Teaching some, learning more

Today is Wednesday and our second day of professional development with teachers. We had about 35 teachers and administrators yesterday. We had almost 50 today. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

As is the case with most teachers, they're looking for ways to manage their classrooms and they're looking for creative strategies to help their students be more engaged in learning. They have fierce challenges these teachers. Most of their kids read nowhere close to grade level. This is not a reading culture, which is evident when you see the places in which many of these folks live.

The other morning we drove past a property. I can't call it a yard. There was a building of sorts. Pieces of old wood propped up. Some old pieces of siding. I remember seeing shacks like this when I was in South Africa because people scavenge whatever they can find. A woman was bending over a wood fire. A pot was on the ground next to her. There was virtually no grass on the property and there were chickens wandering free.

The bus pulled up to another dwelling. He worked loose the lock to the gate. An old woman was on the front "patio" sweeping. Her dwelling was also old wood but mostly nailed together. Her whole house was about 12 by 12. She had ducks in the yard, again mostly dirt.

We're teaching at a community building of sorts. It's used as a church as well as a place for "conferences" like this one. The building is unimaginably hot. Yes, there are windows and we keep them as open as possible. Yes, there are fans. But the roof is metal and when it's in the upper 80s or low 90s, it's like being in a slow cooker.

The kids come to this place after school because it is right in their neighborhood, if we can call it that. There are swings and a basketball court, provided the goats from next door haven't wandered in if someone forgot to close the gate. The kids are curious about the gringas who are talking to their teachers and who seem to have so much fascinating stuff. . and who look very different from them.

These teachers are incredibly passionate about their kids and their work. Their frustrations are very similar to ours in the US in many ways. But the fact that there is rampant poverty and so few ways out makes their battle are particularly difficult one. Because many of the homes have little or no electricity and because money is so scarce, books are hardly a priority. Most of the parents did not finish high school or even grade school. They might understand that education is important but they are ill-equipped to help their children be successful. That's why a host of programs in Nicaragua make painfully slow progress.

My skills and knowledge as an edtech specialist are of little value here because there are so few computers in any school. Teachers who have cellphones have flip phones though I have seen a few smartphones. My skills and knowledge for classroom management strategies seem to have limited application so I spend a lot of time watching and listening (with the help of an excellent translator) and figuring out how what I know might be tailored for these teachers and their students.

I've been able to introduce a few strategies that are completely no-tech and perhaps tomorrow and Friday will yield more opportunities. So far, however, I've learned more than I've taught.

My critical thinking and problem-solving skills are on overload right about now as I get to think through how to adapt strategies for a classroom and a culture that is so different from mine.

On the ground, making it work

We arrived in Managua in the wee hours of Monday. We had a TON of luggage for the 11 members of the team because we brought so much with us. Sherri is a one-woman team to help local women learn how to sew and bake but she also had baking pans of various types plus material for sewing plus I don't even know other than she had three huge suitcases.

As we waited in the airport, she explained how she was going to have the men help her build reflector ovens using tin so she could show the women how to bake using the ovens. Not for camping or "roughing it," but because of the conditions in which they live. Survive.

Yesterday was a planning day for the teaching team. Turns out it was some sort of holiday so no school. That meant the sports team had about 150 kids--half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The morning was rainy but it cleared up in the afternoon with an nice breeze much of the day. We hardly knew it was in the upper 80s.

We're at the Villa Esperanza for planning and meals. We'll be teaching here next week, but this week we're off to Nueva Vida, and that's all I know about that so pictures to come.

I was grateful we had the planning day yesterday. We would have been a mess without it, but we were able to lay out the rest of the week with some great brainstorming.  We worked in our glassed-in space, listening to the bird shriek and call around us.

I walked the property a few times. It's behind high walls with barbed wire rolled across the top of the walls. That's for protection of people and property. It's patrolled at night by men and dogs, though I've met the dogs: Lucy, Blacky, and Rosie. The dogs don't speak English, but a nice rump or belly scratch is the same in any language.

We're eating well. Fresh (!!) fruit for nearly every meal. Pineapple, mango, watermelon. Yummy. Lots of rice and beans, but they're doing a great job and cooking for the Norte Americanos.


At this point the hardest part is sleeping and not just because it's hot, humid, and we have only fans though we have windows on two walls. We have dorm arrangements so there are 5 women in a room with 6 bunk beds. I didn't move fast enough and have an upper bunk. The bunk beds are homemade and the ladders are not quite built for adults with a long first (or last) step and the hand rails that aren't quite high enough. I should pretty adept at the end of the two weeks. I hope.

Today we go to work. We'll be traveling by bus to wherever we're going. We first heard there would be about 30 teachers, then before we left last night the number was up to 52. So we'll see, and we'll go with whatever. The teachers are hungry for any kind of professional development so this is going to be exhausting and exciting, especially working with a translator. Ah yes, the adventure continues.

The adventure continues

We're deep in preparation time because we are literally days away from departure. I'm suffering those dizzying bouts of excitement, doubt, and terror. But I keep working on lesson ideas and try not to add more stuff to my "this must go" pile.

The storage trunk gets more and more full. I've yet to add the scissors I need/want to take, plus some other teacher resources I'll model and then leave behind. I've added some books. Guiness Book of World Records in Spanish! How cool is that?!?!? Okay, and some young adult books that may be of interest to kids in Nicaragua.

That is, I confess, the hard part. These kids are living in a situation I cannot fathom. These teachers are working in a situation I cannot fathom. In addition to being mindful of cultural differences, I have to be respectful of the passion and dedication of the teachers who work in an environment so very different from my own and quite possibly different from some of the most needy of the schools in which I've worked.

Last night I was working on some lesson plans. I'm borrowing liberally--and with permission--from Reading Nonfiction by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst. They have some great strategies, but some of them don't translate so well to Spanish. I mean that literally and figuratively. But I also have to make decisions about what makes sense to try to share with teachers because we have limited time and I don't want to overwhelm them. Being selective is a necessity, but being prepared for options and possibilities is also a necessity.

In our meeting the other night we were talking about having lesson ideas in our back pockets. I joked about how large that back pocket needs to be.

Though I'm a planner, I also love the fluidity of this adventure. There is so much we don't know about the teachers or even about the schedule. Talk about having to think on our feet!

I was in Wyoming for vacation recently. I had to laugh at the temperatures when we first got to Cody, WY. I mean, it was HOT! We had a few other days of upper 80s temps. At home we've had some nice temps, but it's getting hotter. Today is going to be closer to Nicaragua temps. Conditioning? Maybe. I can't help but smile.

So even though I'm not looking forward to temps in the low 90s, I'm mostly looking forward to this adventure in travel and teaching. I leave for NY on Saturday, July 9. I'll stay with a friend who is also a fellow adventurer--the person who got me into this. ;) Then on Sunday, July 10 we begin our trek to Nicaragua.

More to come!

The adventure begins

The exact date of the adventure is really when I got the Facebook message from my friend and colleague asking me if I'd be interested in going to Nicaragua for two weeks to work with some teachers. My first thought? "Wow, it's hot in Nicaragua." Yes, I'm a terrible native Floridian but there are reasons I don't live in Florida and they are "heat" and "humidity." And so, to most people, Nicaragua. . .in July. . .doesn't seem like a reasonable option.

But then I talked with Nancy who told me more about the school that started in the dump outside of Managua. The dump was bought by a Spanish company. Many of the people were moved from their dwellings in the dump to cinder block homes and a school was built. But many of those same folks still trekked to the dump for food and to scavenge because that was one of the ways they survived.

She told me that one of the weeks we would stay at the Villa Esperanza, with its own story of another way families survived.

There are a lot of very positive things going on at the Villa Esperanza (check out their Facebook page) and it's no surprise that many mission organizations are part of that success.

And why go to Nicaragua (in July, in the heat and humidity) when there is so much need in the U.S.? Because Nancy asked. And maybe, when I'm really honest with myself, because those teachers are asking for help and looking forward to whatever we can offer them.

So we'll be working with K-6 teachers, mostly, and some church and Sunday school teachers in the local community the first week. It's all very fluid so I'll be prepared for pretty much anything. I'm excited to get to show them some possibilities for reading and writing because I've learned this is not a reading culture. But how cool it will be to encourage them to write their own stories to share with each other, and maybe put those stories to music or make them into poetry or create a play!

The second week we'll be working mostly with K-6 teachers in different schools and in a different area. I'm not entirely clear on specific locations but it doesn't matter just now. I'll go where the van takes me and take pictures while I'm there. I imagine I'll learn a smidge more before we go.

Nancy and I met on Thursday, June 9, so I consider that the Official Kick-Off date as we were discussing and planning for possibilities. I spent some time yesterday and today doing some research to buy bulk quantities of craft sticks, crayons, and markers. I bought a few thousand pony beads today to use to create different kinds of math counters. More on those later when I create the samples.

And I'm thinking about ways to create words akin to magnetic poetry but not magnetic. I've got lamination sheets so I may just print words and then laminate the paper before cutting out the word sets. I need to make sure whatever I do can be replicated by the teachers in Nicaragua. But I'm playing with some other ideas that won't be expensive but will give them resources that will last for a while.

I'm going to play with some foldable templates so kids can create their own books but use also help teachers see how different foldables might help students learn and practice their learning. I want kids to be able to illustrate their stories whether we do fancier foldables or just fold the paper in half. There's a Wal-Mart in Managua, so I can buy a carton of paper for us to use.

Finally (so far), I'm looking into inexpensive digital cameras so the teachers can record what their students are doing to upload to share. Most of the teachers don't have smartphones. While there are some laptops and computers at the school, they don't have tablets so we'll be pretty no- and low-tech, which is fine. While I love my technology, what I love more is helping teachers refine and develop the craft of teaching so their students can learn and make a difference in all of their lives.



I'm traveling to Nicaragua under the auspices of Messiah's Outreach. You are welcome to donate to the mission if you are so inclined. If you'd like to help in some way with this mission trip, in helping to pay for materials I'll be taking to teachers and for students, please let me know.