Extracurricular
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I had the opportunity to facilitate an after-school, website design program for students at Chelsea Elementary in Chelsea, Vermont. The eight week class introduced students to coding (HTML), the website design program, Weebly, and the image manipulation program, GIMP. This class with students from grades 3 to 12 was an incredibly beneficial offering as it allowed me to experience working with students with a large age span.
From this experience, I learned that I would need to increase the meeting time to at least twice per week and increase the time from one hour to two hours per meet time. When I have the opportunity to offer this course in the future, I will use my older students in a more collaborative manner while working with younger students. I will group students early in the program and slowly begin to individualize the program as younger student become more comfortable navigating the various programs. The pictures to the left offer a glimpse into some of the webpages the students created. |
I love to write! While teaching in Indonesia, I decided I wanted to share my experience of teaching overseas. It was during this time that I decided to write a book about living and teaching overseas. As a person who loves to write, I also wanted to experience the process of writing, editing, and publishing a book. The process of creating my first book was incredibly educational on many fronts. My book writing experience has provided a number of items that continue to lend themselves within my classroom community. From formatting the book to meet the needs of several book sellers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon to designing and creating the cover, I have been able to introduce young writers to the world of publishing and design. More important, I have piqued the interested of aspiring writers. Click the book cover to download my book in pdf format. |
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The school at which I worked in Indonesia held a culminating unit for the grade 6 students, the Exhibition. The Exhibition is a rite of passage for the Primary Year student into the Middle Years of the International Baccalaureate program. This self-designed unit allows students to apply what they have learned and demonstrate who they have become throughout their journey in the PYP.
During an exploratory fieldtrip in a trash-picker community, I had the opportunity to meet a young girl and her family. The young girl, Alpiyah, resigned to her parent’s dirt floor, suffered from multiple forms of terminal cancer. Because Alpiyah was unable to pay for medical care, she was sent home from the hospital where she originally sought help.
Over the course of a 9-month period, I had the opportunity to secure funding, supplies, and community support to help Alpiyah and her family with necessary amenities and medicine, including a room at one of Jakarta’s premier cancer facilities. Securing the room at the hospital required a tremendous amount of bureaucratic wrangling, which is often a challenge in a system still plagued with corruption.
During an exploratory fieldtrip in a trash-picker community, I had the opportunity to meet a young girl and her family. The young girl, Alpiyah, resigned to her parent’s dirt floor, suffered from multiple forms of terminal cancer. Because Alpiyah was unable to pay for medical care, she was sent home from the hospital where she originally sought help.
Over the course of a 9-month period, I had the opportunity to secure funding, supplies, and community support to help Alpiyah and her family with necessary amenities and medicine, including a room at one of Jakarta’s premier cancer facilities. Securing the room at the hospital required a tremendous amount of bureaucratic wrangling, which is often a challenge in a system still plagued with corruption.
In the end, Alpiyah succumbed to the cancer. She did so with dignity. To reduce the burden on her family, several parents and I helped pay for a traditional Muslim funeral, something that would have taken years without our support.
The video to the right was created with the support of several students. The latter portion of the video shows one of my students during the initial interview with Alpiyah’s parents. A local organization donated over 400 diapers to support the children (and adults) who are living at the hospital. |
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In the summer of 2013 I revisited Pondok Domba, the same trash-picker community where I supported Alpiyah and her family. This trip, which I had planned for several months, aimed to support the local school that served the children of Pondok Domba. The trip’s primary purpose was to support the school by providing computers and computer training. Additionally, because of the tremendous amount of support from community members and friends, I was able to bring approximately 40 children from Pondok Domba and several staff to Jakarta’s Sea World. This was a tremendous opportunity for these children and a wonderful example that I have shown within my classrooms. I believe that leading and teaching by example has a lasting impact on my students. I also believe that serving others is paramount to a successful community, whether local or international. |