internet????

I feel like every time I write a blog post or send a letter, I have to apologize for how long it has taken me to do so.  Gosh – it’s 2011 – you’d think there would be wifi and reliable high speed internet in all developing countries by now!  Allegedly, Pohnpei has these things.  But, after my drawn-out and circuitous struggle to procure a simple dial-up connection in my home, I have started to doubt the claims.  I’m not really in a place to complain about such trivial matters when there are other things much more pressing to the Pohnpeian people (and to myself); but seriously, can I please just make one phone call to my mother so that we can have the following conversation?

Me: “Hi Mom, I cannot believe how difficult teaching is, how the heck do you make it look so easy?”

Mom: “That’s the first thing you say after a month of not calling me??  I love and missed you too…  Anyways Scott, it comes from many years of trial and error and learning from your mistakes!”

Me: “Okay but I am here for one year, so how can I make it easy sooner rather than later?”

Mom: “Well, you could try sucking it up.”

Me: “So you’re saying that the magical solution I am looking for is time and experience?”

Mom: “Either that or a magical assistant who does all of your lesson planning, prep-work, instruction, grading, and end-of-the-day foot massages.”

Me: “Do you think you could send some money so I can pay Gabrielle to do that?”

Or maybe something like that (for the record, my mom is a sweet caring lady who would have provided much more empathetic responses).  The point is, I have at my disposal a veteran teacher who loves me and is willing – nay, wants – to help me, and I can’t talk to her about my first three weeks of school because telecom won’t press the one button that delivers internet to my modem.  For some reason, I have it in my head that all it takes to activate the internet is the click of a mouse, and there’s a guy sitting in his chair – next to said mouse – laughing manically as he watches me through his hidden camera while I frantically restart my modem a dozen times in a row.  If you are reading this right now, it’s because this mysterious man has relented and granted me mercy.  If you are out there, mysterious man, thank you. 

As I write this, I have a pulse.  For this reason, I am fairly certain that I have survived the first two and a half weeks of school.  I’m being dramatic – it wasn’t that bad.  Although I now understand my mom’s exhaustion at the end of a long work day, I think that teaching in Pohnpei is very rewarding and I dare say, fun.  At the last minute, I received an extra class so I now have upper level Algebra I and Geometry classes, and a lower level Algebra I.  The hardest part of this arrangement is that I have to create three unique 90 minute lessons for each day.  Making them informative, helpful, engaging, interesting, easy to understand, unique, and beneficial for an extremely multi-level class is the other hardest part.  But the students couldn’t be better and they are way smarter than anyone gives them credit for.  I can’t speak for their English skills (you can read Gabrielle’s blog if you’re looking for that), but they have a solid foundation of most math topics, so about 40% of what I have been doing is refreshing and reviewing.  

Nanpei Memorial High School.  My classroom is behind the baseball backstop on the left side of the photo.  The cafeteria is the building to the right.  Although the large tree is blocking the view of the mountains, the school is tucked away in a simply breathtaking natural environment.

Our classrooms!  It is a two room building that is used by the WorldTeach volunteers every year.

Gabrielle and I outside of my classroom.  Gabrielle's classroom is right down the "hall" to the right.  The windows/walls are made from mesh so it's a surprisingly well ventilated room!  By well-ventilated, I mean that sometimes I actually don't sweat while I'm teaching.

Sometimes I think it would actually be easier if my students were worse at math because then I could go step by step with the book and build the foundation myself.  As it is now, they are extremely fluent in some topics that you wouldn’t expect, and extremely deficient in other topics that you would assume they know.  This makes my job more difficult because I have to parse through the material to find the things that they need to know and skip what they already know.  In other words, to continue with the house metaphor, I have had to fill in large gaps of the “foundation” that were never built while skipping over parts of the house that were apparently already built.  It’s all very frustrating.  In one class period, I could have my students bored to tears because they’ve seen the material 50 times to being completely overwhelmed by new information.  The ranges of both math proficiency and English proficiency create a staggering achievement gap in my classes and thus a huge challenge for me as I try to move the entire class forward.  In some cases, there are students who have neither the foundation NOR the house and are sort of left in the dust trying to catch up.  Interestingly, my most difficult class to teach is also my highest level class because despite pre-tests and assessments, I have no idea what they already know.  Sometimes they astound me with their aptitude and other times they bewilder me with their misunderstanding.

My classroom!  Sans students.  Those walls used to be white!

 I could go on endlessly about classes but I’ll have plenty of time throughout the year for that.  The only reason I have time to write right now is because water outages were responsible for cancelling school early today.  Apparently, these things are a common occurrence.  I thought that a run would be a great way to occupy myself during the extra free time but I neglected to think about my need for a shower afterwards.  Like I said: water outages.  Due to a generous offer from a non-WT volunteer living down the road, I was able to use a local river for a bath.  I wish I could describe how it felt to be standing completely alone in a stream, in a jungle, naked, in the blackness of the night, and rinsing the Pantene out of my hair with a bucket.  It is such a surreal yet calming thing to do.  For the 100^th time this month I asked myself, how the hell did I get a chance to do something like this?  And that’s what makes it all worth it.  

A stormy sunset at Seinwar Elementary School.  In the distance you can see some construction equipment seemingly floating in the water.  On the right, the bluriness is rainfall over the reef.

 For those of you who have sent me mail, email, packages, or messages, THANK YOU so much and I promise I will get back to you as soon as I can.  I have not forgotten about you, and I’m sorry if you thought I was being distant.  I am only distant in the physical sense.  I will do my best to give you the responses you deserve!!