Wow! What a difference 3 years makes! I'm now teaching 11 and 12 year olds science and math...and LOVIN' it! These kids are just so cute...not yet jaded by age and still loving life and everything it hands to them. Why didn't I realize how much sweeter these kids are than high schoolers?! Oh yes, I remember, it was that field trip that Caylee (my daughter) had that I chaperoned while I was getting my teaching credential. After wanting to duct tape the mouths of a bunch of 8th graders, I swore I would never teach middle school. However, 6th graders are not quite middle schoolers when you get them at the beginning of the year. They turn into middle schoolers by the end of the year but by then they won't dare test your boundaries.
So, I'm back in Hawai`i. My husband has retired at the young, ripe age of 53. He had a retirement plan and he stuck with it--saved, did without, strategized and finagled with money--so that when Caylee went off to college, we would ride off into that proverbial (retirement) sunset. I thank him for his financial wizardry every day (or I would if I could remember but that's another story). As a teacher, they try to teach you to relate to your students. With 35+ students at Poway, that was hard to do especially with ethnicities and cultures that weren't my own. However, here in Lana`i, relating to these mostly filipino kids comes so naturally. I get them. I know what their life is like, familially, culturally, socially. It's so effortless for me. AND the best part is that here on this small island of 3000 and one K-12 school for its inhabitants, my class sizes are under 20!!! WHOA! Not only can I relate to my students, I can also get to know who they are! All those things they teach you in a teaching credential program, I now have the time to do!! Amazing what class size can do for student engagement.
Okay, so it's not all peachy-keen. The poverty level is high, so high the whole school qualified for free breakfasts and lunches for all students. All students do not have access to a computer with internet access. The test scores are horrible! Probably the lowest in the country. That's my motivation for getting up and teaching these kids. They are smart, they just need to prove it on tests not written for rural, immigrant kids on a remote island in Hawai`i. Bring it on, I still want to save the world and I now have my vehicle to do so!
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