I finished my first day of teaching at Amigos de Jesús alone in my classroom with my head down on my desk. What was I thinking when I signed up to do this? I thought as I replayed the day in my head. It seemed like a whirlwind of trying to convince my second graders to stay in their desks, learning names, and confiscating nances – a small yellow berry that grew by the soccer field – from every imaginable hiding place throughout the room. At about 8:15 that morning – when I realized that the students didn’t understand anything I was saying – I began to feel like I was in over my head. This thought was confirmed by the end of the day when one student stormed out of the classroom in tears because he didn’t receive a Finding Nemo sticker.
My fellow teachers gave me some encouragement that night, and I worked up the courage to return to the classroom the next day. Throughout the year, our class had some other days like that first one: I grew accustomed to tears over stickers and lessons that didn’t go as planned. As the year progressed, however, we also had beautiful and fun days that often caught me by surprise. I would be fully invested in trying to keep my Days of the Week poster stuck to the wall when I would hear, “Mr. Ben, will you read this book with me?”, and all the challenges of the classroom suddenly felt less significant. I would be despairing about how I was possibly going to find time to finish the parcial reports when I would see a student share a new pencil – the golden currency of second grade – with her friend. These moments often came unexpectedly and reminded me of the importance of the work that I was doing with BECA.
When I finished my year at ADJ, I said a tearful goodbye and thought that I would be done with teaching. As I settled back into life in the States, though, I wasn’t able to shake the hold that BECA, Honduras, and education had on me. For all the challenges that I faced that year, I also was given some precious gifts. Each morning began with hugs and high-fives. Every afternoon I got to help 7-year-olds practice their reading and see their excitement as new worlds opened to them through books. Each night, I was exhausted but happy with the work that I had done and the progress that my students were making.
Ultimately, it was moments like these that made me decide to study education and make teaching my profession. What I thought was a one year adventure in Honduras has turned into something much greater because of the sweet kids, dedicated families, and caring co-workers that I met through BECA. As I work on my education degree, my days are filled with learning about educational philosophers and teaching strategies. After a year with the second graders at ADJ, I can combine those theories with the knowledge that most problems can be solved with a liberal sticker policy and a belief that it always gets better after the first day.
Benjamin Umhoefer was the founding second-grade teacher at Amigos de Jesús Bilingual School during the 2013-2014 school year. He currently studies Special Education at The City University of Seattle.
