Day 163.

Today, I...

saw a man smoking as he ran at the track. Counterproductive much?

missed blasting music on a car ride.

realized I am going to miss all the fresh fruit. Today I had papaya, straight cas (something I had never tried before -- VERY acidic), banana, mango, and manzana de agua (a water apple that tastes like roses). Yay for farmer's markets!

learned just how smart two of my students are. Major changes are being made at the Refuge...tension about the whole being lax and forgiving vs. teaching and enforcing discipline has been mounting and transformation is taking place. My entire class got less than 30 out of 54 points on their last test, except for Karen and Kassandra who both got over 50. While I'm going back to review the chapter with everyone else, I let these two girls work ahead in our books. They completed a weeks' work of lesson plans in 40 minutes.

smiled when my students made what I call "Built-Up Build-Me-Up" poems in typing class. Each girl wrote their name at the top of a word document and then rotated to the seat on her immediate right. I gave them 45 seconds to type a nice trait about the girl who's name was on the screen and had them then rotate to the next seat. When all was said and done, each girl had a monitor full of positive comments. I always have each girl tell me one thing she learned before she is allowed to leave for the day; Ana (a tattooed and troubled girl who has threatened to beat several girls/leaders/leader's daughters) sent me a giant grin and beamed, "I learned that I have friends who really love me."

--Hannah