End of the Year Party!?

End of the year? Didn't I just arrive here? Didn't I just unpack my classroom and my closet in a new space, in a new city, in a new country on a new continent? I cannot believe the first year in Rio is drawing to a close all ready. I think about all we have seen and done, all the people who have blessed our lives, all the learning experiences along the way, all the growing each of us has survived. This place has become "home". The people here have become "family". The customs have become the way it is--"normal".
The headmaster and his wife, Pam and Peter Cooper, hosted an end of the year party at their home in Jardim Botanico last night. The Coopers always give fabulous parties with food and drink and dj. There is socializing and conversation upstairs, dancing and craziness downstairs and never enough time in the night to get around to everybody for even a short conversation. The Coopers will leave EARJ this year. Peter is retiring, and they are returning to the states to live. We have a new headmaster hired. Rumor has it he and his wife will occupy the Cooper's house, and we are all keeping our fingers crossed that they will host the same fabulous parties. I think it is a good thing to unwind, kick back, and relax with those you work with day to day. It is always fun to meet the spouse or partner of your colleagues and enjoy some time outside of the work responsibilities.
As you can see, Joe worked his way onto the crowded dancefloor at one point last night and squeezed his way right next to the DJ to dance with Lena (he is at the back of this picture, white shirt). He has so much fun. Many of our friends can often be heard saying, "Look at Joe! He's so funny. Where's he going? Oh my goodness, what is he doing Sara?" These phrases are usually said as Joe is heading off, mixing in a crowd, checking something out at a closer distance, or doing anything the rest of us are too reserved to attempt. He makes life fun for everyone.


The group of women who have become my friends here are phenomenal, funny, smart, beautiful women. Each one is inspirational. Each one is amazing. Each one is a blessing for whom I give great thanks. Here is the group of us last night, Jennifer is missing (she and Valdir had other obligations with visiting friends and were unable to attend the party). From left to right: back row; Francesca's sister, Myked, Suzanne, me, Isabella. front row; Julie, Mara, Francesca. In one capacity or another each of these women has impacted my life. In laughter, in comfort, in company, in knowledge they have all shared a part of themself with the three of us. When one transitions to a new culture, in particular with a new language, the process can be overwhelming to say the least. Having been there before, these women have supported us in our transformation and acclimation into the life of a foreigner living abroad. My experience here would not be the same without each of them, and I am a better person for knowing them all.

Rio to Miami, Miami to Chicago, Chicago to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to

Hamline University Graduation!!!

I left Rio last Thursday night on an overnight flight to Miami, changed planes and headed to Chicago in order to connect to a flight bound for Mpls Friday morning. Awaiting me, looking as beautiful as ever, was my mother at baggage claim! It was a whirl wind of a weekend and worth every last minute of lost sleep, weary, blurry eyed walks through a number of airports and the stiffness from sitting in an airplane seat for the total of approximately 15 hours. All worth it for a few hours with family, colleagues, and friends.
Saturday, May 19th, I walked in my third commencement ceremony. This time earning my MaED. I can't express the joy, the pride, or the sense of accomplishment that was felt. There are not words fitting. I was particularly happy when I opened the package with my cap and gown Friday night to find the traditional graduate school "hood" that adorns the attire. This is the stuff dreams are made of....
A point of particular joy was being able to attend my cousin Kate's graduation from the Hamline College of Liberal Arts. Kate graduated with a BA in English, just as I did from Hamline CLA in 1995. It was very special for me when she made the decision to attend my alma mater four years ago, and even more special to me this past weekend when I was able to share in her accomplishments. She graduated Summa Cum Laude might I add! So, although I look a little weathered in this picture of the two of us, it will remain a great memory for me.

Keren was my peer reviewer in my capstone work. As a professional writer herself, you can only imagine the added expertise she offered to my work through the revision process. She was my wordsmither. She caught the random tense changes I made in error and polished my sometimes too informal writing style. I am forever grateful for her help on this work. On a side note, Keren and I met during my second year of undergrad at Hamline when I began working for her and her husband as the nanny of their first born, Gus. It was a wonderful surprise to see Gus with Keren on Sat. I didn't know he was coming to the commencement. I vividly remember days with him as an infant and toddler playing throughout their house and walking to Lake Harriet or the park. Now, I have to look up to see into his eyes. I'm not sure if Keren is aware that I have modeled much of my own parenting practices after what I observed in her as a new mother. She is a phenomenal woman and friend.
The final picture here is of my very good friends from my learning community. From Left to Right: Tina, Marcia, Terry, Tania, and myself. These women, along with several others from my cohort, were monumental in my transformation process. They are all incredible women. What a blessing to have been able to hug and congratulate each of them Sat. and to thank Marcia and Terry for their guidance and knowledge shared.

So, after a very crazy weekend: Minneapolis to Dallas, Dallas to Miami, Miami to Rio and Nap time!!

Work complete, recognized, and published!!

Many of you all ready know that I have been working on my MaED the past 2 years. I started my graduate program at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN in January 2005. It has been an amazing 2 years of reflection, growth, and accomplishment. The compilation of this study is the completion of what the academic world now calls "The Capstone". The Capstone is a 5 chapter action research, literature review (traditional thesis style) and investigation into a chosen education topic. In the past 3 months I have finalized my capstone, sent it to committee for review, and published the final product. It is an amazing accomplishment given the fact that it was done while working full time and parenting full time and living full time. The greatest element of all is that this work has been formally recognized by Hamline University in the form of the Beulah Benton Tatum Award, which is given to a capstone that shows reflective work in multicultural issues. Last night, my advisor, facilitators and cohort gathered for a wine and tea reception to celebrate the completion of the program and honor those capstones receiving awards. Since I am not currently in the country, I sent, via email, an acceptance speech of sorts to share with my learning community last night. I thought it would be fun to share it all with my blog readers as well:

Fellow Hamline graduates, advisors, and friends,

To begin, I am sorry not to be with you all tonight. I wish I could look out at all of your faces now, smiling with respect and the sense of accomplishment and the completion of hard work. What an amazing group of people Hamline University brings together. I am very proud of each of YOU and all you shared with me in this process. It is an honor and a privilege to call myself Hamline Alumni. See, my Hamline experience and the Hamline influence on my teaching career is vast.

I graduated from Hamline University CLA in 1995 with a BA in English, a secondary education certificate, and an incredible amount of experiences not formally represented in the diploma I walked away holding. I knew in 1995 that I wasn’t finished with my formal education. I also knew, thanks to my experiences as a Hamline undergrad, that I wasn’t finished with my real life learning either. Actually, it was just beginning. For this reason, it was clear to me when I began my search for a graduate school that Hamline would be THE option because I was all ready familiar with the quality education that is Hamline University.

I, like many other stateside public school teachers, was motivated to earn my master’s degree for the pay increase. (Remember the brainstorm activity of “Reasons to get your master’s degree” on the first class?) However, I also wanted my degree to mean something. I wanted to work hard for it. I wanted to feel the burden of studying again while teaching full time and grading papers full time and parenting full time and trying to live life full time. In essence, I chose rigor. So did all of you.

It’s funny because the pay raise doesn’t recognize rigor—we all knew that when we started though. I won’t receive more money solely because I worked hard. But I, like all of you, wanted to have that sense of accomplishment for myself. The trick was to balance all of those “full time” obligations successfully. What I was surprised to find through the process was that being a graduate student at Hamline while teaching full time clearly enhanced my teaching. In some ways, it even made it easier.

Do we realize the privilege we have in being knowledgeable about the leading researchers and best practices in education? Routman, Johnson, Tomlinson, Tatum, Howard, Pruden, Banks, Kriete. Do we know the power in being able to write “letters to the next President?” Do we know that as a result of the evaluation process in place currently at Hamline our programs are evaluated and reevaluated consistently to ensure that we are privy to what is current in the further education of practicing educators? This is not to be found every where. Thanks to Hamline, I know that now.

Do we realize the strength there is in having a cohort of professionals working, experiencing, growing, learning, and often influencing the current education system together? Thanks to Hamline, I know that now.

After every class session, throughout all the reading assignments and writing assignments and distributed learning assignments and community building assignments and treat duty…I was regularly applying what I learned in class with all of you to my classroom with my students. I wonder if my students know they really had a team of teachers throughout this process because each of you vicariously entered my classroom on more than one occasion. Each of you influenced what I knew, what I wanted to know and what I didn’t know. You even helped me to see what I didn’t know I didn’t know. Because of that collaboration, fostered by Hamline’s graduate school of education program, I am a better educator.

I never saw myself as a researcher before this program. I always saw myself as a learner. I recognized the need for and the joy in continuous learning, but being a part of this University again reminded me what I am capable of accomplishing as a researcher and practicing educator. I am a researcher. The power in that is immense.

Receiving the Beulah Benton Tatum Award for capstone work on multicultural issues is an honor larger than I can explain. The validation of hard work is incredible. The acknowledgment that research on multicultural issues as significant and worthy of attention means a great deal to me. I live my life running against a walkway, working daily at educating children in getting along with each other while being heard individually. This award is a boost to my pace, a help in my race against the moving walkway of social injustices worldwide.

I write this now, from miles away, knowing that one of the most influential people for me in this process will read it to all of you, and I am overcome with gratitude. I thank you Terry. You and Marcia have both been key components to my success and growth. To all of my colleagues in the Learning and Literacy community—hats off to all of you! Your students are blessed with your expertise. We are blessed with one another. And we have so much work to do still in ensuring that children don’t fall through the cracks or go unheard. Thank you. I can’t wait to see you all on May 19.

A Weekend at the Beach in BUZIOS!!!!

Well, we left for Buzios Friday afternoon with Sierra's arm in a cast. :-( Despite that fact, we had a GREAT weekend beach hopping, mini golfing, eating crepes, and site seeing. Thought I'd throw up a few pictures for all to enjoy!!
This is my kind of boat! Check out the options lined up on this one! We rented a house from a woman I work with at Escola Americana and we three ventured to Buzios with our good friend Suzanne. I was a little concerned because we left the city in pouring rain, and Buzios is only 124 km from Rio. What would a person do in a beach town with no sun? Still don't know.



Here I am at Praia de Tartaruga (turtle). I think this is my favorite beach in Buzios. Plus, here we had a great drink guy from the closest kiosk, named Rock (pronounced: Hokey), who kept us hydrated and fed all day. Very important to have enough to drink while in the sun all day.

Sierra found the perfect pets for our little Brazilian apartment!

And she found time to relax in the sun with me.

She even managed to splash around in the water every day without soaking her cast!

We were blessed with this amazing sunset!

We played a little (ok a LOT) fresco ball on the beach every day.

We got in a few hands of Barbie Uno--I won twice!

And we all tried our best on a VERY hard mini golf course.

Sierra and I relaxed and watched the Flamengo vs. Botoafogo futebol game.

Ahhhhh, life at the beach! If only I could bring all of my friends with me.