The roosters in the Dominican Republic are the loudest I have ever heard any place (they are also perhaps the most confused, as they crow all day long!). With literally no need for an alarm clock we were up and ready for our early-morning start back into the Batey Lecheria.
Though only 7:00 in the morning, the day’s intense heat was already beginning to take form. We drove through the crowded streets of Santo Domingo and then on past the outskirts. As we neared the Batey we began to recognize some of the familiar sights and smells from our previous trip: families cooking over open embers outside of their makeshift houses; children as young as one or two years old, half-clothed and wandering the surrounding fields, and of course, the endless garbage.
Though school is not currently in session for the children of the Batey, many knew that “los Americanos” were returning today, and ran to greet us at the gates of SHCJ. Once again we were met with shouts of “Profe! Profe!” as they threw their arms around our waists.
After saying all of our good mornings, we headed into the school to begin setting up for our workshops. The staff of SHCJ had arrived early too, seeming very eager to take in everything we had to offer. The pressure was on! The day would begin with the large group “mock-classroom” observation, and then all smaller group workshops would branch out from the various topics covered. Mary Alice had expressed to us that her teachers respond best to learning through interactive activities (very Montessori!), rather than through lecture. I admit that I am usually the first to run and hide whenever anyone suggests a game of charades, but for the sake of delivering our painstakingly planned curriculum, I tried to put my ego in check. It wasn’t easy!
Through our hour-long demonstration of “a typical day” in a Montessori environment, we role-modeled every facet of daily life in the classroom, while the teachers of SHCJ took notes based on the guided-thinking questions we had provided. Ms Torres and Ms Valdez were our star performers as “Profe Teresa” and “Profe Melissa” (we felt it best to assign the roles of teacher to those of us who speak fluent Spanish!). The rest of our little gang played the children, each assigned various personality traits, and given specific tasks/scenes to perform which are typical of any given day in the classroom. Lilian interrupted the teachers trying to present a lesson, Mike and Irina fought over a work that they both wanted, Holli cried for her mommy, Irina spilled her water….well you get the picture. In the end, I have to admit it was great fun and we only slightly regret that Mr. Williams has is all captured on video!
After a short break we next divided the staff of SHCJ into three smaller groups for three rotating workshops based on topics from the mock classroom. Again, Mr. Williams filmed each workshop so that the staff of SHCJ would have reference material to go back to throughout the school year. We were very pleased to hear the feedback from the staff about what they had observed. Their questions were very useful in guiding the direction of each workshop and planning for the rest of the week. It was clear from all of our discussion that they are most keen to delve into the practical application of everything they have learned so far. Most of the questions asked of us began with “How do we…” so tomorrow we will introduce them to the wonderful world of “Materials Building and Curriculum Planning”…so far so good! :)
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