Throughout this experience I have expanded my horizons in many ways. I anticipated that I would change as a teacher, individual, and student through this experience but was unable to predict just how much this experience would effect me. To say that the experience in the schools has been a learning experience filled with new situations, new challenges, and even a new form of communication is putting it lightly. My placement at San Pedro Roman Catholic school has been an exhilarating one so far. My partnership teacher's name is Mrs. Alva Rubio and she is an extraordinary teacher. I have learned so many things from here that go beyond the classroom. As a mother and role model to many other teachers I feel extremely fortunate to be placed with such a smart, and talented woman for this experience. As far as teaching strategies go I have learned truly how to modify lessons for a whole class and circumstance. I had experience in the states with making modifications for certain groups of students, those students with IEP's and special needs students. Here in San Pedro I have learned how to modify my teaching in both a new environment with limited resources as well as for a whole class. Although independent work is common in the teaching practices I have seen, Mrs. Rubio does a fabulous job with varying her lessons, relating the lessons to the children's home life experiences and making sure all students are involved. This is a difficult challenge seeing as the age range in our classroom is 7-12 years and academic levels from not being able to read and write a complete sentence, to writing sentences fluently with correct punctuation and spelling use for the most part. This is something I have learned from Mrs. Rubio. My time with Mrs. Rubio has taught me things about this city and country that you do not get from tour or magazine, includes discussions about life, faith, and where you come from in relationship to who are, as well as many new experiences ranging from eating meat pies to discussing her experiences through life with family, and education, both her own, her childrens' and her students'. This experience in Belize has been a richer one because of Mrs. Rubio and I am thankful everyday for all that I learn from her. Without her kindness, generosity, and love for teaching that you feel through her conversations with her students I would not have been able to grow as much as I have both as a teacher and individual.
