"Arbol" by Yaneris

Yaneris reads us her one-page comic:

Notice how when Yaneris conferences with her teacher, they discover a misunderstanding.

Welcome to Milena's Classroom

Meet Milena Argeñal, HSR Comics Exchange partner teacher from La Garita, San Ramón, Matagalpa, Nicaragua:

Report 1 from San Ramòn

The 2010 Comics Delegation to San Ramòn is under way! We have scheduled a full slate of Comics Workshops over the next two weeks as we initiate exchange programs between classrooms here in Nicaragua and back home in New Hampshire.

Planning our workshops with our co-teacher Donald...


Our first workshop in comunidad La Reina...


Starting our personal introductions...

Taking suggestions from the group....

Library Books for San Ramon

HSR Comics Exchange Delegation

We're posting notes and photos from our HSR Comics Exchange Delegation to Nicaragua here:

http://www.marekbennett.com/comicsworkshop/category/comics-workshop/henniker-san-ramon/

HSR Hosts "Roots of Migration" by Gloria Andino Lopez

Henniker-San Ramon and Witness for Peace New England bring you this timely program:

"Roots of Migration" by Gloria Andino Lopez

7:00, Friday, October 17, 2008

Simon Center Great Room

New England College, Henniker, NH

Please join us for this important presentation, where Ms. Lopez will share firsthand knowledge of policies affecting living and working conditions in rural Nicaragua, and how this impacts immigration to the United States.

View WFP's flyer for this event. (Print it out and spread the word!)

ALSO: Read about the rest of Witness For Peace's Fall 2008 Speaker Tour

Thoughts on Solidarity

Jason Paul writes:

"[During our school visits,] we have begun by asking some of the teachers to write a paragraph on solidarity and what solidarity means to them. Here are some of the responses:"

Izdania Soberana Perez, 33 years old, 16 years experience as elementary teacher:
Solidarity is the mutual aid which is developed between children, adults, schools, communities etc depending on their needs, almost always, this is born of every person...

Coleta Martinez, 33 years old, 4 years experience as elementary teacher:
Solidarity is the capacity that we have as people to help others when necessary. If it comes from the heart comradery among people is easier to practice. All of us posess the ability to develop this quality, but very few put it into practice.

Myriam Zelaya, 57 years old, 30 years experience as elementary teacher:
Solidarity consists of giving help to the people who need it, being nice to the people around us and sharing difficult moments with them with sincerity, caring, and love.

Jamileth Ordeñana, 35 years old, 8 years experience as elementary teacher:
It is sharing what I know and what I have, knowledge, virtues, helping to forge a better world where children are not mistreated. It is to struggle for a dignified education for everyone. It is to make the rights of others valued. It is learning to learn and sharing. It is helping others meet their needs whoever they may be, wherever they may be.

Roger Salgado, 31, years old, 9 years experience as elementary teacher:
Solidarity is a very fundamental element which has to do with one person to another, or one country to another with the end of helping in a way that is moral, economic, or in knowledge to get out of the paradigm of being held back as a people.

School Visits Continue

Here are more photos from one of a series of school visits by Jason and Lucila:

Lucila and the classroom teacher are applying the literacy techniques taught in last month's Teacher Training workshop.

Literacy Training: Follow Up Visits

Here is a note from Lucila, the lead teacher in the Professional Development Literacy Workshops for teachers in the San Ramon school system:

Hello dear friends from Henniker,

I wanted to let you know that I am very content with the way we are going about this training and I consider this to be the way to work with teachers who don't seem accustomed to having follow up or supervision.

During these last few weeks I have been visiting schools and observing [many different] classes.... Many teachers sought more support from me, asking me about doubts that they had and also asking for my intervention so as to show them how to work a certain area. I feel that this work in the classrooms is very enriching for the teachers because when it comes time to do activities sometimes questions arise and can be resolved with a little help. At the same time many teachers continue giving their classes the same as they have for years (despite having enjoyed the workshop, indicating on their evaluation forms that they believed they could use what they had learned). Doing school visits is a way of ensuring that they begin to put into practice these new ways of teaching.

I have also seen some brilliant classes in which teachers gave a lot of importance to the meaning of texts, using and expanding the activities introduced in the workshop, thus facilitating greater reading comprehension. This, on a personal level, makes me very happy.

Thanks for giving me, and us, your trust and the possibility of doing this work with the teachers of San Ramon. I hope that we continue together on this path of encounters, hope, and solidarity, and that with our shared efforts we help to make things more just. Ok, now I say goodbye hoping to meet you this summer and share more about these interesting experiences lived in San Ramon. Thanks again!

Until soon,
Lucila

Lucila and Jason have been conducting follow up visits to classrooms and schools in the San Ramon's countryside.

Literacy Training for San Ramon Teachers

Here are Jason Paul's photos and notes from last week's Teachers' Professional Development conference in San Ramon, made possible by a grant from HSRSCP. This report demonstrates the importance, excitement, and challenges of presenting such programs:


After having steady [electrical] power almost all week long we awoke this morning to Murphy's Law ["If something CAN go wrong, it WILL."]. After having gotten up at 5:00 to put 5 gallons of water on to boil for coffee for the [program participants], when I got up for a second time at 6:00 and hit the light switch nothing happened. So we hemmed and hawed for a brief spell and then decided to proceed forward. Mercedes lent us her back-up battery and we set out making trips to the school, projector, computer, battery, pastries, and coffee....

Lucila got through most of the first part of her powerpoint presentation and the battery died. She went on for a few more minutes and we stopped for the coffee break. When we returned, the power was back.

• 62 teachers were in attendance, there was good participation, and it seemed that everyone gained a decent to excellent command of the material.
• There was a lot of positive feedback on the evaluation forms. Teachers thought the information would be helpful to them in their work and many expressed a desire for the rest of the teachers in San Ramon to get the same workshop.
• There was also interest in receiving more workshops of this nature in the future.

So ... it is safe to say that stage one has been a success. In the next week [program presenter] Lucila will do follow-up visits to classrooms, and I will join her upon returning from Peru. When we got home at 12:30 and I set the battery to charge it went for about 2 minutes and the power was gone again. So we made it in the nick of time....yay!

-- Jason Paul

BELOW: Program presenter Lucila (right) and participating teachers. BELOW: A sample program feedback form from an enthusiastic participant.