Saturday, March 31, 2012

World Map!

The Blue Rectangle...

Creative Hands...

We did it!

The final step is outlining and painting the country names. The plan is do finish this step this coming Tuesday.  Yay! 

Creative Hands!

March 25th – 31st:
Let’s begin with the random things- the weather. I was told that this time of year is the hot, hot time of year… but, I have been feeling quite chilly all week. I wear socks at night. I want to frequently have a cup of tea or coffee cupped between my hands. I sleep with my fan on at night for the single reason that there might be a wandering mosquito ready to attack me if I don’t. I wish it warms up soon because I had a lot of plans for this summer break that involved going swimming and other adventures outdoors. Also, I got my first hair cut! When I walked into the barber shop in Boac I felt like I was in the movie Miss. Congeniality. You know the scene where she is getting her makeover and everyone surrounds and examines her? The only difference is everyone working at the salon thought my hair, eyes, and skin was amazing. They pulled my blonde locks in every direction; it looked like I was hooked up to the static machine at the museum! I told the hair dresses that I just wanted a trim. She just brushed my hair to my back and cut it in a straight line. Not the most fashionable hair cut I have ever gotten but the experience made it okay! I have never loved having curly hair so much.

Moving on, there was a lot of conversation about forms and checking this and that the final week of classes. I was feeling rather bored so I decided to make myself useful and plan a project with some of the 4th year students. A little while back I had brought up the idea to my principal to paint a world map on one of the walls on our campus. Painting the world map is a project that many Peace Corps volunteers do. So, in my spontaneous ways I took the chance that my plan might get rejected because everyone was rather busy but I guess that was a risk I was willing to take. After my first short conversation with one of the students in IV Emerald, I became very optimistic about the entire plan- the willingness to help was everywhere. I pitched my idea to them using the concept that this would be their mark left behind at their high school, they absolutely loved it!

Materials? Well, luckily there was some extra paint left over at the school that we could use. My school had large brushes that we were able to use and one of the artists chosen to help with the project had some smaller brushes for the teeny countries and detailed work. I had a collection of pencils for the initial drawing and outlining. They only thing that may have come in handy was a large eraser. I will be going to the market this weekend to buy one so we can finish erasing our gridlines now that we are finished. The students who would draw and paint were chosen by the students, I had nothing to do with that. I got a piece of advice from Shea, a volunteer who has been here in Marinduque for over two years now to only have 5 students at a time working on the map. I am happy I listened to her advice because it was even difficult monitoring the hands of 5 or 6 eager students. We had the wall space, paint, brushes, hands, and positive thoughts about decent weather…we were set to go!

Once we got started, everything seemed to progress at a steady pace. We had a goal for each day that we set out to work on the project and had no problem reaching the goals. It did down pour a few days which makes it impossible to try and mix paint for the masterpiece or do any painting but we did not have a set date to be finish by which made the rainy days easy to manage. The big blue rectangle turned into a colorful world map in a matter of days! During the project it was neat for me because many, many students came up to us while we were working asking where different places in the world are. Some read the name of the country in a book or a magazine, others heard it on TV, but the curiosity is what gets me excited! Geography was always difficult for me, and it is difficult for a lot of my students too so I hope this new map helps them see the big picture of this world we live in! I am really happy I was spontaneous that Monday morning and worked with one of the 4th year students to organize a team to complete the world map. Watching them work together and laugh together was a great experience for me. Hopefully this can become an annual thing at my school where 4th year students are given the opportunity to leave their mark in a creative way.

“I can change the world with my own two hands” 

Friday, March 16, 2012

March 5th- 18th:

In a nutshell, the Peace Corps training that I was at all of last week was a great opportunity for me to talk to my counterpart and put all of my ideas into words. It is actually more difficult than I thought it would be to verbalize the visions I have in my head. It was good though because it made me think about all the things I did not think about. Part of the training was to actually go through a step by step process about how to implement a project at site successfully. Gemma and I put our heads together and I think we came up with a great plan. We had to present our plan to some guest evaluators at the conference and they were opitimistic about the success we will soon have, fingers crossed! The project we presented has many components that I am sure I will talk about at a later time aka when I actually do it but for those of you who may wondering now we plan to:
  • .      Construct a basketball court on school campus- this has been a dream of the students/teachers at my school for a few years now and we think we have a way to make that dream come true!
  • .      Implement a year round athletics program (different sport for each quarter). Right now, all of the athletes only practice during intramurals which are September- October.
  • .      Hold Annual events on the new court to help generate funds for maintenance and new equipment for the court and sports teams. Example: Annual Teachers vs. Students tournament
  • .      Build tables with games on the top- scrabble, chess, etc. These will be next to the court and part of the “Let’s be Active Arena.”
  • .      The name of my school is Mogpog National Comprehensive, the comprehensive is there because there should be a choice for every student, whether they want to study the basic education system or a vocational curriculum. Right now, the vocational curriculum is not an option. With the construction, building, coaching, etc. the plan has a component to offer interested students to pair with alumni experts in engineering.       

That is just a gist of what we worked on over the course of the training. There are still details that need to be worked out. Gemma and I have already started talking to the key stakeholders that we need to get on board the project with us and everyone is very enthusiastic! By the end of the training my brain needed a break.

 It was nice to run every morning during training, running helps me sift through my ideas. I always ran when I had to write an essay in college- guess this technic still works for me. The other good thing about the training was the food. One night there was lasagna and I ate three pieces. Three pieces! There was also a dessert option at dinner everyday and a sweet treat for afternoon snack. I stopped trying to talk myself out of eating too much food and just let myself enjoy it. Lasagna, cereal, brownies, and a plethora of food choices do not come into my life frequently, only at Peace Corps training events actually. Needless to say it was a productive, filling, active week!

Coming home was an adventure as always. The bus-boat-jeep trio always leaves me with a sore ass and no energy. I traveled home on a Sunday and did not get in until 9pm which made my Monday work day a little more Mondayish. Surprisingly, I made it through the day. I came home and got a little angry about the amount of laundry I had to wash. Having two weeks of dirty clothes is a tad more stressful when you don’t have a washing machine. I also had no food in my house so I walked on down to the market to pick up the neccessitites to get me through the week. Luckily, there was mangoes which bring my taste buds instant satisfaction. I never go to the market on Monday so it was interesting to see the market vendors reactions. They were like, “Ah, wow, she is here now, the American, wooo, what is she doing?” It was cute. Normally this does not happen anymore because I have the same routine that I do every Sunday. The people are used to me. I did still get to visit all of my friends there in the market which was nice because I missed saying my hellos while I was away.

This weekend I plan to catch up on sleep, run, go to the beach and have a swim, help my students practice for the final show of Romeo and Juliet, and read through some new teaching materials. Next week is the last week of classes before Summer vacation! My students already have the summertime sqirms so I am just going to plan some fun end of the school year activities for next week. I am so happy that my students are second and third year so they will all (hopefully) be returning next year. 

Beach day tomorrow!

Hanging out on the beach in Mindoro after the teacher training!

Long walk on the beach that ended with a swing!

1st teacher training! We had so much fun. 

GinaJoe... I walked into the classroom in Mindoro and this caught my eye straight away, I'm still smiling about it.


To End, Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! And, Happy birthday to the love of my life.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Simple Things In Life

February 27th- March 4th:

Let’s talk about food! Last week Friday, one of the students brought squid to school for the teachers to eat for lunch. I found this out early in the morning. Now, normally I would have been thinking all day about whether I would actually eat the squid or not but I did not think about it at all. Lunch time came around and I just got my rice, put the squid on my plate and started eating like it was any other standard meal. I just cut the squid up into smaller pieces and ate it. It was a little difficult to cut with a spoon but manageable. I did cut the eye out though. I had four on my plate and when I was finished I actually wanted more. I figured I would not be greedy because the teachers all seemed to be enjoying them too! One of the teachers who I eat lunch with everyday cut into her squid and the ink squirted out on her shirt in the shape of the Philippines! It was comical, had everyone laughing. This experience reminded me about when I was in Australia. A popular dish there is baby octopus. When I would go out to dinner with my Australian friends they would always order baby octopus. At that point in my life, I got the squirms just thinking about putting a little octopus in my mouth, I never ate one! Now, the thought, not eating the squid, never crossed my mind. Guess I am not so persnickety anymore!

When I was in Boac a few weeks ago with my Gemma we went to my favorite bakery. Normally I just buy this really tasty and incredible banana, raisin, and cinnamon bread. I think I really like it because of the cinnamon flavor. She had me try a hot dog wrapped in waffle. Kind of like a corn dog but I try to stay away from the hot dogs here because they are bright pink. Not that the hot dogs I loved to eat as a kid were natural and healthy in any way, but a bright pink hot dog really just does not look healthy. The waffle on the outside was really good. They sold different kinds of waffle products; they each had a different filling: cheese, fruit, plain, hot dog. Next time I might go for the plain. I miss waffles.

At my favorite little imported foods store I found penne noodles. I had everything I needed to make the perfect pasta dish for me. I did just that the other night for dinner. Penne noodles, with a creamy, spicy pasta sauce, a lot of basil (thanks to my mother), tomatoes, and parmesan cheese on top! Oh yeah. Sometimes the store will run out of items and I am not exactly sure when the shipments come but I hope that penne noodles continue to be in the shipments!

In the world of fruit, mangoes are back on the shelves in the market and I am just well, happy! To be honest I did not know that mangoes had a season but apparently they do and that time is now so I plan to eat way too many mangoes. When I went to a training this past week with some 268 volunteers (they have been in country for over two years now) they also shared this happiness. They informed me of a place in the Philippines where they hold Mango festival- all you can eat mangoes! This happens at the end of April, beginning of May. I do not know if I can fit it in my schedule this year due to the fact that now more than ever before I find myself saying there is not enough time in a day.

Enough talk about food because it is making me hungry. Right now I am sitting at Island Cove Resort in Cavite, Philippines. One of the best things about island cove is taking a hot shower. It is kind of cool when things that used to be mundane can now completely alter my mood in such a good way. I am definitely learning about the power of the little things in life and how sometimes you just have to maximize the awesomeness of something simple because, why not? The past two days we have been having various sessions to help us improve our effectiveness as volunteers and share our story about the first five months at site. Right now though I want to take the time to reflect (reflection is for my own benefit) and write to you about my experience in Bulalacao Mindoro at a teacher methodology training…

I mentioned in my previous blog that I would be going to Mindoro to help facilitate this training to teachers at a Peace Corps volunteer’s site. When I was writing that I was unaware of how big of an impact the four day period would have on me. I was hoping for and looking forward to the experience, gaining new knowledge, spending time with fellow volunteers and I got all of that but I there was also a spark inside of me that was lit, a spark of inspiration to just throw my heart and soul into my ideas. 

Catherine and I co-planned and co-taught sessions on higher order thinking skills and multiple intelligences. Shea and Leine did the same for classroom management and power. We also used interactive strategies in our lessons plans to help showcase the ideas of using interactive strategies in the classroom to help manage, engage, and inspire students. I saw on a book cover today the quote,“I don’t teach, I inspire.” The teachers that we were teaching have been to seminars before but never a seminar quite like the one that we had planned for them. It is common that the teachers attend seminars where they just sit, listen, write, learn, and get a certificate. Our session has a component of action, fun, and active participation! How did the teachers feel about this? They absolutely loved it! Because I have never taught adults before on this level I was a little nervous about my competency to share my knowledge and passions with a group of people who have far more experience than me in the area of focus. However, seeing their smiling faces, watching their eyes light up to the new ideas that seemed like magically powers, and working with a group of people who are so energetic helped me to flush out the nerves.

At the end of the two day training we had the participants write a reflection letter. They had to choose one thing that they learned, explain it and share how they were going to use it in their classroom. We had prepared them for this activity in the reflection/processing stage of the lessons. I got butterflies when someone read their letter aloud. They said, “I can’t wait to go to school on Monday so that I can try what I learned with my students!” The positive energy in the room was so high. We also talked about how the participants can share their new knowledge with other teachers and how important it is to continue to spread the idea that teaching can change into inspiring with a few minor adjustments!

I still have a lot of reflection to do.