Wednesday, April 6, 2011
We have arrived after a long day of travel. We are all very excited to finally be here. While traveling we saw some pretty amazing things. We got to see the sunset which was beautiful. Tomorrow we are having breakfast with the people who own the place. Then we are off to the cheese factory . But this is the best part of the day we get to meet Wolf, Kay, Lucky and Eladio. We are looking forward to the amazing adventures we have ahead. Well since we are all absolutely exhausted we are going to bed. Goodnight!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Celebration Dinner
Last night we had our celebration dinner, hosting family members, friends and wonderfully supportive community members from Portsmouth and beyond. Jessica and the students did a fantastic job preparing all of the food, including 3 types of Gallo Pinto, an Avocado and Mango Salsa, Hearts of Palm Salad, and assorted Tropical Fruit. Everyone raved 
about the food and we will be sharing the recipes soon. The night was all about celebrating the students' hard work and achievements, and especially showing our appreciation for all those that have supported us along the way.The students specifically recognized:
- Dr. Lister, the namesake of our school, for his devotion and support of the idea of educating all students
- Kristi Scarpone for her superior fund-raising talents and guidance
- Amy Smith for her grant writing and enthusiasm
- Kelley-Sue Leblanc for donating her invaluable time to help us with all-things-online
- Martha Fuller Clark for an incredibly generous donation that is covering the airfare for the entire group
- Carmela Mascio for her help in every fundraiser and support in between
- Dick's Sporting Good and Timberland for helping to outfit us
- Jennifer Feals, of the Portsmouth Herald and Seacoast Online, for sharing our story with the larger community
- Stonyfield Farm for a grant that covered all of our transportation costs while in Costa Rica
- New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for a grant that is covering many of our adventure tours including a day of white water rafting and tree planting
- Joe Arnstein for providing us a place to dump all of the leaves that we raked as a fundraiser
- Vicky Avery, from the Stratham Fair, for helping to arrange for us to have a fundraising booth last summer
- The Middle Street Shell Station in Portsmouth for hosting our car wash
- The entire staff and student body at the Robert J Lister Academy, but in particular Ellen Gagnon, Ilysse Sirmaian, and Nancy Roy.
- The students were also very gracious in thanking Jessica and me for our efforts and the relationship that we have developed - I can say that this was an especially emotional moment for us.
As I am now continuing the final preparations for the trip, last night's festivities keep me more inspired than ever. We are now only 5 days away from our departure and are all home today because of an April Fool's Day snow storm - the tropical climate of Costa Rica seems all the more appealing.
Monday, January 17, 2011
We're So Excited!
In full disclosure, I do have the Pointer Sisters' song echoing in my mind as I write this post. I am so excited, and we all have lots to be excited about. The students at the Lister Academy continue to work incredibly hard and we have taken several big steps closer to our goal. Almost all of the students have received their passports - something that few had even considered getting otherwise. We have also purchased our airline tickets - leaving early in the morning on Wednesday, April 6th and returning even earlier in the morning on Sunday, April 17th. Additionally, we have arranged for our accommodations while in Monteverde - see my earlier post on Cabanas Valle Campanas.
The students have finished reading Walking With Wolf, and are starting to decide on their research projects that will dominate the spring semester and dictate our itinerary while in Costa Rica. We were also thrilled to be featured in the Portsmouth Herald this past Friday, with a great article by Jennifer Feals. In the article, we share our current status and plans for finishing our fundraising. We have a fundraiser at Papa Ginos in Portsmouth this coming Thursday night - just print out the flyer pictured here if you can come and support us. We'll also be doing a Costa Rica dinner mid-February - details to come.
I hope that you have been checking out the student blogs, and may consider a donation at our website, to help the students cross that finish line.
The students have finished reading Walking With Wolf, and are starting to decide on their research projects that will dominate the spring semester and dictate our itinerary while in Costa Rica. We were also thrilled to be featured in the Portsmouth Herald this past Friday, with a great article by Jennifer Feals. In the article, we share our current status and plans for finishing our fundraising. We have a fundraiser at Papa Ginos in Portsmouth this coming Thursday night - just print out the flyer pictured here if you can come and support us. We'll also be doing a Costa Rica dinner mid-February - details to come.I hope that you have been checking out the student blogs, and may consider a donation at our website, to help the students cross that finish line.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Cabanas Valle Campanas
Where you stay while traveling can be an important part of the experience, and this was my dilemma - until now. Originally, I had priced out hostels, figuring that it was the most economical 
way to go. There is certainly nothing wrong with a hostel - in addition to being the right price, it can have a very cool vibe with its common areas and communal living. I visited several very nice hostels that were family run and very safe right in Santa Elena, just outside Monteverde.
I was satisfied with those accommodations, but throughout our planning I continued to be nagged by the idea that there was a better solution. While a hostel is an interesting experience, it's a travel experience rather than an indigenous cultural experience - which would be a better fit with our class. When my wife and I went back to Monteverde last year, we stayed at a wonderful family farm that had added a few cabins on their property - Cabanas Valle Campanas. The cabins range from 3-person to 10-person, and each have running hot water and a full kitchen. It was paradise! Rather than being surrounded by the bustle of a hotel or town, we went to sleep with a private view of a splendid sunset and awoke to the birds just our door. We had breakfast a couple of the mornings with the family, in their home. (If you'd like to see some video of the cabins, they are in our feature video on the class YouTube Channel)
After speaking with the owner, Reina Cruz Brenes, we all decided that this would be an ideal solution. During our previous stay, I had spoken with Reina about my hopes of "someday" bringing students to Monteverde, and she had commented on my passion and dedication to them. As I started to fill her in, now, on the details of our class, she surprisingly shared that she knows Wolf - the main character of our book, Walking With Wolf.
Now, I gather that many people in Monteverde "know" Wolf, but Reina explained that her uncle, Eladio, worked with Wolf - and it hit me that Eladio Cruz has a central presence in Wolf's stories (the picture to the right is from the author's blog, and has Wolf in the middle and Eladio to the right) . I can think of no better way to have the students immersed in what they have been learning, and am incredibly excited about this fateful discovery.
Please take some time to check out the student blogs, and if inspired to do so, head to our website to see ways to support their work.
way to go. There is certainly nothing wrong with a hostel - in addition to being the right price, it can have a very cool vibe with its common areas and communal living. I visited several very nice hostels that were family run and very safe right in Santa Elena, just outside Monteverde.I was satisfied with those accommodations, but throughout our planning I continued to be nagged by the idea that there was a better solution. While a hostel is an interesting experience, it's a travel experience rather than an indigenous cultural experience - which would be a better fit with our class. When my wife and I went back to Monteverde last year, we stayed at a wonderful family farm that had added a few cabins on their property - Cabanas Valle Campanas. The cabins range from 3-person to 10-person, and each have running hot water and a full kitchen. It was paradise! Rather than being surrounded by the bustle of a hotel or town, we went to sleep with a private view of a splendid sunset and awoke to the birds just our door. We had breakfast a couple of the mornings with the family, in their home. (If you'd like to see some video of the cabins, they are in our feature video on the class YouTube Channel)
After speaking with the owner, Reina Cruz Brenes, we all decided that this would be an ideal solution. During our previous stay, I had spoken with Reina about my hopes of "someday" bringing students to Monteverde, and she had commented on my passion and dedication to them. As I started to fill her in, now, on the details of our class, she surprisingly shared that she knows Wolf - the main character of our book, Walking With Wolf.
Now, I gather that many people in Monteverde "know" Wolf, but Reina explained that her uncle, Eladio, worked with Wolf - and it hit me that Eladio Cruz has a central presence in Wolf's stories (the picture to the right is from the author's blog, and has Wolf in the middle and Eladio to the right) . I can think of no better way to have the students immersed in what they have been learning, and am incredibly excited about this fateful discovery.Please take some time to check out the student blogs, and if inspired to do so, head to our website to see ways to support their work.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Learning While Raking
When our class decided to start raking lawns as part of our fundraising efforts, I never would have imagined how successful and powerful the experience was going to be. First and foremost, I want to thank all of the people that made this possible - the community members that hired us, the staff at the school that continuously stepped up to cover for those of us that were out raking, and all of the students left behind at the school that dealt with the inevitable disruptions.
As a class, we basically stepped away from our book, Walking With Wolf, during the month of November - but the learning certainly did not stop. Most people that aren't involved in manual labor generally don't realize the amount of thinking involved. Thought is what makes the difference between a job getting done, and it getting done well. I've seen it clearly in the past while watching my father-in-law run an excavator, and I was able to see it develop as some of the students started approaching the raking jobs with deliberation and strategic thought. As they started giving directions in order to more efficiently complete the task, I knew that a lesson had been learned that would have been rare to find in the classroom.
Beyond logical problem solving, all of the students grew in their own important ways. Some started taking more responsibility for their decisions - both in and outside of the school day. Others showed greater tolerance for unpleasant conditions and strenuous hours. We sometimes worked for up to 10 hours, all exhausted, but fewer and fewer complaints as time went on. All of the students demonstrated times of great fortitude and perseverance. Especially having recently read Drive, by Daniel Pink and a variety of essays by Alfie Kohn, I am confident in the importance of this kind of growth. This ability to step up and push through is incredibly valuable, and a far more powerful indicator of future success than much of what is done in the classroom. Additionally, the students are able to articulate what made the difference - them and their effort. This, in and of itself, is an incredibly important idea to hold and I would highly suggest that any educators or interested readers take a look at Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, to learn more about why. Only those that know that they have the power to change, actually do - and my students are gaining that needed power.
I am very proud of the students in this class, but more importantly, I know that they are proud of themselves. We're all getting more and more excited about our upcoming trip and know that we still have more fundraising to do. If you are interested in helping them out, please check out our website for ways to support their efforts.
As a class, we basically stepped away from our book, Walking With Wolf, during the month of November - but the learning certainly did not stop. Most people that aren't involved in manual labor generally don't realize the amount of thinking involved. Thought is what makes the difference between a job getting done, and it getting done well. I've seen it clearly in the past while watching my father-in-law run an excavator, and I was able to see it develop as some of the students started approaching the raking jobs with deliberation and strategic thought. As they started giving directions in order to more efficiently complete the task, I knew that a lesson had been learned that would have been rare to find in the classroom.
Beyond logical problem solving, all of the students grew in their own important ways. Some started taking more responsibility for their decisions - both in and outside of the school day. Others showed greater tolerance for unpleasant conditions and strenuous hours. We sometimes worked for up to 10 hours, all exhausted, but fewer and fewer complaints as time went on. All of the students demonstrated times of great fortitude and perseverance. Especially having recently read Drive, by Daniel Pink and a variety of essays by Alfie Kohn, I am confident in the importance of this kind of growth. This ability to step up and push through is incredibly valuable, and a far more powerful indicator of future success than much of what is done in the classroom. Additionally, the students are able to articulate what made the difference - them and their effort. This, in and of itself, is an incredibly important idea to hold and I would highly suggest that any educators or interested readers take a look at Carol Dweck's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, to learn more about why. Only those that know that they have the power to change, actually do - and my students are gaining that needed power.
I am very proud of the students in this class, but more importantly, I know that they are proud of themselves. We're all getting more and more excited about our upcoming trip and know that we still have more fundraising to do. If you are interested in helping them out, please check out our website for ways to support their efforts.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
YouTube
We now have a YouTube Channel so that we can better utilize video in our work. The first video I have included is an adaptation of the video that I used to introduce the new class to the students at Lister Academy last Spring. I made a few minor alterations and updates, but for the most part, this is the video that excited the students who chose to commit to a year of hard work and amazing learning. We're reading Walking With Wolf, each student has their own blog, and we're fundraising our way to Monteverde, Costa Rica. This is exciting!
If you would like to help support these students, please check out our website to see how. Thanks.
If you would like to help support these students, please check out our website to see how. Thanks.
Power and Control
I am trying to utilize more technology so that the students have a variety of options for capturing their ideas. Up until this point, I have been suggesting that they take notes while reading the book, Walking with Wolf - similar to how I was taught and how I teach at the college - but I would like to hand them more options. I have created a Google Voice account so that they can possibly leave digital voice recordings of their thoughts as they read. I have tried it out here as a model. I'd love to know what people think.
Too often, teachers resist adoption of technology - and I'm guilty sometimes. I am hoping that use of multiple technologies can empower my students and shift more power and control to them - where it belongs. This feels more in line with our class, as we prepare for our learning about Monteverde, Costa Rica.
If you would like to help support these students, please check out our website to see how. Thanks.
Too often, teachers resist adoption of technology - and I'm guilty sometimes. I am hoping that use of multiple technologies can empower my students and shift more power and control to them - where it belongs. This feels more in line with our class, as we prepare for our learning about Monteverde, Costa Rica.
If you would like to help support these students, please check out our website to see how. Thanks.
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