1° Semester as observant in Santa Ana Xalmimilulco

 I had the most beautiful and amazing experience in my practice. For me, everything was impressive, because I usually went to a private school. In the beginning, I felt frustrated because more than 40 children were in the classroom, and asking them to be silent was too difficult.

 I met a lot of people there. The guys were kind, enthusiastic, friendly, and brave but at the same time behind them, you can notice that every child has his story and it was the reason for such behavior. One of the children that I remember more is Marco, despite his disability, he was trying to get involved with his other classmates. 

During the previous weeks, I felt fortunate to work with him. I noticed that the teachers didn't pay attention and even he didn't write anything in his notebook because the teacher was spending time. Marquito has a mental disability and his body is different from his classmates, he can't talk like his classmates but he tries to communicate with some phrases. Despite his condition, for me, it was surprising when he did physical activity because he demonstrated his abilities and he was capable of doing whatever he wanted. When my classmate and I went to the classroom, he was happy and excited to learn new things, because we tried to involve everybody in our activities. 

In every classroom, we can find a teenager with a disability and it's horrible that teachers don't pay attention or even the principal doesn't propose a specific area to develop his abilities.

During the observation, my classmate and I worked with all the students because there weren't any teachers. We were just going to observe but we finished working with them. 

Everybody there had fun, and everybody wanted to stay with them for more time because, during the activities that we had prepared for them, they had learned things that they didn't know. Their faces changed every time they saw us. They just need somebody who listens to them, tells them not to give up, claps for their achievements, and is empathic. Before we went to the school a guy told us: see you, teachers, when we saw them again I would be a successful architect, and when he told us that we almost wanted to cry. 

It was so exciting to see them because the guys recognized you and started to trust you. For them, you were not a strange person, because you worked with them and they knew that if they had a problem they could count on you.

 Working with them was easier than the first time we were there. Now, you know how to deal with them, something that at the beginning was difficult, because you didn't know them.

When I was there I felt at home. On Tuesday when we were at the school all the guys were happy to see us again and wanted us to join their classes and watch the soccer game. That day the children brought their TV and an antenna to watch the game, they were so excited because their favorite team was Mexico obviously because they are Mexican. 

During our break, Josué, a guy from 1° F joined us and sat down with us. He asked us why we had decided to be a teacher, my group told him: 

Because we loved to teach, we loved to punish guys (like a joke), We wanted them to have a better future, we wanted to change minds, etc. 

Then we asked him what would he like to be when he grew up and he told us that he would like to be a soldier because he liked weapons or a veterinarian. After all, he liked animals, and also his dad worked with a lot of animals and he helped him.

 It wasn't an observation again, we worked with them because there weren't teachers to teach them. So we helped to take care of them and did some activities.

On Tuesday night I cried a lot because I didn't know if I really wanted to be a teacher. I asked myself if I did a good job with the guys. I cried all night and in the morning I didn't want to talk to anybody for the same reason. I felt frustrated but something strange happened when I was at school. When I was in Gabriela Mistral the school's name, with the guys, working, talking, even playing. I felt good, my mood changed and I think it's the place I want to be forever ❤️

On Wednesday we were working with all groups, even third grades. During our activities, we had a few accidents but we knew what to do. 

During those accidents, all the guys got worried about their classmates, and they asked them if they were okay, if they needed help, what happened, and things like that. 

During our free time, some guys came up and talked about their classes. We found out that some classmates from third grade were separated due to their 'bad behavior" that just talking, and they were sent to other groups.  Other guys told us that they didn't like the workshop they selected because they learned something that was not related to the workshop and they would be in that workshop for the three years they studied the elementary school. 

 Also this day, we decided to sightsee around Santa Ana with some guys that the Geography teacher assigned us, and also we asked them to sightsee in their town. We walked a lot with Alexander, Diego, and Johan and we were so tired because we didn't wear sneakers, also it was hot, and we were starving hahaha. We taste a traditional dessert from Santa Ana "torta de helado”. My classmates and I enjoyed sightseeing in the town with the guys. It's something that I will never forget. The guys know the place where they live and they know their people.

 On Thursday, our last day with them. We were working with all the students because there weren't any teachers again. During our free time, there were some problems with 2 girls from the third grade.

 First of all, it was the first time we were with third graders, and there was a little confusion with lighter and deodorant. My classmates punished a lighter because a girl lit it, but the problem was when the guys had the deodorant and everybody knew they could provoke an accident. So they talked to the “perfect” and told him the situation and the girl was in trouble. So in my free time, when I was walking, I could see a girl sitting on a bench but I notice that she was a little bit nervous, so I sat with her and I asked her what the problem was and she told me that she was a little bit nervous because she was afraid that she would quit school due to the last situation, but actually, she didn't do anything bad, she just wanted to curl her eyelashes. After that, she talked with the “prefecto” and he just scolded her. When both finished talking she looked for me and gave me thanks for believing in her and I just smiled at her and hugged her.

 Then that hour, I saw another girl and she was crying but I thought she felt sad due to the lighter, but then she told me that she had some problems in her family. She told me that her family didn't love her, that her family maltreated her, specifically her mom! She covered her face and she was shaking with fear. I visualized myself in her when I was 7 years old and my mom quit me so I hugged her and talked to her (something that I would have liked my teacher to do when I was a child). When I finished talking to her she understood what I was trying to say and I decided to buy a kinder delice because chocolate is the best medicine when you're sad. Then a woman arrived and she went out with her.

 Then, we continued to take care of the children. The girls who received their vaccines and of them got nervous because they didn't like vaccines. Poor babies I went with them and I had to distract them because the vaccine was very painful and the nurses were so rude to them.

 In the 3 days, we were there at the school, Marco the guy with a disability was absent. Nobody knew about him even his "prefecto". But we were working with all grades. I noticed that in each grade there was a child with a disability. During the observations, we had to cover some classes due to some teachers being absent. So we did some activities with them.

First of all, I asked them if they knew the body parts and they told me no

I started showing them the body parts I said head and they had to repeat head, then shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. We repeated this approximately 6 times. Everybody including the kids with a disability did the activity and I think they had a little bit of fun.

When we finished to learn the body parts we started the game. Everybody must be in pairs and for each pair, I gave a lollipop 🍭. They had to put it on the floor and then I gave them instructions, they had to touch the part of the body I said and when I told them "candy" they had to pick up the candy faster. 

 Avoiding accidents, I told them that never happen if they couldn't pick up the candy. When the activity finished we would give everybody a candy because we recognized that they did a good job! 

 The kids with a little disability worked with my classmates because also they needed to be included in all activities- We did 2 essays because they needed to understand the game. The game was too easy so it wasn't enough of a problem. When we did 2 essays, the real game started and everybody was excited because they wanted to win that candy. When the activity finished we gave him a lollipop and they were relaxing with their candy and started to do more activities.

 This activity was it with 6 groups. But every group acts differently! For me the most difficult group was 2F, it was an uncontrollable group nobody wanted to work with them due to their bad behavior. Also, it was the first time my group worked with them, but in general, working with the other groups was amazing! 

 I remember that on Wednesday I was alone with a group and they asked me to do the activity again because they liked it or I sang a song in English! 

 Finally, we said goodbye to the children and gave thanks for the time we were with them. We said goodbye to the person who we used to buy ice cream with when the classes finished. When I returned for more ice cream a person who was a friend of the ice cream man told me to thank you for being there, thanks for being with our children that made me happy, congratulations to our future teachers, we always remembered, and now Santa Ana would be your town we always receive you.

 I don't regret my decision to be a teacher. The school that was assigned to us was like my second house. I want to be reminded by my students all their lives, not just for the things I learned because education is not only giving and giving topics and topics. For me, education is teaching with love.