Goodbye Isaac

So, Isaac the beloved math teacher for grades 7-11 was fired. He and his wife, the English teacher for grades 7-11, drove away on their four-wheeler two days ago. All of their students skipped classes yesterday afternoon to go to their house with a cake and cry all afternoon with them. They flew home to the U.S. today.

Right after Isaac and his wife left school two days ago, the kids organized a sit-in and elected a Student Council. They are furious about the decision to let Isaac go. Pity the person who is asked to teach his classes for the rest of the year.

Although the whole situation is a mess, for me it is a very interesting study in school administration.

Kaz Dancing at School

Kaz's Science teacher shot this video at lunchtime one day.

No Love Scenes

I just had to share this sign with you- there were lots of them posted around the hot springs we visited last weekend. The first two pictures show an oncilla, a relative of the ocelot that ran across our path and then stopped to pose for us. The fourth picture shows how green it is here. The greenery still amazes me when I walk around.

Active Volcano?

Arenal is an active volcano near here. We went by jeep-boat-jeep to get there last weekend, and were able to see red hot lava flowing down the side of the volcano after dark. We also visited a local hot spring and saw pisotes (rainforest raccoons), among other things.

More Earth Day Pictures

The Spanish as a second language classroom celebrated Earth Day in style, we planted trees, and Alvaro spent a lot of time on the floor of my office exploring the wind turbine model equipment. The school is erecting an actual wind turbine that will provide energy to the high school buildings, courtesy of the University of Winnipeg in Canada. I am continually impressed by the number and quality of donations of equipment and expertise made to the school. People from around the world are truly generous with their time, money, knowledge, and other resources.

Stick bug, Chicks, and Moms

More pictures from Earth Day-

One little boy found an enormous stick bug. Truly amazing. We took the first and second graders to see the chicks Milton is (finally) raising. They are almost 20 days old at this point, and will be sold for meat at 6 weeks of age. Finally, there is a picture showing some of the Moms and babies who tagged along with us on Earth Day. It was great to be able to include them in our activities.

Earth Day Pictures

Adventures in the Rain Forest, tossing seeds, and the all-school gathering with a great view of the Gulf of Nicoya in the distance.

Earth, Wind and Fire

Kaz (in white hat) singing a special Earth Day song in Spanish with his Spanish teacher and other members of his Spanish class.



April 22, 2009

Today was Earth Day. I was asked to help several seventh graders to lead a group of first and second graders through a series of outdoor activities including a scavenger hunt, camouflage game, tree planting and nature art. Three of the students’ mothers tagged along, two of them with babies. They were helpful when it came to cutting yarn to tie sticks together to make a frame onto which the kids then tied beautiful things they found- large seeds, flowers, etc. We brought our natural mobile back to the classroom with us at the end.
After our adventures, we joined the entire school in a community potluck lunch. After lunch, the whole school gathered to share their experiences from the morning and special songs and poems to celebrate Earth Day. After that, our morning teams each took a part of the campus and cleaned it as thoroughly as possible. There were prizes for the most trash collected and the most unusual piece of trash (part of a broken toy truck).
Wind
The rainy season has begun again after a respite of about 5 weeks. The wind is back to hurricane force, and I hear the floorboards of our new house creaking and adjusting to absorb the impact. The gusts are so strong at times that I wonder if the roof will blow off. I honestly don’t know how it stays on. The air in the late afternoon and evening is downright cold, and the rain and wind are so loud that it wakes me up several times a night. It sounds like a Mack truck is passing by my bed.
Fire Scare
The gas for the left burner of our two-burner stovetop was accidentally left on all day today. Fortunately, Kaz smelled the gas when he came home, turned the burner off and opened the doors. He then told the landlady what had happened, and she turned off the tank. An hour and a half later, we were able to safely cook our dinner. It would have really stunk if the house had blown up.
Firing
There has been an enormous amount of tension and drama at the school this week due to the dismissal of the beloved and talented high school math teacher last Friday. It has been disheartening to watch the worst come out in some people. It also has been interesting to watch how everyone deals with this mini-crisis- the Director, the teacher himself, his wife (also a teacher), their students, parents, other administrators, and the Board.
I have been thinking a lot about how this mess could have been prevented or handled differently so as to have caused far less distress among so many people. I have talked with the Director one-on-one every day this week to try to ferret out what happened and to brainstorm ways to handle such a situation differently in the future. He does not think the fallout was avoidable. I (and others) do. Tomorrow, there is a Board meeting, and various teachers, parents, and students have promised to attend and make a stink.
A couple of lessons I’ve learned from this situation are:
1. Communication is key. A certain amount of miscommunication precipitated the whole mess.
2. A Director must not become paranoid, dismissive or defensive with his or her staff. None of these postures inspires confidence in others.
3. Perception can be more powerful than truth. Manage perceptions so as to avoid misperceptions and handle misperceptions head-on.
4. When something isn’t working, try something else.

I'm Even Teaching Woodworking!

April 17, 2009

A Day in the Life
I never know what I will end up doing in a given day here. Over the past couple of days, I have:
1. Drilled holes in four buckets for our two small mammal collection stations in the rainforest on the campus grounds.
2. Took a University of Winnipeg teacher-in-training on a tour of the small mammal collection stations. She helped me re-dig some of the holes for the buckets.
3. Entertained visitor Rolene Walker, who is walking from San Diego to Chile to promote environmental awareness and renewable energy. She spoke to our 9th graders.
4. Led Dolly’s afternoon woodworking workshop class when she had a conflicting commitment. I did not know until that morning that I would have to teach the first day of a 6-week long woodworking workshop. I recruited two other teachers to help, and Dolly had the school secretary call in her brother-in-law to help ensure that no one lost a limb or a major organ like an eye. It actually went really well- we set up stations for sawing (the kids were asked to try all three different saws), drilling, routing, woodcarving, sanding, woodshaving, etc. I didn’t know the names of all the equipment, nor did I know everything about their use, but I had learned a lot a few weeks back from some friends of Dolly’s who visited, and we made up the rest as we went along.
5. Helped a student teacher and her university advisor to teach the 8th graders how to make wind turbines. We then tested the designs to see how much energy they could produce. A very engaging and scientifically sound lesson.
6. Spent a lot of time attempting to break into a classroom for which we had no key. Called the teacher at home to find out that she did not have a key, either. Kaz was finally able to get the door open by threading a broom handle through the vent windows and pushing aside the latch.
7. Typed a spreadsheet showing a draft of our integrated environmental education curriculum for grades 7-11. The rows show each grade level and the columns show the environmental education content that will be taught in the following classes: Science, Social Studies, Environmental Education, Land Stewardship, and Math. The result is based on many conversations with the high school teachers, a fair amount of research and experience, and the context of the school. I think it’s brilliant, but will ask Dolly and a variety of others to help refine it.
8. Met with various teachers. The 3rd grade teacher came by for suggestions of resources with 3rd grade level information on mammals. The high school Math teacher came by to vent some frustrations, and the high school English teacher wanted to talk to me about Kaz’s work in her class since she was not here for parent-teacher conferences before Spring break.
9. Taught the Preschool class how to use a balance.
10. Researched second language acquisition after being asked to teach the Preschoolers in Spanish. I thought that was an odd request since the school purports to teach in English, and my own experience has been that 4 year-olds will effortlessly pick up a new language. I found a lot of research to support my contention that it would have been much better to teach them purely in English than in the broken Spanish I had to use.
11. Made my lunch- cooked up raw hamburger and red peppers on the gas stovetop in the staff kitchen. Added some chunks of cheese on top, let them melt a little, then shared it around with anyone who was there.
12. Taught third grade and fourth grade- we had them look for evidence of mammals on the school grounds. We found horse scat, large half-eaten seeds, and evidence of homes between tree roots, among other things. We also showed them the small mammal traps in the woods. One 4th grade girl went home and made her own similar trap in her backyard using leftover ceiling material and some buckets, and the next day brought us the mouse she caught. We were so impressed! I want to go home with her on the bus on Monday and get a picture.
13. Attended an Administrative Staff Meeting at which the following topics were discussed:
a. Computer Room Use
b. Graduation Ceremony Planning
c. End of Year Outing for Faculty
d. Trading of Some Offices
e. Earth Day Plans for the school- the older kids will be providing programming for the younger kids.
14. Team interviewed two candidates by phone to replace Dolly when she returns to her home in Wisconsin in June.
15. Did my playground duty- had fun talking to some of the little girls.
16. Helped Dolly write emails in Spanish to various local School Board members with whom we would like to meet.
17. Attended a session on teaching using science inquiry led by the father of a former exchange student to the school. He was visiting just for a week and is a Professor of Education in New York.
18. Helped another intern find some materials she needed for a class.
19. Talked with another intern about her student teaching- she is frustrated that her mentor teacher does not give her any feedback.
I mentioned in earlier posts how our office is like Grand Central Station, and how Dolly has the equivalent of five jobs. It is really hard to keep up sometimes, and Dolly and I hardly ever have ten uninterrupted minutes in a day. As such, she has just asked the Director of the School if we can work offsite for a few days to flesh out our curriculum design for grades 7-11. It is impossible to concentrate on that in our office, and so far, I have done most of that work at home. We’ll see what he says, but knowing Dolly, even if he says no, she will do it.

Pens, Mugs, Forks, and Headlamps

These pictures show: Deb and Dolly at the local waterfall, Rolene Walker with Dave at the Friends School, and the faculty mailboxes at The Cloud Forest School.

I refer to the waterfall in another post. This is Kaz's new favorite spot to play with his friends.

Rolene Walker is walking from San Diego to Chile to raise awareness of environmental issues and energy alternatives. She planned her trip for 9 years and has been on the road now for 18 months. Amazing 60 year-old lady.

The faculty mailboxes at the school caught my eye this morning due to the contents therein. You might see, from top to bottom, pens, a mug, a fork, and a headlamp. People borrow the weirdest things from each other and then return them via the faculty mailboxes.

View, Well, and Cast

Some random pictures to share...

The first picture here shows the view from our new house/cabina/apartment/condo. The new house itself is shown in the background of a picture of Dave, Kamila and Kaz in the van that took us to the Nicaraguan border, a picture I posted previously.

The second picture shows the cast of "Monteverde Memories." Kaz is in front.

The third picture shows Kaz pumping water from the well outside the house we stayed in in Nicaragua. The house had indoor plumbing, but no hot water. They seemed to use the well like we might use an outdoor hose in the U.S.

Bats and Blackouts

Bats and Blackouts are a way of life here. These pictures show the local "Bat Crossing" sign and two views of the same dinner- one with a flash and one without. The only light in the blackout picture comes from the headlamp (miner's lamp) Michael is wearing on his head.

Lakes, Oceans, and Waterfalls

Last Day of Spring Break
Kaz just came in to tell me he stopped at the local waterfall with some schoolmates while walking home from one of their houses. He was jazzed because they were able to jump from some rocks into the deep pool of water at the base of the waterfall. My first thought was, “Yikes, that could be dangerous.” My second thought was, “Wow, that’s not something Kaz can do back home- what a great way to spend his last day of Spring break.”
Friends
I was just about to tell Kaz that his home-schooled friend had come by to invite him to walk into town when a boy who attends the Friends school shouted up from the street to invite him out. Our new house (or condominium or cabina or whatever you want to call it) is well-located. It has a deck just above the main road, so we can yell down to people who walk by and they can yell up to us. Everyone goes by at some point or another since there is only one main road in this town.
The cabina is right at the bottom of the “School Hill” so we can walk up to the school every day. See my previous post for a drawing and information about the (still very steep) school hill.
Nicaragua II
For visa reasons, we have to leave the country for at least three days every 90 days. During Spring break, we went back to Nicaragua for four days and stayed in the same house as the last time. This time, however, we did not take Spanish classes for four hours every day and instead spent more time on the beach. We also took a side trip one day to Lake Nicaragua and swam in fresh water. We were the only gringos (foreigners) at the lake, and partly stood out because the locals swim in their street clothes. Everyone was curious about us and wanted to talk to us. Kaz made friends with a beautiful local girl named Iris and they played together in the water for hours. She did not speak English, so Kaz had to work extra hard to communicate with her in Spanish. I took a picture of them with the island of Omtepe, deemed by some to be one of the seven wonders of the world, and one of its volcanoes behind them. What a gorgeous sight.
We went fishing again, but this time threw everything back and instead took home six fillets of black tuna caught earlier in the day. At one point, our boat headed toward a huge flock of birds over the water and found roughly 200 dolphins swimming, jumping and racing our boat. What an incredible sight.

Monteverde Melodies

Jesse, the sixth grade teacher, spent the past two years writing a musical about Monteverde. Students from the Cloud Forest School and the Monteverde Friends School performed it last night. The show highlighted some important issues here- imagining what the rainforest will be like for future generations, what it is like to be a waitress whose customers spend more on their dinner than she will earn in a month, trying to decide between driving a taxi and working on the family farm, etc. Hearts were touched and tears were shed over some of the numbers. Kaz was the Spokesperson for, and leader of, the Army Ants and Leaf-Cutter Ants (all fourth graders) and, in another number, served as a tour guide for a family of three in the Cloud Forest Reserve.
Kamila (in short, black dress) had an impromptu party after the show, and around twenty people crowded into her room. Everyone sang show tunes and ate fresh goat cheeses courtesy of Benito Guindon. It was a lot of fun.

The Four Seasons

Four Seasons
Just thought I would post some pictures of things I’ve seen around here, and describe my latest take on the weather.
After much thought and many days of experiencing the weather here, I have finally decided how to describe it. It is actually quite simple- in Monteverde, the weather cycles through all four seasons every day. When you wake up, it is Fall- crisp and clear. By noon, it’s Summer- you have shed your fleece and are sweating. By mid-afternoon, it is Spring-the clouds and fog roll in and rain is likely. At sundown, it turns into Winter- raw and cold for the night. The next day, you wake up and go through all four seasons again.

New Home

We moved to a new home yesterday. It is a small condominium-style place with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small combined kitchen/dining/living area. There is only one other condominium attached, right below us. Despite its small size, we like it very much and are happy to be out of the "House with Bad Karma," which we have subsequently heard used to be a drug den. No wonder it had such bad karma!

Meadow, Art and Flutes

This is "the meadow" at the school. Unfortunately, there is no grass because it is also the soccer field and the kids play soccer there at least twice a day every day. Last year, they cordoned off the meadow, planted grass, and let it grow for four months. Then they let the kids play soccer on the grass- barefoot only- for one week. After that, they allowed the kids to play soccer wi sneakers on. The grass was gone within four days.


This is Antonio. He has global experience and a grant for teaching kids to make things from recycled materials. Here, he is showing the 8th grade boys a guitar he made from scraps of glass. He sold it for $300 to a local gallery. Kaz hopes to be working with him as part of an after-school workshop after our Easter break, which begins today.

This last picture shows a group of fourth graders playing a song they learned on recorders, thanks to an intern who brought the recorders and taught them how to read the music and play the "flautas."