Day 10- Last full day :-(

Caye Caulker

Today is our last full day here in Belize! It has been an amazing trip full of amazing adventures, culture and great people! I am sad to leave but ready to return to some loved ones :-) We had a great breakfast this morning at George's Kitchen to start out our day. Next, we got our gear prepared for a sail and snorkel day! We walked into town to the dock where we boarded a huge catamaran- it was awesome! They had bean bag chairs spread all across the front of the boat so (after some serious sunscreen application) we all got comfy for our sail! We sailed out for about an hour- the morning was beautiful! Finally, we arrived at the Barrier Reef at Hol Chan Marine Reserve where we geared up and began snorkeling! We broke into small groups of 8 or so people and a guide who pointed out various fish, sea turtles, nurse sharks, sting rays and moray eels! It lasted for about 40 minutes and it was so beautiful and awesome- I've never been snorkeling before! When we returned to the boat, we rode for another few more minutes until we arrived at the second spot, which is called Shark & Ray Alley. Before we got off the boat, the crew began throwing sardines into the water and a big group of good sized nurse sharks and stingrays were surrounding the back of the boat! We jumped in and were able to swim with them, which was really neat! Once we got back onto the boat, we were spoiled by the crew with drinks and shrimp ceviche! We sailed for about another 40 minutes to Caye
Caulker, where we went to lunch on the beach then walked around to the shops for a couple of hours before returning to the boat. The boat ride back lasted about an hour 45 minutes- it was so relaxing!

About an hour after returning, we met for our last group dinner at Caroline's. I had the jerk shrimp (spicy) and it was definitely spicy! Even the roasted rosemary potatoes and side salad could not help to balance out the heat but it was very good! After more shopping (I'm so over shopping!) we finally returned to our hotel... exhausted!
Back to the real world tomorrow!

Caye Caulker

Day 9

Today was a free day! The day started at breakfast at the beach. Then I went into town to do some shopping. I went to the Belize Chocolate Company where I sampled a few truffles- my favorite was a dark chocolate truffle filled with chocolate ganache and pink cham
pagne- YUM!!  I also got a great deal on a red and turquoise necklace and anklet I wanted! From there I headed to the beach to lay our for a few hours. Apparently I wasn't very good at sunscreen application so I now have a handprint on my back! :-)

Dr. Parker and I had planned on going windsurfing- we did the 15 minute lesson and the guide put my board in the water but of course it then began to downpour with high winds. It got so bad that glasses at the bar fell and broke and the power went out throughout the town. Of course, once the storm stopped,  there was no wind at all, so we weren't able to go windsurfing :-(. Maybe next time! We continued the evening by going out to dinner at "The Office", which is a restaurant on the water; I had a huge plate of delicious shrimp ceviche! Finally, we returned to Pedro's Inn for karaoke! A group of us sang a few songs but Genie in a Bottle was definitely our best hit!! It was a great free day!

Day 8

Lunch at the beach!

Today was definitely an eventful day! I started out at Isla Bonita school, where I did a few student observations; unfortunately, because it is report card day, teachers were unable to leave their classrooms to attend my professional development, so that did not occur. I left there with Dr. Catapano to observe a student at ACES but he was out sick. Fortunately, I had the chance to talk briefly with the Principal who shared that they do have a few students who have gone through the NARCIE process for referring students (no other school has students who have gone through the entire process). After a student has been referred by the teachers and paperwork has been filled out by the parents, a representative from the Ministry of Ed. comes into the classroom and conducts an observation and does an assessment on the child. Unfortunately, unlike the U.S. this is where the process ends. In this particular case, they did not even give recommendations, they just told the school that they were already doing all they could and that was it. They do not actually identify students with disabilities, as this would lead to them having to provide services (which they don't have) and create goals (with no one to implement them). This is an area that I am very interested in further exploring.

Lexi & I on the water taxi 

Following this is when the adventure began. Dr. Catapano and I stopped at the water taxi and got tickets for Lexi and I to go to Caye Caulker to visit a homeschool with children with disabilities. We found that there was one leaving in about 30 minutes so I rode my bike to the school to get Lexi early; on the way back, her skirt got caught in the chain of her bike and I could not get it out! Fortunately, two men were passing by and helped us and we made it to the water taxi in time. We took the water taxi out to Caye Caulker (about 30 minutes) where we had a great lunch at a restaurant on the beach that had swings for benches! Next we had to take a taxi to the homeschool, which our driver did not really know where he was going but we made it there! I had been sent to observe one little girl in particular, she is 4 years old and Autism is suspected; I found that she did have some language delays (just starting to speak) and a few behaviors, but they seemed mostly immature tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted and she maintained eye contact and socialized with the adults. Speaking with mom was heartbreaking. She told me that when  her daughter was born, they told her that something happened and she didn't get enough oxygen to her brain and her legs were "twisted". Mom has done everything imaginable over the past few years working with her and her legs have since "straightened out" and she is able to walk; she also works on academics with her and mom noted that she can recognize many words. She shared that she tried to put her daughter in preschool but they would not let her stay due to her behavior and told mom that she would have to be homeschooled, which mom asked my thoughts about; I told her that I would love to say that the school would provide the support to her that she needed but I can't guarantee that as it's so different from the U.S.- she could definitely attend in the U.S. Mom also shared that her daughter frequently has seizures but has taken her off the medication because it makes her very aggressive; they have never seen a pediatric neurologist (they would have to go to Mexico) but no one has ever recommended that to mom so she is unsure of who to see or what to ask for. What she really needs is an advocate; she needs someone who can help her find out what she needs and how to access services (which is what all parents here really need)- she shared with me that she stays up late researching every night of ways to help her daughter.

Beautiful sunset

Our conversation was going so well that we lost track of time; at 2:20 Lexi reminded me that we needed to head down to the water taxi to catch the 2:45... unfortunately, it was really at 2:15 so we had already missed it. We enjoyed the beach for a while until the 3:45 water taxi arrived and we walked right on. I was very surprised that it was early/on time, since that's rare here. About 35 minutes into the ride, Lexi said that she thought we were heading to Belize City instead.. I asked a woman next to me and she confirmed that was true; they added that they didn't think there was another water taxi leaving for San Pedro that night so we might be stuck there and offered us a place to stay. So, we arrived at Belize City (which is in the total wrong direction) at 4:30 and as soon as we got off, I went to talk to one of the workers there who said that there were two more water taxis, one at 4:30 and one at 5:30. Fortunately, we were there in time to catch the 4:30 (it was late...of course) and the workers were very nice and didn't make us buy another ticket (but they did enjoy a few laughs at our expense I'm sure!)! The woman from the boat even offered to buy us our tickets if we needed, which was so generous of her! Fortunately, we were able to catch a great sunset from the boat!

So, after another 90 minute boat ride, we did arrive back in San Pedro. Lexi and I grabbed dinner in the square at one of the food vendors- I had the shrimp burger again and it was delicious! We finally returned to the hotel (where Dr. Catapano was very concerned) about 6 hours later. We finished the night with trivia (our team almost won!) and some great conversation!

Day 7

Today was a very busy but productive day! I began the day at the Primary school. I was able to observe the morning assembly/ devotion; the whole school sang Belize's national anthem (which was very long!). Next, I had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Addie, who is the Principal. She provided me with some background of some of the students with disabilities at the school and the types of supports and interventions that have been put into place. She relayed a concern that many of the classroom teachers have had very little or no special education training and therefore have difficulty providing instruction for the students with special needs. She said that teachers who have student concerns and want to refer them have to get parent permission and input and they have been unable to obtain this as many parents are defensive regarding this issue. We then spoke about the professional development that I will be providing tomorrow and she was enthusiastic about everything and said that the teachers (and her) would be grateful and excited for any information and strategies that I can provide. Next, I worked with an Infant I student and her mother; the student has Cerebral Palsy and is nonverbal and mom has reported that she has good receptive skills (can understand others- in both English and Spanish!) but does not have a way to communicate her wants or needs. Her mom brought in her personal iPad and I found an AAC app that has many categories of pictures that she can push and it produces a voice output so that she can tell what she wants/ needs. Following this, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with her mom, which was really enlightening and disheartening. She shared stories about traveling to Mexico (6 hours by bus) to see a pediatric neurologist for her seizures. There is currently no speech therapist in the country but one is supposed to be starting at the Inspiration center in Belize City within the next few weeks. She also shared of some challenges with accessing Physical and Occupational Therapy; she finally was able to receive PT for her daughter and they taught her to walk but there is still no OT offered. Mom also said that her daughter currently has no official educational diagnosis/identification of a disability; someone informally screened her in preschool but that was the last time.

Next, I visited the Ministry of Education office in San Pedro. She shared that at the beginning of every school year, she sends the referral form (for referring students with learning/behavior challenges) to Principals but that some schools use it and many don't. While she did not give me much other information regarding the referral-identification process, she did name many students that she wants me to observe then give recommendations/ strategies to the teachers/Principal. Following this meeting, I had a nice lunch at the beach Dr. Catapano and Dr. Parker, the conch ceviche was delicious! Next, I went to the San Pedro Roman Catholic School (Comprehensive school, government run) where I met with the Principal; they have a set of twins with speech impairments and learning challenges. They have begun the referral process for both of these boys; the family (sister) filled out a personal developmental history form for each of them and the classroom teacher completed an observation. The forms will next be sent to the Ministry of Education; the next steps are supposed to include classroom observations and assessments and I will be very interested to see if or when these steps occur. The principal shared that she has plans to provide professional development/ training to all classroom teachers in special education and that she is looking to create/ fill a position for a special education teacher. She said that while most students with special needs are able to remain in the classroom with support, there are a group of students who would benefit from a smaller, separate classroom, which is what the EC teacher would do. I observed each of the boys in their classrooms- they were very disengaged, fidgeting and did not complete the tasks at hand. When I pulled each one out individually for a few minutes, I found that in addition to being able to understand approximately 60% of their speech, they did exhibit learning challenges- they are 7 and neither could count to 30, identify letters or sounds or recognizing rhymes. They were able to write their names but could not tell me the names of the letters. Both of these boys are in need of speech and educational services.

After the busy day, I journeyed back to the hotel then to the Caribbean Villas nearby where I finally had the chance to enjoy the beach! The water was beautiful and it was great to relax for a while. When I returned, I sat by the pool for a little while talking with the undergrad student teachers and discussing some ideas for the school. Finally, I ventured into town with a grad student, where we found some really great "street food"! We both tried the shrimp burger (basically anything on a roll is considered a burger) with some special sauces, and it was amazing! It has been a long but busy and productive day! Tomorrow I will be providing the professional development to all of the teachers and Principal followed by more observations of students!

Day 6

Today was my first day at La Isla Bonita Primary school in San Pedro. I went with a group of undergraduate students who are student teaching at the school. In Belize, they follow British programming, so classes are Infant 1 and 2 followed by six standards (Kindergarten-7th grade) at the school then four forms in secondary/ high school. At this particular school, it is a Catholic school and parents pay tuition; students wear uniforms. The school in itself is very different from schools in the U.S. As you  go through the gate, you enter into the playground then walk into a courtyard type area, where they sell snacks (including candy and soda as early as 8 AM!) and have a "cafeteria", which is a window where students get their meals. There is also an area with picnic tables where students eat. Throughout the day, students have math, English Language Arts, Spanish (every other day), health, social studies, science, penmanship and in some classrooms, a time for arts and crafts. In addition, they have a morning and afternoon break as well as an hour for lunch.

There is a group of 14 undergraduate student teachers from UNCW who are also here and a group of them are at this Primary school who I went to school with (on a bike... in a skirt!). One student teacher is a Special Education major, specializing in adapted curriculum (which is what I teach; more severe students) so she has created a plan and schedule to pull students with disabilities (some identified and some not) 1:1 and created goals for them (and is doing great!). I had the opportunity to observe her working with a few of these students. Unfortunately, there are no Special Education teachers in the country of Belize and therefore once she leaves, these students will not have the extra support and individualized instruction that she is providing and that they need so we began brainstorming ways to be able to sustain her efforts for these students to get the support they need. I also had the opportunity to observe in a number of classrooms; administrators/ teachers have a lot of concerns about students who have more attentional challenges as they disrupt schools so I observed a few of these students and came up with some classroom interventions that teachers will hopefully be able to implement easily. There are a few students in the school with more moderate to severe disabilities, including students with Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and students who are Deaf or Blind. There are also many students who would be considered to have learning or mild intellectual disabilities.

Instruction was different than in the U.S. The majority of instruction that I observed was lecture, as the teacher stood at the front of the room and presented the information to the students, which is different from more modern education in the U.S. as we are more accustomed to small, cooperative groups. Student engagement and discipline is definitely an issue here as many students were disengaged and/or disruptive and teachers lacked relevant consequences and follow through. What was interesting is that all of the grades plan together and are all working on the same topics (everyone is learning to tell time); it seemed to be that some of the lessons (worksheets) in the early grades were not developmentally appropriate. I was told that many of the students with disabilities (all in regular classrooms with teachers without any special education training) were often left sitting in the corner as no one knows how to really work with them. One teacher/ student teacher did express a need for learning how to access/ differentiate lessons and work for students with disabilities so this is a topic that I will be exploring further. Tomorrow is another day at the school! I will add pictures tomorrow, I was slacking on the pictures today!

Day 5

Today was a fairly easy day compared to the others. After breakfast, we visited the University of Belize in Belmopan. Unlike Galen University, they are a public college and therefore do receive some government funding/ support in addition to tuition so they are able to offer a number of programs, including primary education. They had a lot of questions for our group in regards to student affairs. They shared that they have issues with students drinking on campus (they hide the alcohol in other bottles) and because the drinking age is 18, they have difficulty addressing this issue. One of the women also shared that they have had issues with students embezzling funds from the student government; when the college was first formed, it was determined that when a student commits an infraction, it should be used as a learning experience opposed to just turning them in to the police and therefore they are now having difficulty enforcing this rule.

Tapir

After a delicious lunch at Amigo's and some confusion about drivers, we continued on to the Belize City Zoo. What is very interesting about this zoo is that all of the animals are indigenous to Belize and they have all been rescued. One particular black jaguar, Lucky, has undergone a huge transformation since he has been rescued. My favorite animals were  the jaguars (one came up very close to the fence and posed for quite some time) and the spider monkeys; there was a sign for howler monkeys but we were unable to see them! Other animals including a few tapirs, which look like a cross between a pig and a bear to me, crocodiles, ocelots and a number of beautiful birds, including a toucan and macaw. We left the zoo to drive the rest of the way into Belize City to the water taxi station.

Water taxi to San Pedro

Beautiful sunset during the water taxi commute

We arrived at the water taxi station right before their 4 o'clock was leaving; unfortunately, due to a mix-up, we missed it but were able to get on the 4:30 (although our luggage was on the 4 :-) but it was waiting for us safely when we arrived!). A couple of us chose to sit up top of the boat in the few seats, which seemed to be the better option instead of sitting inside of the boat downstairs. The ride from Belize City to San Pedro took about an hour and a half or so, with one stop at Caye Caulker; Belize City is inland and San Pedro and Caye Caulker are in the keys. I thought that the ride was great, especially once the water changed to that perfect blue color! We even were able to watch the sunset from the boat, which was beautiful! Once we arrived to San Pedro, we had to take taxis to our hotel, Pedro's Inn. We checked in and I met briefly with the undergraduate student, who is a Special Education major, who I will be joining at the Primary school tomorrow to work with the teachers. I am really looking forward to getting into the school the next three days. From what I have learned thus far, special education is very new in Belize and there are not a lot of processes or practices currently in place, not to mention very little (or no) teacher training in working with students with disabilities so that should be interesting!

Day 4

Another awesome day in Belize! We began with an early breakfast followed by a long and extremely bumpy/ rough drive. After about an hour we arrived at Rio Frio Cave. While we went to a cave yesterday, this was completely different, as it's only about 3/4 of a mile long with wide openings on both ends. It was absolutely beautiful!























After leaving the cave, we drove a couple of miles to a military stop where the driver/ guide had to check in. Because this area is on the border of Guatemala, a number of people will try to sneak into Belize and steal resources, including lumber and a particular plant (it continues to grow for 45 days after it is cut). As a result, a military convoy escorts groups to the Caracol site, which was another 17 miles up the rocky road. We arrived at Caracol (meaning "snail shell"), which is a Mayan archaeological site. Its history traces back to as early as 1200 BC and lasted until around 1000 AD; there are numerous theories regarding the decline of the Mayan civilization, including overpopulation, which impacted the ability to grow enough food, etc. as well as a number of battles with neighboring Mayan communities.

The Barrio with our guide, Mario

Part of the group at the top of one of the large structures

We began our tour in the Barrio, which was a palatial structure where the royalty lived. We then walked through a few different plaza, which included a number of large structures, some of which included rooms or tombs. The structures were immaculate and few words are able to describe how amazing these buildings that were built nearly two thousand years ago are so grand and so in tact! The bricks were cut from rocks or limestone and a stucco-like substance was created by grounding up limestone into a powder and adding water to hold the bricks together. One plaza was reserved only for ceremonies and rituals, including human sacrifice. Another area, the observatory was only used by high priests in order to observe the sun (solstice) for agricultural purposes. I did climb all of the structures that you are allowed to (they do not permit you to climb the temple); it was definitely a workout going up (and especially down) all of those steps but the view was amazing! You could see neighboring Guatemala from the top of one of the structures. We were able to see some of the original glyphs and monuments that were carved, although we were told that a great deal of the artifacts are now housed in museums in other countries for protection once they were analyzed. Our tour guide, Mario, had a wealth of information about the history and culture of the Mayans, not to mention he was able to run down the steps like a champ! Following the extensive tour, we had a quick lunch and returned to the van for our next adventure! This was an awesome experience as its unbelievable that the Mayans were able to not only build these structures with no technology (there is evidence of a ramp on one structure) but that they are still standing today! Also, it is so interesting to think about what the village life would have been like- only the elite lived in these stone structures, the peasants lived outside of the village; if you lived in a rock structure, it was a sign of prestige.

A few of the glyphs we found

Ceremonial temple where rituals were held

We made it to the top!

The waterfall

Part of our walk to and from the waterfall

As a final stop before returning, we stopped at a waterfall with a swimming area. It was a difficult walk down- some rock steps and dirt- then once we reached the area, it was difficult to maneuver across the large rocks. I finally took my flip flops off (not the best shoes for this case) and walked barefoot. We spent the next 45-60 minutes swimming, some jumped off rocks and sitting under the waterfall- which was very difficult to get to due to the strong current- you could only swim so far then you had to find your footing on the rock wall and push off to the next spot. It was really awesome to sit under the waterfall. A few locals told us that legend says that the Mayan's gold is hidden behind the waterfall but that no one has been able to get to it yet. When our time was up, we returned to the van (no easy feat) before driving back. It has been a very physical couple of days and we are all exhausted! The rest of the evening was spent relaxing then dinner at a local restaurant, where the jerk chicken was so delicious! Tomorrow we are returning to Belmopan to go to University of Belize then to the Belize zoo before heading to San Pedro.