First Week of Semester Two

Back in December, we finished first semester with a week and a half of final exams, and then I took off to go home for a couple weeks for Christmas break.  It was a lot of fun to be home and with everyone there.  I was able to spend a lot of good quality time with family including many nights watching the Bulls with grandpa Miller and reconnect with friends.  As 2013 began I had some time to reflect on the past year and how much I have been blessed in and enjoyed 2012.  I came back a couple days early to spend some time in Monte Plata.  I always love returning to Monte Plata and try to make visits there as much as possible.  I got a lot of rest there being away from all the distractions at home that would keep me awake far past my bedtime and also got some good exercise playing basketball and soccer in the hot sun.  Then on Sunday, I returned back to Santo Domingo.
Monday was a staff development day and we spent the day going over and giving input on what we what the students of our school to be able to do and the character we would like them to have.  It was definitely a long day and I was concerned I would have trouble staying awake during the meetings since I was back to the schedule of waking up early which my body was certainly not used to, but thankfully the meeting were very interactive and engaging so my eyes stayed open.  One of the last days of first semester, I was informed that due to some changing of positions with faculty that my schedule was going to change and I would have an additional class every day, which was fine with me since I felt my load was pretty light.  The plan was that the other math teacher and I would have four classes each two of those being honors, which meant she was going to take the 10th grade honors class.  I was a little sad to lose that group since they are a highly motivated and fun group, but it was how things worked out.  As a result of the changes, we had to make changes to everyone's schedules, which meant the first day of second semester would be chaos. 
About halfway through the first day of classes, we realized the was a schedule conflict with our 11th and 12th grades.  For the rest of the day we had people working on schedules trying to get them to work, but in the end there was no way to make it work other than to give me one of the groups from twelfth grade.  I went home extremely concerned that I was supposed to be teaching a calculus lesson to twelfth grade the next day (most likely at the start of the day) without even knowing the topic or having a copy of the textbook.  On top of that, I had never worked with that grade at all.  At least with the other groups I had had all of those students during first semester.  I had heard many stories about this grade and some of their behavior issues and I was concerned about how they would respond to me and all the changes.
The next day I got the textbook right as classes were starting and flew by the seat of my pants.  I didn't have any behavior problems and for the most part everyone was engaged.  It was surprising to say the least, but it was nothing that I did but rather what God is doing.  Each of the high school grades are separated into two groups (A and B), so when they come to math it becomes a blend of A and B since they are divided into the honors class and the regular class.  I knew I had some difficult groups with my regular classes because for many of them they did not make the cutoff for the honors because of behavior, so it becomes a really tough blend of students who choose to be disruptive and students who struggle with math and really need help.  There is one class in particular that I simply feel exhausted after working with them.  There was one day where I only had about five students that wanted to learn so I just put them together in a group and gave them the lesson and the others didn't care.  Sometimes we ride home with the dean of discipline since she lives down the road from us and I was telling her the students that I had all together in this particular class, and at first she said, "how can they do that?" Surprised that all these kids were allowed to be in the same classroom together, and then she let let out a little chuckle of disbelief and said, "that is a bomb." I knew it was rough, but I was working through it, I never felt like it was out of control, and I really enjoy all the students in that class. The class has definitely been better this first week of the semester.  Students that wouldn't even bring paper to class now bring their notebook AND take notes! Seriously it's huge progress.
For a lot of these kids, they lack motivation.  They have been given pretty much everything they wanted, and they see their parents money as all they need to succeed in life and a way to pay their way out of anything.  It is a really unique situation, and I really love doing what I'm doing. It's easy for an outsider to see how empty these kids are, and how much they are in need of God, but they themselves think they have it all and have no need for God even though they seek to fill a whole with things like relationships, alcohol, and drugs.  My job is to teach them math, but the other part of my job and what I feel God has called me to do is show them His love.  I find that it is really about those little teachable moments.