Global Experiential Service-Learning

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Andes Cultural Preservation Service-Learning Trip

March 1, 2008: After a long period of insecurity, almost all checks are in to make airplane reservations next week. I will be taking the first global education service-learning trip to Peru in June, 2008. It was planned by Joaquin Randall's new company in the USA: "World Leadership School." Ross Wehner,CEO of World Leardership school and author of Peru-Moon Hand Books visited Casady, gave a brief chapel speech, and talked to Spanish classes about the trip and his experience as a reporter. We increased the numbers of students attending this trip by two and secured the ones willing to take a chance and create the first global education service learning trip for Casady School.
See itinerary details at: http://www.casady.org/podium/default.aspx?t=107862. On B-days during Activities we started training for the trip. The group will meet to see and discuss
1. Introduction PowePoint
2. Make plane reservations
3. Plan personal project
4. Discuss fundraising, partnerships, and sponsorship for personal projects
5. Discuss daily itinerary and supplies, clothing, parental permissions, and vaccinations
6. Plan journaling and blogging in collaboration with the Catcco Museum-Take YAC apple laptop for that purpose
7. Research Ollantaytambo-Catcco Museum- Connect with World Leadership School for last minute details

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Belgium

Brussels was an amazing city, especially because Ankita was there to present her projects. The hotel was nice. The conference lacked participants and better logistical organization, but there we met four amazing people.

1. Our co-presenter Adrienne Marshall who shared her program and gave us ideas on how to improve ours. We even found a building her school, Phillps Andover Academy helped build in a town near Brussels.

Bart Dankaeris from the International School in Brussels: www.isb.be, a social studies teacher who remembered Carrie"04 from the NYLC presentation in Minneapolis. His students were preparing for a youth-led service conference. After time spent with Ankita"08, Bart is considering having his students read High Noon and discuss it with Casady Cyclones interested in global problems and possible solutions. UPDATE (March 1, 2008): This actually happened. We have had sporadic, but meaningful communication with the kids from Brussels: See a website managed by a freshman student, Josh'11: http://web.mac.com/casadycrier/iWeb/Challenge%202020%20Website/Home/Home.html
3.

Yolande Iliano, attended Ankita's presentation and stayed for a while trying to find more details because Ankita's project had elements of something she was doing with her students. Yolande is a computer and foreign language teacher at St. Joseph School in Brussels: http://www.ens.irisnet.be/3046//index.htm, a free Catholic School. Yolanda is also the President of WCRP-Belgium (World Conference on Religion and Peace). Yolanda has several amazing service-learning projects with her Saint Joseph elementary school students http//www.stjosephuccle.be. After spending time with Ankita Yolanda hopes to come to Oklahoma in November to observe the Casady Cans Do Project. She is hoping to bring students and teachers. Ankita and I will ask permission for Casady to host this wonderful group. I hope my YAC and our Lower Division will consider a service partnership with her school. I also see possibilities for our French classes. We will see what time and our effort to make this opportunity a reality will bring. Update (March 1, 2008) This never happened. We lost communication with this teacher, but her work and passion for peace education inspired me to undertake a new project at school called PEACE JAM.

4. Dr. Robert Shumer, a lecturer from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. He has contacts with researchers at the University of Oklahoma. He is a resource for statistical analysis of our program. He also offered to help us finding cheaper accomodations for the NYLC conference in Minneapolis.

Update(March, 1, 2008) I wrote an e-mail to Robert telling him that I am taking a group of 5 students and our school librarian to the Minneapolis Conference. I have not heard back from him yet. It sure be nice to see him again.

It was nice to hear the author of High Noon talk about his book and to find out that if we go to Peru next summer; he wants to come with us.

Update (March 1,2008) His book has been difficult to read this year. We do not seem to have time to read and have hands on activities, bring guest speakers, see the inconvenient truth and plan local solutions to the problem of global warming. We undertook fundraising against poverty at the beginning of the year with the Challenge 20/20 group.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Heading to Brussels: First International Conference in Service-Learning for Educators

My Challenge 20/20 leader Ankita'08 and I will be presenting her projects and our program at the first International Conference in Service-Learning. She will have the opportunity to listen to: the author of High Noon, 20 Global Problems and 20 Years to solve them, Jean-Francois Rischard; Edward Zlotowski, Senior Faculty Fellow of Campus Compact (S-L at the college level) on Education, Globalization and Democracy: Taylor vs. Dewey Deja Vu, and my personal favorite, Andy Franco Service-Learning Researcher from Berkeley. I hope to get ideas, resources and tools to promote s-l at my school and community. If I find a computer, I will blog in my conference blog.

Service-Learning Possibilities in other areas of Peru

Cuzco, Ollantaytambo, Arequipa and Huancayo are possibilities. I recommend starting with Joaquin Randall and his enterprise in CATCCO. Students could learn ancient ceramic making and weaving from the weavers. In turn, we could start with environmental initiatives such as an Adopt a Street Program. We could also try to bring computers to the school in order to continue communicating all year around. Joaquin will have suggestions. He is dealing with a homestay program from Shady Side Academy in Seattle now. There are 15 high school students living in Ollantaytambo homes. I hope to find out about their experience in the future. I am not ready to deal with a homestay yet. Read details of Lakeside Global Service Learning at http://www.nais.org/indexPrint.cfm?print=Y&ItemNumber=146988

NAIS Challenge 20/20 Santa Maria and Villa Maria Schools partnerships possibilities

I was unable to attend a meeting with the Santa Maria School http://www.santamaria.edu.pe/index.html , Director Regional Marianista of Colegio Santa Maria. Santa Maria is a Boys School and its sister school is Villa Maria: http://www.vmaria.edu.pe/web/inicio.htm. My cousins children and my sisters' friends children attended this school. Mr. Robert Robinet made the appointment which I followed with an eomail to Santa Maria contact address. I hope to hear from them soon. If not Challenge 20/20 YAC needs to follow-up this lead csmm@santamaria.edu.pe

Colegio La Recoleta: Challenge 20/20 Possibility

I visited with the Academic Affairs International Baccalaureate Coordinator, Mr. Luis Felipe Gonzalez del Riego Collomp at the Colegio SS.CC. Recoleta. www.recoleta.edu.pe. jgarcia@recoleta.edu.pe. We talked about starting a Challenge 20/20 collaboration with his English classes based on reading the book High Noon, 20 Global Problems and 20 years to solve them. He will discuss the possibilities with his faculty and we will continue to keep in touch.

Another school that granted me time was Colegio Santa Maria, where my cousins attended school. I was to talk to Dr. Carlos Raynusso, Director Regional Marianista, but my illness prevented that from happening. Challenge 20/20 YAC has a name and a school address to follow up: csmm@santamaria.edu.pe, http://www.santamaria.edu.pe/index.html. This is another great school in Peru for boys, the girls school is Villa Maria

Taller de los ninos-A Great Possibility in Lima

My cousin Charito put me in contact with "Taller de los ninos" www.tallerdelosninos.org.pe representative, Mrs. Yelena Brujic. brugar@terra.com.pe. Taller de ninos is a Swiss organization that has won awards for their work with the children and adolescents of Peru.

Mrs. Brujic has connections with an art school in Peru,the Leonardo Da Vinci School. She analyzed the reality of our possible arts empowered service learning opportunity and invited us to explore working with her organization. There is an application process and we need to provide a plan of action. We will also need to fundraise the whole year for our supplies and cost of our trip. The more I learned about this organization, the more I feel we need to try it. I hope they will consider us worthy.

My understanding is that we would arrive to Lima and provide our own accomodations and transportation. Mrs. Brujic would become the contact person between her taller de ninos en Canto Grande (children and adolescents) as well as with the progressive Leonardo Da Vinci School, a private school in the area. She felt this to be the safest way to provide an opportunity for Cyclones to be the change they would like to see by empowering needy Peruvian children with their talents, skills, and academic preparation.

My students' job would be very similar to the site visits to Boys and Girls Club. They would have to take an area they would like to develop with the children they would be given, but instead of doing it in three hours, they would have 5 days since we would be working in Lima for a week. The needy schools do not have arts, sports, or English instruction. This could we the beginning of our partnership with the Taller the ninos organization. The art work produced could be auctioned or taken to the USA to provide further revenue for the taller.

I did not have a second meeting with Mrs. Brujic because I became ill (Must remind my students NOT to have ice. I was the only one in my group who had a drink with ice and I was the only one who got sick.) I feel that is a great possibility YAC needs to continue to explore. The reputation as a business woman of my cousin Charito is the best guarantee we could have.

Here is what I found on the web:(They were updating their page)

2006 Asociación Taller de los Niños. Todos los derechos reservados.
Calle María Parado de Bellido 179 - Magdalena del Mar
Teléfono: 461-9389 Tel fax: 461-2195
e-mail: ceitani@terra.com.pe

"Le bon départ" - El buen principio, es la base de trabajo inciado por Taller de los niños en el año 1978.
Se sabe que todo cuanto se puede hacer con y para lo niños y niñas menores de 5 años tendrá un efecto positivo sobre su desarrollo futuro como ciudadanos.

Decidimos trabajar en Canto Grande con el fin de construir con la población, un espacio diferente.

Taller de los Niños, se ha convertido en nuestra manera de decir NO a la injusticia.
Taller de los Niños quiere ser para los niños, las niñas y los adolescentes pobres, un factor de resilencia.