Blog #3

Working with the children at Alpha Primary in Kingston was one of the best experiences of my life. I was moved to tears on the first day when the entire school sang the national anthem together. I think the Jamaican national anthem is so more humble and powerful than the American national anthem. It is hopeful for the future. It's beautiful. It's funny as I am writing and reading through the blogs I've written as well as texting and calling my family and friends from home talking about the trip I've realized that I've used the words "beautiful" and "amazing" excessively, but I'm finding it difficult not to. I'm love this country and especially the people in it. The students at Alpha were so kind. Throughout the week, they all individually wrote love letters to me and Ally, (we were the "visitors" in their classroom). They give the best hugs in the world. We even were lucky enough to do read alouds and to teach a lesson. Our lesson was on fourths, and it went well. We were expecting to have problems with motivating students and with listening because when their teacher left the classroom, they would become unruly very quickly, but the students surprised us by staying attentive for the most part. They were all excited to participate and very positive. We think they met our learning objectives because as we were checking their work from an M&M activity that we did, they were consistently writing the correct answers. 

Overall, it was so much fun to interact with the students. The students were naturally very curious because we are from a different place, and we look different than they do. They had lots of questions and excitement about their American visitors. Sometimes there were so many students surrounding me, touching my hair, and giving me hugs that it was a little overwhelming and I almost fell down, but I loved talking to them. 

One of my favorite things was talking to the quieter students. Often times, a large group of students would surround us, and most of them were very vocal and loud, but there were always one or two who just stared shyly, and I always liked to reach out shake their hand and engage with them and get them to talk because they might not have otherwise. I saw myself in these students because I tend to be quiet when I first meet people too. One of the students, Amanda was very very quiet and would only whisper at first. She was in fifth grade. One of her classmates came up to me and said that Amanda is the student in the class who gets bullied by everyone. She said everyone calls her names and that sometimes she gets beat badly too and that it makes her sad because Amanda is the nicest in the class. As this little girl was telling me, Amanda started to cry softly and I almost started crying too. I told her that I wanted her to always remember that she’s beautiful, smart, and important and hugged her. It broke my heart a little bit. The bullying at alpha is severe and it happens frequently. Even in grade 1, students were beating each other ruthlessly. I broke up a lot of fights on Tuesday especially. The kids are good kids, though. It’s not their fault that they are in hot classrooms full of up to 45 students, with desks so close they can hardly walk around.

Mrs. L is a great teacher. She taught the first grade class we were assigned to. Even though we didn’t agree with every single thing she did, we learned so much from her. She had outstanding classroom management, especially for having 43 students and while she was very stern, she was also loving. The students respected and listened to her. At the end of the week, she expressed her appreciation for Ally and I helping out, and had the whole class sing “oh she is a jolly good fellow” as well as having two students present us with gifts. She gave us hugs and held our hands while asking us to stay in touch and telling us thank you once more. I am going to miss her and the students so much. Here are a few pictures from throughout the week:

I didn’t cry when we said goodbye to the kids. It was hard to say goodbye, but it didn’t fully hit me until we were leaving for the airport. As our group arranged for a picture with Sister Winnie, I started to tear up. It was hard to say goodbye to Winnie and I’m never going to forget her kindness. I gave her a hug and thanked her for being our Jamaican Mother for the week. As we drove off and I turned out the window to wave back to WinnieI started crying and didn’t stop until we got to the airport. It was so bittersweet as we listened to our favorite Jamaican music on the way to the airport. Emily played “No Woman, No Cry” to cheer us up. I am so blessed and thankful for this trip. I am finishing this last part of the blog on the airplane and even though I am sad to be leaving Jamaica, I think I am returning to America as a better person. Thank you, Jamaica, I have learned so much. You have my heart.