'Stand and Deliver' teacher dies of cancer - CNN.com

A truly sad day for education everywhere. Jaime Escalante, the Bolivian born teacher who became famous in the 1980s, even had a movie made about him, has died of cancer. Details of the report can be seen by clicking the link below.

'Stand and Deliver' teacher dies of cancer - CNN.com

International Day

Academy

International day at InterAmerican 

Today (Saturday) had a great time at International Day. All of the students and parents set up booths honoring their home countries - with information, art, and of course food. We had representatives from Norway, South Korea, the USA and a host of Latin American counties like Chile. I had some great food and played some soccer!

Frustrating Day

Some schools are organized - with a plan that is clearly communicated.

Other schools...

...are not.

So here we are, on a Friday, waiting. With the start of classes coming, teachers are hanging. We are hanging because the school hasn't decided what rooms each teacher will have (so we can't organize or decorate our rooms) they haven't established which classes each teacher will teach, because they are missing several teachers so haven't figured out how to cover everything (yeas, you know that you will be teaching English Lit, but will it be Juniors or Sophomores? It makes a difference).

So you do waht you can, then wait. Next week our time is supposed to be taken up in workshops, so no doubt the decisions will be made at the worst possible time, causing the teachers to scramble to get ready for classes.

So much for having lots of time to get ready for school to start.

teaching resources

I'm getting ready for a new teaching cycle, but I'm always looking for new ideas to use in the classroom. I ran across this book and i decided to order it, so I thought I'd post a link to it for anyone who wants to look at it.

Happy teaching!

First Day in the Books!

Mar 22 is back to school for teachers so here I am back into a work routine. If this statement seems funny coming in March, remember that school calendars in South America generally run from April to January. We are up early enough to get our animals taken care of and lunches packed. Then my wife gets on her bus and I get on mine. First day for teachers, of course is fairly simple. We get a couple of meetings, spend some time networking with the other teachers and seeing what everybody did on their vacations. Then we check out our rooms - I got a new desk! We got the schedule for the next two weeks - filled with requirements for turning in curriculum plans, developing diagnostic tests and teaching workshops. On April 5 the 1st Course (US equivalent is 7th Grade) begins classes, while the rest of the secondary school, including myself, begins on 6 April.

After school was over I changed and did a cardio session on the school track. While doing that I heard a yell. Some of my oncoming seniors were at basketball practice. While the ladies had a water break we talked a bit and briefly got caught up. Fun! This has been my best group the last two years, and now they are seniors. I have big expectations for them - and me - for this year, they are such good kids, and strong students.

First Day For Teachers - Ecuador Style!

I know it sounds funny to Northern Hemisphere teachers but today - 22 March - is the first day back for teachers on a new school year. The first week is on reduced hours - no classes starting at 7:15 - so for this week we come in an hour later. For me and the others who don't have a car, the school sends around an expreso (a private bus). Lisa was just picked up by her school's bus, since InterAmericano goes by the North-american school calendar, so I have about an hour to kill.

Excited? Yeah! But it is raining outside, and I have two bags of stuff I'm carrying in to get started organizing. Bleah! Maybe I'll get lucky and the rain will pass by?

Expat Britons lose pensions appeal | Money | guardian.co.uk

Expats - people who live overseas from their home country, may be looking at some problems, at least if you are British and counting on pension monies to keep you solvent. A recent EU court case says it is legal for the British government to not pay pensions to retired citizens living overseas.

A lot of people go overseas because it is much cheaper to live, and you can often make a slim pension check go farther. Even I, who work overseas, depend in part on a partial pension the US Veteran's Administration pays me. While this is not a problem for US citizens now, I hate to think that politicians in Washington might hit on a (to them) brilliant idea of helping pay for the mounting deficits by taking away from a mostly powerless and voiceless constituency.

You can read details about the British case by clicking the link below:


Expat Britons lose pensions appeal |
Money |
guardian.co.uk