Bad Teacher. . .

I made one of my Sixth Graders cry on Monday. 

I know, BAD TEACHER.  But he did kind of deserve it.  Also, I would like to point out that this is not an 11-year old sixth grader.  He’s fourteen.  And he calls me Radford instead of Teacher, which believe it or not, is kind of disrespectful.  It would be like calling your teacher “Jane” instead of Mrs. Smith.  Plus he’s really unhygenic and always says inappropriate things so I already have a chip on my shoulder about him. 

You see, we are studying World Cultures right now and each of my sixth graders was supposed to make a poster board illustrating information about their Country.  They had 5 weeks to complete the project.  Now, this particular student drew (out of the hat) Panama, which I didn’t think would be particularly difficult as we are 3 hours from the border and there is a lot of interaction between the two countries.  However, last Wednesday, he asked me if he could change his country for Mexico.  I told him that he could. 

So, Monday comes and he doesn’t want to present.  I tell him that he doesn’t have a choice because he is being graded as if this were an exam.  I tell him that he doesn’t need to worry because everyone is being graded the same and that he just needs to do his best.  So he tells me, “Okay Teacher, but I don’t want to use my poster, I’ll just tell you the information.”  Then I tell him, “No, that defeats the purpose I have to see the poster.”  And I take it off of his desk.  Much to my surprise, there is no information on Mexico or Panama on the poster.  Rather, he has taken it upon himself to present on COSTA RICA.  Which I did not assign for obvious reasons, and which we had already done in class as an example.  I asked him, “What was your country?”  “Mexico.”  “Why didn’t you do that?”  “Because, Teacher.”  At which point I snapped.  So I may or may not have told him that his poster was basura (trash) and that I wouldn’t grade it.  So I turned to ask if anyone else wanted to go and he left the room in a hurry.  I assume that there were tears considering his haste, but I didn’t actually see them. 

Then later that afternoon, his very pregnant mother came to talk to me about what had happened and to ask why he hadn’t done the project.  It was awkward.  So today he came in during recess and remade his poster (Costa Rica again) and presented the information to me. 

I don’t think I’m going to miss him next year. 

I think that I used to be a good person, but my patience has been spent and I’m sick of bending over backwards for kids who don’t care.  In other news, you probably won’t be hearing from me much over the few weeks.  It rained all day today and the weather is probably going to continue until the end of October.  As such, my afternoon trips to Palmar are going to be limited.  La lluvia me dar pereza.  (The rain makes me lazy.)  I am getting lonely again and am pretty sure that another bout of loneliness is about to hit the Zona Sur, but am not making any preparations to prevent it.  I’m pretty sick of Costa Rica and I am ready to be somewhere else.  I feel as if I’ve seen it all and am having a tough time of motivating myself to do any kind of travel or exploration.

Three of my students left school this week.  They all moved.  No notice, just didn’t come to school on Monday and then their Mom came to say that they were moving to San Jose the next weekend.  I’m sad that I didn’t get to say good bye, but to be honest, all three had a tendency to cause troubles in my classes.  Still, they were the cute trouble makers, who were always nice outside of class.  Ah well, maybe they’ll do better in San Jose. 

My first graders learned “May I see” today and spent the rest of the period asking to see things around the room.  We didn’t get a lot done, but at least they’ll remember how to ask for things nicely.  I had to send a note home with one of my 4^th graders too.  I’ve been putting it off for about 4 months now, but it was finally time.  Surprisingly, 3^rd grade went exceptionally well.  This was probably because we spent the majority of the class coloring and not actually learning English.  Oh well, if I’ve learned anything this year its to pick your battles and 3^rd grade is not a battle that I am going to win.   

I’m ready for October. 

  

News Delay

This just in: Tom Brady out for the season, David Foster Wallace Commits Suicide, My boss comes to visit, Orange ipods and letters from possible stalkers.  Ewwww.

Hello out there.  How are things in the land of plenty?  Costa Rica is the rich coast indeed and I can’t wait to get back to America.  3 months and ten days, but who is counting.  Based on my internet lurkings I have discovered several important facts as of late.  The first of which is that Tom Brady is injured and out for the season.  What will this mean for the Fighting Radtastics, my fantasy football team?  Not much in all likelihood as I still have Eli Manning.  The second thing that I have learned is that there are now ORANGE iPod Nano’s, which may actually be the greatest thing since rice and beans.  Our Southern California Trojans are fighting on as always and to the best of my understanding demoralized Ohio State last weekend. 

However in regards to Central America it has been a busy week.  We spent last week gearing up for Independence Day (September 15) and have had school assemblies every day for the last seven days in preparation.  Last Tuesday was International Children’s Day and so we played outside all day.  There was a lot of running around and there were a lot of kids begging me to carry them around.  I gave away pens, pencils and coloring books as a means of buying popularity. The day before I had the pleasure of teaching with the one and only Reginald Wilmont Lathan. 

Yes, Papa Lathan and I had a key time over the weekend.  He arrived on Friday night and I met him at the airport.  We went out to dinner near our hotel and planned the rest of our weekend.  On Saturday Morning we drove down to Manuel Antonio.  I got us a little bit lost on the journey, but considering there are no street names, I feel like I did okay.  We went out to lunch at Agua Azul, a restaurant with spectacular views and mean bacon cheese fries.  Dad was delighted to see that they were also showing the Notre Dame-San Diego State game.  Kristi came to join us for drinks and we all decided to go out dancing that evening after dinner.  We also (shh don’t tell mom) gambled at the black jack table at the Casino across the street.  It was lame and we lost all of our money, but I think we all learned out lesson.  After blackjack we went dancing at Barba Roja in order to dance the night away and tear up the dance floor.  It was exactly as glorious as you would expect. 

Sunday we did some beaching and swimming by the pool before we packed up the car and headed south to Dominical.  The 44km dirt road is a lot easier in a car than it is in a bus.  We stopped for lunch in Uvita, but it was thoroughly uninspiring.  As we approached my site my Dad was in near disbelief.  As the jungle intensified around us, he told me that I could come home because it was “too lonely out here.”  We spent an hour or so with my host family before heading back to Palmar and our air-conditioned room for the night. 

Class on Monday was a great success and everyone wants to know when he is coming back.  I think that my students wish they had gotten any other member of my family to be their teacher for the year.  I got two new students on Monday, who just moved from San Jose.  Luckily they have both had English before and so have been catching on quickly to all of the material. 

The rest of last week flew by.  I got a love note written in English from a local which was thoroughly creepy and sounded a lot like a love song on a pop station.  We had assemblies every day to celebrate Costa Rica’s independence from Spain.  I had a bout of Stomach Flu.  It didn’t rain for three full days.  Mikki-Jean came to visit me for the first time, which was exciting for me but as it’s Costa Rica, we didn’t do anything worth writing home about.  Sunday night the school hosted a march that was part of the Independence day celebrations.  Everyone makes a little cardboard house and puts a candle inside of it and marches along the highway to signify the new of freedom and independence.  Or at least that’s how it was explained to me.  Monday morning I went to Palmar to watch the parade of bands and small children celebrating their independence.  (Coincidentally, I also had my first Costa Rican Snow Cone and might I say, I would not recommend it.)

Tuesday my classes are going to be audited by Leilani; who is my boss from San Jose.  She gets to sit in on my best class (4^th) my worst class (3^rd) and my in between class (1^st).  I’ll let you know how that goes.  Once again, thank you for reading.  Keep living the dream.  See you in three months and a few days.  Fight on!

Just another Tico-venture

It would be an understatement to say that I love my fourth graders.  They are amazing.  They are sweet, sassy and incredibly smart.  The 4 girls make up for the occasional laziness of my two boys.  Thursday was no exception.  I was hardly looking forward to class since it was the end of the day and I had already taught 1^st and 6^th grade, including a new student in each.  However, my fourth graders (who are learning about the rainforest and its preservation) helped re-energize me and turn my day into “one of the good ones.” 

Together we made a giant poster of the rainforest including each of the four layers and the animals that dwell in them.  They asked me why I had to leave at the end of the year, which I appreciated.  I told them that it was just time for me to find a new job and they told me that I didn’t need a new job.  Then I joked with them that they might not even remember me a few years down the line and Daniella (one of my smartest students) insisted that she never forgets anything, so that was impossible. 

After we finished our poster we watched 10 minutes of Harry Potter.  Costa Rican children aren’t really encouraged to let their imaginations run wild, a point I discovered when Harry Potter escaped his muggle relatives in a flying car and my students said, “A flying car! What a lie!”  I did my best to assure them that it’s magic and we can’t understand how it works, but that it is possible.  What’s next?  No Santa Claus?

I went on another Bike ride with my 6^th grader Christian today, who, coincidentally, I caught cheating on his last exam.  My 5^th and 6^th graders all cheat on almost every exam; I just don’t always catch them with hard evidence.  He had a worksheet poorly hidden in his desk.  We rode a few kilometers down the Pan-American passing a number of “new” waterfalls that have popped up since the rain started to intensify.  I feel desperately out of shape, but any exercise is better than none, or so I have heard. 

This past weekend, I had my in-service meeting in San Jose with the other WT volunteers.  It was pretty good.  Our meetings lasted about half of the day and we covered a lot of our questions and concerns for the end of the year.  We went out dancing on Friday night and to see Wanted at the movies on Saturday night.  I also joined a fantasy football league, which I am not proud of, but it will serve to pass the next 3 months and 17 days or whatever it is. 

On Sunday I tried to catch a 10:30 bus home only to find out that it was actually a 10:00 bus and that all of the buses were booked until 2:30.  Rather than sit in the bus station for four hours, I ventured over to the hospital/doctors office a few blocks from the bus terminal and went to the pharmacy for some over the counter-prescription meds.  Following that riveting experience, I ate lunch in the Hospital Cafeteria and then headed back to the Bus Station.  Mikki Jean and I lucked out and had seats next to each other on the bus despite not having bought our tickets together.  The ride back was uneventful, except for the remnants of landslides that we passed on our way into San Isidro.

So, that’s all for now.  Papa Lathan arrives tomorrow and we are headed to the beach for a day or so.  Then it’s back to El Vergel for classes on Monday and he flies home on Tuesday.  You know it’s a Lathan vacation when . . .