Hola from the DR

What I've been doing:  I've been in the DR for over two weeks.  It has been a whirlwind of Spanish, English, lesson planning, organizing, and setting up my classroom and bedroom, and getting my feet under me.

Week 1: Leaving PDX made me sad, and I had a long day of traveling ahead of me.  God always seems to send the right people into my life when I need them.  On my first flight I couldn't lift my carry on into the container, so my nice seatmate helped me.  On my flight from Salt Lake to NYC, I met the nicest ladies, Colleen and Michelle.  They told me about their trip to Ireland, their families, and Colleen had actually been to the DR before.  We had a bit of a layover, so they invited me to go to the Delta Sky Lounge with them.  I ran off before I could exchange contact information with them, but they were so sweet to take me under their wing.

After a long day of traveling, I finally arrived to the DR at 3:30am on Wednesday, August 13th.  Joy, Rosa, and their husbands picked me up from the airport and brought me to my apartment.  Amanda, my roommate, greeted us at the door.  Everyone left to go home and sleep for a few hours before the day would begin.  Amanda offered me her fan to sleep with for the night.  I told her no because I was so tired.  After she closed her door I desperately wished that I had taken her up on the offer.  I tossed and turned until finally I crashed.

After a few hours of sleep, I woke up and unpacked my clothes.  Here are some pictures of cutest apartment.

Amanda came home for lunch and we went to her friend Mariu's house for rice, beans, and platanos.  Those first days Joy, Rosa, and I spent hours shopping and setting up the classroom.  I decided to have it painted blue.  I hung up my decorations, and we put everything together.  I'll post pictures of my classroom soon.

That first Saturday there was a missionary team visiting the DR helping out New Hope.  I rode with Amanda, Mariu, and Mariu's son to the beach.  We met up with the team of 25 from the US.  Soon, 30 little girls came rushing at us.  For most of the girls at New Hope it was their first time at the beach.  They have lived in the DR for their whole lives, but they never have seen the beach before.  Most of them hardly leave the barrio (neighborhood/slum name in the DR).  One little girl clung to me all day in the water.  Luckily, there were almost no waves, and everyone splashed about together.

Sunday I went to church with Amanda's friend Megan.  Amanda helped bring the team back to the airport.  Church was all in Spanish, and I felt like I understood 95% of what the pastor was saying.  This was SO reassuring since I felt like I could not understand the Spanish of the Dominicans.

Monday was the first day of school.  I was so nervous, but we played a get-to-know-you Yahtzee game to start the day.  We did some math, reading, goal setting, and world history.  They are wonderful boys who stated how excited they were for the year.  That night Amanda and I got celebratory Yogenfruz.

Week 2: Teaching all these new subjects is challenging.  I felt like I was only a step or two ahead of the boys each day.  I had to review math concepts, and keep up with the chapter books we are reading.  I hadn't even added Sociales (History in Spanish), or the Spanish class into the mix yet.  I spend all evening, every evening planning and reading.

On Friday night Amanda and I went over to Mariu's house and made pizza.  We watched Rio 2 while eating popcorn.  It was the perfect evening.  Saturday I hung out in the apartment all day reading the books I am teaching.  At night I watched The Vow by myself curled up on the couch.  It felt really nice to be able to rest, relax, and sleep.  Sunday a group of us went to church again.  After church we ate lunch at a little restaurant nearby.

Daily Life: Each day I ride with Amanda to Joy's house, and then they take me to Rosa's.  After school someone brings me back home, but it's challenging being so dependent on others.  I am used to being independent.  In the evenings I lesson plan and read at home.  

One of my favorite things in the apartment are these chinola popsicles.  It is SO hot here, and these cool me down.  My other favorite thing is my fan.  I told Amanda if the place was burning down that it would be the first thing I grab.  She said, no you'd grab your keys since we have four locks to get out of the place.  :)

I'm also obsessed with sunsets.  Every night I sit on my couch and watch God paint the sky in brilliant colors.

It can be a little lonely at times here in the DR.  I am used to having people around me all the time.  I'm used to being able to call or text family and friends whenever I want to do something or hang out.  Here, I am still trying to make friends.  I keep praying that God will put the right people in my life here.

From: here

Con mucho amor.

God's History - a poem by the boys

Today we read the first short chapter in The Kingdom Strikes Back.  I had the boys highlight main points as I read the chapter aloud.  The book was about the beginning of the most amazing love and adventure story: The Bible.  Instead of each of the boys making an individual poem, we all wrote one together using keywords they highlighted.  God is pretty amazing. 

God's History by A, I, and J

God has many names

Creator

Yahweh

Prince of Peace

The Father

Our Shepard

Alpha & Omega

God created them

Satan destroyed them

Adam and Eve

Abram sent to Canaan

Had adventure

Full of action

Jacob loved no matter what

God has many names

Creator

Yahweh

Prince of Peace

The Father

Our Shepard

Alpha & Omega

Hopefully I'll have time to post soon about my first week here in the DR.  

Keep Calm and Play Minecraft

What I'm thinking about: I've been exploring the concept of gamification in the classroom lately.  There are some pretty incredible ways to incorporate quests, challenges, leader boards, and virtual stories into lesson plans.  This works perfectly for the year since the boys I'm teaching love two things: Minecraft, and sports.

I started learning about gamification through people on Twitter and my PLN.  Wow, some people have done amazing jobs adding the gaming element to their classes.

I first watched some TED talks to get me started thinking about gaming.

Jane McGonigal's TED talk

Ali Carr-Chellman's TED talk

Gabe Zichermann's TED talk

Luis de la Fuente's TED talk

I created a concept map that organized some of my ideas and thoughts for using it in the classroom.  I tweeted this picture and one of my old students responded, asking why I wasn't coming back to the high school.  It made me realize that taking risks and trying new things in the classroom can really catch the student's attention and make them engaged in the classroom happenings.

Here are two examples of gamification websites that blew me away!

1. Saga City Learning via Chris Aviles (@techedupteacher)
2. @Saradateechur also has this incredible site of gamification 

Minecraft is a perfect way for me to incorporate some different ideas.  Here are some resources I've been looking at for teaching the boys.

From: here

This wiki has some Language Arts class ideas.

This blog has some writing task ideas that connect with Minecraft.

Having students create an art project using the Minecraft style.

Here are some more Minecraft writing prompts.  The same author wrote Part II of her Minecraft writing prompts.

A creative Minecraft anchor chart about main idea can help draw in students.

This mom created Minecraft story starters to engage her boys.

Here are some more Minecraft writing ideas to use.

This Edutopia article has several ideas across different subjects.  Some of my favorites that Andrew Miller mentioned was reconstructing setting from literature or recreating scenes from novels.  Predicting what will happen next in a book and then acting it out via Minecraft.

I was also thinking about using Minecraft for Article of the Week assignments.  Reading about current events can be less engaging for some students.  Articles like this one from The Guardian about how Minecraft changed video games would be neat to draw in more students.  Here is a giant list of articles from The Guardian about Minecraft specifically.

A video game debate would be fun to incorporate speaking/listening objectives.

How are you incorporating gaming into the classroom?  Do you use Minecraft to teach middle school or high school students?

MUST READ this summer

What I'm reading #1:  I finished reading Teach like a Pirate by Dave Burgess several weeks ago, but I have been hesitant to write about it.  Why?  Because there's SO MUCH THERE.  I only wish I would have read this amazing book sooner.  I came across this list of books for teachers to read over the summer.  I scanned through it and picked a few that I thought would be good for me.  I purchased The Book Whisperer, Readicide, and Courage to Teach.  I saw Teach like a Pirate, but didn't purchase it yet.

A few weeks later, I discovered the #tlap hashtag on Twitter.  I searched and searched the hashtagged conversations and saw all the incredible ideas being passed around.  Wow.  It blew me away.  I had to purchase the book online, and I eagerly awaited its arrival.

Once I got the book, I decided to tweet @daveburgess just to see what would happen.  Guess what, he responded!  Another amazing use of Twitter.  It has TRANSFORMED my educational career to connect with all these other teachers, authors, and educators on social media.  Another blog post about that to come.  :)  Here are some things I learned from reading TLAP and several ways I want to try and implement his ideas into my classroom.

• How you present the information is key.  Use dramatic tension, mystery, intrigue, showmanship, extravagance, and suspense to capture audience members.  This TED talk by Julian Treasure is all about how to talk so people listen. 
• Burgess encourages teachers to follow their passions and incorporate them into the classroom.  I love being artistic, I love being creative, I love reading, I love blogging, I love spreading kindness and doing good for others.  I want my classroom to reflect those same things. 
• Be a purple cow.  Be different. 
• LCLs- Life changing lessons.  Make class meaningful. 
• Teach with enthusiasm.  Here's another video from David Theriault about the three magic words for engagement in the classroom:  MAKE IT MEMORABLE
• Create an aura of secrecy about your lesson.  Have the principal bring in a secret special box.  Wow, that would capture their attention.  This blog post from Theriault reminded me of the idea of using secrecy to draw in student's attention.

I am still trying to figure out all the ways to implement Dave's ideas in my classroom.  And I'm still wishing I had read TLAP before I started my student teaching.  :)

What I'm reading #2:  The second book I fell in love with this summer is Rules of the Red Rubber Ball by Kevin Carroll.  It is a revolutionary book about the importance of PLAY and PASSION.  He talks about having the courage to follow those passions.  The boys I'm teaching in the DR love sports, so I am excited to incorporate this book into some lessons.  I also tweeted @ Kevin telling him about my plan for using his book in my classroom.  Guess what, he also responded!   Here's a mind map I made with some ideas for using the book in the classroom.

What I'm reflecting about:  Both of these authors are passionate people.  They are enthusiastic.  They love connecting with others.  I wanted to say a big giant thank you to them both for inspiring me immensely this summer.  I'm heading back to the classroom with a head full of ideas and a heart full of enthusiasm for teaching, learning, traveling and life.

What are you doing today to play and inspire?

How using Twitter has impacted my life

What I'm learning: I recently tweeted, "Every day on Twitter I learn and use a new piece of technology. I might not have Ts to connect w/in the DR nxt yr but I'll have an even BIGGER group of people to interact w/via Twitter. How neat is that." I have been learning so much this summer through the use of Twitter and Voxer. The world is so big, but so very small at the same time. I absolutely love connecting with other educators. Sometimes after certain chats I actually get teary-eyed. I leave feeling SO inspired and encouraged knowing that I am so not alone in this journey.

I've been thinking about why more teachers haven't been using these tools. Some people simply don't know about Twitter chats and Google+ groups. But I also think people are nervous. I remember my heart was racing so much when I participated in my first Twitter chat. Just the other day I was asked to join a Voxer group (walkie talkie type app). I get real nervous when I speak into Voxer, but I get questions answered by experienced and incredible educators. The only way to learn is by doing challenging things, things that push you outside your comfort zone. That's the way growth happens. 

 From: here

I have been incredibly empowered and encouraged in these last few weeks. As a brand-new teacher, it has been amazing that people who have been in classrooms for years are willing to listen to my questions and help me. I have mentors and teacher that I really look up to who are several clicks away.

From: here

This article asks the question: Can one Tweet make a difference? I am here to say that YES, yes it does. Even just liking someone's post, or responding to them in a positive way can make someone's day. Everyone want's to be validated and appreciated. Social media has this incredible power to connect people all over the world. I love it. I've been trying to convince other people to join the bandwagon. @Chrisrogers07 told me this is called social media evangelism, which I loved.

From: here

Go connect with someone.  Go like someone's post, tweet, or picture.  Go send a happy text or e-mail.  Go learn about a new piece of technology.  Go try something different.  Go inspire others.  Go make people happy.  Go be a positive light in the world. 

With much love.