After desayuno in the hotel I decided to go hiking. Classes in the Cerro Colorado school don't begin until the afternoon because of the cold morning weather. I hiked along the river bed past the Atahualp Yupanqui Museum. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I didn't even feel the cold. It was great to be alone with my thoughts for that block of time and the only interruption being an occasional group of parrots scolding me for invading their space.
I walked back toward the village at noon. My plan was to get a sandwich somewhere and then head to the school. As I walked past a cluster of houses, Mariana and Marcelo came out to greet me. I discovered through our conversation that classes begin at 12:30 not 1:30 as I had been told. Changing my plans I decided to pass on the sandwich and walked directly to the school.
When I got to the school, the principal and Cycle 2 (4th, 5th, 6th grades) teacher was pleased to see me. Juan is 40 years old and is only a substitute principal at the school. He has been a substitute for several years now. He lives in a town that is 90 km from Cerro Colorado. He rides his motorcycle to Cerro Colorado and then stays at the school until Friday, when he returns home. He sleeps on a mattress he rolls out on the floor in his office.
The students were in the comedor having lunch. Juan invited me to join him for lunch. Lunch is cooked at the school by a man from the village. We had an OK hamburger with gravy ghoulash. When we got halfway finished with our plate, Juan announced that it was time to start class.
We got up and went to his classroom. He had 15 students present today - four 4th graders, six 5th graders, and seven 6th graders. Juan gives full group instruction and then differentiates the assignments according to grade level. All of his lesson/concepts for the year are written on 6" X 8" index cards. When he teaches the lesson he just pulls out the necessary card.
Class began with prayer - complete with the sign of the cross. I guess this is acceptable as long as no one complains. Juan then checked homework. He had given the students instructions for an origami project which was an extension of their geometry lesson. Since less than half of the students were able to complete the project he walked through the steps with them in class. He did not finish, however, before moving on to a review of geometrical terms.
A bell rang and the students went to the comedor for milk and then outside for a 15 minute recess.
When the students returned Juan did a lesson with them on prevention of carbon monoxide poisoning. He started by doing a little skit in which he dressed as the villain Monoxidio de Carbon. The students then were given copies of different periodical articles which they had to read and report out. It looked like Juan was going to move into a cooperative group activity but instead just explained the roles of group members in a cooperative group activity.
Juan seemed to think that I was there to observe him teaching. He didn't realize that I was more interested in his role as principal. He was obviously trying to show me he knew all the current teaching strategies (which he did) but he never followed through with using them.
I stepped out and walked over to the Cycle 1 (1st, 2nd, 3rd grades) room. There the teacher moved each grade to a different part of the room and taught them separately. Those who were not working with the teacher did seat work.
I walked across the hall to the Jardin de Ninos. The teacher only had two of her five students today, so she was able to talk to me. She said that she and Roberto attended this school when they were children. When she attended the school there were 130 students, now there are only 42. She attributes this to smaller families and to families moving away to find work. She also told me that less than half of the students continue in secundaria once they finish 6th grade at Cerro Colorado. This is inspite of the law that requires education until the age of 18.
The day ended and students filed out to the patio for closing activities. The flag was taken down and there were closing announcements. I said my good bye's and thank you's and walked back to the hotel.
I was impressed by how many resources this rural school had. Marce told me that this isn't surprising. Often, the rural schools and poor urban schools qualify for projects that give them more resources than their middle class urban counterparts.
Anna, the hotel proprietor, arranged for a friend of hers to drive us to Santa Elena. There we caught the bus to Cordova. I took a taxi from the bus terminal to Marce's house.
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