End of the Term and Turning 22 in Paradise

This week was highlighted by the end of the quarter and birthdays. The first quarter came to an end after 9 weeks of teaching (which is so crazy to think that that much time has passed already). MMS had finals on Thursday and Friday. While I think it is strange to have "finals"--literally or conceptually--at the end of the quarter in middle school, I prepared my kids and wrote my tests nonetheless. We spent the first part of the week reviewing everything we had learned over the quarter. For reading, this included literary elements, parts of a story arc, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (which we have not finished but I thought it was important to review anyway), and the concept of main idea and supporting details. For grammar, we covered a lot of ground this term including identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, subjects, and objects, proper and common nouns, subject, object, and possessive pronouns, making words plural and possessive, and articles and demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, and those). Phew!

Initially, I was worried that testing the kids on all of the content we had gone over would be too much for them. My plan was to give them all of the answers for the reading test (since most of it was vocabulary) and re-teach everything from grammar as a means to make the test not only about how much the kids retained but to see if they would actually study or not. Surprisingly, during the review I was shocked by how much the kids had retained. I was especially proud that many of my students who did not speak English well were able to answer many of the questions. I went into the testing days thinking that all of my kids would do better than I expected.

Unfortunately, I was discouraged by the results. In my homeroom (104), only 14 people out of 31 passed the reading final and only 14 passed the grammar final. In my other class (107), 14 people out of 30 passed the reading final and 20 passed the grammar final. I was highly discouraged by these results, especially since the review went so well. It was a clear indication to me that the majority of the kids did not study. It also made me question the final format I created and how I had been teaching and assessing understanding throughout the term. I computed the grades in the hopes of a bit more encouragement towards my efforts as a teacher this first term. After computing the grades, 14 people passed reading and 15 people passed grammar. In 107, 16 people passed reading and 18 passed grammar. I am happy that a bit more than half of the students passed both classes, especially recognizing that I was pushing them harder than they had ever been pushed before. I come from a background of parents and teachers who always expected the best from me, even if I was not able to produce it. It was their hope that if I aimed high, I would still come out well even if I did not reach my goals. This was my mentality going into teaching my students. Still, I think that those methods did not necessarily work well with all of my students. Many of them have not ever been asked to do anything in a classroom besides copy down notes from the board and memorize answers. Thinking skills and study skills are completely foreign ideas as a result and so the kind of results I was hoping for might be too far out of reach if those skills are not put into place. I feel like my next big challenge is to teach my students how to think--not only outside of the box but inside of it as well. My hope this week and this term is to change how I am teaching to make it a bit more holistic so I can reach all of my students at their various levels. I started this week by telling my students that I will not let them fail this term and I hope that is a promise that I can keep. Still I recognize that my students have to want to work if there is going to be any success. Motivation and inspiration and two things I am still struggling to figure out how to teach.

This week, I plan on teaching thinking skills and study skills. I ask you, blog reader, to give me any ideas you may have in regards to these skills and how to teach them. It has been so long since I have had to actually consider either of them that I am at a bit of a loss. The internet has provided some help but I realize that I need to come up with other ways to teach these types of ideas to make them fun and to make them understood by both my best students and my students who understand the least English. What are some of the thinking and studying skills that you think are most important to develop first? Thank you in advance for your help!

On a lighter note, this past week was FULL of ribelle birthdays! It started on Thursday, which was Justin's birthday and the birthday of Jason Temple, a ribelle from England who works at WAM, and Amethyst Magee, who is the child of Yvonne and Craig Magee, two ribelle College of the Marshall Islands teachers who I have grown close with. After giving my first final, I rushed over to MIR to wish Jason a happy birthday. His girlfriend Aylssa Cowell, had planed a boat trip for him but we had to wait for an additional battery to come lest the one battery die and we get stranded in the middle of the lagoon. The second battery was taking a while to be delivered so we decided to get into the boat anyway. Lo and behold, just as we pulled away from the dock, the battery died. We had to walk the boat back across some reef. It was unexpected but fun time. As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, I go to Yvonne's house every Thursday for dinners with her family and a few other CMI teachers. This Thursday was a surprise party for Amethyst. Mandy and I purchased a cake from a bakery in town and Craig made DELICIOUS homemade pizza. A few of Amethyst's friends were invited as well. She was very surprised and enjoyed the party thoroughly. Alex and Justin came from Ejit to join in the festivities as well and that night we went out to celebrate his birth.

Saturday, Justin and I texted all of the ribelles we knew and told them to come out to the Marshall Islands Club to formally celebrate both of our birthdays. MIC is right on the water and it is a beautiful bar. Many ribelles showed up and it was very nice to see that though we had only been in the RMI for a few months, we had gained many friends. The night ended late (or early) and a fun time was had by all. On Sunday, I had already decided that I was going to go to Enemanit since I had not been there in a long time. After numerous phone calls I found out that someone was still going (the weather was a bit rough) and Yvonne decided to go with me. I have been to Enemanit four times now, and this time was the least crowded. Usually there are around 30 adults and a billion children, but there were only a handful of people this time, which was very nice and relaxing. We barbecued and I went snorkeling with an 8-year-old ribelle boy named Logan. His parents were new on island and they, strangely enough, used to be Community Directors at a dorm complex at Dartmouth! Small world. Anyway, it was nice to have something that I wanted to do actually come together even though my efforts were last minute.

Monday was my actual birthday. I am really bad with birthdays, since I do not like the idea of getting older, but my dorm mates made sure to make it special. I woke up with a handmade card on my door from Mandy. It had a nice note in it about how we had become such good friends in a short amount of time and a poem called "All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum, which can be found at the end of the blog entry. At school Mandy surprised me by having taught all of her and my students "Happy Birthday" in sign language and by having them all sing and sign it to me at the end of recess. It was overwhelming and highly appreciated. It is Marshallese tradition to sing to the birthday boy or girl and then throw money at them (usually bills). Many students appologized to me for forgetting money, but I was relieved that they did, because I would have felt very uncomfortable taking their money/refusing the gift. Anyway, my students also drew a happy birthday picture on the board in my classroom and sang to me as well. It was nice to feel so loved. When I got back from lunch, Bill, who knew of my love for bacon, had cooked me close to a pound of bacon for a present. It was neatly presented on the kitchen counter. Mandy and I made delicious bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch (and I ate all of the rest of it...admittedly I felt slightly ill afterwards). I came home after school to find Joanna making 22 homemade dumplings for me that were filled with chicken, spinach, garlic, and tofu. They were also delicious (I am trying to savor them but it is really difficult). Then, for dinner, Justin and Alex came in from Ejit and Mandy, Joanna, Hannah, and I (and Erica, a World Teach volunteer who is on the nearby outer island of Arno but is staying with us because she is sick) all went to Won Hai Shen for dinner. Afterwards, we went to Tide Table for ice cream and so that I could wish happy birthday to another ribelle, named Natalie, with whom I share the October 18th birthday. The day was very nice and relaxed, but I will admit that it made me homesick for my family and friends. Know that you were missed on this day, that you were in my thoughts, and that I love you all very much.

Today, the day after my birthday (though I still count it since it was my birthday in the US), my homeroom students told me that they had something for me after school. I had no idea what it might be, but I waited around for the last period to end to see what the surprise was. My students found me in the office and led me to my classroom where they had used their own money to purchase me snacks and cookies. It was en extremely nice gesture, especially knowing that many of them were using their taxi or lunch money to give me a gift. After school I was able to talk to my parents for a little under 20 mins. My mom, per tradition, told me my birthday story (which involves chili, the film Full Metal Jacket, and a very well dressed doctor) which was the icing on the proverbial cake for my birthday celebration. Thanks to all those who made the day/week/weekend special!

And now, on to a new term!

Bar lo kom,

Andrew

"All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life--
Learn some and think some
And draw and paint and sing
And dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon [...]
Be aware of wonder [...]
And it is still true, no matter how old you are--
When you go into the world,
It's best to hold hands and stick together.