While the reference to job offers is not really a reference to job offers, I do want to mention a few interesting things that have happened in the last 24 hours - so follow along :)
Water
Today it RAINED! Okay, maybe it drizzled for 5 minutes, but still - this is a big deal (at least for me). I am currently living in the "dry tropics" region of Costa Rica - here there are only 2 seasons: dry and wet (they call them summer and winter, respectively). From May to November, it rains... a lot. Everything is green and lovely and there are no forest fires or water shortages. Then, from December to the end of April, its dry. Like, no rain, at all. I was surprised to hear that it hasn't really rained since December. 4 months without any precipitation seems pretty insane, but that's how it is in certain parts of the world.
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| Look at at beautiful brown grass... |
Did I mention yet that my host family home does not have water during the day? Since I arrived (and I don't know how many months prior), the municipality of Los Angeles de Atenas (my neighborhood) shuts off the public water during the day: the WHOLE day. When I first arrived, it got turned off around 10 PM and would shut off around 7 AM. Nowadays, its not coming on until after Midnight and is turning off closer to 6 AM. Imagine this: you're a stay at home mom, maybe with a baby in tow, and you don't have access to water between 6 AM and 12 Midnight each day.
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| The tropical soil in this part of campus is very expansive - high clay content causes great fissures about 2 feet deep |
Thankfully, my host family has a 80 gallon storage tank that they fill each night and are able to have some low pressure water during the day (a good thing for my host "sister" who just had a baby, and lives next door).
Nonetheless, it's been a good experience to occasionally bathe with a bucket in the middle of the day and not have all the water pressure I am so used to. This, as I explained to my new roommate, is part of developing "Global Competency."
Fire
In addition to lacking water, this year's especially hot/dry "summer" has caused several brush and forest fires nearby. I was shocked at first to see smoke rising from the valleys and mountainsides nearby, but after several consecutive days of small smokey areas arising in different places, it began to be normal. These fires are mostly of the grassy, dry canopy floor and do not burn a lot of woody material - but there was a significantly large fire up the mountain from the University campus and small town where I am working. This fire did burn several hectares of trees and can cause severe damage to the local watershed and aquifer for the community. Several students and faculty of UTN's forestry/wildlife program helped to put the fire out - something I would be afraid to do, especially in this already scorching heat.
Water and fire - two contrasting but complimentary topics right now in Atenas. Hopefully the little bit of rain today will at least dampen the forest floors and prevent more forest fires... I am not so hopeful that the sprinkle will replenish the city water and allow it to be turned back on. Oh well, here's to more bucket showers!
Kiddos
Today was an exiting day - I got to teach some of my primary school kiddos about agriculture!! While my original plan for student teaching here was to work with college students, plans have changed a little (as they continue to do) and I have been focusing more on helping with classes here at the elementary school. So, on Monday, when I noticed that their upcoming Social Studies exam would include some agricultural and environmental topics (to compliment Costa Rica geography), I jumped on the ball. I was given permission to have some time to give them a (value-added) lesson, expanding on these topics! Between thesis work sessions, I developed a lesson that focused on: a) the definition of agriculture and its importance in Costa Rica, b) identifying major agricultural products in CR, and c) discussing common ecological problems in Costa Rica (relating some back to ag). My students are in either 5th or 6th grade, ages 9-13ish, and there were 17 of them today. With about 50 minutes or so, I got to surprise them with a "naked, skinny, and homeless" interest approach, define agriculture and jobs that it offers, and then we colored in "maps" of Costa Rica. The maps were a 10 x 10 grid, representing the entire land mass of the country (which happens to equate to the size of West Virginia, btw) - I then shared with them the % of each land type: agricultural (37%), forest (52%) and urban (11%). They had to outline the number of blocks that represented each one, then - when we did a "go get it" E-moment and they found agricultural products (pictures) around the room, they colored in their "maps" with agricultural products that they learned.
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| Oh yeah, check out that definition of agriculture. #agliteracy |
Then, we broke into groups for a "detective" case study - I had developed some situations or conditions that they had to imagine themselves in, then work as a group to identify the major ecological problem it represents (i.e. you notice the water coming from the sink smells funny and you've been getting sick lately from drinking it -- water pollution). They developed 1-2 solutions to combat their group's problem and someone from each group shared with the class. It went really well! I think the kids liked it too :)
I was able to have my "university supervisor" present for the lesson (photo credit to him for the pics) - he is a Tico English professor for a national teaching institution who has various roles and jobs, one of which observing Spanish-speaking student teachers in the Global Gateway program. He and I talked about the lesson and he said that it went super well. Some key points that I thought I would share are that he was surprised and pleased to see so much opportunity given to the students to think critically throughout the lesson. Apparently, critical thinking is not a strength in the Tico public education system - I think the country is still stuck at the first two levels of Bloom's taxonomy of knowing and understanding.
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| Some additional scaffolding was needed at times - my Spanish instructions aren't perfect :) But then again, neither were my English instructions! |
He also loved that I greeted the kids (I love it too - they're great! and I am glad I've had time to get to know them beforehand) and was able to manage the whole class and individual needs (especially during the math segment - it got a little confusing for some). I was surprised that I did so well teaching to their level - as this is usually a problem for me - but he thought it went well (although he never really observed someone teaching at the primary level).
When it came to suggestions, I got the suggestion that I already knew I deserved - cognitive connect. The lesson went a little long and it was getting super hot and I was losing some steam, so when we came close to an hour of what should have been a 45 minute lesson, I cut them short of really reviewing and testing their knowledge of the learning objectives. My Tico supervisor talked about the importance of this time and I felt like I was experiencing Deja Vu back to the days of my PSU supervisor discussing the same thing upon my evaluation. Hey, this is still "student" teaching - excellence takes time and dedication - and I am dedicated to improving any area that needs it in order to give those students the best possible learning experience.
It was incredibly hot today, and I was up pretty late the last few nights - so I was pooped after teaching that one lesson today (it makes me wonder if I could have possibly survived a full student teaching load, like at Wellsboro, in constant 90 degree heat). But I got to take a walk back to campus and, with my camera, capture some shots of the ag facilities. Stay tuned for a special "campus look" blog post.
As I was planning to head home on an afternoon bus, I was called into the office of one of the UTN extension employees. He is director of small livestock species on campus and extension programming for them: goats, sheep, hogs, poultry. He usually gives lectures/talks/presentations to adult farmers in the region, but he was asked (yesterday) to prepare a 1 hour "talk" for a bunch of farmers' kids... for tomorrow! The poor guy had no idea how to plan something for kids (ages 7-14, approx 10 of them) so I was recommended by someone else to come in and help him out! We developed (more or less) a lesson that involved some more hands-on and student centered activities rather than him just using a PowerPoint, as he was planning to do. The kids are part of an inter generational farming program that allows them to take care of their family's farm animals for a year - the goal is to encourage them to take over the farm when their parents retire. This UTN employee was asked to help prepare them for this year - specifically for sheep and goat production. So we planned a bit about: products, nutrition, general care, and milking.
As I sat there and gave ideas or talked him through some of the needs of these kids, I began to realize that I am actually a budding "expert" in my own area - AG EDUCATION! Specifically, for youth! Now now, I know you're thinking "what the heck, Allison, that's your major - shouldn't you be an expert?" But I will tell you that, for several years, I have doubted what my true "forte" was when it came to careers - agricultural education is really diverse - we learn a little bit about everything when it comes to content, then pair it with pedagogy (teaching methodology). However, since I thought, for so long, that I wasn't going to use my major to be an in-class teacher (at least not right away), I never thought of myself as an expert in ag education. But today it dawned on me that maybe I do have a specialty area... it reflects my major (duh)!!
Job offers
The cherry on top of this realization was that this man, who I was helping, finally said to me, as I was leaving, that UTN should hire me to help organize the youth-oriented events that the University offers... (hence the "job offers" in the title). That was even more encouraging to hear, and I kindly informed him that I already was doing this with the high school groups that have visited while I was here. Nonetheless, it was an exciting opportunity to use my "specialty" to train someone else :)
Okay, so I'll let you see one sheep picture since I mentioned my tour of campus and I helped plan a lesson about sheep... enjoy!
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| Yes they're sheep, yes there are multiple breeds, yes they still have their tails. I'll tell you more later... |
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