FUNEAP Workshop on Classroom Management

(You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.
Haga click en las fotos para verlas mas grande.)

The topic for this month’s FUNEAP workshop was classroom management. The participants learned how define clear and consistent behavioral expectations for classroom activities and common transitions that occur within and between the activities. They also learned how to teach behavioral expectations, model examples of expected and non-participatory behaviors, monitor student behavior, and provide feedback during and after activities and transitions.

   

Participants worked in groups to create a visual display for expected behaviors during an activity or transition. In this activity, they incorporated their knowledge of characteristics of students with learning problems and principles of Universal Design for Learning (previous FUNEAP workshop topics). Many of the participants are working in challenging conditions that include large class sizes, few resources, and challenging behaviors from streetwise children and youth. Despite the working conditions, they have terrific attitudes and they’re eager to learn strategies that will help them better address the needs of students with learning problems in their schools.   

Most of the classroom management information I presented at this workshop came from Randy Sprick’s (2009) textbook, CHAMPS: A Proactive & Positive Approach to Classroom Management.

  

         

  

  

Celebrating the Founding of Guayaquil at Colegio Americano

Primary Students Perform a Traditional Folk Dance

The founding of Guayaquil is celebrated in July with parades and other festivities downtown and at schools across the city. There are a few popular explanations about how Guayaquil got its name. According to legend, Guayaquil is named after an Indian prince and his wife, Guayas  and Quil, who fought against invasion from the Incas and Spanish conquistadors. Rather than surrendering to the Spaniards, Guayas and Quil committed double suicide with Guayas killing Quil and then drowning himself. Another explanation is that the word Guayaquil is traslation from "Our Big House" in Kichwa, a dialect of the Quechuan language that is spoken by indigenous populations in Ecuador and Colombia.


Regardless of how Guayaquil got its name, there was a history of fighting between the indigenous people and the Spanish before and after the city was founded by Francisco de Orellana in 1537 or 1538. 


 Colegio Americano’s Preschool celebrated the founding of Guayaquil by parading through the school campus and having breakfast of comidas tipicas (typical foods) on the Preschool lawn. The Primary school held an assembly that included historical and cultural song and dance performed by the students.

Preschool Children Eat Breakfast of Comidas Tipicas on the Lawn



The celebration included a performance by a bells band from a local private naval academy, the Unidad Educative Academia Naval Almirante Illingworth.



Escuela Maria Luisa Mariscal de Guevara



Front Door to the School
Parents are waiting to pick up their children at the end of the school day.
(You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)

Public School María Luisa Mariscal de Guevara is located in Guasmo Central, an impoverished area of Guayaquil on the Isla de Trinidad. As we were driving to the school, I was aware that the roads were getting narrower and narrower and both the roads and houses in poorer condition. For safety reasons, this is an area of the city Mike and I would never venture into by ourselves. I am thankful for the opportunity to visit the schools provided by the participants in my class who are administrators in the Ecuadoran Ministry of Education.

Preschool Children During Recess



A Preschool Classroom

The school has 116 children in the preschool, and 917 students in primary through the 10^th grade. Ecuadoran law requires students to attend school through the 10^th grade, although there are scant resources to find students who are truant or never enroll in the first place. This school doesn’t have 11^th and 12^th grade, but students can apply to attend another public school for the final two years.

Snack Time in Preschool
Children bring their own snacks and lunch.

Class sizes are similar to the other schools I have visited. A 1^st basic class (5 year olds, equivalent to U.S. Kindergarten) has 27 students, 2^nd basic (U.S. equivalent to first grade) has 40 students, and a 7^th basic class has 41 students. There are about 54 students identified as having “learning problems,” although the school's administration didn’t have any documentation regarding type of disability, areas of need, or instructional programs the students were receiving. The teacher in charge of the students with learning problems has the title “maestro de aula de apoyo,” which translates to something like “support classroom teacher.” This teacher has a small office-sized classroom with a couple of short tables and some tiny little chairs. 

Student Taking a Test in a Primary Classroom

Primary students are working on phonics skills with new materials purchased
through inclusive education funds from the government.

Earlier this week I read in the newspaper that some pubic schools still had not been issued the government textbooks. The school year started in March. In this school I did see that students in some of the classes had one or two textbooks. Some of the books were photocopied.



A Typical Primay Classroom

Some Upper Level Primary Students Share a Desk



As with the previous school I visited, when I pulled out my camera during the recess period, I thought there was going to be a stampede. The students pushed at each other to get close, and I’m sure some would have gone down if I hadn’t put away my camera and some of the teachers come to help calm the crowd. I will be more careful at the next school! I am amazed at the way the children react to me. I don’t think I look all too different from them, but when I walk among them they all crowd around me, and as many as six or seven children will touch my arms as we’re walking. It makes me think that perhaps these children have never had the opportunity to see a “live” Caucasian person.

A Primary Classroom
This photo shows about two-thirds of the students in the class. 

Children Pushing Forward to Get in the Picture

Primary Students at Recess

A Secondary Class

Common House Geckos

We share an apartment with Common House Geckos. I’m not sure how many live with us. They don’t take up much space, and we really don’t mind having them around, especially considering their diet (bugs!). Apparently we have enough bugs to sustain several Geckos. These little Geckos make a loud clucking noise like a chicken. When we first moved into our apartment I heard the clucking on our porch, and thought one of our neighbors had a cockatiel (our cockatiel, Henry, makes the same clucking sound; maybe Henry has been to Ecuador!). Then we heard the sound in our bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room. We finally figured out that it was the Geckos. They’re a little camera shy, but I finally got a photo of one.

Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco (White Hill Forest Protector)

Mike allowed to have his picture taken so he could rest for a few minutes.




This spider was 6 or 7 inches long. It eats bugs, rodents, and birds.

 

The Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco is located just outside Guayaquil and is about a 15 minute drive from our apartment. Cerro Blanco is a “dry tropical forest” - typical forests that are found nearer to the coast. The coastal regions have two seasons: rainy and dry. The rainy season, which is hot and humid, is from December through April. The rest of the year is cooler with overcast skies, but no rain. The dry, cool season is influenced by the Humboldt current that brings cold water and air up the coast of South America from Antarctica. “Dry” means no rain; it’s still humid and foggy in the morning, and clouds cover the tops of the hills.



Anteater
oso hormiguero



I think the butterflies liked the smell of my sunscreen.

We went to the Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco in March. The trail we took was about four miles long, and the first half was just about straight up the hill (mountain). We went during the middle of the day, so we didn’t see much wildlife other than lots of spiders (big ones!), bugs, butterflies, and an anteater, which was a rare sighting, according to the guide.

Ceibo (Kapok) Tree

Another Ceibo Tree



A Termite Nest