Wednesday
I'm beginning to get the hang of our routine here on this island. Unexpected visitors of the critter kind are a daily reminder that yes, we ARE in the wild. Two adorable geckos have made an appearance in our cabin and blue crabs dance sideways over the bed of dry leaves outside our front stoop, eying me suspiciously as I walk by. I seem to startle the deer that run through the brush here every time I step outside the cabin doors, but the donkeys don't seem to be phased by much of anything. The girls seem to be getting more comfortable with each lesson they teach. The kids at the school absolutely love our girls. They call them by name as we walk by in the hallways, and hugs are a mandatory greeting partner. It's especially fun to see them as we head back to our cars after a day of teaching- they call out from the backseats of their parents cars, yelling the girls' names as paparazzi would to a celebrity. Today was a bit hotter and muggier than we've experienced thus far. Once school was out, the girls requested a venture to a new beach just down the road at Hawk's Nest. What a great idea it turned out to be!! More wildlife to be had! As the girls were in the water, a ray, school of tiny fish, and some larger fish swam around their legs. There was even a small octopus sighting! Just another day in paradise...
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Wednesday
Hello! Today, my friends and I started our morning by waking up approximately at 7:37 AM and enjoying a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and home fries. Then, we arrived at the school around for our eighth grade class around a quarter to ten, but due to a coinciding EMT presentation, the students arrived late with twenty minutes left to spare. After our typical meal of a fresh fruit smoothie (I got peanut butter and banana) and granola bars, we crossed the street and greeted our excited fourth graders occupied with their XO laptops. Today’s Scratch lesson, taught by Annie, was to create a maze and code the arrow keys. Natalie and I helped guide Lionel, Janus, and Kayden with their projects. The kids struggled a little bit with drawing the maze, but were able to code with no difficulty. Having gone through the steps of the prior lesson, the next fourth grade class was a breeze. In fact, their basic mazes were complete with an extra twenty minutes left to add more components. We, as teachers, felt much more prepared and relaxed, which produced a positive effect for the students. It feels so great when you know the answers to their questions and see them help one another. Afterward, we split up, and I was with the group that taught the fifth graders. Quinn led the lesson with Scratch in which two characters meet, greet, and turn the opposite direction. After a long day of teaching, we drove to Hawk’s Nest beach and saw a sting ray! This beach has many more fish than it seemed in Cinnamon Bay. At the end of the day, we showered, had dinner, and played cards. OH. Wednesday
Today was our third day teaching and I think as a group we are really getting a hang of it. Today we taught two classes of fourth graders how to make a maze in Scratch and a fifth grade class different activities and skills in Scratch. I taught for the for the first time on Tuesday for our two forth grade classes and was very nervous for how it would go. The first class I wasn't really sure how to word things or how the kids would react to me. The teaching during the second class was much smoother. I knew what I could say to make the kids understand and had a better idea of how to manage my time. Today was the first day the kids really responded to us and approached us in the hallway with hugs and were calling out our names. Seeing the kids really understand and enjoy what we are trying to teach them is so rewarding. I've had such an amazing time in just 3 days and can't wait to see what the rest of the trip will hold. Tuesday
Today was the second day of teaching. I was a little nervous coming into Saint John with the whole teaching aspect. After the first day though I was relived, the children were really nice and willing to learn. Today we met some new children and returned the 4th grade class. In the morning a new group of 8th graders came in and we took apart laptops. One of the boys I worked with actually had been to mainland America a few times and said his dream was to move to North Carolina. After we taught the eighth graders we regrouped and then went on a break. Everyday so far we have gone to this really good smoothie place, so we returned there today. After our break we returned to the school. This is when the most exciting part of the day occurred: passing out the laptops to 4th graders. It was so cute to see their faces when they received them. Some were surprised that they got to keep them so they got even more excited. At the end of the day I returned to the 7th grade class with my group, and they were very energetic. I enjoyed taking apart more laptops with them. This group was the liveliest group I have worked with so far! They made me laugh With their dancing and singing. I'm looking forward to working with these groups for the rest of the two weeks we're here and creating more memories! Tuesday
Today was our third day in St. John and our second day teaching at the school. We handed out the laptops to the fourth graders, to everyone's delight. With the newly acquired laptops, the fourth graders learned how to make different kinds of shapes in Scratch, which consisted of teaching them how to repeat sequences of code, and the differences caused by changing the degrees that the character turns. In bug news, there was a battle with two huge spiders last night, and there was also a cockroach that we lost track of, meaning that there is still a rogue cockroach wandering around our cabin. There are millions of mosquitoes, one of which Meg just killed while I was writing this. Despite our struggles with the wildlife, it was a successful third day in St. John. Tuesday
Today was a great day! The first day in the school is always a little rough. New classrooms, new teachers, not knowing exactly what the students know or remember, not knowing which students had us last year and which didn’t, what they might or might not remember, all make for what I call a “be ready for anything” environment. We never know what we’re going to get. The second day, however, is a better indication of how things are really going. We started our schedule of alternating the morning class. The sophomore team is teaching the smaller group of 8th graders and the junior team is teaching the larger group. On alternating mornings, they’ll get a few extra hours to sleep or relax in the morning. So today the juniors helped the 8th graders take apart computers. Natalie had developed a mini lesson guiding students through a comparison of the insides of the XO with the insides of one of the older ThinkPad tablets we used to use at CSG. (We brought broken computers for the sole purpose of taking them apart.) The lesson went extremely well and the students were completely engaged. After all, how many times have you been able to freely take apart a computer to see what’s inside? On to our two back-to-back fourth grade classes where we handed out the XO laptops. Despite the age of the computer, these kids are SO excited to know that they get to KEEP them. It is always a very exciting day. We gave them a few minutes to just play and explore, then Erin reviewed with them how to make a sprite draw shapes on the screen. This group is incredibly polite, interested, and helpful. Ms. Powell, their teacher, verified that this is a much less rowdy class than last year’s. She is an excellent teacher and supporter of our program, and it is so nice to be working with her again. The last class of the day we split into two classrooms again, half of the girls teaching 5th graders and half of the girls teaching 7th graders. I went with the 5th graders where we had to “be ready for anything” and jump from teaching the older version of Scratch to suddenly having to get all the kids to make Scratch accounts and teach them the newer version. The programs are just different enough that we all – me included – stumble around trying to remember where a specific command is categorized. Megan and Ryan did a fantastic job walking the students through this lesson. After the school day, the juniors wanted to get curly fries and the sophomores came back to hang out at the beach. Cinnamon Bay beach is absolutely beautiful. It is a long stretch of white sand beach in a nice bay with a small cay just off shore. After a tiring day of teaching, it’s nice to throw on a swim suit and splash around in the warm water. I am hoping to convince the girls to start exploring the other beautiful beaches along the North shore of the island. I bet it won’t take much convincing! Dinner, a short meeting, and some socializing rounded out our day. I know I say this every year, but our girls are amazing. They take their jobs very seriously, they stretch themselves by volunteering to be the presenter for the day or for a lesson, and they are incredibly kind, resourceful, and poised. They make each student feel like they are a star, give warm hugs and bright smiles, and teach with heart. I wish you could see what I see, because to watch them in this situation is a privilege. On to day 3! Don't forget to check out the photo page for the trip! Ms. O'Connor takes great photos!! Monday
Today we visited the school for the first time. All the kids were cute and we were greeted by a warm welcome. Although it was hot, knowing that a dip in the ocean awaited us after teaching was our motivation. The kids I taught were in eighth, fourth, and fifth grade. Most of them were motivated to learn and were willing to participate in the activities. Most of the activities consisted of introducing the programs. Also, with the eighth graders, our first lesson was taking apart old Lenovo laptops in addition to the small laptops we brought with us (the XOs). It was great to see the students learning how to take apart the laptops and making sure that they kept track of the screws. The kids’ excitement reinforced our motivation to be here. Not only were the kids great, but the nature in St. John is just amazing. While I was heading to my room after taking a shower, I ran into two feral donkeys that were only five feet away. Other girls came out of their rooms and saw these donkeys as they passed our rooms and tried to bite into a case of water some girls had purchased. Between the picturesque beaches, the wildlife, and the friendly students, this trip has started on a great note. Monday
Today was our first full day in St. John. We got breakfast to go and arrived at the school around 9:30. The school is located really close to the main town and the dock that we arrived at. When we got there we unpacked the XO's and then planned our lessons for the day. After a lunch break, we walked over the the 4th and 5th grade school across the street. As we were walking up the stairs of the school the kids were immediately so welcoming, happy, and excited to see us. They were saying hi and asking what our names were, and even recognized some of the students who were here last year. We taught two 4th grade classes as a group an introduction to Scratch. They really like the activity where they had to describe a drawing to someone and then seeing Annabelle play around with the sprites and making them moving in different ways. Overall it was a very good first day, and I think everyone is very excited for the rest of the week and interacting more with all the kids. After stopping at the grocery store, we all came back and went to the beach at the place we are staying and then had dinner. It was a great day and makes me excited for the rest of the trip. Monday
Day One- ...and so it begins. My first year of teaching at CSG culminates in a two week chaperoning stint on the not too shabby St. John US Virgin Islands. Not a bad gig to land, I must say! Today was the first day of teaching for the girls. After driving the most harrowingly windy, narrow, steep road (and on the left side too! Yes, I'm supposed to drive on the wrong side here!) we arrived safely at our destination. The girls split into two groups- one group taught while the other unpacked the xo's (for those of you not in the know as I was prior to this trip, an xo is the adorable green/white solar powered laptops from One Laptop Per Child.) The girls were amazing with their programming knowledge. They were nervous, but I think being in the company of their peers helped. I was impressed with their comfort and ease in front of classes of 4th, 5th and 7th graders. The class teaching distribution was nicely split by Christine so that each group would have a chance to teach on alternating mornings, but that we would ultimately regroup to finish the day. Four classes, a trip to the best smoothies in town, a long windy return drive back to our humble abodes and a nice relaxing evening on the beach, I can happily report that our first day on the job was a success. Can't wait for tomorrow.... Sunday
Yesterday we got up and ready to go with a potential flight departure at 7 am. Although we saw some delays we were able to get on our connecting flight with a couple minutes to spare. From there we took the four hour flight to St. Thomas and then took several forms of transportation to reach our final destination at Cinnamon Bay. It was a long day and by the time we got to the rooms we were ready for a nap. At dinner we planned for the next day of teaching and were able to develop our ideas further while feeding off of each others ideas. With a plan for tomorrow’s lesson we called it a night. Well, almost! It was finally time for WIFI. A quick transaction later we were able to return to our lives on social media. For the juniors we decided to take a late night shower and quickly went to bed to prepare for our first day teaching! |