I am so excited!  Two great opportunities to open our rural boundaries to students and adults around the world have begun. The first, Kiva, is a website dedicated to providing loans to adults in countries that don’t have access to banks and opportunities.  There are 100’s of adults with various needs (business start-up, community health, education, etc.) and for a loan of $25, regular folks around the world can work together to provide the needed financial help.  Students are each writing me a persuasive letter convincing me to loan to their chosen worthy cause. It was wonderful listening to their discussions – particularly about who they would NOT recommend a loan.  If their need seemed frivolous – or if their clothing was too nice – they passed them by.  Each class will have one paper selected as the most persuasive and the loan will be made in that class’ name.  It’s a wonderful opportunity for seeing the reality of other’s lives around the world.

Students browse hundreds of financial needs around the world to choose one they feel is most worthy of a loan.

Each is writing a persuasive letter including assertions and loaded language to convince me to select their choice. One letter in each class will be chosen for the $25 loan.

Another October event is the Global Read Aloud.  An amazing middle school teacher came up with an idea to connect students around the world by having them read books at the same time and share predictions, reflections and projects.  There are different books to choose from and we are reading Out of my Mind. It’s a very emotional book about an eleven year old girl who has cerebral palsy and is completely non-communicative, but is a genius!  No one knows it!  In fact, most believe she’s unable to learn.  We are searching for students to connect with through Edmodo to share our thoughts and predictions.

I will post updates and projects as they are completed.  Our theme of this school year is empathy and we are blessed to find such relevant and rich opportunities to practice! What a wonderful time to be alive and a teacher!

“I learned to dream through reading, learned to create dreams through writing, and learned to develop dreamers through teaching. I shall always be a dreamer.” Sharon Draper