Ocean of Green

I've taken a month to reflect 

in the mountains to feel close again

I put my phone to sleep and finally pulled the plug

breaking the dam to let the water flow free

words and song embrace a long lost friend 

with melodies unseen 

a little bit of clarity 

in an ocean of green 

opportunity? 

a practice of will
finding balance between tranquility
and ambition

embracing the road beyond the horizon
to be present while we dream

a little bit of clarity 

in an ocean of green

Flight WY338 to Muscat

I wondered why I was the only woman
in the airport
going through customs
there were two lines, one for men
       and one for women
like parked-cars on the highway
stretched out to infinity
hundreds of men stood waiting

but I walked right by them all

I feel like a bird in an ocean of fish
in the waiting area- flooded
the telecom announces flight WY388 to Muscat
the sea of faces rise
I sit with five women watching--
a man from India says, "they are going to drill oil"

but all I can think about are their wives and children
and fish out of water

Bidai (Goodbye) Ceremony

हामी नमस्ते फेरि भन्न सम्म

म सधैं सम्झना हुनेछ

Until we say hello again

I will always remember 

Mothers at the window

looking in

the daughters 

behind the iron gate 

 faces

in the concrete box 

waiting 

for a turn

  

 to be fully seen

for the moment of realization

that you are the gift 

inside the envelope

that you opened with your own

powerful hands 

that one day

no one

will wait

at the window.

Class Photos

Class One 

Class Two 

Class Three 

Class Four 

Class Five  

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows" - Sydney J. Harris 

A Trip to the Birthplace of Lord Buddha

As the days passed, I found myself with only two weeks left in Nepal. My incarnation of traveling was soon to transition. "What would you like to see before you go?" people would ask me.

I want to go to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.

We had a three day holiday for Holi, the delightful festival where people throw colored dust at each other. My aamaa agreed to travel with me as our last journey together, at least this time around.

It was a long and tiring trip -- it took about nine hours and four bus changes. As we traveled south from the hilly region of our home to the flat, arid plains of the Tarai, we heard dialects shift amid a rainbow of skin colors; we saw clothing that ranged from intricate saris to tattered rags, we met curious babies and grandmothers eager to show pictures of their grandchildren; we tasted the diversity of life in Nepal-- sweet, salty, spicy, sour, fresh, raw.

I thought of the book Siddhartha and wondered if human suffering had transformed at all since the days of the Buddha, centuries ago.

There are moments in our lives when we feel entirely in the right place at the right moment regardless of all the outward nuances of the bustling world. With my aamaa by my side, we watched the sun set over still waters and experienced the depth of every color through all of our senses. As the evening chant of Buddhist monks from across the globe danced throughout the air, the moving vibration created soothing ripples across the water. Though over seven-thousand miles from the country of my birth, it was in this moment that I felt the closest to home that I have ever been.

Giving Teacher Training

As I begin to reflect upon the highlights of this incredible journey,  my experiences facilitating teacher training workshops stand out as something both rewarding and memorable.

I visited several local universities and gave workshops working with college students studying to become teachers. I facilitated training workshops for the faculty of my school, I worked with three student-teaching interns who came to our school toward the end of my grant, and I traveled to the rural village of Macel with Lisa and Ellen to provide a workshop in active teaching methods.

At first, I felt a little bit overwhelmed with the idea of "training" teachers who had been teaching for more years than I have been on this planet or teaching college students when I had been one myself just a few months ago. In multiple instances, I felt like people put me and the fellow ETAs on pedagogical pedestals because we are American. Having just graduated in May, I found myself questioning: "what do I have to offer? what do I have to teach teachers?"

I thought long and hard about these questions, and through the process came to recognize the power of teacher training as a sustainable way to empower and awaken "unteachable" students. The clock was ticking, and I only had so much time left to teach in Nepal-- no matter what, my direct impact in the classroom would only equate to eight months of teaching. But, through teacher training, teachers could use, integrate, and extend activities that invited children to learn in multiple modalities through their head, heart, and hands.

Because of language barriers, I needed to learn how to concisely and clearly express what I stand for as a teacher.  I came to value everything I learned in college about educational psychology and the importance of truly knowing the needs of one's students. When people asked me "what do you teach?" I began to just say "children."

I teach children, not just English.

When I gave a workshop to future teachers about to embark on the journey of student teaching, I made each one a card with the morning verse written on it. 

Learn with courage 

Teach with love 

Grow with knowledge 

Know with truth 

We discussed what this verse meant- and the importance of making content meaningful enough to be taught with love, challenging enough to require courage to learn, transformative enough to inspire growth, and relevant enough to be remembered with truth. 

                                                   

When Lisa, Ellen, and I traveled to the village, we addressed what happens when teachers call their students "lazy, unteachable, or stupid." We loudly declared that our students are children first and students second. 

 

I made a poster of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and facilitated an activity in which teachers discussed issues such as being a child crying from hunger, being a girl with her period in a school with no toilet, being a student who is beaten with a stick for not knowing the answer to a question in class. I asked teachers, is it true that some students are just "lazy" or is their lack of motivation a result of unfulfilled needs? 

We discussed the meaning of the word "intelligence" and how we as teachers recognize talent in our students. Before explaining the significance of the poster, I asked teachers in groups to describe what it meant to them. The teachers eloquently hit the nail on the head, expressing the diversity of human intelligence and talent. We discussed the importance and power of validating our students and helping them recognize their unique compilation of intelligence by including activities in our classrooms that welcome such exploration. 

I led a mini-workshop on learning styles, and teachers explored the importance of incorporating activities that meet the needs of kinasthetic, visual, and auditory learners in their lessons. They made sample lesson plans in groups organized by grade level that incorporated learning activities for each of the three learning styles. 

Then, we played some really fun games together!

Lisa facilitates a game

Lisa and I explain alphabet hopscotch 

The teachers with their teacher-training completion certificates 

To learn more about my philosophy of teaching and the activities I facilitated with my students, you may download the PowerPoint presentation that I gave at the Fulbright South-East and Central Asia ETA Conference here.

Making Calendars

During our second to last week together, I taught my fourth and fifth grade students about the principles of collage (a topic covered in their creative arts curriculum). Using recycled materials, each student created their own calendar. I used the process of making calendars as an authentic assessment of their ability to correctly spell and order the days of the week. Measurement (a math topic in fourth grade) was also essential to creating a beautiful well-organized calendar. Students had to correctly measure the boxes for their calendar using directions that were given in English. This fun project also helped us review topics that were soon to be included on their third term exam including months, seasons, and days of the week. Check out what the students made! 

Our Friend Reports- more than just writing

One day, a concerned fourth grade student shyly approached me and explained that she had been in a big fight with a good friend and did not know what to do. After speaking with this student, I began to notice the tension that was dividing the class. In a class that consists of six students (on  a good day) there is no room for animosity between peers. So, I decided to design a project to help students explore what makes a good friend, and hopefully bring a sense of cohesion back to the class. 

Before designing the project, I reviewed the class four government curriculum standards. Learning adjectives (describing words) is emphasized in the curriculum. Writing simple paragraphs is included as well. Reflecting upon my student's learning styles, I recognized that the class consists primarily of visual learners--students who learn fluidly through the use of pictures and visual aids. Thus, the idea of "friend reports" came to mind. I designed the week-long project to include an intensive study of adjectives and vocabulary words that are used to describe "good friends" and "bad friends." Subsequently, through guided writing, students reviewed what makes a sentence. This served as a transition into studying what makes a paragraph.  Once this was understood, each student wrote and illustrated their own unique "friend report" showcasing their new knowledge of adjectives, paragraph writing, and their respect for a friend/classmate. Check out the process through pictures below: 

Students use post-it notes to categorize adjectives that describe "good friends" and "bad friends" 

Girls practice their teamwork skills by working with partners 

Bad friends are "greedy"! 

The two girls who were fighting worked together as partners 

Bad friends are "rude" 

I made an example of a friend report about one of my friends to show the students what I expected them to do. 

Lisa is also a Fulbright ETA and is a good friend of mine! 

Students diligently write their rough drafts. 

I gave students guiding questions for each paragraph to frame their writing like:
1. What is your friend's name?
2. How old is your friend?
3. What grade does your friend study in?
4. What are two positive adjectives that describe your friend? 

After the students were able to write the answers to the questions, they re-wrote the answers (without the questions) to create a simple paragraph. 

For three days, each student wrote a new paragraph each day, following the same guided writing process 

Students worked very hard

The students were very focused on their work

After finishing their rough drafts (and correcting all mistakes) students were given nice paper and colored pens for their final drafts 

Purnima carefully designs her cover page 

The students are in the focused zone! 

I could hear the goats in the field while the students worked 

Purnima's portrait of Sumitra 

Sarsworti's portrait of Sangita 

"Look, it's you!" 

Students are excited to show and share their work! 

(and...our next unit will review capital and lower case letters...) 

The final draft! 

Sumitra smiles as Purnima shares her friend report with the class 

We CAN draw! 

We CAN read! 

We CAN write! 

We CAN smile!