John's Next Step

This week my school had a parent training to support literacy. Parents are essential to children’s success in reading. Parent involvement is a primary predictor of success throughout school – including literacy. This is true for very young children before entering school and remains true well into high (secondary) school. The training covered some of the ways a parent or other adult can help including: Reading to children Asking children to make predictions about a story Asking children how they would feel in the story or when they were in a similar situation Asking children other questions about the text Practice with alphabet and phonics Practice with sight words Of course these and others methods are the same ones we use in school. The meeting started with some research background about the importance of parental involvement for early and continued success of children in school. The principle started the meeting with encouragement Reading with expression ...

Happy Earth Day.  This week I have a few pictures of the school garden and my garden. Before I turn to the gardens I wanted to give another view of my village of Munich. Last week I talked about the hurricane scars of the abandoned houses. This week I wanted to show some of the occupied houses of the town to balance the picture. It is a nice place with nice people. Houses on my way to school House next door house Part of this house is a shop, with living above. Another house along the way This week I had a meeting at PC office. I was volunteered to be a safety warden. The role is to help manage and support consolidation and evacuation events. I guess I was not the only one thinking about the hurricanes… 2/3 of the way up the hill to the PC office with St. George's in the background The 4H group has started the major school garden as we are move into the rainy season soon. The main crops are tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, and lettuce. Bananas, pl...

The final term of the school year started this week. Teachers and students and Peace Corps volunteer got back into the routine and down to work. I have a new schedule to work with the students and a number of activities scheduled in the coming weeks. I hope to have more information and new pictures soon. Hurricane season “officially” begins June 1 and runs through the end of November, although Mother Nature doesn’t always stick to that schedule. The recent first estimate for the coming hurricane season predicted another year of “above average” activity. People on the islands, as well as the gulf coast, pay attention to hurricane news. I’ve been interested in hurricanes since Theresa and I helped out with Red Cross support of those impacted by Katrina. Of course hurricane Maria is the reason that Peace Corps moved me from Dominica to Grenada, so I’m even more interested now. The last major hurricane to hit Grenada and the one most people talk about was Ivan, in September o...

Well, I was able to take apart my old computer and put it back together without loosing any pieces. I learned about some of the ribbon cable connectors and generally getting the computer apart and back together without loosing or breaking anything. It was not overly difficult, but a little tedious at times to figure out a connector.  The inside of the computer was less dusty after Ghana than I expected. This ended up as more an exercise in the practice of taking a laptop apart and putting it back together. Resetting the ribbon cable did not fix the keyboard issue (certain keys still not working). In addition, the battery did not seem to hold a charge or even always charge – age or hurricane Maria…. for those who want to see the inside of a laptop - with the back cover off And taken apart... Between the keyboard, battery, and the age of the computer (and it’s “survival” through Ghana and Maria) I don’t think it is worth getting parts. So, a learning experience ra...

I’m half way through the two weeks of Easter Holiday. I’m enjoying my time off, attending services as I can. I finished my metrics report for Peace Corps that is due this week. I haven’t really started on my “in-service” presentation for the teachers to be given the second week of school. Around the holidays - I’m always thinking about my family and friends. More on that topic in some future post – but know that I love and miss you always – holidays and missing family get togethers around the holidays are hard on all. The only religious pictures for this season I got were on Palm Sunday. After a short walk to Church for Palm Sunday You cut your own palms here I was hoping to get up Good Friday morning to walk the stations of the cross to a church, a few miles away. However, I slept through the alarm to get me to my Church by 5 am.  I was the lector, the narrator (ugh), for the Good Friday Gospel. Sunday morning we had fairly significant rain – but no winte...