21 February 2016: Sinking kayak

Although the official schedule had my students taking the ASVAB on Friday, I was kind of hoping a fair portion of them would take it Thursday. I’d gotten behind on marking journals, partly from being sick, partly from students not following directions, so that it was sometimes a major endeavor to figure out where to look for their work, and where they were at. I had instituted new policies to try to help get that under control, and they were helping, but I hadn’t picked up all the slack yet.

Unfortunately for me, though, only a few of my students took the test Thursday. Most that took it did so on Friday. Enough of the students in the cafeteria on Friday were mine that I felt somewhat obligated to help with the test administration.

By Friday, I was feeling good enough that, with a cough drop in my mouth, I was doing pretty well. There were things I needed from town (including more cough drops), and the guys administering the ASVAB were headed back to Kolonia, so I caught a ride. I tried to warn Kathryn and AJ that I was heading their way, but apparently my pre-paid phone card had expired. I figured something would work out, though, and worst-case scenario was that I would get my shopping done and catch a cab back that night.

I got dropped off at Crystal and Phil’s. They were home, so I was able to drop my backpack there, and head out to run my errands.

My first stop was SuperSavers, just to see if they had more clothes suitable for teaching. There wasn’t anything of that level, but there was a red t-shirt that was in decent shape, for $0.50, so I got that.

On to TelCom. I got a $5 card for my phone, which was (I think) the smallest denomination they sell. I didn’t quite finish the activation process with it, and wound up doubling back for assistance from the clerk. It turns out that, while an account expires after two months without a new charge, the charge itself doesn’t expire. So, after adding a $5 card, I had a balance of $19.50.

I texted AJ, and let him know I was in town. I said I was considering going back that night, but would be up for meeting for dinner, if they wanted to offer me a place to crash. He said either way worked for him, so I thought I’d see how the shopping went.

Next stop, CashPower. I didn’t know our meter number, but they were able to look up our house. I put enough of a charge on it that we should be good for a while.

At Ace Office supply, I picked up some groceries (including some treat-ish stuff) and some more grading pens. I found a multi-color 8-pack for $5, which definitely beats the $2/pen I paid last time. Hopefully, they work well.

At Palm Terrace, I got some more of the good banana bread and a couple other things. I was dismayed to see they were sold out of cough drops, though. That was one of the essentials on my list.

I headed back to A-1, and was thrilled to see that they had cough drops. In fact, they had lots of them. Halls, and another brand called MAXX, and a few other random hard candies that would work for the purpose when I just needed something to keep my mouth and throat lubricated. I got one of each pack that looked promising, spending a total of $20 on just the hard candy / cough drops. I think I’ve got enough to hold me for a while, now. In Madolenihmw, that would have only bought me 4 packages, and I had gone through more than one package in just the one week of being sick. I figured what I got was well worth it.

By the time I got all that done (which included a fair amount of walking), it was about 8:30. I checked back in with AJ. They were headed to Mangrove around 9. He’d pick me up at Crystal’s along the way.

As we were walking into Mangrove, we met a guy who’d first come out to Pohnpei as a teacher in the 90s, because his dad had told him to get a job. He had some good stories. He also bought us a round of drinks. I got a coconut.

It was too late to order from Arnold’s, but Mangrove had a couple cooked offerings this time. I decided to try the baked mussels. They were spicier than I was anticipating, but not bad. AJ gave me one of his sushi rolls to try, and Saresh gave me one of hers. I can do a roll or two without much trouble, but six of the same thing tends to cause me problems. Too bad they don’t do a sampler plate.

I had been digging a bit of the coconut out with my straw, and it was a tasty one. I talked Emerson in to splitting it for me. I wound up eating the whole thing. It was one of the best coconuts I’ve had. Of course, it probably didn’t hurt that my appetite was trying to come back. I hadn’t eaten much in the last few days, while I was sick, so by this time, I was probably hungry.

The next morning, AJ made peanut-butter tortilla wraps. That was okay, but the interesting bit was the soursop smoothie he gave me. They have fruit growing on their land. They blend the soursop with a bit of lime, and it makes a rather tasty smoothie. I should see if I can get some from anybody out by me.

AJ headed into town in search of a few things for a spearfishing trip he was going on. When he returned, he had an umbrella, which he began tearing apart. The spears, which were for local shrimp (what I’d call a crayfish), were made from the spokes of the umbrella. They were apparently not just about the right size, but had a hole in one end, which the rubber bands used for launching them could be attached to. I wish I’d taken a picture of him working on this, but he certainly seemed to be having a good time with it.

A bit after he left, Kathryn and I headed out to Nihco Marine Park, with the idea of renting kayaks. We had no idea how much they should be, but just about choked when the woman said $25 each. We said we were only going out for an hour or two, and got her down to $10 each (which was probably still a bit steep).

I don’t have any pictures for this trip, which is too bad. I didn’t have my waterproof camera with me, because I hadn’t planned for a stay ahead of time. My plan had been to get back for TSP. But between being sick and dealing with arranging cabs, that hadn’t happened. Anyway, back to the kayak adventure:

We headed up northwest from where we were, paddling just off shore, looking for breaks in the mangroves to check out. There was one channel we paddled up that turned out to lead to someone’s home. It was kind of a cool channel, though. There were little crabs all over the mangroves. They were pretty skittish, and scattered when we got anywhere near.

As we headed further northwest, I started having some trouble with my kayak. It seemed to be riding lower and lower in the water, and was getting less and less stable. At around the place we had already decided to turn around, a wind kicked up, we started getting some waves, and it started to rain. I was seriously struggling, at that point, and was getting a bit distressed. In truth, I was in no danger, because the water was warm, and not deep, and I’m a very good swimmer. But I really didn’t want to flip the kayak, and my muscles that control balance in that sort of situation aren’t in the best of shape.

Kathryn switched kayaks with me. She’s younger, more flexible, and in much better shape. She’s also considerably lighter, which probably helped, as well. In the transfer, I lost most of the candy I had in my pocked, but it was only 5-6 pieces. She lost her sunglasses, which she was far more concerned about. Luckily, we had brought masks with us. She dove for them. It took a little bit for the sediment she had kicked up to settle enough for her to see, but she found them.

Although I think Kathryn had less trouble with the faulty kayak than I had, even she gave up on it when we were about halfway back. She jumped out and started swimming, pushing the kayak along. It had a line on the front of it, so we tied it to what was now my kayak, and I towed it while she swam. Towing the other kayak caused mine to jerk about, but it stayed reasonably stable.

When we got back to the shallow mangrove bank we had crossed on the way out, I had gotten across first, and paddled off, now up on my knees to give my muscles a change of pace. I had gotten most of the way back to where we’d launched from (noticing that the other channel connected, which we hadn’t seen on the way out) when I realized Kathryn wasn’t behind me. I doubled back. She had gotten the bad kayak up on the bank, but it was so heavy with water trapped in the hull that she couldn’t get it across. I helped her ease it back in the water, and she went around the other way (now that we knew she could).

Finally, we got the kayaks back to the launch point. The boy that came to get them back on shore couldn’t have been more than about 12, and there was no way he was lifting the water-laden boat out of the water. It took all three of us to lift it up halfway. There was a drain hole at the bow, which was the end still in the water. A fountain shot up out of it: a good inch or two in diameter, and at least a foot high. It continued to flow for over a minute, as water drained. No wonder that boat had ridden so low.

With a fair amount of insistence, we managed to get a refund for the bad boat. It was definitely an adventure, anyway!

We headed back to the house to clean up. I hadn’t brought many clothes with me (not really planning to stay), and most of what I had was wet, so I was limited in what I could do. Kathryn headed out for the weigh-in for the fishing competition. I hung out, working on the internet, making a bracelet and listening to an audio book, while I dried out.

When AJ returned, we called my cab. I hadn’t known where I was well enough to be able to describe it to a cab driver. Quite some time later, it still hadn’t shown, so AJ called them back and asked if they could get me from Phil & Crystals. The cab company said that would work, so AJ & Kathryn took me there. We still had a fair wait ahead of us, but eventually William arrived.

We stopped by the gas station first, for fuel and air in the tires. Then we stopped at his friend’s house, because William didn’t want to make the trip back at night with just him in the car. Then we headed to Kepirohi, making good time. It was a nice night, with just light clouds, and a beautiful moon.

This morning, I got my laundry done, and I spent most of my day getting some grading done. I also did a bit of cooking. I sautéed up some string beans in onions and garlic, and mixed in some black beans I’d cooked up during the week, along with some greens. I pureed about 2/3 of the mix, along with some olive oil and water, and left the rest for texture. My goal was to make a dip for some of the nice chips I’d bought. But it made quite a bit, so I cooked up some pasta, and used most of the “dip” as a sauce (there’s still some for the chips, though).

16 February 2016: Fighting a cold

Friday was, I think, the most disturbing day I’ve had since I’ve been here. Things were going well in first period. I had asked who might be interested in joining me on exploration trips. I had plans to go to the Mand waterfall after school, and possibly to Nan Madol on the weekend. Many were interested, and I was working on seeing how to make it happen.

But then someone got hold of a bulletin, and about half my class was requested to see the counselor. There’s a policy here that says if a sophomore, junior or senior gets low grades (below a 1.5 GPA, I think) two quarters in a row, they’re on academic suspension for a year. The numbers I’ve heard are that 38 sophomores were below that level this quarter, and the ones that got called to the office were now suspended.

The mixture of anger and frustration was pretty strong (and one of the reasons why I’ve waited until today to write about it). Many of my students got bad grades, and some of them had worse grades reported than I think they really earned. I’m hoping that didn’t affect the status of any of these students, but I really don’t know.

What I do know is that one of the students I had managed to inspire to engage with school is now suspended. It was, apparently, too little, too late. Yes, he did badly at the beginning of my class. But at the time he was suspended, he was the second-best student in his class. That’s a huge improvement, and one I don’t want to see go to waste. I’m still looking into options for him.

Saturday, I helped out with the TSP program. The person who does English for juniors wasn’t there, so I was asked to fill in. I got there early, and was impressed by the birds making a racket in the palm tree between the main building and the cafeteria. I think they were drongos. At one point, there were at least 8 of them in the tree. None of them felt like posing for me, though (and I didn’t have the right camera for capturing them, anyway). The best shot I got was a single partially-obscured black bird. Maybe next time.

The students were working on essays. Looking at their writing, though, I saw the same issues I’ve seen elsewhere: most of their writing problems are at the sentence structure and basic grammar level. So I gave the students the option of working through the same materials I’m using in my classes. They wanted to do that, so we did.

I had planned to hang out after the program, and do some grading. However, the power was still out in my building, which meant no internet and no charging my computer. The teacher I was working with for TSP offered me a ride home. I wanted to take my grading with me, so she offered me her box. So home I went.

I relaxed a bit, and had some lunch (I don’t remember what I had, at this point, so it must not have been terribly exciting). I cleaned things up and had just started doing my grading on the kitchen table when the power went out. It was a bit warm to sit there without the fan on, and, because it was somewhat overcast, also a bit dark.

I did something else for a bit, and then decided to move the table out on the porch and work out there. That was a bit more challenging, because of the breeze trying to blow papers around, but doable. I was definitely happy when the power came back on, though. I moved stuff back inside…only to have the power go out again. Sigh. The power did, at least come back on (and stay on) before it got dark.

There had been no water Saturday morning, so when I woke up Sunday morning to find it on, I put breakfast and anything else I might do on hold, and got to work on my laundry. I just managed to get it all done before the water went back off for the day. I did take one quick break to take a picture of an insect I hadn’t seen before, hanging out on the back of our porch bench.

When I finished laundry and had something to eat, I made a quick trip up to the school to get a copy of one of the handouts that had not gotten in with my papers the day before. I had an electronic copy, but when grading, it was a lot easier to have a paper copy. On the way back home, I got one of the best butterfly pictures I’ve gotten so far. Unfortunately, it was a rather ragged-looking butterfly. It surely beautiful when it first emerged.

When I got back home, the family invited me to join them for lunch. It was canned mackerel with ramen noodles. I was given a bowl of rice to go with it, which I just mixed in. I can’t honestly say it topped my list of delicacies, but it was still lunch, and saved me the effort of figuring out what to have.

In the evening, while I was grading, I was brought a plate of pancakes. I think they had banana in them. They were certainly tasty, and I ate them happily.

Despite the time I spent grading over the weekend, I only got through about half of my students’ work. I’ve been telling them to do their corrections first, but not all of them have been doing it. So I wind up spending a fair amount of time looking through their journals, looking for where the corrections are, and whether they’ve done them yet. So I decided that, as of this week, that students need to do one section at a time, and bring the section to me for marking when they finish it. It will take a bit to get the policy implemented, and to clear the backlog, but hopefully, I can get it under control.

I tried the new policy out on Monday. It was semi-controlled chaos. A fair portion of the students ignored the new directions, but enough followed them to keep me occupied. I think, as the backlog clears, the new policy should work a lot better. I didn’t show a TED talk, partly because I wanted to get the new policy across and partly because we had no power.

During second period, the ASVAB crew from Hawaii visited me, to see if we were going to be ready for Thursday and Friday. I told them I was definitely encouraging my students to take the test, and I had put the word out elsewhere, as well. I decided, in fact, that, since the test is three hours long, which is the equivalent of 4 class sessions, that students would earn 20 points for taking the test. That got students’ attentions.

After school, I went to the farm, to see what they had. This time, I just got some cabbage and beans. There was a guy ahead of me getting rather impressive amounts of produce, so it took them a while to get to me. I just about fell asleep, waiting. My energy level was starting to wane, and I got the feeling I was starting to come down with something.

The good thing was that I was very well-fed last night. One of the fishermen in the family had apparently gotten a good catch, because they gave Chelsea and I some fish and even some crab. Chelsea’s allergic to shellfish, so the crab went to me. Both were rather tasty. As if that weren’t enough, Chelsea was already cooking when they offered us food, so I also got pork stirfry.

I was definitely feeling sick when I woke this morning, but just on the edge, and not bad enough to make skipping school seem worthwhile. I caught a ride from Albert, so at least I didn’t have to make the walk uphill.

Just after Chelsea arrived, I heard her calling me. There was a grasshopper on her flipboard, and she invited me up to get a picture. It looked like the same kind got a picture of when we first saw the house, but it was still kind of funny to get a picture of one on her board. Just for reference, those lines are at least an inch apart.

Her ceiling was being swarmed by some other kind of insect. We didn’t figure out what they were, but there were a lot of them. They apparently only liked the upstairs room, though, because there weren’t any down in my room.

My students made some more progress on the new policy of checking in with me when they finish each section, though I don’t have quite everyone on the same page yet. We had power back today, but I didn’t show a TED talk because I had forgotten my patch cord that connects the speaker to my laptop. That’s probably okay, because it kept the focus more on getting students on track with the new policy.

The weather was definitely good for swimming this afternoon, but I’ve been taking it easy, in the hopes of getting healthier. Here’s to fighting off bugs (the kind that make people sick, anyway!).

 

 

11 February 2016: Eels!

Tuesday was like Monday, with no power for much of the school day, but because I’d gotten my handouts made Monday afternoon, that worked out okay.

The featured TED talk was a student request: Melvin Russell “I love being a police officer, but we need reform.” I have a number of students who are considering being national police officers here in the FSM, so this wound up being a talk that gathered a lot of interest. I don’t think most students here are really aware of the racial and community issues with police officers in the US, though. Many of them have lived all their lives in a community where everyone knows everyone else, and that very much changes the nature of the police force (who also know everyone else).

I found out about halfway through the day that there would be no school Wednesday, because that was COMET day. The seniors would be coming to school for the test, but the rest of the students got the day off. I was glad for the chance to get caught up on my grading.

Water shortages continue, but there’s still water in the river at the waterfall, so I went for a swim after school. Aside from being good exercise, it helps keep me a bit cleaner, so I can get by with a very quick shower, when the water is on.

There was still no internet at school, even when the power was on. I had learned, however, that one of the teachers who lives just up the road from us, has internet at home. During the day, I’d told him we’d very much appreciate a chance to use it, and he agreed. So once I got cleaned up after the swim, Chelsea and I went over to his place to beg some connection time. I took him a container of my vegetable stew as a thank you. I don’t know what he thought of it (the family here hadn’t seemed very impressed), but it was about all I had to offer.

I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, so I just did a quick e-mail and Facebook check to make sure there wasn’t anything I needed to attend to. Chelsea had a few things she had to deal with, so she took a bit longer. I got to pet the cat, in the meantime (don’t tell Tibby). I’m still amazed at how small the cats here are. This one looked maybe six months old, but was probably full grown.

Wednesday, I slept in a little, and then headed up to the school. The power was on, possibly because the work is finished, but I figured mostly to make sure the seniors had power for the COMET. I dropped by the cafeteria, to offer them the benches from my classroom, if they needed them.

They didn’t, but that action alerted someone to the fact that I was at school, because a little while later, I had a visitor. I wish I could remember her name (I should have written it down), but she was a representative of educational support services (or something to that effect). She came to talk with me about the grades students had gotten in my classes. I explained the situation to her, and she said she’d help with setting things straight.

As we talked more, she learned that I’m really a math and science teacher, and that caught her attention. She asked if I’d be interested in helping out with the Saturday support program, and I told her I’d probably be up for that. I mentioned my plan for an explorer’s club, and said I didn’t want to tie up too much of my time, but I was happy to help. So we’ll see where that goes.

Sometime in the afternoon, I noticed that the internet was working again. It was pretty close to when I was planning to leave, so I didn’t make too much use of it, but I did get an audiobook downloaded.

Around the time school would have gotten out, I left for a swim. Instead of going to Kepirohi, though, I went up the Mand road to that waterfall. I had the right shoes with me this time, so I went upstream to the swimming hole where the kids were jumping off the rocks last time. I made my way to the top of the rocks, and decided to explore further upstream. Turns out there’s a third swimming hole, with a very small falls, and a rope swing. I’m guessing the water level is a bit low for that swing right now, but it’s still a nice-looking swimming hole.

I wandered a bit further upstream from there, but didn’t make any further finds. I turned back to find the kids who had been swimming at the first, small swimming hole wandering upstream to see what I was up to. I recognized one girl from my previous visit, but honestly can’t say if I’d met any of the others before. They were clearly curious about the crazy menwai poking around.

I made my way back to the rock jumping spot, and joined them there for a swim. I never got up the nerve to try the highest jumping spot (which really isn’t all that high), but one of the lower spots actually made a good diving platform.

I had forgotten my mask, so I don’t know whether there were any fish in the water. I didn’t see any, which kind of surprised me. They’re all over, at Kepirohi. I’ll have to bring it with me on a future trip, just to see what might be there. It’s definitely pretty deep, though.

While I was swimming there, one of my students came along and joined us. A little after that, another of my students came by, only this was one I hadn’t seen in class for a while. I told him he needed to come back to class. He said he was done with school. I tried to talk him out of that view, but I don’t know how much success I might have had. He was one who had been interested in the ASVAB, so perhaps he’ll come back next week, for that.

Before I left, I asked the little kids if they wanted their picture taken. They happily posed for me.

I made my way back to school (a little sad I had no money on me, when I passed a store that had some very tasty-looking cupcakes on display). I got a few more papers graded, then headed home around twilight. I enjoyed watching the bats swoop through the air over me as I walked. I tried to get a picture of one, but my phone camera just wasn’t up for the task.

Today, we had power all day. My students continued with Developing Writing. I strongly reinforced the idea that they needed to do their corrections first, and I think I got through this time. A good portion of my students actually really seemed engaged with the lessons, and they’re getting a lot more comfortable with asking me for direction or feedback. They’re disappointed when I tell them some items need correction, but they’re psyched when they get it right. I think some real learning is starting to happen. We’ll see if we can keep it up.

I showed a TED talk, as well; another student request. This one was Tim Ferris: “Smash Fear, Learn Anything.” I haven’t actually seen it yet, because it was playing at the back of the room, while I worked with students at my desk. I like the message, anyway.

I know the lessons are all very much alike, and I’m still looking for some materials that will help change things up a bit. I’d love to incorporate some games and other kinds of activities. Since the American English site had served me well with Developing Writing, I went looking again, and got Activate: Games for Learning English. I won’t get a chance to really look through it until this weekend, but I hope to find some good ideas and resources there.

After school, I went back to Kepirohi for a swim. This time, though, I took my real camera with me. I played with getting various waterfall shots. The lighting wasn’t great, and I’m a bit out of practice, but I had fun playing, anyway. I even caught a silhouette of a passing bird.

I was laying on my back, trying to get a shot of the swifts (who are, in fact, rather swift) when a couple arrived. They live in Nett, but are from Kosrae. They like to come out to the waterfall for a swim on occasion.

I put my camera away, and we all got in the water (an exercise in mutual trust, because the man’s wallet was out there, too). We hadn’t been swimming all that long when another couple came. The woman was from Spokane. Their guide came along a bit later, carrying a package of pillow rolls. He used them to feed the fish, which also drew out the eels. I saw at least three, and the largest was pretty impressive. For reference, the stick next to him is 2-3″ in diameter.

Make a caption!

These shots were with my phone, because my real camera had been packed away, and the feeding frenzy went pretty fast. I may have to try that trick again sometime, when I’ve got the real camera ready to go!

Up until today, I’d heard that the water shortage was just affecting our side of the island. But this woman said that her hotel didn’t have water, either. Kolonia apparently just got affected by the shortage yesterday. It seems El Niño is starting to wreak some havoc here.

 

 

8 February 2016: Power Outages and Water Shortages

The power company here has been working in the area, so we’ve had a lot of power outages while they work. As a result, I’ve not been able to get to the internet in a few days. I’m hoping I can get there tomorrow, but, in the meantime, I figured I’d go ahead and catch things up offline.

When I got to the farm Friday, none of the local farmers were there. I managed to find one of the Chinese workers who understood enough English to get the idea that I was wanting to buy some produce. He helped me out, and wound up giving me more produce than I was expecting. It was only $5 for the lot, though, so I was pretty happy. New items included a vaguely zucchini-like vegetable and some large radishes. The radishes are pretty strong, so I still have to figure out what to do with them.

Saturday, I did my laundry. When I finished, the power was out, but I decided to head up to the school anyway. I figured I might be able to get keys to the computer lab, and the power might just come back on. No such luck, but at least I was able to stop at the store on the way back down and get onions and garlic.

When I got back home, the family was having a big meal. They were working to clear some land for planting crops, and the big meal was to feed the workers. I was invited, as well, so I had a nice lunch of chicken, rice, breadfruit and a cold coconut. The rice is spread out on a banana leaf, which makes a pretty nice (and biodegradable!) platter.

With all the folks around, I got back into making bracelets. Sinatra had lost hers, and wanted a new one. One of the boys wanted one. I finished a couple from the previous batch, that I was able to match up with owners. While I was working, I had an idea for experimenting with the pattern, so I wound up making myself another one, too. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, even if it wasn’t quite what I was aiming for.

I thought about going out exploring or going swimming, but every time I started to get serious about it, it would rain. It wouldn’t rain for long, but swimming near the waterfalls in the rain is a bad idea.

When the power came back on, I headed back up to the school, to see if I could use the internet, but the wi-fi wasn’t connecting. I hung out for a little while, playing on my computer and hoping it would start working (or someone would happen to come along who could open the lab), but no such luck.

Sunday isn’t a work day, so the power stayed on, but I still didn’t have any luck with the wi-fi. I did get the rest of the second chapter of Developing Writing set up as a handout for my students, though.

The good thing about the power being on was that I could do my cooking for the week. I used the squash, eggplant, half the cabbage, all the green beans, an onion, some garlic, basil and oregano to make a vegetable stew. I mixed in some black-eyed peas I’d cooked up, and four baked potatoes. When I was finished, the large blue bowl was full and then some. It’s pretty tasty, and even good cold.

As if that weren’t enough, I experimented with making some rice pudding. I pureed coconut with enough water to make it milky, and mixed that in with brown rice, raisins, cinnamon and a bit of sugar. One of the reasons I’d wanted to get on the internet was to check for a recipe, because it’s been a long time since I’ve made rice pudding. This worked pretty well, though, and made a tasty dessert.

As you might imagine, all that cooking meant a lot of dirty dishes. We’ve been running short on water lately, though. It’s shut off most of the time, except for a few hours in the morning and the evening. If I get desperate, I can take the dishes outside to the family’s spigot, but I was able to just wait, and get them in the evening. I have a five-gallon bucket in the shower, too. The drinking water is a separate thing, and is filled at the well. We always have that (at least so far).

The power was on when I got to school today, but by the time the office was open, it had gone off (because the work day had started). As a result, I couldn’t run the handouts I had made. It wasn’t an issue for most of my classes, as they haven’t gotten that far yet. Fifth period is behind because of a couple canceled classes. Only seventh period had students who were already done with everything I had.

The power actually came back on shortly before seventh period, and I got the handouts made. However, that class had shown up during sixth period (I’m guessing one of their teachers wasn’t there today, or they couldn’t have class because of no power), so they didn’t get them, either.

I did have a good TED talk today, though. (I try to keep my laptop charged enough to get through a school day without power.) Brian Skerry, “The ocean’s glory—and horror, from 2010. He’s a photographer, and showed some pretty amazing pictures. The students who watched the talk were pretty taken with it.

Around my own classes, I met with a group of seniors that I had evaluated COMET practice essays for. We went over some practice tests they’d had on vocabulary and reading comprehension. Based on what I saw there, when I finish the Developing Writing curriculum, I may go back to Wordly Wise. Or I can look for something like it. It’s not surprising that students who struggle with English also struggle with vocabulary, but it wouldn’t hurt to address the issue, if I can.

Besides the reading comprehension and vocabulary work, I met with students individually to discuss their essays. I hope I was able to give them some useful feedback. I tried, anyway.

Report cards went out on Friday, so I had students (and one parent) coming to me today to ask about grades. Apparently, the grades I submitted were not quite what was recorded. I had adjusted my grading scale to account for the fact that students were still getting used to me, and I was still figuring out what I was doing. Those adjustments went away, and students were pretty upset with the grades they received. I’m still trying to figure out if there’s anything I can do about that. It was just a quarter grade, so I don’t think it will have much of an impact long-term. But I’d still like to see if I can make things right.

A non-academic highlight today was that someone brought in Pandanus fruit, and I got to try it. Only the orange part is edible, and even that is very fibrous. But it’s sweet and fruity when chewed, and then you can spit the fibers out. It’s a bit like sugar cane, if you’ve ever had that, but fruitier and not as sweet.

On the way home from school, a bright green flashy spot caught my eye. It turned out to be a ladybug-sized beetle, only all in metallic green. A breeze was blowing the grass around, making getting a good shot difficult, but you can at least get the idea.

As I turned into the driveway, my attention was caught by a butterfly. I finally managed to get a shot of it as it hung out on Albert’s taillight. I would have preferred a more natural setting, but it was a pretty good shot, all the same, for a phone camera and a skittish butterfly.

After a quick snack, I headed back out for a swim. Despite the rain we’ve had, the waterfall is still pretty low. It’s splashing in interesting ways, though, and I’m tempted to break out the tripod and real camera, to see what kind of pictures I might get.

Along the path, I encountered a cat I’ve seen just once before. It seemed torn between running away and coming over to say hi. It finally decided to run, but didn’t go too far or too fast. Maybe someday, it will say hi. Don’t tell Tibby if it does, though.

Stopping at the store on my way out, I noticed they had a “new” flavor of ChocoMucho (or at least one I hadn’t seen before): cookies and cream. I’d already had my snack for the day, but it looked tasty, so I bought one for later. I got a peanut butter one, too, because that’s the only store around here that sells them, and, of all the flavors, I think it’s probably one of the best (and arguably one of the healthiest, to the extent that any of them can claim to be healthy).

This evening, I’ve mostly been messing around on the computer. I do hope we have internet tomorrow.

5 February 2016: Mid-Service and Curriculum

Things have been pretty busy, and I’ve been neglecting my blog. Let’s see if I can get things caught up.

Last Friday started slow. The bell didn’t ring, and we didn’t officially have first period. I gave extra credit to my students who did come in and do some work. Third period wasn’t much more productive, because the bell rang halfway through class, and students thought they were supposed to leave. I checked with the office, and the bell was a mistake. It through things off, though, because my fifth period class showed up during fourth period, because they’d thought the mistake bell was real (as did many others, apparently). I told my class it was my lunch time, though, and they’d have to wait until fifth period really started.

I hadn’t found a good curriculum solution yet, so I showed an optional TED talk, and told students they could do that or work on their standard focus. I picked Juan Enriquez’s talk, “Your online life, permanent as a tattoo” because I thought it would be relevant to my students. Most of them spend a fair amount of time on Facebook, but I don’t think they have any concept of digital literacy or digital citizenship. I didn’t watch it first, though, and unfortunately, the talk was way over their heads. They didn’t get the metaphor at all, nor were most of them familiar with his allusions to Greek mythology (despite how popular the Percy Jackson and the Olympian books are).

After school, Kristi and Emerson came and got us, to take us to Kolonia for the mid-service. Rather than take me out to AJ’s, where I’d be staying for the weekend, Kristi dropped me at Craig and Bud’s, so I could get a few things done in town. Emerson and I made a quick trip to the bank, and then I went to Ace to do some shopping.

I got a single-serve smoothie blender for $25. I figured it would be worth it, to be able to make smoothies with my fruit and coconut, and I could use it to make sauces, as well. I also picked up a couple gel pens, because I’m tired of grading with colored pencil. The pencils are more cost effective, but they’re slow, and I’ve been having a hard time getting through everything. I picked up some groceries, as well (especially more canned tomatoes). Crystal and Chelsea had come in about the same time I did, and we ran into Kristi shortly after that. We hadn’t planned anything, but I guess everyone needed to get their shopping done. It was convenient, though, because Kristi gave us a ride, and I didn’t have to walk with my groceries.

The mid-service officially started with pizza dinner at the Cliffs (the same place I’d gotten pepper tuna steak last time I was in town). We ate inside this time, and I loved the mandalas they had on the wall. The pizza was okay, if a bit doughy. The onion and bell pepper beat the cheese pizza, hands down.

After dinner, AJ and Kathryn took me back to their place, where I had the guest bedroom. It was pretty nice, with a soft twin bed, a big desk and a working ceiling fan. I spent a little time on their internet, and managed to find a promising resource for my class: Developing Writing. It was on the American English website run by the State Department. It’s a writing curriculum designed to develop writing skills for English language learners. It starts at a fairly basic level I think most, if not all, of my students can handle. Over the course of 20 chapters, it develops some fairly strong skills and vocabulary. It’s as close to exactly what I was looking for as I could reasonably expect to find.

In the morning, AJ was out in the yard, kicking the toads out of Kathryn’s herb pots. They had settled into the soil to keep cool and moist for the day, and were very reluctant to move. I stopped him before he got to the second pot, and asked him to let me get a picture before he made them move. I told AJ it wasn’t really the plants they were after, but the nice soil. I suggested he could set up a pot just for them, and that might keep them out of the plants. I don’t think he quite went for it, though.

We had more official activities starting at 9, meeting in Kathryn’s classroom at PICS. AJ provided a breakfast of fruit, juice, homemade blueberry granola bars and cinnamon-chocolate-chip granola bars. It was pretty tasty, and I kept steadily working on the food all through the morning’s activities. As a result, I skipped lunch when we went to Joy. They serve a good lunch, but I wasn’t hungry. We had gotten a per-diem to cover lunch and dinner, so I just pocketed the money, instead of spending it.

We had another session after lunch. All the sessions basically served to check in about how things are going and what we’ve thought of our experience so far. They were more appropriate for the folks who had been here the whole time, but they were kind of interesting, anyway.

I managed to get my laundry done around the activities. The first try was a fail, as the washer I tried to use was broken, but the second machine I tried worked. I was able to take my clothes back to Craig’s to line dry. During the afternoon break, Kathryn took me to Palm Terrace to do a bit more shopping (wheat bread, banana bread, granola, and a stash of hard candy, along with a few other things). I was a bit annoyed when my credit card was denied there (my fraud protection got a little overzealous, which is probably better than under-zealous), but luckily I had enough cash to cover the transaction.

The best part of the mid-service was the sunset cruise. We didn’t go very far out of the bay; just a bit past Sokehs Rock. We anchored to the reef, and most of us went in for a swim. The reef there was in bad shape, and mostly dead, but there were a few spots of life, and I did get to see some fish. It was certainly a major contrast from the reef out by Ant, but it felt good just to get in the water. Back in the boat, AJ opened some coconuts. I happily drank one, and ate half the meat (it was a meaty coconut). The sunset was beautiful, especially as we were coming back into the bay.

After changing clothes, we went to Mangrove for dinner. Between the morning feast and the coconut on the boat, I still wasn’t very hungry. I didn’t want to try the sushi. We checked on ordering from Arnold’s, but it would take an hour and a half. That didn’t seem worth it. When we got back to AJ and Kathryn’s, they heated me up some leftover pumpkin curry. I didn’t really need that, either, but it smelled delicious, so I went for it.

Sunday morning, AJ made Kathryn and I breakfast, which was very nice. Then we picked up Chelsea, swung by Bud and Craig’s to get my laundry, and headed back home to Kepirohi. I went to the waterfall for a swim, and was surprised to see they’d built a small dam wall at the waterfall swimming area, as well. As low as the waterfall has been lately, it should help keep water in the pool. There definitely wasn’t a strong enough current for swimming in place. There were also others around, it being a Sunday, so I mostly just swam around a little bit, watched the fish, and cooled off.

When I got back, Tony’s son (whose name is also Tony) was hanging out with the family, making sakau. He invited me to join them, but I respectfully declined. We stood and chatted a bit. He was interested to learn that I was a biologist by training. He had gone to school in Hawaii, and had also studied biology.

While we were talking, one of his friends came up, and I was surprised to see him carrying an owl. Tony was surprised, as well. He told me he’d seen owls in the States, but had never seen one here. This one was in poor shape, with a prominent keel. I wanted to help, but there really wasn’t anything I could do. I told them to feed it meat and that it probably also needed water. It wasn’t struggling, and I was holding it only loosely. It felt its chance, and flew off. I hoped it would find its way.

For dinner, Chelsea made some modified nachos. She had gotten a bag of Tostito scoops (if the price tag was accurate, that set her back $7, which kind of explains why I don’t buy them). Her dad had sent her some canned queso. She fried up some hamburger and bell pepper, and I gave her a can of black beans to use. It was pretty good.

Monday, I was ready to start the Developing Writing curriculum. I had modified chapter 1 for my students, and made handouts. I didn’t show a TED talk, because I’d forgotten my speaker. I told students they could look at the list, and vote as to which one(s) they wanted to see. I said I would start the class with a TED talk, which they would be able to see if they were in class on time. Then we would be working on Developing Writing.

For first period, I went through all the concepts that came up in Chapter 1, and then started the first exercise, which was on capitalization and punctuation. For my other classes, I introduced only the concepts in each exercise as introduced the exercise. My other three classes also finished the second exercise, on subject pronouns, and the third exercise, on the verb “to be” in present tense. I gave students points for doing the exercises, and planned to correct them in class.

I tried going to the farm after school, but no one was around. I sat there long enough to eat a mango that one of my students had given me, and then headed home. I changed clothes and headed out for a swim. I hadn’t gotten far when I noticed a woman coming up the road, carrying the owl in one hand, with her toddler coming along behind her. Checking with my bird-oriented friends, I had found out it was a sub-species of short-eared owl endemic to the island, but considered rare. I tried to ask her about it, but don’t think she understood my English. I did get her to let me show it to Albert, and I asked him if he knew of anyone who could help. I was told the owl belonged to the woman, and there seemed nothing I could do. I was deeply saddened, because it was a truly beautiful bird, and I didn’t think it was likely to live much longer.

Tuesday, my featured TED talk was Melati and Isabel Wijsen, “Our campaign to ban plastic bags on Bali.” They’re a couple rather well-off young women who have been making good. I don’t think my students could relate to the resources the girls have access to, but they were still pretty impressed that two such young people (they started their campaign at 10 and 12) could be making a real difference.

We continued Developing Writing. First period got through the second and third exercises, while my other classes moved on to the more-challenging fourth and fifth exercises, which I approached in reverse order.

For part 5, students had to take a short passage written in first person, present tense, and rewrite it in third person, past tense. This was pretty challenging for them, but I think it was an excellent exercise for making them aware of tense and voice.

The major challenge for part 4 turned out to be following directions. This exercise gave students three sentence structures that used the verb “to be.” It then provided them with noun phrases, adjective phrases and adverb phrases, and asked them to make a story at least 5 sentences long, using the phrases and the sentence structures given.

After school, I broke out my new blender and made a smoothie, using banana, mango, coconut water and coconut. I made it a bit thick initially, but thinned it out with some more coconut water. It was pretty tasty.

When I finished it, I pureed the rest of the coconut with enough coconut water to make it smooth. Quick and easy coconut milk! I didn’t have any plans for it right away (I had made a tuna salad sandwich for dinner), so I put it in the fridge for later.

Wednesday, my featured TED talk was Camille Seaman, “Photos from a storm chaser.” This talk is short, and full of very beautiful (if somewhat scary) pictures. It went over very well.

Moving on with Developing Writing, first period got through part 5. Third period had not been successful with exercises 4 and 5 (none of them had even attempted part 5), so we tackled it again. COMET prep ran long the cafeteria, so my fifth period students hadn’t had lunch yet. I cancelled class, so they could get lunch when it was available. Seventh period was told to do corrections on Chapter 1, and to start Chapter 2, if they had time. I didn’t expect them to get past exercise 1, which was more capitalization practice (days of the week and nationalities).

For dinner, I pureed the coconut milk (which had gotten thicker overnight) with a couple mangos. I made some brown rice, and sautéed up some onions. I opened a can of black beans, and mixed it all together with the coconut-mango sauce. It’s pretty good, especially cold (the next day).

By the time Thursday came around, I accepted that all my classes are in a different place in the Developing Writing curriculum. Within classes, students are at different places, too. So I told students to continue working at their own pace.

Their top priority is to make corrections. When I mark an item wrong, I don’t tell them what the problem is, just that it’s not right. My hope is that engaging with the material and actually having to think about it will help the material stick.

For those that are actually doing it, it seems to be working. I’m still struggling with some students who are obviously copying. I’m working on reinforcing the idea that the point of this curriculum isn’t to get the work done, but to actually learn the material. They lose points only for not doing work. I would much rather they got through it slowly, but actually understood the material and developed their skills as they went, than that they raced through it and learned very little.

Thursday increased the spread among students. Many students in seventh period got through the first four exercises of Chapter 2. Fifth period lost ground, because class got canceled again, this time for the National Cancer Day event. Third period was lightly attended, because students thought classes were cancelled after the event. That turned out to be true for first period. So, self-paced it is.

Today, there was no school because it’s report card day. The power went out this morning, just about the time I was thinking about getting up and making breakfast. But with the power out, I didn’t want to get in the fridge, and I couldn’t use the toaster oven anyway. I spent the morning mostly relaxing, fooling around on my Mac, and then starting to get this blog updated (working offline). About the time my battery was getting pretty low, the power came back on.

That was about lunch time, so I made a sandwich with the rest of the tuna salad, and packed stuff up to head to school for a bit, and with a plan to go exploring afterward.

Just up the road, the kids were playing with a homemade tetherball set. The post is a solid bamboo pole. I didn’t look too closely at the tether, but the ball is a stuffed rice bag. They were clearly having fun with it.

A bit further up the road, I found an abandoned garland, which I’m told is called mwaramwar. It was very pretty, and I felt bad for it just lying there. I didn’t really have any use for it, though, so I left it for someone else to find.

Not far past there, I spotted a remarkably cooperative butterfly (for a butterfly, anyway) that actually let me get a decent picture without working too hard. I do love butterflies.

Once I got to the school, the computer lab was open, so I got to work on finishing this blog post. As soon as it’s up, I think I’ll head to the farm and see if I might be more successful in getting some produce today.