Rita and R.E.S.

I moved into my new home a few days before school started last week. Our dorm is located on the school campus of MIHS (Marshall Islands High School), MMS (Majuro Middle School), and NVTI (National Vocational Technical Institute). Rita Elementary School is about a 7 minute walk from my doorstep, and going through this campus and community makes it inevitable that I will see either my students or the students of the people I live with (3 other WorldTeach and 3 Dartmouth volunteers).

After living in Ajeltake for about a month, Rita has shown a completely different side of Majuro. Ajeltake could be considered the suburbs as the area is green and lush with good amounts of space between houses. Rita on the other hand is one of the most crowded parts of Majuro with shacks and houses jumbled together and people just sort of hanging around at all hours of the day/night. The move here is keeping Majuro interesting though, as I’m living the rest of my year in a completely different environment than when I started.

The teachers in Rita have been extremely kind to me so far, and I can’t help but think that they’ll be one of the major forces that will keep me enthusiastic and positive this year. Whenever I’ve felt or looked completely lost at staff meetings, there is usually somebody who offers a kind gesture, whether it be a can of iced tea, a breadfruit nut, or a slice of chocolate cake during our 10am recess.

My role at RES is to serve as the main ELA (English Language Arts) teacher for third grade, and supplementary to the second grade. From 8 am until noon, I teach four sections of third grade of about 27 students. After my lunch break and planning period, I go back to teach one of the four sections of second grade, which changes every day from Monday through Thursday. This year, RES implemented a major teaching change so instead of having the students rotate, the students stay in the same room all day. Because of the change, I’m working as a traveling teacher so it definitely takes a bit more planning to make sure I’m prepared to go to each class every day with all the supplies needed. There’s a huge gap in ability levels between the students in every class which also creates a challenge to planning, but hopefully throughout the year I’ll learn how to deal with that and help everyone improve. All teaching tips and advice are much appreciated! :)