I started writing this blog
update two weeks ago and its focus was on what had happened in the month of
February. It is now the end of March
which means there is even more for us to tell you about. This is going to be a long one, I hope you
can make it to the end!
I have been quite busy in
the classroom. Sixth grade has been
studying the classification of matter (elements, compounds, and mixtures). Seventh grade was in a unit on erosion in
February and are now in the middle of their science expedition on caves. Eighth grade was studying classification of living organisms
and created field guides on specific animals (one vertebrate and one
invertebrate) that they shared with the fourth grade students (who had been
studying classification as well and shared the books they made with the eighth
graders). It was so fun to see both 4th
and 8th graders sharing their products that they had worked so hard
on! Now they are also in the middle of
their science expedition which is focused on freshwater ecosystems.
February brought the first
round of progress reports for second semester.
It seemed that over Christmas break, many of our students forgot how to
behave in the classroom and what it means to be a responsible student. Over half of all of our 6th and 7th
grade students (8th grade was the exception) were failing one or
more classes. Instead of meeting with
each parent individually and saying the same thing over and over again, the
middle school team decided to plan a meeting for all parents of students who
were failing. Our focus was to be on a
number of things including test results, curriculum standards, student
responsibilities (behavior, homework, quality of work), and good examples of
student work.
We began the meeting by
showing our parents the results of a country wide test comparing Doulos
student’s scores on math, Bible, and reading comprehension to other students in
public schools around the country. The
results were staggering and showed Doulos students scoring up to 50% higher on
math and reading than their public school peers. While I admit this test did not take many
variables into consideration – the majority of public school students come from
low socio-economic situations compared to Doulos where half of our students are
on scholarship, or difference in class sizes – it is hard to say that students
at Doulos are not far ahead of their public school counterparts, especially
after spending time in the public schools on various occasions and talking to
public school teachers.
After starting on the good note of student test results we went on to
discuss the curriculum standards that teachers must follow here at Doulos. Because we are an ACSI accredited school, we
have adopted the Washington State curriculum standards and must get through a
certain number of standards per year.
Our middle school math teacher attempted to explain this to parents so
that they do not think we choose whatever we want, but that we have chosen a
curriculum that will prepare their children to continue their education in the
United States if they so desire once they graduate from Doulos. After, I was the bad guy and discussed the
general problems us teachers had been seeing with our students. This included laziness, sloppy, non-quality
work, not taking work and tests seriously, and behavior that resembled that of
baboons. Our geography teacher, Maggie
talked about rubrics and how we teachers give our students specific guidelines
for all of their work (students like to give the excuse to their parents that
they don’t know what to do on assignments and that is why they are getting low
grades!) Lastly, our English teacher,
Justine brought the parent’s attention to a gallery of quality student work
that we had put together for them to see.
Overall, the meeting went very well and we have seen a huge improvement
in most of our students since then! Report
cards come out next Friday and we will see how many students were able to
improve their grades after the progress report talk.
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| Katie, Heidi, & Eric Neel |
February was very exciting especially for Joe and me because it meant the
welcoming of our very first visitors here in the DR! Eric and Katie Neel (friends from Tennessee)
and their 4 month old daughter, Heidi, came for 9 days to see just what it is
we do here. We began their trip by
picking them up late from the airport on a Thursday night and driving straight
to the beach. After a 2 hour drive we
arrived at 1:30 in the morning and went to bed shortly thereafter. We spent a long weekend in Cabarete and spent
a whole lot of time on the beach. Heidi
was a trooper and loved the water. She
had a good time putting her toes in the sand!
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| Heidi with her toes in the sand and looking so cool |
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| Katie, Heidi, Me, & Joe enjoying the beach! |
On Monday we headed back to Jarabacoa and spent a restful day preparing for
a week of hard work. Eric and Katie had
planned their visit to coincide with our school’s Service Week – a week where
students are out of the classroom and helping in the community being the hands
and feet of Christ. On Tuesday we headed
to school, baby in Bjorn, ready for a hard day’s work. Joe and Eric accompanied a work team up to
Manabao to assist in the finishing touches of a classroom that was built for a
school there. Katie and Heidi hung out
with me and the 6th grade class and helped us prepare for our
service project which included going to a local public school, Escuela Rincon, and spending time
with students there. On Wednsday, Eric
and Joe returned to Manabao to finish their work there which involved a whole
lot of laying concrete (the hard way).
The girls went along with the 6th grade class to the nearby
public school where we passed out food, played games, and made “faith”
bracelets with 5th and 6th grade students there. In the afternoon we walked around town
picking up trash. Thursday looked much
the same except this time Eric and Joe accompanied the girls with 6th
grade. The week was exhausting and Joe
and I were so thankful for friends who were so adaptable. Heidi was the true champ, going wherever we
went and being such a good sport!
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| Joe & Eric outside the finished classroom |
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| The concrete sidewalk - courtesy of Eric |
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| Katie & Heidi hanging out with a student from Escuela Rincon |
God really used to this week to teach me a lot about myself and what
service really means. I had been talking
to my students all week about why we are called to serve others as Christians,
putting others needs before our own. We
talked about a servant’s heart and that when we serve others, it is what is in
our heart as we do these things that really counts. As you can imagine, it is difficult to
communicate this to 11 and 12 year olds.
After Wednesday I was cursing whoever had come up with this awful idea
of service week. I had been so
frustrated with my 6th graders – they just weren’t getting it. I was trying to teach them that God cares
most about our attitude in serving…………… and then I had one of those “aha”
moments. My attitude sucked! How could I expect my students to have a
servant’s heart if I was not setting that example for them? Wow! I
returned to school on Thursday with a whole new perspective – even if a single
6th grader did not walk away from this week understanding the reason
to serve, it was ok. God called Joe and
me here to serve these kids, and if we do not have good attitudes about that –
only looking at the bad, being easily frustrated – then our service is deemed
null. With God, it is all about the
heart, and man did He do a work in mine that week!
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| Ysmayar, Abel, & me setting up food for the students at Escuela Rincon |
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| Setting up at Escuela Rincon |
Saying goodbye to the Neel family was very difficult. We had such an incredible time with them
here. Our days were filled with work
that glorified God and our nights were spent in meaningful conversation. Not to mention, there was a whole lot of baby
play time with Heidi! As we have
readjusted back to our routine here sans Neels, we cannot help be give thanks
to God for the amazing people He has placed in our lives. The Neel family is one of many who support
what we do here and we know they keep us in their prayers always. We are already looking forward to seeing them
this summer during our cross-country travels!
Even better, they are already thinking about a time to come back again
next year! Now, we are anxiously
awaiting our Spring Break and time to relax and regenerate before the mad dash
to the end of the semester. April brings
with it our second visitors, my grandparents, Chuck and Helen Benjamin, who
will be visiting for 17 days! We cannot
wait to share with them as we did with the Neel’s all the awesome things God is
doing here at Doulos Discovery School!
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| Katie & Heidi saying hello to friend's, Tim & Whit's, little one, Charlotte, who is just 10 days older than Heidi |
