Day 1 in Mozambique

Well, if you didn't know already, I'm in Mozambique!  I got here yesterday afternoon after two days of airports and airplanes. It was eerie and awesome how at home I felt. It felt as though I hadn't left--I know the house, the kitchen, the road, the potholes. I know not to turn the hot water knob too far or it will fall off, and go easy on the toilet paper or else. I know the Care For Life staff, the huts, the humanitarian projects, and the camaraderie that is so strong in a team working hard toward a meaningful goal.  

I had a great conversation today with one of the other volunteers about how some experiences, often those on your mission for example, are so powerful and unique that you cannot explain them adequately for others.   I feel like Africa is also one of these experiences.   It is truly incredible and life-changing and wonderful.  I cannot wait to find out what I discover about the world, about life, and about myself this time.

We went into the villages to teach sewing today.   I worked with Jose (pronounced HOE-ZAY) and Isaias (EE-ZIY-EE-UZ) to sew their backpacks.  I love sitting with the kids, especially the older ones, and talking with them.   I think they're a bit taken back by this tall white muzungo (Portuguese for gringo) who comes into their village and starts chatting it up.   But by the end, Jose was joking with me, begging to take pictures, with my camera, and asking when we would come back.  Great first day.

Isaias, Me, and Jose

25 Most Played

My Housewarming Blog Post

The latest additions to my apartment.  It feels so homey!  Also please imagine Disney music playing and delicious smells of chicken lasagna to truly get the full experience because that is my house today. :)  I love my apartment.

My Only Resolution

This is really the only New Years Resolution that I made this year, but hey, it's March and I'm going strong.  I taped it to by bookshelf and I'm checking them off as I read them.  I'm reading The Paradox of Choice right now.

25 Books to Read in 2012

1.   The Now Habit by Neil Flore

2.   Teach Like A Champion by Doug Lemov

3.   Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

4.   Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

5.   The Paradox of Choice by Barry Shwartz

6.   The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

7.   Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott

8.   Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

9.   Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

11. Around Africa on My Bicycle by Riaan Manser

12. The Element by Ken Robinson

13. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

14. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift

15. Super Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner

16. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

17. Teaching with Love and Logic by Jim Fay and David Funk

18. Whatever it Takes by Paul Tough

19. A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

20. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

21. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

22. _____________________________________________

23. _____________________________________________

24. _____________________________________________

25. _____________________________________________

Room 25 UNRAVELED Today

    I don't know if it's ironic or sad or just true that this post should follow the previous titled "Why I LOVE My Kids", but today was bad.   I usually just post the happy stuff, how great teaching is (and it is!), how much I love my kids ( and I truly, TRULY, do!), and I usually avoid writing about the bad days, but today was INcredible--I was driven to the verge of tears.   And all of this in like the last hour of school, just try and imagine the following.

   To set the stage, yesterday two kids, K and J, got on each other's nerves enough they ended up exchanging choice swear words about each other's families, and so got sent to the office.   Also, while I was taking care of that craziness, J and V starting fooling around during the test and talking.   So I'm already a bit on edge coming into today.

   Then today C and V threw pretzels at a kid during lunch, so I had to figure that out and dole out consequences--it's not on my watch, but they're still my kids and I expect better.  J couldn't focus in math and distracted some other kids.  A is talking out of turn a lot.  Then I find R with his pen light laser, which I confiscated yesterday.  When I approached him about getting in my desk, he clammed up, wouldn't talk or move, and stayed out in the hallway--he refused to come back inside.   So I'm trying to keep an eye on him, and my class. Back inside, K openly defied me when I asked twice for silence, so he went to the office for the second time in two days.  By now I'm distraught, overwhelmed, and completely frazzled.  Then I realize that C isn't in the classroom.   I can't find him, and I start to freak out.   Since he had gotten in trouble for the whole pretzel-throwing, I was like, what if he stormed out?  So now I'm freaking out and calling for someone to watch my class, trying to find him.  Turns out he's just in speech class--he forgot to tell me he was going.

  So if this isn't enough, my whiteboard markers and pencils are disappearing, books from my library are missing.   I got two new students this week, so besides now 29 bodies to keep track of, I've got the new people who don't know what's going on at all, and that really messes with the culture and the procedures.  So all this pressing down on me, and then 10 minutes to dismissal, there is a blasted FIRE ALARM!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!  So my almost-autistic student freaks out per the usual with hands shaking and shoved down his ears and I escort him, shaking, and my entire class outside amid the chaos of dismissal procedure. NOT. A. GOOD. DAY. Not a good day.

Why I LOVE My Kids

1.  During Read to Self I sat in a corner reading with one of my students.   In order to model appropriate expression, I read one part of the text as almost a scream, and a little too loudly for our quiet center time.  As we returned to our seats, A chastised me for disturbing his and the class's quiet working environment.  I quickly acknowledged him and apologized.  I love it when students advocate for themselves.

2.  Months ago, Student R gave me 990 x 990 on a piece of paper as a seemingly impossible math problem to solve.   I returned it to him with the answer.   Now that I've taught them double-digit multiplication and how to multiply with zeros, he came to me the other day and said, "Mr. Allsop, you did it wrong!"  He proceeded to write me a note detailing my incorrect answer and the actual correct way to solve.  He was right.  I was wrong.  And I was smiling the whole time because I was so proud of him.

3.  "V, you wander around like .... like...." I searched for a word to describe the aimless meanderings of my student who cannot stay still.  He supplied this response: "...like I got a cockroach in my pants?"

The Four Days of Classroom Library Christmas

I bought a bunch of books recently at a Scholastic Book warehouse sale and more with my Scholastic bonus points.   I'm going to let the kids open one present a day this week and see what books we're adding to the classroom library.  They're going to flip out to see more Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and the complete series of Geronimo Stilton.  I probably shouldn't have splurged on books, but hey, these are my kids and I want them to read lots.  I dream of a classroom library that covers my entire room, with books everywhere.