This week brought figurative and literal storms my way. One of the promises that I made to myself when I decided to create this blog was that it was not going to share the "instagram stories" and pictures alone--that I was going to share the whole of this experience, even when it wasn't sunshine and rainbows. 
A bright spot this week was that we got to teach our 1st lesson! My awesome partner Alexis and I were in a kindergarten class and we were tasked with giving a lesson that connected to climate change/environmental awareness. I think we did a pretty good job considering it was our 1st time teaching in the classroom. In the picture, the students are putting together a globe puzzle that we had made. I am eager to learn about classroom management techniques--I know how to manage a college classroom, but am SO FAR out of my depth on managing these younger students! This week we spent a lot of time learning about the literacy assessment that we will be administering to students. Most of you know that I LOVE assessment and so this was right up my alley. Even better is the fact that the results of these assessments will be used in working with our counterpart teachers to develop literacy learning plans at school. This got me really excited--making data-informed choices about what happens in a classroom.
The literal storm that came this week was Tropical Storm Bret. For most of the week, he was making a path straight toward us. We were expecting 6-10 inches of rain and wind at 60mph for a 12-18hr period! While I wasn't ever worried in terms of my safety, the significance of such a storm was not lost on me. In the end, Bret made a southerly dogleg when he approached Barbados and so we did not get hit as badly as predicted. We were still confined to our rooms and it was really windy. Some parts of the island did get hit much harder than us. Yesterday when we were out, we saw how banana fields were flattened, the crops lost.
After an intense week, I was really thankful when a group of us decided to take an excursion yesterday to explore a bit further afield than I've been thus far (we have a 8pm curfew during the week, so we can't go very far once our work day is done). A group of about 11 of us went to the black sulphur mud pools, a waterfall, and into Soufriere. The photo is after we had rubbed the stinky mud all over ourselves and then let it dry in the sun. After, you go back into the pools, which were HOT. I could only manage to get into the coolest one, which was 145℉. But once I was in, I have to admit that it felt quite relaxing--and my skin did feel remarkably soft after coming out. It's a long trip from where we are living to the Soufriere area--it's only about 26 miles but it is an hour drive (we had to hire a taxi because Peace Corps trainees and volunteers are forbidden from driving) because of the extremely curvy and mountainous roads! We had a great driver who loved to make lots of stops and tell us lots of stories about St. Lucia. It was a nice day and I'm glad that we made that happen.
So this week, you get some of that. As a cohort, we are in what Tuckman describes as the "storming" phase of group development. The easy way to think about it is the end of the honeymooon phase. There's been sniping and gossiping and even some yelling and what I would describe as aggressive behavior. Given that we've all been living together and spending pretty much all of our time together, it is not surprising that these things are happening. But it is unpleasant and uncomfortable. I am thankful for my years of experience that have equipped me to deal with some of the frustrations associated with this period. But I'm not going to lie--it has been a bit of a rough week.
This week is our last week here--we move in with our host families on Thursday! I am both excited and a little nervous. We don't know anything about it yet--what the makeup or size of the family is, or where we will be located. Only thing I can tell you is that I'll be with them for the next five weeks as we continue our training! This first phase of training has been fun, intense, and hard. But I am still feeling like this is where I'm supposed to be and I'm being present and attentive to all of the lessons that this experience has to teach me.
 |
| View of Soufriere as we approached from on high! |
Comments
Post a Comment