My first day at Westwood Elementary!

What an amazing day! I never thought that a public school could have so many resources, be so beautiful and colorful, also well organized and structured. we were very welcome, had a tour and spend all day observing and sometimes participating in classes. Mrs. Sirkis gave the opportunity to be her assistant in class, help to check assignment and assist kids with questions about her nouns and adjectives class and also in maths.
Kids asked me so many questions, from my favorite color to my favorite wood, what kind of animals we have in my country, even about transportation, so creative and curious students, I loved it.
I took notes about some techniques that she used in her ELD (English Language Development) class, and also the math class. I noticed that most of the classes were students centered, I was astonished that she usually give them some ideas but almost never do anything for them, whenever they need help, they showed her what they had and she ask them that they thought they need to make it better or to make it work, and most of the time they came with a brilliant idea. I never thought that a 2nd grader ss could be able to do so many things on their own. In Panama I have done so many things for them, just to save time. I feel ashame imagine how many time my student lost a learning chance because I thought they weren't able to do it. They also have a marvelous classroom call EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) were students also develop theirs on technological projects, based on problem-solving for worldwide situations and innovation opportunities.
I still thinking about what of the classroom arrangement technique and activities I can apply in Panama. Certainly, we don't have as many resources and this delay the class, because not all the student brings assign material to work on a project, we don't have as many books for reading and technology is not an available resource in all moment.
Tomorrow is a new day, I will continue observing and notating as many ideas as I can to make a full strategic plan for when I go back to Panama to start a new teaching style.