I Didn´t Start the Fire

6-16-09

Last night I was working with the 10th grade night class of the high school in Limpio. I´m working with the kids when they have Orientation, which is essentially a free period that they have with the principal. Apparently she has no control over the kids. I found this out last night. I started off with an ice breaker on teamwork. Each group has to wrap a present (an empty matchbox) with some magazine pages and tape. Each person can only use one hand, so obviously team work is required.

My first problem was that the principal did not seem to care what was happening in the class, nor did she have ANY control over the kids. My second problem was that I somehow missed taking out one of the matches from one of the matchboxes. My third is that...umm...those kids are HELLIANS! So a fire was started. The kids started burning a handful of papers on the floor of the classroom. I couldn´t believe it. I obviously yelled at them but they did not seem to be in much of a hurry to put it out. After about 30 seconds of me telling the kid in Spanish to stomp it out (while swearing a great deal in English), he did so. I gave the class a lecture. The principal walked out. The kids were better for about 8 minutes. We changed activities, each kid was given a handful of dried beans. I then had several beans thrown at me.

By the end of the class I was convinced never to have children. I told the principal I didn´t think I was interested in working with that particular class again, mentioning the small fire as a reason. She seemed distant, unphased by it all and just shrugged. They were kind of off today, she finally admitted. As soon as I walked out onto the street I burst out laughing. How do I have such little control of classrooms in this country??