 

Monday was a very tiring day but it was totally worth it!  When will I ever get to say again the I rode a chicken bus through Central America again!?

For the rest of this entry I am going to just talk about the different excursions we did instead of going by days.

Caracol

Caracol is a Mayan ruin that was a huge city.  It was really cool to walk around and see all the different ruins and temples that had pasted the test of time.  Our guide Diego was awesome and very passionate about Mayan history.  I learned a lot about the meaning behind a lot of their temples.  The Ruler was the "meteorologist" and would  predict when the rain was coming.  He was able to do this because of the was they built one of the temples.  Depending on where the sun rose over this temple was similar to a calendar and would let him know when summer and winter solstice was coming. We also learned about their different beliefs.  When a child was born into a royal family they would tie a board to the child's forehead so the child would have a tall, flat forehead.  They would also tie a jewel to this bored that would hang in front of the child's eyes and would make the child be cross-eyed. Something else that I found really interesting was that the archeologists didnt uncover all the temples.  They left a lot of them covered with grass, trees, flowers and all sorts of wildlife because they didnt want to disturb the nature that was there.

After this LONG day at Caracol we went to the most gorgeous waterfall ever and went swimming!  We were able to jump off different ledges into the water.  I was too big of a chicken to do any of the super high ones because you had to climb up really slippery rocks and I was not about to do that.  I did jump off a medium one that was not as intimidating.  The water was really refreshing and was a nice change to go to fresh water after being in salt water for so long.

 

ATM Tour

This tour was through an underwater cave where many of the Mayan rituals were performed.  It was the second coolest thing I have ever done.  It was pitch black and we had head lamps on but for a long period of that the guide had us turn them off and walk through holding on to each others shoulders.  He was carrying mint leaves and it was amazing how strong the smell was in the huge cave.  There were some parts of the caves where you had to squeeze your neck through this really skinny part, and that was really scarey.  After about an hour of walking, climbing and crawling we make it to the main room where things were happening.  We learned about blood letting and that is where men and women would cut themselves and bleed on a piece of paper and then the Ruler would burn the paper in the cave, this apparently was a very popular method of giving back to the Gods.  The part that got me the most was this fully intact skeleton was laying in the back, and she was a human sacrifice.  I asked if this would be something that people volunteered for or was it a decision the Ruler made.  Martin, our guide, told me that it was always a volunteer and it was an honor for those volunteers. He also said that she was left in a way that made her look like she was dancing so she was not only giving herself but her talents.  That gave me goose bumps.  We hung out for about an hour looking at all the cool stuff and then traveled back for an hour.  The water in the cave was freezing!! I was ready to get dried off.

Crystal Cave

This was by far the coolest thing I have ever done! It was only Colin, Tony, Elizabeth, Diego and myself.  We had to hike through the jungle for about an hour to get to the entrance of the cave.  Then once we got there we had to REPEL down into the cave! Never in my life did I ever think I would do anything like this!  We went straight down for about 10 feet and then stayed on the line and walked backwards for another 15 feet.  People rarely take this tour because it is so intense.  Once in the cave we were in there for four hours.  The Crystal Cave is a dry cave so there was no walking through water but there was slick clay all over and some unsteady rocks.  We crawling up and down to get to the back of the cave which is a place called "Wonderland".  This cave was truly amazing.  Everything was pure white and sparkly.  There was stalagmites hanging everywhere and the walls were covered in minerals.  We could only touch what had been touched before and that was the brown spots because the oils from our hands would kill the minerals and keep them from growing.  It was the most physically challenging activity I have ever done!  Ok, back to Wonderland!  This place was the farthest back in the cave you can go, and the air was much thinner and that was what made it so beautiful.  I wish I could tell you more about this cave but until you see it in person you will never understand how beautiful it was. 
After the Crystal Cave we went to a Blue Hole which is a really, really deep hole that people can go swimming in.  It was really nice but we were all too tired to enjoy it haha.  Lets just say that it was a very quiet ride home that day.

The Belize Zoo 

The zoo was more like the wild than the zoo!  There are animals behind chicken wire basically, and some you were allowed to pet.  I think my favorite animal was the tapir.  That is the national animal, and it is really ugly but really sweet.  Another cool thing about the zoo was that we got to go inside a cage inside the jaguar's cage and feed him!  His name was Jr. and he could do tricks like doing a somersault.  He was really cool.  I got to see some really awesome animals.

  

As you participate in the service projects, identify something you learned during your service week about the Belizean culture that you didn't know and that is important for you to know as a teacher.  As you start to recognize how cultural difference impact education and teaching, you can bring that awareness into your classroom next year.

The service projects that I have worked on this week have been working at a Easter Camp at the library, walking dogs at the Humane Society, and writing a child's book.  I feel like I learned the most from working at the camp, and had a great time while doing it.  Something that I learned during this week is how touchy and loving the children are here.  That is something that I had been told, but it wasnt until I witnessed it was it that I really understood.  As a teacher it is important to know that here it is allowed and even encouraged to physically interact with the children.  These kids want to hug, they want to ride on your back, they want to hold your hand walking down the street, and they really want to you to meet their parents.  I know that this will be different when working with high school students, but it is important for me to know how my students grew up and the relationship they had with their teachers in previous years.  

 

Day Sixteen: April 5, 2012

Today was by far the best day of my life! I know I have said that before in some of my blogs but today was a day I will never forget. 

We went to Rocky Point, which is where the land meets the reef, on golf carts.  It is only 14 miles, but because we were alternating between driving on the beach and driving through the jungle, it took about 2 hours to get there.  About a fourth of the way there one of the golf carts blew a fuse and we were stuck for a while.  We finally reorganized people on the golf carts and we continued on while one of the guides stayed behind.  On the ride we stopped and say Cuban “refugee” boats is the best way I can think to describe them.  People wanted to leave Cuba made these boats out of time and rubber and an engine made of pipes, car rims and tons of other things you find around the house.  If these people found their way to Belize and were discovered Belize had to send them home to an unknown fate.

Once we go to our location we threw on our snorkel gear and jumped in! It was a different experience than Hol Chan because the water was much shallower.  We saw a 4(ish) foot barracuda, a really big lobster and beautiful angelfish.  We also found conch that we would be eating later in the day.  I thought that I would a lot of conchs but I didn’t know what it looked like if it was alive or not and my guide quickly let me know that all of them I found were dead haha! Finally one of the guides took my over and was helping me decide if the conchs were alive or not.  (I finally found one and I got to keep the shell after we ate it but I am getting ahead of myself).  I did cut my leg on the reef and that doesn’t feel good but nothing could ruin this day. 

After we were done snorkeling and collecting conch we went to go bbq.  The guide made FRESH conch ceviche with tomatoes, onions, cilantro and tons of lime juice. (Remind me to tell you the story of what I ate when the guide was cleaning my conch… lets just say they wouldn’t tell me what it was until after I ate it.)   After that he grilled grouper and we had fish tacos.  I have never had better seafood in my life.  It was amazing to eat food you had just taken out of the ocean. 

At lunch I met Santiago.  Santiago was a local man that looks like he was been on the island his entire life and doesn’t intend on leaving… well until he met me.  He told me I was the most beautiful girl he has every seen in Belize, he liked the way I move, and that he wants to go home with me to Canada.  I told him multiple times that I am from North Carolina, which is in America, not Canada, but after a while I gave in.  Everyone was picking on me that I was never going home and Santiago and I would stay in my jungle of Belize forever.  He didn’t smell like someone that I could spend forever with haha!

After lunch we went fishing on the reef.  It was really scary because we had to wear our flip flops to keep from our feet from being torn apart by the reef. At that point I was too scared that I was going to be knocked over and stung by a ray so I couldn’t focus on fishing.  I did catch one snapper though!

The sun was going down so we finally had to head home and I am exhausted. I cant think of a time that I have been this happy and relaxed.  Today was truly the best day ever (just ask Jessica, I said that phrase about a million times!!)