Since returning from Peru, I am pleased to say we are continuing to chat weekly. Violeta, Cristihan, and I have talked about ways to create collaborative projects. The differences in our schools present many challenges; surprisingly, different time zones is NOT one of them. There is only an hour difference. However, because Carlos Wiesse runs in three shifts- morning, afternoon, and evening; we are exploring ways to involve the entire faculty. Violeta is driven and focused on this project. Her leadership skills in organizing the other English teachers at her school are visible now as she solicits their participation and ideas. We share a desire to connect our students and faculty in meaningful ways, and some great ideas have surfaced. After Violeta, Cristihan, and I talk via Google Hangouts on Sunday nights, Violeta talks with Vilma, Juliana, and Wilder about our ideas. One idea she has is using the topics assigned by the ministry. Each term, the entire school has a focus-kindness and respect, healthy living, to name a few. Since my planning period is the same time as planning for the AM teachers(Vilma, Juliana, Wilder, Violeta) at Carlos Wiesse, we plan to chat via ZOOM one AM next week to brainstorm ideas for the project. Violeta wisely wants to enlist a small group of teachers to help introduce these strategies and practices among the rest of the faculty. In true TGC fashion- she enlists the teachers whom she knows to share her vision. Our action research or guiding question is to provide some PD and easy strategies for teachers to change student behavior and the school environment. My guiding question changed on one visit to Carlos Wiesse when we spent an hour talking with the English teachers from the first and second shift- Vilma and Juliana from first, and Violeta and Cristihan from the second shift. They asked how to make the learning relevant. What techniques did we use to engage students? What did we do about distractions-(i.e., cell phones)? How did we handle parent complaints and problems? How did we deal with disrespectful and rude students? Joelle, my teaching partner from St. Louis, and I reminded each other, kids are the same EVERYWHERE! Vast differences exist, but students in the classroom present the same challenges for teachers. Every student entering the classroom needs to know teachers, administrators, and parents want them to be successful! Every student needs to know someone who believes they have great potential! One teacher can impact their students, but the results are phenomenal when an entire school adopts a culture of caring commitment. I know. I have experienced that type of change in my middle school in South Carolina. In talking with the teachers, we asked, "How does your educational system provide professional development? There is none, at least not the plethora of opportunities we have in the U.S. Because Carlos Wiesse operates three sessions, they have three administrators or vice-principals and a headmaster. As in most schools, the philosophy of the person in charge permeates the school culture. Progressive leaders welcome innovation, while those who follow explicit direction without deviation avoid the 'risk' of stepping out with new ideas. I wish we could have talked with the administration. I wish we could have had an open dialogue with all of the teachers at the school-both shifts. I wondered if the Ministry of Education would support some regular professional development? Could a community culture be created in a school that runs three shifts? If so, how? What assistance could my school provide for teachers in Peru? Does Carlos Wiesse have a mission statement? Do the students know what it is? Do the teachers know it, as well? Is it merely a statement for the philosophy wall about student learning? My research question became, "How can cross-cultural, professional development enhance student achievement? I know what constant professional development has done in my school district. Our faculty and staff members enact changes in student engagement and the school culture changes. School becomes a place where students LIKE to be. Students and teachers have mutual respect because they know they each have a purpose. Teachers believe students can succeed AND excel. Students understand teachers teach because they genuinely care for their students and their success. In the short 17 days of travel, students often asked, "Why do you teach?" I teach because every time I am face to face with a student, I have an opportunity to instill the conviction that they have potential that transcends their dreams. I believe they can do anything to which they set their minds. I believe each student's pursuit of an education, a profession that seems out of reach, and the desire to make a difference in their place in the world are goals we can instill in students. When students encounter enough adults who carry this positive message, they begin to believe it themselves when they know they have encouragement and help along the way. December 14 marks the end of the school year at Carlos Wiesse. Summer break follows until March 1, when Violeta and her colleagues begin a new school year. In the interim, we will continue to Skype on Sunday nights, refine our plan, set up weekly chats with our students, and hopefully put a grant proposal together. What an experience!! I am excited this has expanded to include more teachers. Violeta's commitment is inspiring and contagious. She chooses her teacher support carefully. There are so many possibilities: video PD from teaching staff at BSMS with subtitles or translators(our Spanish teachers and students), Peru student-U.S.student kindness campaign, healthy living data collection, school-wide PBI. Both of our student chat groups are anxious to continue talking and move beyond superficial pleasantries. They aspire to collaborate, as well. Who knows what they might achieve!!
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I did not plan the timing of our first video chat to coincide with GLOBAL COLLABORATION WEEK, but it could not have been more appropriate! Today Hayden, Riley, Lucas, Sophia, Michael, and I connected with Jose and Chara and their teachers Violeta, Cristihan, and Julianna at Carlos Wiesse School in Comas District, Lima, Peru. Our conversation topic was "How do different cultures deal with bullying?"
Jose wisely said, "Bullying comes from the heart, and it is difficult to combat." The school environments are very different, but students acknowledged that peer support is critical to minimizing the devastating effects name-calling and intimidation have on young people. Lucas shared our school's policy of recognizing random acts of kindness as a tool to encourage students to help and look out for one another. Students are rewarded with tokens and treats and acknowledged publicly for kind and spontaneous gestures. The video chat via ZOOM, scheduled for 5:20 EDT and 4:20 Peru time, fell during Peru students' afternoon recess, so it lasted only twenty minutes. The sparkle in my student's eyes when they said, "THAT WAS AWESOME! When can we do it again?" was so worth the extra time it took to coordinate it! When Violeta, Cristihan, Juliana, and I have our Sunday night Google Hangout, we will plan another session. Riley, Hayden, Michael, and Lucas agreed that the next session would be a Q&A of their daily lives. None of these students are shy, so the conversation should be vigorous and productive. I shared with them some of the opportunities the Department of State listed as possible grant ideas. The student exchange program for the students in Peru is high on the list. Both Riley and Lucas agreed that developing a program for our new friends in Peru is something they would like to be involved in. The most exciting thing about this afternoon is the endless possibilities it creates for our students to develop friendships quickly, leading to collaboration on projects to improve the quality of life and community. How rich we are with diverse friendships! Sunday at 7:00 PM (6:00 PM Peru time), Violeta, Cristihan, and I chat via Google Hangout. Tonight's chat was inspiring! Violeta had prepared a project draft for our student conversations to occur the week after next. The first question of discussion was, "How do your schools deal with bullying?" We talked about the differences in school culture, administration policy, student response to discipline, an effective teacher response, student response when they are victims and when they witness it. So many ideas! Our district has video self-paced training segments all teachers must view, test on, and print certificates of completion. There are many topics, and bullying is one of them. The United States school system has a zero-tolerance policy toward bullying and strives to create school environments where all students feel safe. The reality is this is not always the case, and teachers need a working knowledge of handling certain situations. While we are fortunate to have guidance counselors and administrators who are deliberately and actively involved with our students, teachers also need to recognize signs and know procedures for addressing these problems.
In our discussion tonight, we decided it would be good for our students to talk about the bullying issue. Let THEM talk about consequences, how they can take an active role in alleviating the problem, and perhaps encourage systemic change to improve the school environment and student achievement. Violeta and I will connect via ZOOM on Tuesday (we hope if technology cooperates), and the three of us will do a trial run on Thursday. Next week we will invite the students! YAY! Our collaboration will be off and running!! Oh! I almost forgot!! Violeta has applied for a position as a coordinator for her district English teachers! She will work with 50 English teachers to improve practices and provide professional development support! Kudos to Violeta! Before leaving for Peru, Violeta and I talked about a lesson I did with my students in May 2018, the end of the school year. I wanted to take something from my classroom for the students in Peru; perhaps they could do it as well. Students typed letters, translated a few words into Spanish, and created a collage of photos and illustrations that represented their lives. Students could not see what I saw: a magnificent patchwork of cultures EVEN in my small classroom in Boiling Springs, South Carolina! Each of the 43 students I taught last year participated. Each student chose a different aspect of our cultural persona meaningful to them, and it was amazing! Such diversity of interests, and voices, and identities! Violeta, Mary, Cristihan, and I will use these letters as a beginning point to connect our students.
Our school year has just begun, and Carlos Wiesse is in their second semester. We hope to use Zoom or Google Hangouts to let our students talk with one another. The moment you step into a school in another country, the mind checks off comparisons and contrasts. I was looking for common ground, looking for obstacles to communication, looking for inspiration and exhilaration. In Comas District of Lima, Peru, we found all of these. The expanse of the school commons stretched what seemed to be a football field length. Walls surround the entire complex-as they do all schools in Peru. The walls keep out intruders as well as surveying eyes. The proliferation of walls around homes, schools, businesses triggered many choral inquiries: 'What's behind the wall?" It was only beginning with this visit. The closer we got to the classrooms, the louder the din. I remember thinking it must be class break or recess. Indeed, there were students in the commons area playing soccer and milling about the recreation area. But the commotion came mainly from the classrooms. The windows at the top of each classroom were open. Typical classroom banter wafted across the commons, and I wondered, where are the teachers? I wonder how long recess will last? Our greeters, three third-year students, met us in front of the vice principal's office and escorted us to the first classroom for student presentations. Pictured above-Jose, Vilda- a first shift English teacher, Gert, Jilam (on left)-me, and Isabella. Students in English language class are taught environmental science content with language. In the one-and-a-half-hour lesson each week, students complete grammar exercises and projects to practice their English. They could hardly wait to try out their conversational skills with native English speakers! Another English teacher from first shift school, Juliana, brought her students to present to their peers in math class. Students had worked in small groups to create their presentations. I wondered how students learned these concepts in English and how to explain them to their classmates. I asked about the depth of the learning. Did students commit to the ideas they were presenting? Did they have a desire to improve their world by creating green spaces? Comas District contrasts starkly to the manicured areas of Miraflores, the business and tourist district of Lima. Did students aspire to make the same environment in their community? Then I saw Juliana teach the English lesson incorporating the ideas presented with the posters. The teacher mentor in me began the mental monologue of the elements of a good lesson. Juliana started with a review of the previous lesson: vocabulary requiring all students to repeat after her. Check. She read the objective on the board. Check. The students repeated what they could expect to learn today(all in English)-check. Juliana gave examples of the content (future tense-will)-check. Then she used sentence stems to practice, having students practice speaking questions and answers. Check-using TPS(think pair share). The students knew TPS-THINK PAIR SHARE in English, SO cool!-Check. Check. She timed the 'think' for 30 seconds. Check. Juliana reminded them to be completely silent. Check, she called on a few pairs to share with class-check. Students identified the topic of their writing. Check. From there, she moved to a writing lesson using the sentence stems. Check. Juliana provided a model paragraph (below)-Check. For homework, students used future tense to explain "What will make our environment healthy?"-Check. Lesson complete! Students had learned concepts and presented the ideas in creative ways to demonstrate learning. What would they do next to put their learning into action? I got the answer to my question on Monday of the following week. Each of us in the Peru Cohort 2018 began our journey with a guiding question. Without knowledge of student language skills and limited interaction with our host teacher framing a research question was difficult. Max reassured us, as did other TGC alumni in D.C. that our questions would likely change. Mine did. I began with the idea we might share folk sayings or idioms, or even stories passed on from generation to generation. That idea was only mildly successful. The lesson I taught on "Things your Momma has told you" became a literal but humorous revelation in concepts. When South Carolinians talk about what my mamma said, it is likely to be expressions that only Southerners understand. I discovered that for this lesson to work, the host teachers ALSO must understand the contextual meaning. However, the students did share some truths of universal understanding. -The first part of the lesson was sharing idioms with pictures, expressions like 'don't put the cart before the horse'; 'the early bird catches the worm'; the grass is always greener on the other side; and 'two heads are better than one. Using QUIZLET.com, I created flashcards with sayings and pictures on one side and the Spanish translation on the back. We divided the class into small groups, and they worked together to interpret the expressions. After answering many questions and offering explanations in my mutilated Google-translate-assisted Spanish, we turned the tables Ha! See? It is impossible to write or speak without peppering our message with idioms! Students used whiteboards purchased at home from the Dollar Tree to write the proverbs and expressions their mothers or grandmothers told them. The translation for the five phrases above are as follows: El que la sigue la consigue : The one to follow her, gets her. Toda mentura saldra a la ley: Every little thing will go to the law. Con la humilidad consegues todo: With humility you get everything. Elvaliente vive, hasta que el cobarde: The courage lives until the coward. Palabra ignorantes, respuestas poreverantes: Ignorant word, responding answers. Some choices were interestingly ambiguous, but life lessons abound. how to get the girl; Obey the law, or perhaps the law will get you over the least little thing. (Interesting contrast of perspectives) Remain humble, and good things will come. Everyone is brave until they face fear. Ignorant words receive ignorant responses. Another group chose practical advice in any language: 1. Si estudias seras alguien en la vida: If you study you will be someone in life. 2. No dejes para manana lo que puedes hacer hoy: Do not leave for tomorrow what you can do today. 3. Camina hacia el futuro: walking into the future 4. Si todos se tiran de un barranco tu tambien los haces: If everyone throws themselves in a ravine you will too? 1. Dime con quien andas y te dire quien teres. : Tell me who you are with and I will tell you who you are. 2. Caras vez carazones no sientes.: Sometimes you do not feel hearts. 3. Mas sabe el diablo, por viejo, que por diablo.: But the devil knows, as an old man, as a devil. 4. Si tus amigas se tiran del puente, tu tambien lo haras.: If your friends throw themselves off the bridge, you will, too? When people say Barranco is Lima's arts and culture district, visions of art museums, quaint art shops, and street artisans flash through your mind's eye. It is a feast for the eyes of contemporary art dotted with museums and street performers. Our Uber dropped us off at the corner, and we meandered our way through the streets down to the beach. Buildings splashed in rainbow colors created a kaleidoscope of hues and geometric designs, drawing you into the details of the images. Graffiti art elevated to the level of the Masters. On our way back from Paracas Sunday afternoon, June 24th, we detoured to the Hacienda del San Jose. Rhonda had stumbled across the hotel link on booking.com in search of hotel accommodations in or near Paracas. According to our guide, Hacienda del San Jose dates to 1636, when the Jesuit priests maintained the church and surrounding structures. The first record of Spanish ownership was 1688, when the property was part of a dowery of the Spanish aristocracy. The Spanish dominated the Pacific coast exploration and established sugar cane plantations. The plantation property encompasses a beautiful Jesuit church that became part of the complex included in the dowery. A statue of St. Martin de Porres stands in the chapel. St. Martin was the first black saint. Born in 1579 in the Viceroyalty of Peru, he is the patron saint of racial harmony, social justice, and mixed-race people. The guide apologized for his English, but he was proficient, entertaining, and patient with our questions. We bought John an entrance ticket, too, and hoped he could use this first-hand experience in his repertoire of suggestions for future travelers. The interior is equally ornate, but the oddly constructed roof of woven cane reflected the limited resources of historical preservation societies charged with maintaining priceless artifacts. The altar, made of hand-carved mahogany, benefits from the dry climate of the Peruvian coastal region. Lima is the second driest capital city in the world. Rainy seasons in the Andean region sharply contrast the arid conditions of Lima, Paracas, and El Carmen. We arrived at the gate of Hacienda del San Jose a few minutes before 4:00 P.M. Had we arrived 15 minutes later, the ticket window would have been closed, and we would never have known "what was behind this wall!" What a stroke of luck! (Continued in the second post.) We entered the main house serving as a hotel resort. In 1970 it was declared a world heritage site. The damage from the 8.0 earthquake of 2007 devastated the property requiring extensive repair and restoration. In 2012 the property was re-opened. The hotel hacienda contains many period pieces; paintings of Salazar and his wife hang in the foyer. When the manor houses of San Jose and Casa San Regis merged under ownership of Fernando Carrillo de Albornoz y Salazar, it operated with 1000 slaves. The village of El Carmen became a refuge for slaves escaping abusive slave owners. The prison chambers and the catacombs used to import slaves cruelly served to keep the slaves in submission. Videos below provide a catacomb experience vaguely resembling what new slaves had endured.
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