The School and the Flexibility...

 Majuro Cooperative school is a private, secular school located on the southeast corner of Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Students in pre-K through 12th grade (this is the first year with a graduating class!) come to this school. It is the only secular, private school in the entire Marshall Islands, making it a highly desirable school to attend. Because it is a private school, it comes with a hefty month cost for tuition: $200. Obviously this does not sound like much, but in a country where the average yearly income is approximately $2000, the monthly dues seem relatively enormous. One can assume then, and be somewhat accurate, that this school only draws in students who come from relatively wealthy families. Figuring a ten month school year, a quick calculation would tell you it would take an entire yearly income in order for the average student to come to Coop. So, yes, many of our students are from families who have successful businesses on island, work for the government (who would have thought government workers get paid so much), or have jobs that take them off island quite a bit where money flows much more. However, with the price comes resources, educated teachers and facilities far superior than the other schools on island. This is by no means a statement of superiority over other teachers and schools; it is simply the truth. A recent visit to USP (University of the South Pacific), one of two colleges/universities on island, further emphasized my point. Their computer lab had about ten computers for student use but no internet, the student projects did not reflect college-level work, and their facilities in general were mediocre at best. This is at the college level, so one can imagine what the public high schools must look like. All of the public schools, elementary, secondary and college, are government owned and run...where do you think the issues arise then, in a place where the government is receiving roughly $22 million from the US through the Compact of Free Association? Sorry for the digression, but this comes up in conversation quite often and is rather frustrating. The point is that families who are less fortunate than others do everything in their power to send their kids to the Coop. Even if they are only making $5000 a year (many of our families fall in the $5-10k bracket), they make the necessary sacrifices for their children to have the opportunity of a successful future. This is a testament towards how important education is to some families, something that needs to spread throughout more of the community.

The courtyard for the younger students to play.

The basketball court, which also acts as the volleyball court.

The two high school classrooms, mine is on the right. Since it is equally rainy and sunny every day right now, rainbows can be seen quite often.

My classroom at the beginning of the year.

The cafeteria busy during lunch time.

My position at the Coop includes a multitude of things, and constantly growing with each week. Currently I am teaching 8th grade Geography & Cultures, 9th grade U.S. History, 11th grade World History, 11th + 12th grade Chemistry, and Geometry, which has students from 7th-12th grade. All teachers teach a level of mathematics during 1st period using a program called Saxon Math. Lets just say my feelings towards this program equate to me convincing the principal to hire a mathematics teacher by 2013. As for the Chemistry class, I willingly accepted to teach it partly due to the fact that I was the 4th person to be offered it, but also because I love all types of science (although I am very much NOT certified to teach any of them). It has gone very well so far, except for the fact that our lab facilities and equipment are severely lacking. Up to this point, not having the equipment has not been too much of an issue, but now that we are getting into the meat of the subject, a lab would so much more beneficial for the students. Luckily I was approached by the principal just the other day, letting me know I could order some supplies that I thought would be necessary for the experiments. Now if only I had that science background...we will see how it goes.

Outside of the classroom, I am running an SAT prep club for the 11th and 12th graders, a member of the Jambo Art Club, a member of the Long Island Tennis Club, soon to be a member of the JSA club (Junior State of America),  and many more plans are in the process. Unfortunately, there are not too many options for kids outside of going to school. As educators and leaders in this community, many of the teachers are trying to continue or create clubs and organizations to keep students occupied. Rather than see them fall into a typical lifestyle of alcoholism and laziness, we are trying to get them to be proactive and motivated to make a change in their culture. As the 11th grade advisor, I am also in charge of working with the 11th grade parent advisor and the students to run fund raising activities. So far, activities will include: movie night, car washes, Saturday day care, bake sales, a concert (hopefully), and many more. All of the monies are in the works of going towards a class trip at the end of their high school career!

Here are some pictures of the younger students, mostly playing outside. My students and their views on school are the next to come...

Assemblies are held Monday and Friday mornings, where announcements are made, the raising of flag is done, and the singing of the national anthem.

 

Somehow time still flies on island time...

Wow...I have now officially lived in The Republic of the Marshall Islands for one month. If it is possible, I feel as though I just got here yesterday and yet feel like I have been here for years. My experiences over the past month have both erased my preconceived notions of an "island paradise," as well as made me curious as to why everyone in the world does not live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean....

From the moment I stepped off the plane I felt welcomed. Nine of us future teachers of the Coop somehow managed to not meet each other on the plane (surprisingly there had to be at least 50 people on the plane), but while waiting for our luggage we found one another. Once we got through "customs" we were greeted by our two principals with leis for everyone and a van for the 20 minute ride to our new home. One of the first realizations I came to was that an atoll can be incredibly long from one end to the other. The airport is located near the center of the atoll, with one end being 30 minutes southeast (Delap - where the Coop is) and the other end being 40 minutes northwest (Laura). In total, if one wanted to drive from end to end, it would take over an hour even though the atoll is only 30 miles in distance. Anyways, our first two weeks consisted of unpacking in our individual, air conditioned apartments (the a/c aspect is crucial and will be talked about a bit later), doing our first grocery shopping, setting up bank accounts at the Bank of Guam, getting our health insurance cards (national health insurance means we are all covered with a $17 cover charge), and going through orientation as new faculty members of the Coop. The second weekend of being here, we all went to an island in the Majuro Atoll called Enemanit. The Marshall Islands consist of 29 atolls and 5 major islands. However, each atoll has about 10-15 islands of its own because of the way atolls have come to exist. I will not get into details of that, but if one is interested, just type atolls in google. The best way to picture it is by thinking of a volcano submerged in water, with only the very top or ring sticking out of the water.

Enemanit was one of the trips which quickly made me wonder why everyone in the world does not live on an island somewhere. It is only a 20 minute boat ride across the lagoon, which we took with one of the wealthier families who have a few children at the Coop. It is basically a deserted island, with only one or two families living on it (some of our students actually live on these islands, taking a boat to school every day!). I will not try to describe its beauty, just picture a remote island in the Pacific Ocean and that is how it looked. I have never seen the show, but one of the other teachers said she felt like she was on "Lost."  

The first day of school was officially Thursday, August 11th. The first Thursday and Friday were spent meeting the students, and going through the typical "first day stuff" every student and teacher must unfortunately experience. I found out three days before school started that, besides teaching Geometry, U.S. History, Geography & Cultures and World History, I would also be teaching Chemistry. Now, I am in no way certified to teach any sciences, but my love and interest in the field was enough to put me in the front of that class. I will post another blog that goes into more detail about the school, the students and the standards that are expected here at the Coop, but for now I will just say that every single Marshallese person is musically gifted. All of my students can play instruments and sing, which fits seamlessly in my classroom since music has always been such a big part of my life as well. Any time class work is being done or quizzes are being taken, music is playing. In fact, some of my students have songs on itunes and youtube...

Some of my students...written and produced by them

During the second week of school, actual school work did get done Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (however little it may have been in comparison to other schools in the states). Another reason why such little work got done was because everyone, students and faculty included, was looking forward to the retreat we were all taking part in on Thursday and Friday. We were headed to another island of the Majuro atoll: Eneko.

Two of the students patiently waiting for the boats which ended up being two hours late, something that is normal out here.

  

Finally making the journey to Eneko after one of the boats, full of students and supplies, broke down halfway to the island.

The remaining crew after the boats that picked us up (the same company that brought us out) were too small to fit everyone.

Even after the boats took two hours to come back for us, instead of complaining, students played music to entertain us all.

 Besides playing music nearly non-stop, students and faculty took part in beach olympics (beach volleyball, tug-of-war, water relay, kickball home run derby), swimming, walking along the beach, preparing lunch and dinner, and so on. There were 90 students and 10 faculty members on this remote island, and besides a few coral cuts, we had absolutely no issues. We had this long, elaborate agenda for the two days to make sure the students did not get bored or get into trouble, but that was before we really knew the students. They did not complain once about "having nothing to do," nor did they ever try to do anything they should not. It was a fantastic time...

I am going to finish with some "truisms" I have come to realize while living here. This will be an ongoing list, as every day brings a new experience:

1.  Efforts to squash every ant in your apartment will be nothing less than futile; every time you kill one, five more will show up. Coexistence with ants and cockroaches is a must...and okay.
2.  Despite previous beliefs, roosters do NOT only crow at sunrise. Any moment in time, whether it be at 2am when you are fast asleep or at 1pm in the middle of a lesson, roosters are capable of crowing.
3.  People can in fact move "as slow as molasses."
4.  Sweating all day, every day is not as uncomfortable as one may think (my brother may disagree), BUT the body does not get used to the heat. I plan on sweating all day, every day until 2013 when I leave.

Until next time...