Rocking that *International* Paradise

For the past 3 years, I have acted as a team manager for Destination Imagination at my school in Guatemala, and each year, my team has earned a trip to Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee.  This school year, I was blessed to manage the exact same team I had last year—the Aguaguates, the most wonderful group of kids any DI team manager could wish for.  This group, all 7 th graders this year, has everything needed to not only excel at DI, but also make a team manager’s job almost unnecessary.  They have amazing team chemistry, and they understand the importance of teamwork.  They’re crazy creative and hilarious and amazing actors when they get on stage.  They push themselves to improve their performances.  They know what they need to get done for DI, and they create their own practice schedules.  In short, they are a DI dream team, not to mention really, really great people .  This year though, I took one look at the school calendar and deci...

A little less than a year ago, Richard and I were at Lake Atitlan, and I read the news that there had been an earthquake in Nepal which had caused an avalanche at Base Camp of Mt. Everest.  At the time, I was teaching a book all about a boy who climbs Everest, so I read the article and was excited to tell my students of this current event, bridging fiction and real life.  I looked forward to hypothesizing with them what this avalanche would mean for the climbing season, which takes place during a short weather window each year. But when I told Richard about the article, his eyes got big and worried, and he gasped, “My friend is there!  She’s at Base Camp right now!”    For the next day or two, Richard checked facebook maniacally, waiting for an update from his friend.  Thankfully, she checked in, reporting only minor injuries and announcing that she would be evacuated in the next few days.   But that was the first time I heard about Barbar...

A new school year has officially started, and with it, a new crop of 7 th graders.  This week has been full of briefing kids on routines and procedures as well as getting to know them and building community.  Each year I have an advisory group.  These 10-15 students come to my room for 10 minutes each morning, and for 40 minutes on Monday afternoon.  I act as their advocate, checking in with them about everything from their grades to their social well-being, making sure no one falls through the cracks.  This first week of school, my advisory spent a lot of time together. One thing I’ve learned: if you want a recipe for instant unity, the secret is to introduce a team mascot.  Enter Bob, the Flying Pejelagarto.  I had this furry frog/lizard stuffed animal in my classroom, left over from last year.  As my kids and I started to brainstorm names for our group (each advisory gives themselves a name, writes a chant or cheer, and compet...

Last week was definitely one of “those weeks.” I feel like I tried to take on everything. And, I sort of accomplished it…but some days it didn’t quite seem worth the effort (and some days it did). Last week, I: -Organized and ran3 days of bake sales and pizza sales to raise money for a young girls’ orphanage in Guatemala with a group of amazing 7th grade girls. We raised a whopping Q2975 (about $400) so that was definitely worth it. -Supervised 8 hours of DI practices after school as our team got ready for the National competition, which was on Saturday. -Hosted a dinner party at my house, went out to eat, attended book club, picked up my race packet for the City 10K Night Run, went to the movies, and spent one night baking for those bake sales I mentioned. (You do the math…I was busy). -Ran a total of 10 miles over the course of 3 days in order to prepare for aforementioned race. -Visited a Children’s Hospital with a few other teachers. -Submitted my application to grad...