Dear Future Self,
I am writing to you from a period of big change and transition. I am sitting at the edge of the unknown and I can't yet see out past the fog, but I know there are magnificent sights we will see as that fog begins to clear.
There are some things I want to tell you, just in case you don't remember as clearly as you do right now.
Take things as they come. Life is unexpected and your whole day's plans can change multiple times before the day ends - that's where a lot of the fun is. A lot of things might not work. That's ok... as long as you have what you need to be safe and fed you are fine. And, there is always another bus.
Have high expectations for people and groups, but if you're the one pulling them along and nobody is
as invested as you... let it go.
Enjoy people. Everyone has a story and something to share with you. Say good morning, smile, and ask how someone's day is going. Don't be afraid to talk to random people in a park or on a bus. They might turn out to be one of your new best friends.
Express yourself and be silly. Use your words to the full range of their expressive powers. Don't just use average boring everyday words. Words have life.
Seek first to understand. Even when you are in your own culture, seeing and listening through unbiased eyes can teach you a lot - I bet, and bring you to places you never thought you would go.
Remember to relax. Working hard is good, but so is doing nothing besides sitting outside, talking to friends... or cooking dinner and watching youtube videos.
Appreciate what you have and be thankful. Enjoy nature and family. Observe changes of season and enjoy the cold.
When you turn on the tap and water comes out, feel blessed. Electricity and water are a privilege, not a given.
When you feel out of place in your own country, breath through it. I think it will pass.
If you feel insecure or unsure of yourself, remember this: You moved to another country - by yourself, learned the language, built a way to support yourself through hanging up fliers, answering the phone in Spanish, developing various curriculum, turning a high school class around, starting an improv troupe, teaching at corporations, writing for companies, being a receptionist, doing projects with the peace corps, and so much more. And at this point, all of that doesn't even seem like a big deal - but it is. You can make things happen.
Be open to being loved. Love them like they'll be with you forever; appreciate them like it's your last day together.
So, although right now I feel nervous about the future, I know that this is the next leap I need to take. Sitting on this cliff any longer doesn't serve our growth. The only way is to jump... and trust that we now know how to fly.
Me
Friday, July 10, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
The High School - My Most Difficult Journey...
And maybe not so surprisingly, where I feel like I've made the most impact.
It's funny how the project I was so close to quitting so many times turned out to be the project I'm most proud of and connected to in the end.
The kids that fought against me daily as if we were going into battle now hug me sometimes and say things like, "Teacher, I love you." Yes, these are HS students.
The relationship shift is immense, but what I want to talk about here is their progress in communication and thinking skills in English.
There are three major projects in the last few weeks that have put me in awe of their growth.
First, we had a free verse poetry slam. My friend, Alex, who was visiting me taught them how to write free verse poetry. We watched a professional on a TED talk and they were inspired. We talked about metaphors and hyperbole and they were off - writing like people who had something to say!
They memorized their poems and performed them over a potluck breakfast :] Snapping all the while in support of their classmates.
Second, they wrote essays on their exams where they compared how the theme of governmental control was expressed in the movies, Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Divergent, and the Giver. They couldn't even write paragraphs about themselves when we started together. Now, they are writing analytical essays. Of course their English is still rough, but they are doing it! The director told me that analyzing literature is something they struggle with in Spanish class and that they don't really know how to write organized essays. Yes!!!! They are doing it in their second language!
I think one thing that helped was that we had already done group projects where they made posters about the themes with examples from each movie and presented, so they already had the concepts.
Also, I made them organize their ideas on the exam by completing an outline where they had to list: Idea 1______________
Example from a movie___________
Example from a movie___________
Example from a movie ___________
Idea 2 _______________
and so on....
I learned this organization technique when I was teaching middle school writing.
Lastly, we watched one more movie called McFarland and discussed the ideas in the movie.
We could all relate to the story as it is about a coach and his family who move to a Mexican community of farm workers in CA because it is the only HS job the coach could get. He struggles with being accepted into the community much like I did at the HS. He sticks with it, though and beautiful relationships are formed. Also, the kids in the movie are the firsts in their family to make it to college.
They wrote their own discussion questions - as they still need a lot of work in question writing. They always leave out the do or did and still put the words in the wrong order no matter how many times we practice. One day, they'll get it. Anyways, during exam week they never want to do anything and are always studying for other subjects during my class. So.... we made a deal. I told them that if they could have a good discussion for 30 minutes with their notes for other classes in their bags, I would give them 30 minutes to study. If not, they would have to do worksheets for points the whole class.
They unanimously chose the discussion option and I started the stopwatch.
It was amazing. It was the most thoughtful and participatory discussion we've ever had.
They took turns asking their questions and passing the ball to someone to answer.
We used several tenses, naturally, including the conditional "What would you do if you were in his situation....? Would you move or stay with the team?"
They talked about how money isn't everything and how community is more important.
They talked about how important it is to have hope and something to work towards.
They talked about how their lives were easy compared to the kids in the movie who had to get up at 4 and work in the fields before school.
Before we ended, I asked them if any of them would be first generation college students like the kids in the story. They went around and answered. Most of them will be.
When they smiled with pride as they responded, "Yes," I got goosebumps.
Even though I'm leaving this group, they have given me things I will carry with me forever.
I know that this is they type of population I want to work with - teens who are blazing a new path... Teens who need that little extra support to get that somewhere their hope can take them.
It's funny how the project I was so close to quitting so many times turned out to be the project I'm most proud of and connected to in the end.
The kids that fought against me daily as if we were going into battle now hug me sometimes and say things like, "Teacher, I love you." Yes, these are HS students.
The relationship shift is immense, but what I want to talk about here is their progress in communication and thinking skills in English.
There are three major projects in the last few weeks that have put me in awe of their growth.
First, we had a free verse poetry slam. My friend, Alex, who was visiting me taught them how to write free verse poetry. We watched a professional on a TED talk and they were inspired. We talked about metaphors and hyperbole and they were off - writing like people who had something to say!
They memorized their poems and performed them over a potluck breakfast :] Snapping all the while in support of their classmates.
Second, they wrote essays on their exams where they compared how the theme of governmental control was expressed in the movies, Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Divergent, and the Giver. They couldn't even write paragraphs about themselves when we started together. Now, they are writing analytical essays. Of course their English is still rough, but they are doing it! The director told me that analyzing literature is something they struggle with in Spanish class and that they don't really know how to write organized essays. Yes!!!! They are doing it in their second language!
I think one thing that helped was that we had already done group projects where they made posters about the themes with examples from each movie and presented, so they already had the concepts.
Also, I made them organize their ideas on the exam by completing an outline where they had to list: Idea 1______________
Example from a movie___________
Example from a movie___________
Example from a movie ___________
Idea 2 _______________
and so on....
I learned this organization technique when I was teaching middle school writing.
Lastly, we watched one more movie called McFarland and discussed the ideas in the movie.
We could all relate to the story as it is about a coach and his family who move to a Mexican community of farm workers in CA because it is the only HS job the coach could get. He struggles with being accepted into the community much like I did at the HS. He sticks with it, though and beautiful relationships are formed. Also, the kids in the movie are the firsts in their family to make it to college.
They wrote their own discussion questions - as they still need a lot of work in question writing. They always leave out the do or did and still put the words in the wrong order no matter how many times we practice. One day, they'll get it. Anyways, during exam week they never want to do anything and are always studying for other subjects during my class. So.... we made a deal. I told them that if they could have a good discussion for 30 minutes with their notes for other classes in their bags, I would give them 30 minutes to study. If not, they would have to do worksheets for points the whole class.
They unanimously chose the discussion option and I started the stopwatch.
It was amazing. It was the most thoughtful and participatory discussion we've ever had.
They took turns asking their questions and passing the ball to someone to answer.
We used several tenses, naturally, including the conditional "What would you do if you were in his situation....? Would you move or stay with the team?"
They talked about how money isn't everything and how community is more important.
They talked about how important it is to have hope and something to work towards.
They talked about how their lives were easy compared to the kids in the movie who had to get up at 4 and work in the fields before school.
Before we ended, I asked them if any of them would be first generation college students like the kids in the story. They went around and answered. Most of them will be.
When they smiled with pride as they responded, "Yes," I got goosebumps.
Even though I'm leaving this group, they have given me things I will carry with me forever.
I know that this is they type of population I want to work with - teens who are blazing a new path... Teens who need that little extra support to get that somewhere their hope can take them.
#15 - "Support in Community"
#15 - "Support in Community"
Dancing and all of the arts create a community of support for not just the body, but laalma.
Dancing and all of the arts create a community of support for not just the body, but la
Friday, June 26, 2015
#16 - "Un Montón de Tamales"
#16 - "Un Montón de Tamales"
It is a Christmas tradition in CR to make tamales; we eat them at every meal and in between with coffee. We eat them before bed and when we wake up. The process started with the explosion of fireworks in the living room at 6:30 am to get us up and ended with swollen fingers and danced out bodies just in time to feast for dinner. What a day and a Christmas I'll always remember!
It is a Christmas tradition in CR to make tamales; we eat them at every meal and in between with coffee. We eat them before bed and when we wake up. The process started with the explosion of fireworks in the living room at 6:30 am to get us up and ended with swollen fingers and danced out bodies just in time to feast for dinner. What a day and a Christmas I'll always remember!
Thursday, June 25, 2015
#17 - "Sexo con o sin Amor"
#17 - "Sexo con o sin Amor"
I still have to pinch myself to believe I was in a full length play in Spanish. There are so many things that I have done that I never thought to be possible 2 years ago. Thanks to Pablo for believing in Ramona and I even when we nodded right through his directions, having no idea what he wanted. Talk about an advanced Spanish class!!!! We still laugh at how we realized what some of the scenes were about, back stage, on closing night.
I still have to pinch myself to believe I was in a full length play in Spanish. There are so many things that I have done that I never thought to be possible 2 years ago. Thanks to Pablo for believing in Ramona and I even when we nodded right through his directions, having no idea what he wanted. Talk about an advanced Spanish class!!!! We still laugh at how we realized what some of the scenes were about, back stage, on closing night.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
#18 - "Perro de la Calle"
#18 - "Perro de la Calle"
Our improv troupe took to the street as we performed at our first festival, a cashew festival, in a tiny town calledSan Mateo
Our improv troupe took to the street as we performed at our first festival, a cashew festival, in a tiny town called
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
#19 - "Bibity Bibity Bop!"
#19 - "Bibity Bibity Bop!"
One of my favorite parts of teaching at the high school here has been using drama games in my English classes to not only make everything more fun, but to learn English in more dynamic and real ways.
One of my favorite parts of teaching at the high school here has been using drama games in my English classes to not only make everything more fun, but to learn English in more dynamic and real ways.
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