February 2, 2010

Ugh, tough Monday. In my 8th grade U.S. history class I just finished the Revolutionary War and I am trying to teach them the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. I knew the students were struggling when one of them raised their hand and asked, “So, is the Articles of Confederation a person or a document?” This is a tough job I have; teaching United States history to Honduran children whose second language is English (and for many of them isn’t that good). But I am doing what I can and trying not to get frustrated. Don’t get me wrong, I love it down here and love the kids, but moments like that make it tough, and I just need to punch through, and be creative and straight forward with how I teach the content so that it will get through to the kids.

The above was written this morning, the following is written this evening.

I am in a tough position with my 8th grade U.S history class. I have 14 chapters of content to get through in the next 14 weeks, and it has taken me two days to teach what the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution are and how they relate to U.S government. So, to reiterate what I wrote this morning, ugh. The question comes down to what is more important, should I present all the content and only skim the surface of all of it? Or, do I take my time and make sure the students get the information (which will then cause me to not get through all of the content)? I am split right now. But I love this, I am actually teaching what I love and have to make decisions about how and what I teach. My current thoughts on this matter is to slow down and make sure the students understand the content we are talking about now. However, I know the school wants me to stick to the curriculum and complete it.

Let me know what you think. I am planning on talking to my principal this week to see what his thoughts are about this topic.