Day 8 (Wednesday): This may be the worst journal article I have written yet, as I did not eat for seven hours today and my body is not functioning properly. Ramadan is starting to get the best of me. We try to not eat in front of anyone because we do not want to make their fasting any harder, but it is starting to take a toll on the body. I would like to try and experience what it is like to fast for a whole day, but after today I feel that drinking no water all day would put me right into the hospital. On a more positive note, I taught by myself for the first time today for 3 hours. I found it easier to talk to the kids today. I think they have a better understanding of what I am saying and I of them. However, I am still pulling teeth to get them to do group work. I don't know if they don't understand the concept, or are still just being shy. I am going to make it my goal to have these kids doing group work in a fashionably manner by the end of this experience!
I hope that I can get them to take turns and accomplish tasks as a group better by the end of summer school. I did notice that when I put them in groups to draw pictures of watersheds, that they did not have as many problems working together. I think their love of drawing really showed, and allowed them to work together better. Some of the girls even brought their friends in to show them their drawings. I also got them to make bracelets to represent the water cycle, which my age group really liked (even the boys). It took almost the whole class, but their excitement was well worth it. One of the proudest moments I've had of my was yesterday when Keuba complimented me on letting a child guess the answer more than one time because apparently usually they will just ask the next student if the other student gets the question wrong. I felt proud at this moment for doing something so simple. I feel if you move from one child to the next too quickly you kill their self-esteem. I'm hoping that this way of teaching may catch on.
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