Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Day 5 in Puerto Rico: El Morro
Today was our last full day in Puerto Rico and we decided to take it easy. Originally we were to tour Ponce, but decided we would prefer to spend more time in Old San Juan and tour El Morro. I think we were all relieved about this change in plans as we were all exhausted, and I don't think we would have survived the two hour drive over the mountain while 14 of us squeezed into one van. El Morro is the oldest fort in Puerto Rico and it is a magnificent site. El Morro means "the mound" and the fort was built on the headland of San Juan to defend the bay and city. Below are some links if you would like to learn more about El Morro.
National Park Service: El Morro
El Morro
This video explains the lion head that is displayed on the arch to the main entrance of El Morro.
Next we went to a museum that displayed folk art from North, South, and Central America. The displays showed religious artifacts, musical instruments, pottery, clothing, festival masks, and toys of the indigenous people of the Americas. It was really neat to see these items from everyday-life of long ago, even though the masks were kind of creepy looking. I would like to find out more about the festival masks and learn why they made them so scary looking.
Although I was exhausted and just tired of going on tours, I do think it was valuable to have learned so much about the history of Puerto Rico this week. If you are truly going to learn about the culture of a place, you need to learn about the history. After all, the customs and beliefs usually are derived from the history. I think it is important to expose kids to cultures that are different from their own and that is something I would like to incorporate into my classroom this year. Our reading series uses books from countries all around the world and I think it would be valuable and worth the time to expose students to some of the cultural aspects of those countries as we introduce those stories. Even if they are just getting a little snippet of what that culture is like it is worth the time and the students will grow as individuals. I think exposing children to cultures different from their own is one way we can help them grow into accepting individuals.
El Morro
This video explains the lion head that is displayed on the arch to the main entrance of El Morro.
Next we went to a museum that displayed folk art from North, South, and Central America. The displays showed religious artifacts, musical instruments, pottery, clothing, festival masks, and toys of the indigenous people of the Americas. It was really neat to see these items from everyday-life of long ago, even though the masks were kind of creepy looking. I would like to find out more about the festival masks and learn why they made them so scary looking.
Although I was exhausted and just tired of going on tours, I do think it was valuable to have learned so much about the history of Puerto Rico this week. If you are truly going to learn about the culture of a place, you need to learn about the history. After all, the customs and beliefs usually are derived from the history. I think it is important to expose kids to cultures that are different from their own and that is something I would like to incorporate into my classroom this year. Our reading series uses books from countries all around the world and I think it would be valuable and worth the time to expose students to some of the cultural aspects of those countries as we introduce those stories. Even if they are just getting a little snippet of what that culture is like it is worth the time and the students will grow as individuals. I think exposing children to cultures different from their own is one way we can help them grow into accepting individuals.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Day 4 in Puerto Rico: Visiting the Schools
Today was what this trip was really all about: seeing the schools and connecting with teachers. We visited Abraham Lincoln Elementary, a public school in Old San Juan, and were able to see some classrooms and talk with the principal and some teachers.
It was such a great experience. The school is in a high risk community and is made up of both students from the community and students who live out of the community but have parents that work nearby in the government buildings. They have a mix of social classes ranging from the mid and low economic families of the local community and higher economic families who live outside the community. This school only has one of each grade level, including a pre-school class.
It was such a great experience. The school is in a high risk community and is made up of both students from the community and students who live out of the community but have parents that work nearby in the government buildings. They have a mix of social classes ranging from the mid and low economic families of the local community and higher economic families who live outside the community. This school only has one of each grade level, including a pre-school class.
One of the most beneficial experiences of this trip was being able to sit down and talk with classroom teachers. I was talking with another third grade teacher, who didn't speak much English, and the primary level English teacher. What really stuck out for me was how similar their school is to ours. Puerto Rico's schools are held to the same No Child Left Behind standards that we are only it is more challenging because they also have to be proficient in English. Students receive 50 minutes of English language instruction a day and all other subjects are taught in Spanish. We were discussing family involvement in the school and it was a lot of the same things that you would expect to hear from schools in York county. Parent involvement and support can go either way. The majority of the parents support the teacher outside of the classroom. There is a mix of parents who help their children with their school work and those parents that do not typically help their children at home are not necessarily those from the lower income community. In this school there are no buses so parents pick the students up and they often talk to the teacher at that time. As you would expect those parents who may constantly hear that there was a problem with their child may become upset and stop coming up to the door to get their child. I think this reinforces the need to set up that positive line of communication. Teachers need to find positive things to tell parents before any problems and it is most beneficial if you try to tell positive things more often than negative things. Parents are involved in the school and do volunteer in the classroom. The use of parent volunteers is really dependent upon the teacher's preference, most prefer not to have many parents in the classroom, and availability of volunteers varies. Sometimes it is very difficult to get volunteers and other times you have volunteers who are always ready to help. The teacher we spoke with said they have a lot of compromised parents, but most are very involved.
Talking with the teachers and discussing teaching strategies was such a valuable opportunity. It sounds like schools in Puerto Rico are making progress but are slightly behind the educational trends and movements in the states. Throughout our discussions I kept hearing it really depends on the teacher. In Puerto Rico students are expected to read by third grade, but because testing doesn't really happen until third grade students could enter third grade without being able to read depending on the teachers they had. In the states we are constantly monitoring student progress, sometimes it feels like we over-test them, and are using Response To Intervention strategies and programs to support students from early on up. I couldn't imagine a student entering my third grade class not being able to read. Also in the states, there is a big push for student-centered instruction that utilizes choice and the multiple intelligences. There are teachers in Puerto Rico who use these teaching philosophies, but it doesn't sound like it is the big movement that it is in the states. At this point of the discussion I was only talking to the teacher who spoke little English so my impressions could be slightly askew from the reality. I would have loved to see a classroom in action to get a better understanding or at least had more time to talk with teachers and visit their classrooms. It was such a shame that the start of school had to be post-poned due to preparing a plan of action for the swine flu. I am really excited about the opportunity to continue this connection we made with teachers in Puerto Rico and am hoping to continue a line of communication throughout the school year.
After leaving the school we were invited to tour the community of La Perla. This is closed community outside the city walls. It is a rather poor community and is considered a "ghetto," in fact we were told that we could only go into the community by being invited and guided by the community leader because it would not be safe for us otherwise. Although this sounds like scary place, you could see and feel a great deal of pride in the community from the community leader and the efforts they are making to improve their community. It was a real honor to invited into this community.
This community is 29 blocks, but we only had time to see a small section of it. This community seems very self contained. In the small section that we visited, there was a community center (top row, left) that is used mostly for tutoring, a family center (top row, right), a head start center (second row, left), and a medical center (third row, right side) that is capable of performing small surgeries.
Talking with the teachers and discussing teaching strategies was such a valuable opportunity. It sounds like schools in Puerto Rico are making progress but are slightly behind the educational trends and movements in the states. Throughout our discussions I kept hearing it really depends on the teacher. In Puerto Rico students are expected to read by third grade, but because testing doesn't really happen until third grade students could enter third grade without being able to read depending on the teachers they had. In the states we are constantly monitoring student progress, sometimes it feels like we over-test them, and are using Response To Intervention strategies and programs to support students from early on up. I couldn't imagine a student entering my third grade class not being able to read. Also in the states, there is a big push for student-centered instruction that utilizes choice and the multiple intelligences. There are teachers in Puerto Rico who use these teaching philosophies, but it doesn't sound like it is the big movement that it is in the states. At this point of the discussion I was only talking to the teacher who spoke little English so my impressions could be slightly askew from the reality. I would have loved to see a classroom in action to get a better understanding or at least had more time to talk with teachers and visit their classrooms. It was such a shame that the start of school had to be post-poned due to preparing a plan of action for the swine flu. I am really excited about the opportunity to continue this connection we made with teachers in Puerto Rico and am hoping to continue a line of communication throughout the school year.
After leaving the school we were invited to tour the community of La Perla. This is closed community outside the city walls. It is a rather poor community and is considered a "ghetto," in fact we were told that we could only go into the community by being invited and guided by the community leader because it would not be safe for us otherwise. Although this sounds like scary place, you could see and feel a great deal of pride in the community from the community leader and the efforts they are making to improve their community. It was a real honor to invited into this community.
This community is 29 blocks, but we only had time to see a small section of it. This community seems very self contained. In the small section that we visited, there was a community center (top row, left) that is used mostly for tutoring, a family center (top row, right), a head start center (second row, left), and a medical center (third row, right side) that is capable of performing small surgeries.
As you can see, La Perla has a beautiful view. Unfortunately that view is causing the government to attempt to take the land back in order to build resorts. What a shame!
Protesting Puerto Rico
Yesterday when we were learning about music in Puerto Rico we were told that Puerto Ricans actually use the salsa music as a part of their protests. Their protests are not violent and they use the music as a way to express themselves and voice their concerns. Today we actually passed a protest on our way to the schools. There were cars lined up all along the road with signs on their doors and windows. On the other side of the street were people with signs, playing this salsa music and yelling out their concerns. I believe they said the protest was about losing local jobs to big franchises.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Creative Crafts
This cute little grasshopper was made by a man on a street corner in Old San Juan. It is made completely out of palm tree leaves.
Day 3 in Puerto Rico: Salsa Dancing & Art Museum
Today is the big day that we attempt to salsa dance! Enjoy some salsa music as you read about my experiences with this lively aspect of the Puerto Rican culture.
We spent a very tired morning in classes but they were very interesting. In our Spanish class we had a really good discussion about what we are hoping to gain from this experience. Most of us in the class do not really have any speaking Spanish speaking students in our class but we know they are coming eventually and we view this as an opportunity to help prepare for when our classes do become more diverse. I think most of us in that class came here with that goal in mind, but after having been immersed in this new culture we have started to realize more possibilities and are very excited to return to the classroom. We started discussing in class how we can use this experience to help introduce our kids to different cultures. Many of our students will never even leave York county let alone have the opportunity to travel abroad. With this experience we can bring this different culture into the classroom more realistically. Introducing our students to the different cultures throughout the world will hopefully be one way that we can continue to create that tolerance and acceptance that we talked about last night. Monica and I were talking about my curriculum and we discussed this great idea about how I can incorporate another aspect of Puerto Rico into my classroom. I teach back to back units on plants and animals and we talked about how I could have my students create a rainforest in our classroom. When we study the plants, I want to have my students pick a plant from the rainforest to do a little research on and then artistically create several representations of the plant to put on the wall. The kids can report on the basic information that we learn in class but take it even further. When we switch to our unit on animals, we will do the same thing. By the end of our unit we would have an amazing recreation of the rainforest that we could share with other classes.
Salsa dancing! Our second class today was on the history of music which led right into our lessons on salsa dancing. Para el mundo Puerto Rico es"salsa" (for the world Puerto Rico is salsa). Salsa is a form of expression and it is part of the identity and soul of Puerto Ricans. When you hear good salsa music you really do find the urge to dance and start moving to the music without thinking about it. Our instructor taught us several different basic steps in salsa and it was a lot of fun. I do not like to dance but I really did enjoy salsa. I had some trouble with the turns but here is my attempt at learning to salsa.
In the evening we went to a local establishment to experience some real salsa. I hid in the corner and I don't think anything would have gotten me out on that dance floor in front of people but it was so neat to watch people who were really good. We did have some brave souls who were willing to try salsa dancing while we were out and they did such a good job. The band that was playing was really good and I am glad I went out. The big thing that hit me was how late the night life is Puerto Rico. Restaurants have been empty every night when we eat and people are not coming out until we are headed to bed. The salsa band didn't start playing until 11:30 and it was a week night and you assume that the people have to work tomorrow. I couldn't imagine staying out so late and getting up early on regular basis. I didn't notice any young kids out super late, but I would imagine the teenagers are staying out late on school nights as well. That has to impact their education. How can you function and do your best in school if you have practically no sleep.
During the day we went to visit the Museum of Art in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I am not into art museums and usually feel that I just don't get art so I was not overly excited about this trip. I did really enjoy the sculpture garden. It was a really pretty area and I loved the pond with the koi swimming around. I did not realize that koi were so colorful. They almost looked like someone splattered them with paint.
We spent a very tired morning in classes but they were very interesting. In our Spanish class we had a really good discussion about what we are hoping to gain from this experience. Most of us in the class do not really have any speaking Spanish speaking students in our class but we know they are coming eventually and we view this as an opportunity to help prepare for when our classes do become more diverse. I think most of us in that class came here with that goal in mind, but after having been immersed in this new culture we have started to realize more possibilities and are very excited to return to the classroom. We started discussing in class how we can use this experience to help introduce our kids to different cultures. Many of our students will never even leave York county let alone have the opportunity to travel abroad. With this experience we can bring this different culture into the classroom more realistically. Introducing our students to the different cultures throughout the world will hopefully be one way that we can continue to create that tolerance and acceptance that we talked about last night. Monica and I were talking about my curriculum and we discussed this great idea about how I can incorporate another aspect of Puerto Rico into my classroom. I teach back to back units on plants and animals and we talked about how I could have my students create a rainforest in our classroom. When we study the plants, I want to have my students pick a plant from the rainforest to do a little research on and then artistically create several representations of the plant to put on the wall. The kids can report on the basic information that we learn in class but take it even further. When we switch to our unit on animals, we will do the same thing. By the end of our unit we would have an amazing recreation of the rainforest that we could share with other classes.
Salsa dancing! Our second class today was on the history of music which led right into our lessons on salsa dancing. Para el mundo Puerto Rico es"salsa" (for the world Puerto Rico is salsa). Salsa is a form of expression and it is part of the identity and soul of Puerto Ricans. When you hear good salsa music you really do find the urge to dance and start moving to the music without thinking about it. Our instructor taught us several different basic steps in salsa and it was a lot of fun. I do not like to dance but I really did enjoy salsa. I had some trouble with the turns but here is my attempt at learning to salsa.
In the evening we went to a local establishment to experience some real salsa. I hid in the corner and I don't think anything would have gotten me out on that dance floor in front of people but it was so neat to watch people who were really good. We did have some brave souls who were willing to try salsa dancing while we were out and they did such a good job. The band that was playing was really good and I am glad I went out. The big thing that hit me was how late the night life is Puerto Rico. Restaurants have been empty every night when we eat and people are not coming out until we are headed to bed. The salsa band didn't start playing until 11:30 and it was a week night and you assume that the people have to work tomorrow. I couldn't imagine staying out so late and getting up early on regular basis. I didn't notice any young kids out super late, but I would imagine the teenagers are staying out late on school nights as well. That has to impact their education. How can you function and do your best in school if you have practically no sleep.
During the day we went to visit the Museum of Art in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I am not into art museums and usually feel that I just don't get art so I was not overly excited about this trip. I did really enjoy the sculpture garden. It was a really pretty area and I loved the pond with the koi swimming around. I did not realize that koi were so colorful. They almost looked like someone splattered them with paint.
I also really enjoyed the kids exhibits. There was a really neat interactive area for kids where they could learn about different types of art and then have the chance to create their own piece of art in that form. I was blown away by the room that displayed the artwork from a program set up with school students. There were canvas painting, sculptors, and tile mosaics created by third through fifth graders that were very impressive. The use of color and different techniques that the students incorporated into their art were amazing. Theses kids produced pieces of artwork that are far better than anything I could produce. It is so important to have the arts as a part of children's lives and students gain so much by having art and music opportunities in school. What a great way for some kids to express themselves!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Day 2 in Puerto Rico: El Yungue
Today's trip is one that I have anticipated and looked forward to before this class was even established. I have wanted to visit the rain forest most of my life and I am so excited to finally have the opportunity. El Yunque has been a Federal Forest Reserve for over a century and is one of the oldest reserves in the Western Hemisphere (see El Yungue for more information about the rainforest and its inhabitants). It was such a beautiful day and truely a once in a lifetime experience. The weather was perfect. I was afraid that it was going to be really hot and humid but it was a pleasant temperature and there was a refreshing breeze. What a view!!! The sight was absolutely amazing. We visited waterfalls on our way to the reserve and hiked on trails that were surrounded by this natural beauty. There are so many different types of plants and trees in the rainforest that just mix togther to create an amazing scenery. Scientist don't really know why there are so many different trees growing in the rainforest but believe it has to due with the year-round rain, sun, and warm weather. I was expecting to see more animals during our visit to the rainforest, but even though the animals were not very visible they were definitely audible. The rainforest has over sixty species of birds, but the sound that we heard most often was that of the coqui. The coqui is a tiny tree frog that makes this pretty sound "co-kee." We searched all over hoping to spot the coqui but never even came close to locating one. Listen carefully and you can hear the coqui.
Before we left the rainforest we climbed the Yokahu Tower and took in the breath-taking view of the rainforest from an elevation of 1,575 ft. I absolutely loved the rainforest, but my one disappointment is that we did not hike all the way to the big waterfall that we could have jumped in. What an experience that would have been, but that always gives me a reason to return to Puerto Rico in the future.
A small group of us went to a local restaurant and had a great dinner with an interesting conversation. The food wasn't technically wasn't Puerto Rican but it was the best quesadilla I have ever had. Our group consisted of teachers from schools all across your county and we had different experiences with diversity within the schools. Our conversation really centered around diversity and acceptance, or the lack of, in our schools. Most of us in the group teach in very homogeneous environments in terms of race and ethnicity so we don't have to deal with the prejudices and conflicts among different groups of people. We are aware of the continued problem in our society in this aspect but we are not dragged down daily by dealing with these issues and feeling like we are not getting through to the kids. Bill was sharing with us the stories of the conflicts that he deals with on a daily basis at his school. There are kids just blindly hating other ethnic groups and purposefully displaying certain symbols or doing things that will hurt and infuriate another group. This prejudice is growing with the increase of minority population; it is no longer the black vs. white conflict but now the black vs. hispanic or hispanic vs. white. We see the kids struggling with their beliefs on this issue and see that as hard as we work to teach tolerance and acceptance the parents are pulling them in the opposite direction by acting and speaking in prejudicial ways. The really interesting part of our conversation was how things are so different here. Although there is a sense that everyone is Puerto Rican, there is the same visual differences among the people and there are small populations of non-Puerto Ricans yet they don't seem to have the same conflict among the different groups that we have. We were talking with Anna, who has lived in different places around the world, and in her experiences she has seen this same non-existence of racial conflict. She said that it is just something that is not typically discussed. If other countries around the world can have this diversity and get along, why can't we?
Monday, August 3, 2009
Day 1 in Puerto Rico: Exploring Old San Juan
Today is our first official day in Puerto Rico. It has been an interesting but tiring first day. We spent our morning in classes at the university. I am in the Spanish for beginners class and even though it was designed for non-Spanish speaking students it was intense and very draining. The class was taught in total immersion and it was very rare that the professor spoke to us in English. Even with having taken Spanish classes in high school, I felt a little overwhelmed and questioned whether I would survive this week of total immersion. Although having class totally in Spanish is a scary idea and is going to be frustrating at times, it is a real eye opener as to what our ELL students must feel on a daily basis. I have had some experiences with this language and know that I am a very capable person, but being put in a position where everything is in Spanish is not only very mentally draining but also overwhelming and causes me to want to shut down after a while. Our ELL students are going through these same feelings and are expected to do well in school when they feel like they are not succeeding. Our students constantly struggle with the issue of what they are truly capable of verses the limitations and failure they feel due to the language issues. As the classroom teacher we need to find ways to help these students feel successful and provide more strategies and support systems into our classroom that allow students to demonstrate their true capabilities rather than just what they are able to accomplish in the restraints of a foreign language. The support our students receive when they are pulled out by the ELL teacher is not enough and we need to figure out how to help them bridge the gap.
We also learned a great deal about the history and politics of Puerto Rico through our morning class and the tour of Old San Juan. One of the things that really stuck out to me in the tour of Old San Juan was how much religion was incorporated into all aspects of the culture. Pictures of saints are displayed on buildings, plazas and streets are named after saints, and you can find religious figures in practically every shop. Religion is clearly a strong aspect of this culture and I am curious as to how that translates into the public schools. In the United States, religion is a big influence in our culture, but it is not Incorporated as much in the public structures of our society. We are not allowed to address religion in the public schools at all. The issues that arise in the school system from the religious aspects have caused me to be afraid to go near the topic. Even when my students bring up something from their religious beliefs, I am afraid to address it in the slightest manner and quickly brush the issue aside. It is a very uncomfortable topic as a teacher for fear of the repercussions that could come from the parents and administrators. I wonder if teachers in Puerto Rico have this same dilemma or if the topic of religion is acceptable in the public school since it is such a big aspect of their culture.
We also learned a great deal about the history and politics of Puerto Rico through our morning class and the tour of Old San Juan. One of the things that really stuck out to me in the tour of Old San Juan was how much religion was incorporated into all aspects of the culture. Pictures of saints are displayed on buildings, plazas and streets are named after saints, and you can find religious figures in practically every shop. Religion is clearly a strong aspect of this culture and I am curious as to how that translates into the public schools. In the United States, religion is a big influence in our culture, but it is not Incorporated as much in the public structures of our society. We are not allowed to address religion in the public schools at all. The issues that arise in the school system from the religious aspects have caused me to be afraid to go near the topic. Even when my students bring up something from their religious beliefs, I am afraid to address it in the slightest manner and quickly brush the issue aside. It is a very uncomfortable topic as a teacher for fear of the repercussions that could come from the parents and administrators. I wonder if teachers in Puerto Rico have this same dilemma or if the topic of religion is acceptable in the public school since it is such a big aspect of their culture.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Here at Last!
We finally arrived in San Juan after a very long day of traveling. Due to the weather, we had long delays and were threatened with the possibility of having to reschedule our flight for Monday. Not only did we have to deal with delays, but we had to sit on the plane for nearly two hours as the airport straightened out a problem with the pilot. Apparently the pilot had been on too long and legally couldn't fly us to San Juan. Fortunately they did find us another pilot and we made it to San Juan after an exhausting day of playing the wait game. My big lesson learned is that people get cranky very easily during travel and that I am not a big fan of airports!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Getting Ready
Less than a week until we arrive in Puerto Rico. I am beyond excited yet not at all ready.
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