Kimberly's School in Tepoztlán

Kimberly teaches at El Sabino, the same school Lea attended here in 2009 for part of kindergarten. Although it is in a different location now and has grown, El Sabino, a private school with approximately 50 kids total, ages 3-9, is the same magical place we originally discovered.

I teach art along with some English to 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. I manage to get by mostly with my limited Spanish, demonstrations, and of course hand gestures! There is a student who speaks perfect English and others speak some, so they help with translation.

The school uses the Montessori philosophy. A large yard featuring sculptures, a bird house, a chicken coop, a playground with bicycles, play structures, and a play "airplane" overlook the mountains. There are a couple open-air classrooms, and the indoor rooms have large windows. It is a heavenly place to teach and to learn!

This is a view when you enter the school. Our art class is now in this building.

These canopies shine in the sunlight!

The flowers on the property are beautiful!

The bird house in the yard.

The playground with the airplane on the right.

Beautiful sculptures in the yard.

This is quite a bench, huh?

Tibetan peace flags hang in the yard.

The chicken coop.

The outdoor classroom that I originally taught in.

The older children's classroom, right above where we have art class.

A room in the preschool area.

 

A short video which is a tour of the school.

A short video of girls playing on the play airplane in the yard.

The director asked me last year if I would teach at the school. I was thrilled by the invitation! The other staff members have been welcoming toward me, and the kids seem happy to have a special art class.

The director at a harvest festival at the school.

I'm coming from a much more rigid approach in regard to education so I've had to get accustomed to things being much slower paced and functioning more from a heart space.

I teach a few students at a time opposed to a large group. The 20 children flow in and out of art class.  This approach has definitely taken time for me to get used to, but what a gift it has been for me to teach a small group of children at a time (4-5) who are truly interested and engaged. We move at a much slower pace than at my school at home, with no expectations to finish any given project at any certain time. It's a peaceful environment where creativity and spirituality is emphasized.

Initially I taught 10 children at a time for an hour each. Now we have class indoors with 3-5 children at a time and they flow in and out of the art space.

Yes, and there's even a cat at the school!

The children working in their classroom above the art space with one of their teachers.

Here I am with my students who eat lunch outside.

And lunch with some of the girls that I teach.



A short video of my student's working on their art.

The director (who I've grown to love) pulls me aside and we talk about teaching from the heart and  allowing and encouraging the flow of creativity from the students. For example, we recently did watercolor paintings of flowers. I first talked with the kids about how flowers are a gift of nature and that we can examine closely their detail and beauty. We went out to the large yard and each student examined a flower closely. They began by drawing it in pencil and then came inside and colored their drawings with oil pastels. I demonstrated blending of oil pastels as an introduction to the blending of colors when using watercolor paints. They then moved on to their paintings. How beautifully they turned out!

When any given student feels they are done with their art for the day, they leave and go back to their classroom. If a student is deeply engaged and focused, they can stay longer. So there aren't the same time or number constraints as at home; there is freedom and lack of stress. The children are very well behaved, motivated and interested in learning.

 

A few of the younger faces around the school.

In addition to teaching, I enjoy displaying the children's art work. It's also been a pleasure to attend some of the school- wide events held outside of the school day.

The first project we did which focused on the student's names with design elements.

And cut out paper collages.

Torn Paper Masks.

And drawings of famous people that each student was assigned to work with.

An evening event before winter vacation.

I have to admit that I have mixed feelings teaching at this private school. I teach at a low-income public school in Madison and have always been committed to public education. Teaching at this private school here in Mexico forces me to see that all over the world, it is privileged children who have access to this kind of education. It isn't fair that there's such a wide gap between the haves and the have-nots, especially for children, simply as a result of the economic class they were born into.

If you saw my last blog post, you learned about the public school that Lea is now attending. She has 39 children in her class to one teacher, in comparison to the 20 children I teach who have two teachers and an additional helper. My daughter's public school in our barrio has limited resources. The walls of her classroom are practically blank and the playground is cement block.

Lea's classroom in comparison to the private school.

The playground at Lea's school. This helps illustrate how different public schools are from the private.

A typical family from Tepoztlán could not afford to send their child to El Sabino. I have found that most of the children's parents at the private school were brought up in other countries. Most of the students have light skin at the school, and most (if not all) of the children at Lea's public school have darker skin. There is a direct correlation here in terms of race and economic class-- a world wide issue which I hope to see change in my lifetime.

I thought this painting of one of my past student's artwork in Madison was fitting to show here.

And another painting. It's important to remember that our children are our future!

It wasn't a hard decision for us to send Lea to the public school in our barrio. We wanted her to have more of a genuine experience.  Even though we could afford the private school and sending Lea to the private school would have felt perhaps easier, more comfortable, and more familiar to us, we knew that's certainly not what this journey is about for our family. As at home, we also support neighborhood schools. When we walk through our barrio here, we know most of the children, or they at least look familiar. Lea's friends live closeby and we feel a sense of community where we live. In the private school, children live all over the village.

It has been a great experience for me to teach art here in Tepoztlán. I feel blessed to have the opportunity! I also feel good about returning to Madison and teaching the population that I am more accustomed to. There is a way in which I feel they need me more than these kids do here at the private school, although it's also important to remember that kids are kids no matter what race, class, ethnicity, gender, etc.

I hope to bring back some of the relaxed, spiritual, and  creative inspiration that I've gotten from this school environment and integrate what I can back home.

Here is the website for the school (all in Spanish) if you're interested: http://colegioelsabino.edu.mx