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United Nations Population Fund Guest Speaker

2 Nov

Long overdue for a post and celebration of learning. I continue to teach at the American International School of Lusaka (Zambia) and currently teach grades 7 and 8 (Individuals and Societies and English Language and Literature. This is year 7 for me at AISL. Photos by Rob Martin

My colleague, Alta, and I welcomed AISL parent Seth Broekman as a guest speaker in our 7th-grade Individuals and Societies (Social Studies) classes on November 1. Mr. Broekman, who works with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), discussed the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and UNFPA’s mission and impact in Zambia and globally. He shared stories, answered students’ questions, and guided a “Power Walk” activity,  where students simulated the experiences of people from diverse backgrounds to understand disparities in accessing human rights. By “walking” in the shoes of others, participants experience power dynamics shaped by factors like gender, occupation, age, and health. This exercise raises awareness of how these differences impact resilience to challenges, including climate change, and encourages leaders to reflect on how their roles might create distance from those they aim to support.

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Great Quotes

29 Mar

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President Obama’s Message to the Class of 2020

19 May

Greetings students!

I hope this blog post finds you well. I have enjoyed hearing from current and formers students from around the world. These are hard times, and I am striving to improve my communication with friends and family. Teachers love to hear from former students. I would love to hear from you and to know how you are doing. I have enjoyed watching social media updates about my former students who preparing to graduate at my former school in Chennai, India. I am very proud of you and wish you all the best. I really enjoyed hearing President Obama’s message to students graduating this year. Whether or not you are graduating this year, watch this excerpt from this speech and reflect on his words of encouragement and hope. I hope to hear from you. Please stay safe.

All the best,

Rob Martin (martin.robert.lee@gmail.com)

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Dog Humor – Happy Friday!

24 May

Dog Humor

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One Year in India (Out of Eden Walk)

27 Feb

OOEL India

This image was shared on Out of Eden Walk’s Facebook page today. 

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‘Home is where my boots are.’

3 Oct

Check out this great story by the CBC on Paul Salopek. He was interviewed while he was in Chennai last month. Listen to the audio version on the way home or to school. An excerpt: 

As a long-time foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, Salopek has spent a lot of his life on the road. He says everyone he loves knows this is a part of who he is.

“It might seem crazy to some people that I could maintain family relationships, even deep friendships when I’m inching across the world for five years. But this is not a departure for me. I’ve been doing this my whole life,” Salopek told Tremonti.

He attributes his start as a global nomad to a life-changing move over the border from Southern California to a small village in Mexico.

“[It] taught me that … I may never be truly at home anywhere, I’ll feel at home everywhere to some degree, and that home is where my boots are,” he said.

It was the first rain of the season. It came with fistfuls of blown dust, and it barely wet the sand. Paul Salopek encounters the first monsoon in northern India at Milestone 58.

 

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A new year, a new school and a new journey

20 Sep

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Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia! I am now teaching English as an Additional Language (EAL) at the American International School of Lusaka where I also serve as the Grade 8 team leader and advisor. I am supporting a colleague, Ms. Conte, who teaches Grade 6 MYP Individuals and Societies (Social Studies), as she launches Out of Eden Learn this week. After a long summer, my hope is to write on my blog and to use this platform as a way to support my students and colleagues. Please stay in touch.

Mr. Martin

rmartin@aislusaka.org

Paul has a new article in the September National Geographic magazine. I am so happy to hear that he was able to spend some time at AISC. I hope you enjoyed his visit.

 

 

 

 

Out of Eden Walk + Moving On! Project

9 May

Here are a few photos from Paul’s recent walk through Pakistan. He is now in India! Check your OOEL posts and see if anyone has left any comments or questions for you.

This week we are moving from part 2 (compare and contrast) to making your final product for our Diverse Places – Moving On! project. All of the related documents for this project are on PowerSchool. In class you will be making a final product for a teacher who is either moving to India or moving to another country. Keep up the good work!

M.S. Spirit Week

25 Feb

Show your school spirit and dress up during the week of February 26 – March 2! I need some ideas for crazy hair day! :>)

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Multiples Day – Superheroes

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Multiples Day – Looking Sharp!

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Multiples Day – Cool!

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Multiples Day – Superheroes

Spirit Week

G6 Team

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Crazy Hair/Inside Out Day

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Crazy Hair (Or No Hair Day)

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Crazy Hair Day

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Crazy Hair Day

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Pajama Day

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Spring Colors Day

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Spring Colors Day

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Silk and the Silk Road Resources

20 Feb

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History.com

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. Although it’s been nearly 600 years since the Silk Road has been used for international trade, the routes had a lasting impact on commerce, culture and history that resonates even today. Read this article on History.com.

Silk production, or sericulture, is the nearly 5000 year old process that supplies the world with its most prized threads.

https://youtu.be/eO1E8x27LVE

Paul Salopek has spent many months walking through the ancient Silk Road region of Central Asia. He has written a nice article about it HERE (CLICK LINK). Read his article and watch the longer video on his blog post. 

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August Birthdays

15 Aug

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Happy birthday to the following grade 6 students celebrating birthdays in the month of August. You can click on ‘comments’ and wish your classmates a happy birthday. Just add your email address and first name only. No need to add a website. If I made any mistakes or forgot someone, please let me know. Happy birthday: Ahmet (1), Luca (10), Junwon and Chaeyun (11), Ritika (17), Neil (21), and DaEun (27). 

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Welcome Back (2017 – 2018)

13 Aug

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Welcome to 6th grade! We hope you had a nice summer and are ready for a great year. Along with PowerSchool, my class blog will celebrate learning and share ideas. This blog is also a great way for parents to see what we are doing in class. As of today, this site has had over 90,000 page views from 174 countries. You and your parents can ‘follow’ the blog by adding your email address in the box at the top right of the blog. You need to confirm you are following the blog when you get a message in your inbox. Anytime Mr. Martin adds a new post on this blog, you will get a message, if you are following this blog. 

The photos above feature some activities we did in our first day, the name wave. We learned each other’s names and how to pronounce each other’s name. We also did a four corners activity. In addition, we discussed important materials needed for our class:

  • spiral notebook

  • accordion folder

  • pencil case

– Mr. Martin and Mr. Ranson

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Textbook Return

23 May

Textbook

Please return your textbook this week. I will sign your forms saying you have returned the book. Thanks! – Mr. Martin

The Economy Playlist

3 Apr

This playlist features helpful videos to review some of the concepts we have been learning about in class. Our last area of research for your project is on the economy of your two countries. Continue to use the guiding questions on the shared document (“What is good information?) as you complete your research this week.

 

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March Birthdays

2 Mar

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Happy birthday to the following students celebrating birthdays this month: Luca (3), Mr. Ranson (6), Florian (11), Byunggeon(24), Mayu (28), and Aidan (29). If I forgot anyone, let me know and I will fix it. Have a great day!

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Fake News vs. Real News

27 Feb

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This Thursday we will have our second Inspiration Conversation of this year on Fake News vs. Real News. We will be meeting on the 2nd Floor of the ES/MS CIC at 3:45 for snacks and refreshments, and we will start the session at 4:15. I hope that you can join us as we explore what makes news fake, what tools do we have to help us determine if something is fake, and what role do we have in stopping the spread of fake news. This is a pressing and important issue in the world today, which plays a role in everyone’s life. This is open to MS and HS students. See you there!

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Three More Geography Games!

4 Dec

I am a little late, but as promised I am sharing three more geography games. It seems like some of you really enjoyed the speed test game where you had to name all of the countries in the world. Here are some more games you might like that were featured in this blog post by another teacher:

GameOn World is a multiplayer geography game developed by a high school teacher and his student in Portland, Maine. The game is similar in structure to that of Kahoot. In GameOn World the teacher selects a game category (cities, places, and timeline are three of the nine categories) and starts the game. The students join the game by going to GameOn.World and entering a game pin. In the location and timeline games, students answer the questions by moving a placemark on a map or selecting a date on a timeline. In some of the other games students answer by choosing a number on a sliding scale. See the directions in the video above. 

Capital Toss is a free geography game from ABCya. The game has a state capitals mode and a country capitals mode. In both modes of the game works the same way. The name of a state or country appears at the bottom of the screen and three rows of capital names scroll across the top. When the correct capital name appears players virtually toss a ball at it. After ten correct answers players can choose a new ball. Three consecutive incorrect answers ends the game.

Where is…? is another good game geography game. This game uses a popular format for geography games; the name of a city is presented to the players and they have to click the map to guess where the city is located. Players are given immediate feedback on their accuracy in the form of a measurement, in kilometers, of the distance between their guesses and the correct answers.

Have fun playing the games!

 

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Cities of the Indus Valley

22 Nov

How was the Harappan civilization similar to other civilizations we have studied? What made it unique? Watch a video and add a comment.

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November Birthdays

31 Oct

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Happy birthday to the following students celebrating birthdays in the month of November: Miruna (13), ChaeYeon(17), Paula(24), and Gautham (27). If I left someone off the list, let me know. Have a great day!

 

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Creating Neighborhood Maps

23 Oct

Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin

Students have finished Out of Eden Learn, Footstep #2 – Creating a Neighborhood Map – and written a story using one of the five prompts provided by Out of Eden. Here are is a sample of some more of the maps that were created. After Week Without Walls, we will share the maps in a Gallery Walk with our classmates. Click on the images to see a slideshow.

 

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Week Without Walls Blog

28 Sep

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Check out the Grade 6 Week Without Walls Blog – all your questions answered! It will be updated regularly, so check it out often.

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The Long Dry Spell (role play)

24 Aug

“The brutal heat makes it difficult to work. Yet every day you must walk to the river with animal-skin bags to get water for the plants. You repeat the trip hour after hour, until your legs feel like they won’t support you any longer. Your back aches from carrying water and bending over your crops. The plants need every drop of moisture they can get. But the heat of the sun seems to evaporate the water as soon as it hits the ground.” – The Long Dry Spell” (pages 80 – 81).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJee8NwD5AG/?taken-by=digitalnomadrob

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Sophia’s Blog – Save Earth: Save Us

24 May

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Check out Sophia’s animal blog, Save Earth: Save Us. It’s a very nice blog which focuses on endangered animals and the environment. It’s quite nice. Take a look, and post a comment. Click HERE to see the blog. Great job, Sophia. I hope you continue to make posters next year. 

End of the Year Party

13 May

Student activities

Lekhana and Michelle

End of Year Party on Friday, May 20 from 4:30-6:00 in the FAC Cafeteria.

Tickets are 200/- and will be available from Tuesday, May 17. Ticket sellers are student activities club members and Ms. Jaya (3129) and Mrs. Hall (3131). 

Paul Follows the Footsteps of Silk Road Traders

2 May

Three years ago, Pulitzer-winning journalist Paul Salopek embarked on a decade-long walk around the world, charting the path of the original human emigrants who left their birthplace in eastern Africa to spread across the globe. As he prepares to follow the Silk Road from Central Asia into China, Salopek checks in with Hari Sreenivasan to reflect on his journey thus far and what lies ahead. Watch the video and/or read the interview from PBS news and see what is next for the Out of Eden Walk.

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