Ecuador

In March, I traveled to Ecuador with OneWorld Classrooms, an organization that seeks to connect classrooms all over the world in an effort to promote cultural understanding. There are dozens of classrooms in the United States that each year partner with dozens of classrooms in the Amazon Rainforest. These classes share artwork, stories and videos with each other, and classes in the United States have access to math, reading and social studies curriculum related to the rain forest. As for the classrooms in Ecuador, they get real, live visitors from the United States who facilitate the cultural sharing. I was one of those volunteers, along with six others whose skills ranged from teaching, Spanish, dance, and videography. We visited five schools, each day going deeper into the rain forest.

At the time, I was very busy with my job as a fifth grade teacher in Dallas, and I didn't have much time to write about my experience. Now, nearly 10 months later, I am finally sitting down to at least post some photos.