Mr. Mike & Ulises-A Great Team

Mike and his Trainee Ulises (pronounced You Lee Sees) Urbina

Mike has had the privilege to work with this fine young man this year.  Last year Ulises helped his mom  run the schools 'cafetin' (cafeteria).  Everyone noted how athletic he was (he'd frequently join the kids at recess or after school playing 'futbol') and how great he was with students.  So this year in addition to helping his mom he worked alongside Mike learning the ropes of being a PE teacher.   NCAM implemented a block schedule this year which meant several classes of 40-50 students!  Ulises was essential in making Mike's PE classes manageable and enjoyable!

A very common scene: Mike with his clipboard and Ulises by his side, or often one of them on either side of the cancha leading stretching and warm-ups.  Ulises embraced learning a new way of teaching PE.  They usually focused on a different sport, game, or technique each month.   All versions of dodge ball, 'quemados' in Spanish, hockey (yes on cement), and of course soccer were the kids' favorites.

Ulises has a great rapport with kids and we're so excited will continue the PE program Mike began and created these past two years.  He has been so willing and eager to learn despite only volunteering all of his time!  We truly respect and admire this gentleman.

Mike and Ulises have made a great team this year.  We've been so thankful for his efforts at NCA and we're excited with where he will continue to take the PE program in the future!

Meet Profe David Mejía 5th Grade Teacher Extraordinaire!

Profe David Mejía

We know Profe David this year best as Evan’s 5th grade teacher, and have been so impressed and thankful for him.  David has been able to help Evan in a unique way this year because he speaks English very well, and is also a progressive thinking and open minded teacher.  David understands the process of learning a new language which has really helped him to foster Evan’s Spanish language development as well has the rest of his students’ English language learning.  David has also thoroughly embraced the professional development and ‘1st world’ teaching pedagogy that have been offered at NCA through trainings, seminars, the foreign teachers, visiting teaching teams, and his own hard work and research.  His work ethic and drive to create an authentic learning environment and encourage his students to be critical thinkers is truly admirable.

Why David’s style of teaching is so remarkable is hard for North Americans to understand, because we take so much for granted including even the way we think.  Imagine growing up in a culture and education system where you are never asked questions requiring personal thought or reflection.  The Nicaraguan education system is based solely on memorizing facts and regurgitating that information for one exam.  Brain research shows drastic differences in the creation of brain passages between babies and young children who grow up in interactive versus passive environments.  Children whose parents frequently speak with them in conversations, ask them questions, and read to them, develop many more routes in their brains as opposed to children whose parents only speak at them, give orders, and do not ask even simple questions requiring the development of critical thought. 

While I am not aware if brain research exists comparing different types of education, we can assume from the parenting brain research that students beginning at age 3 who start going to school in a system such as Nicaragua’s will have serious physical disadvantages when it comes to brain development and thought.  I’m not saying this to be pessimistic nor condescending in any way, rather to simply try and point out that to learn to think and teach in an entirely different way for a Nicaraguan is very impressive and definitely not as simple as one might think. Furthermore, David also faces the challenge of helping his 10-11 years old students begin to think and learn in a new way along with the often even bigger challenge of explaining his teaching methods to his students’ parents.  (Parents here often think their child isn’t learning anything if they aren’t bringing home notebooks filled with copied information or bringing test answers home to memorize for a test.)

David is always eager to learn and to practice his English.  So over the past two years I have had the pleasure of having English conversations with him while we discuss ideas for his class and questions about education.  This year he has introduced working in learning centers to his class which allows him to be able to work more in depth and adapt his teaching to each of his students’ needs.  Learning centers also gives his students an opportunity to practice skills in fun, engaging, and meaningful ways.  To encourage David’s students to read independently  (a very rare thing here due to no public or school libraries-with the exception of NCA) and develop leadership skills, his students prepare and present a weekly book presentation.  David also encourages leadership and understanding for others by having his students help ‘teach’ one-another during small group time as well as by giving presentations on assigned topics.  David is also trying to open his students’ eyes to different professions by inviting parents and other adults from the community to share with his class about their work education, and experiences.  

We have seen such a transformation in David, and his students (including Evan!) this year.  Thanks to his hard work, creativity, and dedication to his own learning his students are thriving.  His students are a great representation of NCA’s mission statement in action.  David is ‘equipping children with spiritual discernment, moral courage, and academic excellence to impact society,’ for a better future, a different future, for Nicaragua.  We plan to stay in touch with David even after we leave Nicaragua, we want to continue to hear about all the great things he is doing for his students as well as for the NCA staff.  We believe David will be an inspiration and a wonderful model for the other teachers at NCA and it has been a true pleasure working with him.

Meet the rest of Nicaragua Christian Academy’s Elementary Team!

NCAM's 1st Grade Teacher Suyapa Torrez

 A very rewarding aspect of our teaching mission these past two years has been the role we’ve had as teacher trainers and mentors.  I’ve spoken a lot about the growth Karla has made as she has transitioned from teacher aid, to student teacher, to next year’s lead Kindergarten teacher.  However, this year I’ve also been able to work more closely with several other teachers and I’d like to begin highlighting a different teacher every few weeks.  I’ll begin with 1st grade teacher Suyapa then go onto the 5th grade, 3rd grade, 2nd grade, and Special Ed teachers.  Mike will also highlight Ulysses who he has been mentoring this year in PE.  We hope you enjoy getting to know them, and please feel free to send us specific questions!

Profe Suyapa assessing for individual learning

Suyapa has been teaching 1st grade for three years now at NCAM, she was one of the original teachers and has really helped the school transition through many changes.  Her first class she only had 5 students!  The following year (when Kai was in her class) she jumped up to 15 students, and this year has 25 students!  Each year therefore has been very different and a challenge to adapt to different curriculum, growing class size and student dynamics, as well as building pressure from MINED (Nicaragua’s Education Department).  Unfortunately MINED has decided to focus heavily on first grade this year and makes ridiculous demands on teachers which of course are completely not based on realistic student learning development.  For example, teachers are not allowed to ‘teach’ students to read for the first four months of the year, because there is a special ‘assembly’ each year called “Ya Se Leer” when students are all suddenly supposed to showcase their talents/abilities of being able to read.  What they actually do at this assembly is ‘read’ a memorized text or poem so that all students will appear to be the ‘same’ and all miraculously and marvelously reading.  And you wonder why the country’s illiteracy rates are so low……Sigh

Suyapa was Kai's teacher last year and helped him have a wonderful year, despite initially not speaking any Spanish!

Both the Kindergarten program and first grade program at NCAM however, are  actually teaching students to read in authentic, relevant ways.  So we have to find ways of doing this, while still working within the general parameters set by MINED.  Its very frustrating, especially for teachers like Suyapa who have come to understand the gradual process it takes to produce successful readers and writers.  This year I’m working on helping Suyapa understand and begin a Daily 5 literacy program.  We’re hoping this will help both simplify her lesson planning and materials she creates, while also providing richer learning activities for her students.  The rest of this school year we’ll be focusing on mapping out a year long curriculum plan, learning how to simplify the process of creating weekly lesson plans, establishing ways of organizing her materials, and learn how formative assessments can help directly impact daily teaching practices and therefore improve student growth.  A lot to accomplish in 9 weeks, but I’m confident we’ll be able to do it because Suyapa is so determined, willing and open to learning new ways to benefit her teaching and her students. 

Suyapa experimenting with working in small groups in math and literacy.  Suyapa has recognized how well this teaching method works, and is working towards a Daily 5 model.  (It is a very new concept for Nicaraguans.)

Suyapa has a wonderfully fun spirit, a great sense of humor and smile, is very intelligent and witty, a spirited dancer, and a loving mother to 3rd grader Ivahnna.  She is a pleasure to work alongside with and a source of pride that she will continue to impact many other teachers and students in the years to come.  She is a great leader and is and will continue to be a model for the elementary teachers at NCAM.

100 Days and Counting!

Our fabulous Kinder class-giddy with excitement over making it to our 100 Day Celebration!

We Did It!  We made it to 100 days!  We started this month off with our big 100 day Bash!  We made fruit loop necklaces, 100 day glitter crowns, a snack with 100 items, painted 100 dots, built with 100 cups, counted 100 things (what seemed like 100 times but not quite), and completed a scavenger hunt with 100 numbers!  It was a fun-filled day, and demonstrated how independent and successful our Kinder students have become this year.

Diego and Debora counting by 10s and making their 100 item snack.

Keller, Ariadna, and Renata building with 100 cups!

Benjamín, Fátima, and Sofia making their fruit loop necklaces,                 
this station required lots of parent help!

Making our 100s Day Glitter crowns with the help of a parent

Aldo and Benjamín (2 of the four boys in our class) eagerly waiting
 to add their number to our 100s Chart

Marcela finding where her number belongs!

Karla has completed over a month of student teaching and continues to do an amazing job!  We'll be busy next month preparing for our Fiestas Patrias event, writing our last names, writing lists about just about anything, writing to 100, and reading and writing more and more words every day!  We'll also be testing out some new donated i-pods by creating a listening center and using them for literacy and math centers!  (If you have any used i-pods, i-phones, or i-pads we can put them to very good use!  Let us know if you would like to donate one, we can arrange getting them here.)

Teachers Teaching Teachers

It’s been another good month here in Matagalpa.  The rainy season has finally begun.  We’ve had rain almost every day the past few weeks, which usually consists of a pretty big thunderstorm in the late afternoon or evening.  We’re learning the rain brings in all sorts of interesting bugs & critters seeking dryer ground.  We found a very large scorpion one day in my classroom, along with ants of enormous size in our house, baby termites which decorate our screens each evening, and what looks like a spotted carpet of June bugs on our patio.  We hear masses of frogs are yet to come…and of course there’s always mosquitos.

Last weekend we decided to test out our new wheels and went to explore one of the beaches where Survivor was recently filmed.  They had taken down all of the challenges but we were able to see the giant wood pile left behind and recognized many things from the show, which was pretty cool.  They also built a big pilapa using poles from one of the challenges.  You can see from the photo, our kids seeing if they have what it takes to compete!  There are many beautiful beaches here, most of which are completely undeveloped.  Evidently, Survivor made these beaches accessible by building the roads.  They’ve filmed four seasons here in Nicaragua.

As I continue to help prepare Karla for full-time student teaching in my class, I am planning how I can begin working with Suyapa, our 1st grade teacher.  Technically, I’ll still be in our classroom quite a bit, just more in the ‘assistant’ role, so it will be tricky figuring out how to balance being in two places.  Fortunately another Kindergarten teacher from the states just arrived who will be doing an ‘internship’ with me for about 3 weeks.  So it will be fun to see how she can help us with this transition.  She also brought down some wonderful teaching materials for Kinder and 1st grade and some much need gluten-free flour for our family!  Yay!

Another thing NCA does is work with various teams who come down to serve in Nicaragua.  And with summer approaching (in the US) teams are beginning to arrive!  Many teams come to do projects only at our school, while others come for a few days and then do other service projects around the country.  One team coming next month will be working on printing, laminating, cutting, and preparing materials for a fabulous Spanish literacy program I’ve been using with Kindergarten.  Thanks to this team I’ll be able to help get this program started with first grade as well as with some special education students .

A lack of teaching materials or the means to make them is definitely an obstacle here.  Printers, laminators, large cutting boards are things we teachers really take for granted in the states.  But the bigger obstacle is introducing an entirely new way of teaching and thinking.  This country’s education system is based on copying information and mundane practice of non-relevant information.  Nicaragua’s educational ‘body’ called MINED has in place strict guidelines  teachers are supposed to follow, yet they provide no materials or valid teaching instruction on how to do so, not to mention are completely lacking in academic structure or standards.  Instead, one day each month teachers are required to attend sessions where they mindlessly copy down these guidelines (which they already have a printed copy of) and then turn them into their director.  Students have no school on these days of course.

The MINED guidelines for my Kindergarten students this month for example are things like teach about children’s rights and laws that protect them, moral and social values, and societal norms.  And finally, five months into the school year they get to learn how to write their name!  Yes, and that is only scheduled to happen for three days!  Keep in mind according to the MINED guidelines these students have yet to learn a single letter of the alphabet (that comes later, much later)!

We have to then find a way to balance what MINED requires while still teaching what logically and developmentally makes sense for our students.  It’s easier for me to do of course, because I know about that developmental process, but it is painful to think about all the teachers here who don’t understand that process and more painful yet to think about what the majority of students here are actually learning.

Whenever I pause to really think about this it just reiterates what an incredible opportunity I have this year to make a true difference.  At this point, it may just be one or two teachers, and a few classrooms.  But the outcome will be life-changing and will be long-lasting.

Our Kindergartners in comparison to the national norm, have been writing their first names for the past five months and will now begin learning their last names, they know all their letters and sounds, they can make meaning out of print, they are writing and reading their own stories, they are learning to count to 100 in a variety of ways, they get to enjoy listening to and participating in stories every day, and love learning and coming to school every day.

Karla now sees what is possible for students at this age and she is equally baffled by the lack of academic instruction MINED requires, but without seeing a class develop (now for the second year) she would have had no idea what was really possible.  Karla is now coming up with creative teaching ideas on her own, she recognizes how to teach in a variety of ways and how to adapt for different students and settings.  We are now beginning to look for a teacher to be Karla’s aide next year when I leave and can now begin to see the rippling process that will begin.  Karla will train that teacher, who will eventually have her own class, and that teacher will then train another teacher.  Small as it may be in the grand scheme of the needs of the country, it is exciting and so worth all the effort to know we are making a real difference in the lives of our students and the teachers we are working with.

HOT HOT HOT!!!

This past month has finally felt like the dry season.  We enjoyed a fairly cool ‘summer’ with some unusual bursts of rain, but the heat has finally set in even up in the hills of Matagalpa.  The temperature has reached into the 90s, which is extremely rare for this area.  And just in case you’re wondering, no, we do not have AC nor fans in our classrooms!  Our best cooling off mechanism is a cold shower at the end of the day, that is of course if we have water!  The dry season also brings water shortages, so the city regulates water by randomly shutting it off.   While this can get a bit tiresome, we find it is just part of living here in Nicaragua.  We’re becoming quite good at quickly washing dishes, clothes, filling water filters, buckets, and taking showers when we do have water.

On the school front things are going very well!  We are so extremely thankful for how successful our teaching mission is proving to be this year.  Karla continues to take on more teaching roles; we rotate subjects about every 3 weeks.  I can’t begin to explain how drastic the change is in her teaching and understanding from the beginning of last year to day 50 of this year.  Its like marveling at a student learning to read and then watching them just take off in January or February.  Teachers and parents can relate to all the ‘work’ that goes into teaching a child to read; talking to them, singing with them, reading to them, playing letter & rhyming games.  Eventually all of those pieces come together and a child effortlessly begins to read and write.  I see that happening now with Karla’s transition into teaching.  All the little teaching moments last year, are showing up in Karla’s teaching this year.  Even more exciting is watching Karla gain self-confidence and realize how far she has come in her teaching methods.

Unfortunately, our school did lose two of our new primary teachers this past month, in the same week actually.  One teacher has already been replaced, the other we are still searching for.  It is difficult to express how different NCA Matagalpa is from the average school here in Nicaragua, for many teachers the changes and teaching style is just too much and can be quite overwhelming.  It is not an easy task to first find teachers who are open-minded enough to be able to adapt to a new way of teaching, nor to mentor and guide those teachers into a very new way of teaching.  So while it has been difficult to lose two teachers just a few months into the school year, hopefully we will have a stronger staff as a result of it.  One positive result for example is seeing all of the primary teachers come together to help the new 4th grade teacher.  Now that Karla and our Kindergarten class are doing well and established in our routines, I have more time as well to work with the new teachers. 

Mike is heading up our 2nd annual soccer tournament here at NCA Matagalpa.  He officiates one game each day during the secondary lunch hour, and the students are Loving it!  It’s really fun to see the excitement it generates from students playing as well as watching.  Mike has also been helping with after school soccer and volleyball practices.  It is great to see students becoming more physically active at school and learning ‘rules of the game,’ many for the first time.

As for our family, the kids are all doing really well.  I am often shocked by their Spanish speaking ability, and envious at how easily they have picked up the Nicaraguan accent and local vocabulary.  Mackenzie continues to amaze me with how she can memorize great quantities of information in Spanish for her classes, Evan writes and presents a book report in Spanish each Friday to his class, and Kai likes learning Spanish songs and singing them for us at home.  Other good news, after a few very hot weekends (107! & humidity) searching in Managua, we found a very reliable older car we could afford!  After five months without a vehicle this will be a welcome change making life a little easier, allowing us to do more things safely within our community, especially after dark (which always happens here at 6pm!).

Soon the heat will pass and the rainy season will be upon us (we hope!).   Until then we continue to appreciate the beauty of Matagalpa and Nicaragua, so thankful for the opportunity to be here.  The more changes we see happening at school, the greater the potential we see for positive future change.  We’re excited for what the rest of the school year holds and look forward to working with more teachers for long-term real change. 

If you have any questions about our teaching mission or living in Nicaragua please send us an email annette.muellers@gmail.com.

May the Lord’s Peace, Which Surpasses Our Understanding, Be With You Always,

Annette, Mike, Mackenzie, Evan, & Kai Mueller

What a Difference a Year Makes

We have completed our first month of school already and can’t believe how much easier life is for us this year.  Someone told us any major transition in life takes at least a year and they were so right.  Last year we kind of felt like we were on a spiraling water slide going a bit too fast and just hanging on for the ride, while this year we feel much more at home.  One big reason for that is our current home — we’re living on the school campus and just loving it.  We’re away from the hustle and bustle of the city and have so much more freedom now with coming and going to school.  It has made our family and work life much more manageable. 

Our second year teaching at NCA Matagalpa also feels much more manageable.  Everything is just easier the second time around, especially teaching in new roles in a foreign country.  Mike is teaching PE this year to Kindergarten through 9th grades, with a new block schedule for secondary grades.  Mike now has a teacher’s aide for his combined classes of 50+ students, who is training to possibly take over as the PE teacher next year. 

I have a new class of Kindergartners transitioning very nicely to school.  My teacher in training, Karla, is doing a wonderful job this year stepping into her role as student teacher.  It is amazing to see the growth she has made in her learning and understandings since the beginning of last school year.  Karla is gradually taking on more responsibility in the classroom with the goal to be full-time student teaching by mid-year.  We are being very intentional with planning, organizing, and creating materials so that Karla will have an easy transition next year when she will be the full time Kindergarten teacher.   This relationship is the main reason why we knew we needed to be here one more year, so it is very rewarding to see how excited and open she is to learning and growing as a teacher.

Our kids are all doing very well in their new classes as well.  Mackenzie is enjoying having a class of 25 rather than 8!  Evan has a great teacher who is really working hard to break away from the traditional Nicaraguan teaching methods and challenging his students to use critical thinking.  Kai’s main goal is getting more recess time, which translates to eating as little of his snack and lunch as possible.  We’re working on this, because of course that leads to a tired and cranky little guy at the end of the day.  :)   

We’re all enjoying having outside space, aka the school campus, at our new home!  And so far we’re getting by without a car.  We take the bus into town for church and errands, and friends have been very generous with giving us rides and lending their car for grocery runs (thank you Carey & Maricel!). 

We’re looking forward to what this year will bring and confident we made the right decision in returning!  Thanks to all of you who have helped to make this teaching mission possible, we have almost reached our fundraising goal!  If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation please click on the donation banner at the top of the page. 

Peace Out : ) 
Annette & Fam

Nicaragua Teaching Mission Take Two!

Anxious excitement, is how I’d describe what I am feeling as we fly back to Nicaragua for our second year of teaching at Nicaragua Christian Academy.  Much the same as what we felt this time last year as we were first arriving, but this time fortunately there is a feeling of returning home.  Not our true home, but Matagalpa is where we will call home for one more year, and for that we are very thankful.  This time around we have excitement for seeing our friends and colleagues, for setting up our new home on the school grounds, for setting up new classrooms, and preparing for new students.  We are excited to see our previous students and the kids’ friends.  We are excited to get started where we left off last year, excited to continue working towards NCA’s mission to provide quality Christian education, and excited to work towards a long-term difference in Nicaragua to create disciples of Christ.

We are anxious for all that needs to happen in the next few weeks.  We’ll be moving into our new home (did I mention we get to live on the school campus this year? :), unpacking boxes & moving into different classrooms, preparing for a new school year (as teachers, students, & parents), and preparing for mentoring my student teacher Karla.  We could use prayers that all that needs to get done now will, and that all that we want to get done will with time.  We could also use prayers (especially for Mackenzie, Evan, & Kai) that we will be filled with the love we received from our home visit and that it will fill us with love for others and remind us why we have been called to serve in Nicaragua.

Mackenzie will be starting 7th grade and will be meeting lots of new students as they join her grade from different schools.  Evan will begin 5th grade and meet his old group of great friends, and Kai will be in 2nd grade with a teacher new to NCA this year.  We pray that they will feel excitement for a new school year and be filled with the Lord’s strength and comfort this year.

Mike will be adding one more grade to his PE classes, as NCA Matagalpa continues to add one grade per year as it continues to grow.  He will now teach PE to grades K-9, as well as English classes.  The secondary grades this year will also be experimenting with a new block scheduling system, so that will mean some changes especially for Mike’s PE classes.

I will be teaching Kindergarten again this year with my wonderful aide Karla Garcia.  Karla learned so much last year working alongside me and this year she will gradually take on more teaching responsibilities as a student teacher.  I am so excited to mentor her through this process and to watch her continue to grow as a teacher.  During Karla’s student teaching I will be able to work more closely with the other primary teachers.  This will be an enriching opportunity to get to be involved in multiple grades.

We are so thankful to our many supporters who have so graciously supported us emotionally, prayerfully, and financially!  We would not be doing this important work without you!  We are however still working on raising support, if you are anyone you know might be interested in supporting us this year please let us know.  Or you can click on the banner above which will link you directly to our account with Resourcing Christian Education.  You can make monthly or one time tax-free donations there to directly support our teaching mission at Nicaragua Christian Academy.

Feel free to keep in touch with us this year!  Send us an email, find us on Skype (Annette & Mike Mueller) or call us on FaceTime or Face Book Messaging (annette.muellers@gmail.com).  We love to hear how things are going for all of you back home.

Grace & Peace To You,

                                  Annette, Mike, Mackenzie, Evan, & Kai Mueller

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We’re having a wonderful time visiting family and friends at home in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado.  We were all surprised after being away so long and living in such a different ‘world’ how everything at home (accept for the kids!) seemed to have stayed the same.  All the comforts of home, our friends, and family were right where we left them.  This was an unexpected blessing and somehow reassuring to us as we visit home, but still plan on returning to Nicaragua.

I was worried that our home visit would be so nice, we wouldn’t want to leave (especially the kids!)  But contrarily we’re finding that we are being recharged and re-energized and it is very comforting to know that we can go away for another year and our loving community will still be here when we come back.

We’re also getting to share pictures, stories and experiences with our church, family and friends.  It is powerful to get to share more about our teaching mission in person with so many people, and encouraging to see others gain understanding of why we believe so strongly in our teaching mission. 

We have two more presentations planned in Eugene, OR and E. Wenatchee, WA, if you’re able to make it we’d love to see you and share more with you about where we’re teaching and what we’ll be doing this year.  An important part of our time at home is also for raising funds for our second year.  We are so thankful for those of you, who have already pledged to continue your monthly support!  We are in need however of more one time or monthly donations. 

We are seeking to raise $25,000 to sustain our teaching mission for the 2015 year.  Would you consider making a gift?  All donations are tax-deductible and go directly to our teaching mission.  Click on the banner above to make a hassle-free donation through Resourcing Christian Education.

Thank you to those of you who have welcomed us home, listened to our stories, and provided us with funds and/or encouragement to head back to Nicaragua for a second year of providing hope for a better future in Nicaragua. 

Christmas Blessings & Joy in the New Year!

                                                          Annette & Mike

                                           Presentations:

                            * Jan. 4th, 2015                                        * Jan. 11th, 2015
               Emmaus Lutheran Church                            Celebration Lutheran Church
                           Eugene, OR                                               E. Wenatchee, WA
                          Adult Forum                                        9:30 Adult Education Hour

Full Circle: Completing Our First Year

These past several months we’ve had unexplained sicknesses that just won’t seem to go away, major water outages, and water leaks.  To save money and find lower rent, we moved out of our home, stored our things in our next home, moved into a temporary apartment, and sold our car (all in one day)! 

Now that we are settled into a friend’s apartment we can reflect back a bit on our first year of teaching here in Nicaragua.  It’s quite fitting that we will be ending this year much the way we began; living in a friend’s home in the center of bustling Matagalpa and getting around town by foot.  It’s funny now to think of those first few days here when we needed hand written maps & land markers to keep from getting lost — we kept a list of buses to take and even our address in our pocket at all times and we struggled to understand what people were saying with their unique Nicaraguan vocabulary.

I remember:
Sleepless nights as I adjusted to living with lots of street noise 
Buying appliances, furniture, and all the basic things we needed to live simply in our new home (in one day!)
Meeting the staff at NCA and starting 3 weeks of staff training with kids in tow 
Finding a pediatrician, on a Sunday, when Evan developed a sudden foot infection
And figuring out all the basics like grocery shopping, cooking, and just how to live here


For anyone back home who might think we’re here on an extended vacation or to have a great adventure, I can emphatically say that is not the case.  Our work here as ‘volunteer’ teachers is extremely demanding, and teaching at a new, developing school has its own set of challenges.  Add to that the daily labor entailed in just living here with a family as well as all the toil involved with raising funds to be here — means we work very long days often 5am to 11pm as well as weekends. Volunteer does not mean we’re living a carefree easy life, it simply means we don’t get paid to fulfill very rigorous full-time teaching positions which we believe passionately in.  I don’t know how many times this year one of us has said, “We just have to get through this week, this month,” or sometimes even “this day.”  But we did get through those tough times as well as many wonderful times.

Eleven months later we now know this town and can celebrate how far we’ve come, how much we’ve learned, and how much good we’ve accomplished.  We can walk the streets without even thinking about which direction we’re going in, we know the good fruit stand and the cheaper grocery store, we can almost always understand what people are saying, and we’ve developed friendships among NCA staff and families.

We’ve also seen huge changes at NCA since the beginning of the year.  It is  remarkable to see the incredible growth our students and my teacher assistant have made.  These last few days with my students are wonderful reminders of why we are here.  I love these kids like they are my own, and am so proud of them.  We’re working on learning songs for our grand graduation coming up on Dec. 6th, and we’ll be culminating with a Latino rockin’ version of the ABCs.  It is such a joy to watch my students laugh, dance, and celebrate what they have learned this year.  I am so excited for what the future holds for them and what they will do with the education they are receiving at NCA. 

We now look forward to going home!  Not for good, but for a very much needed descanso (break).  We are so excited to see our family, friends and visit our home churches!  We hope it will be a time of renewal, relaxation, a time to reconnect and regroup for year number two.

Called To Serve

Many people have asked, “How we ended up here? or Why Nicaragua?”  Mike and I have wanted to teach in a developing nation for as long as we have been married, but finding the school, finding the ‘right’ time, actually moving out of our home & to a different country! that took us 15 years to find the courage.  Finding the right school was the hardest task.  We didn’t want to teach abroad ‘just for the experience’ or ‘just for fun,’ if we had wanted this we could have picked any one of the numerous International American Schools throughout the world, had a nice cushy job, expenses paid even including housing & still received an American Pay Check (in a 3rd world country). Such schools serve the elite classes and usually have no trouble finding good quality teachers, their mission is generally not related to improving the status of the local country, & the students at those schools are guaranteed a good education.   That is not the type of opportunity we were looking for.  We weren’t looking for an adventure.  We were looking for a way we could do more with our lives, we were seeking a profound way to serve the Lord & to serve others in need.

We were looking for an opportunity to teach in a place without guarantees, a place where we could share the talents we have been blessed with in way that would bless others, at a school that doesn’t have international job fairs seeking qualified teachers.  We were searching for a meaningful way we could help & serve, not just for a week or a month, but in a sustainable way where the work we did would continue after we left. 

This is why we chose Nicaragua Christian Academy-Matagalpa, or better said God chose it for us.  Some might say it was numerous coincidences that brought us here to NCA, but we believe after opening our hearts to the Lord and seeking His guidance for how we could serve Him, He brought us here to Nicaragua Christian Academy.  NCA’s mission statement instills hope for creating future change in a struggling nation.  In teaching students and mentoring teachers the gifts we are sharing this year and next year will continue to make lasting impacts for years to come.  The teachers we’re mentoring will continue to mentor others not to mention touch hundreds of students’ lives.  (Previous posts have mentioned how drastically different the teaching styles we’re implementing are.)  The students we’re teaching will continue to develop and grow into Christian leaders in the community. 

Many of you have read When Helping Hurts, or other related books dealing with the complex dilemma of ending poverty.  The authors Corbett & Finkkert, do a very good job explaining why finding sustainable truly beneficial projects to work with are so important, otherwise many well intended efforts end up actually making situations worse.  Too often North Americans have the mentality that we’re going to come in “& fix everything,” but when projects like that end or the mission workers leave, or the funds dry up, so does the help.  Sustainable projects are those where the services are genuinely going to benefit those they are intended for and in a way that those people being helped will be able to continue the services on their own without outside assistance.

The school where we are teaching is a sustainable project in two important ways, both financially as well as methodologically, & this leads to the question of why we don’t get paid to teach here.  The school receives outside funding from donors for initial construction, building projects & school start up, but the operating budget will come completely from student tuition, possibly as early as next year.  The goal for this sustainable model is for tuition to cover their Nicaraguan teacher salaries, but remain affordable enough to serve students from middle class working families.  NCA’s goal is to offer a salary twice the rate of the standard public teachers pay (which is very low).  The school is close to meeting that goal now only in its second year of operation.  All funds generated from the school will go directly back into the school & their Nicaraguan staff, it does not however allow them to pay their North American teachers.  This is very important for the development of the school & will allow them to continue to operate into the future even without outside funding. 

Similarly because we are teaching along side the Nicaraguan staff while mentoring them, they are learning skills they will be able to continue using long after we leave.  This is very different from a teacher who would just come to teach for a year or two, doing his/her own thing and then leave.

Many organizations have seen the negative effects of schools or projects that operate solely on outside funds & without in depth mentoring.  Outside funding & support can fluctuate as often as the wind changes or from one natural disaster to the next.  Schools &/or projects that depend on those funds & resources unfortunately often fail or completely disintegrate when the funding dries up.  NCA’s mission & sustainability are a huge part of why we felt called to serve here.

Now, we must admit the idea of having to raise the funds ourselves from friends, family, church members, and even strangers was completely foreign to us and quite scary (& still is)!  Being brought up in the Lutheran church, this was certainly not the norm or something we were exposed to.  However, our experiences now working with other missionaries has helped us to realize this is how the majority of missionaries around the world are funded.  Whether a missionary is part of a larger sending organization or not, each individual is predominantly responsible for seeking funding from their own church, circle of friends, family or acquaintances.  Fortunately, there are many individuals & churches wanting to support mission work and missionaries are able to continue serving in a variety of areas, including education, medicine, environment, social work, agriculture, ministry, & evangelism.

We have found this to be a completely humbling process.  It’s not easy asking others for money!  But we have come to understand and appreciate that God has called us to be here and through the generosity of others He is allowing us to serve in this way.  We know the work we are doing here will continue to benefit others for years to come!  Likewise the funds we are requesting will be gifts that will continue to grow, even after our work here is complete.  It takes a great deal of trust to say “God, you brought us here, Please help us to find the support we need to keep us here.”  But we work on that trust every day.  It helps that we are so passionate about what we are doing here & we are seeing great results.  We know that we are not asking for money for ourselves but rather for doing God’s work.  We are so grateful for those that understand our mission and want to be a part of it in any way; whether it is through supporting us in prayer, offering emotional encouragement, offering logistical help, or offering financial contributions. 

If you would like to pledge your support to us in anyone of those areas for the 2015 year please send an email to annette.muellers@gmail.com, or click above to donate through the non-profit organization Resourcing Christian Education.  We’d love to hear from you and we’d love to know you are part of our Missions Team.  May God’s Peace & Grace Be With You.

Annette & Mike Mueller

Psalm 143: 8-10 “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.  Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

Kinders Reading! Hurray!

I am SO PROUD of my Kinders!  They are beginning readers & writers, despite being much younger than kindergartners in the states, and most having had no preschool!  It is hard to explain how dramatically different my teaching strategies are from the standard Nicaraguan education system.  A kindergarten student in a typical Nicaraguan classroom, would just now be learning a few consonants and starting to memorize syllables.  Rather, the students in my classroom know & understand all letters & sounds, they understand concepts of print, they enjoy reading, writing & creating meaning out of text, they understand basic foundational math concepts, and so much more!  It is exciting to see their growth.  It is equally exciting to see how my aid Karla is learning how to teach this way, & to see her understanding of how relevant, individualized, teaching is so much better for meaningful student learning.

Would you like to help be a part of this mission?  Below is a list of teaching materials I could use for next year, I'd be glad to pick them up from you when we're home over Christmas Break.  If you would like to help in our mission to mentor more teachers next year, please consider making a donation using the link above.  Here are a few videos of a recent small reading group, and some pictures from a recent patriotic assembly. 

                                      Dia de Patria Parade!  The Kinder class started the show, Israel (my student with Spina Bifeda)     was so proud to be our leader!

Francisco, Jemima, & Naomy leading the way

This is Jorge my exceptionally bright student with autism.

Kai with his 1st grade teacher Suyapa, who I will be mentoring next year.

Jemima, Naomy, Daniela, & Nicole The girls were thrilled to get to wear their patriotic clothing!

Getting ready to dance & sing "Soy Puro Pinolero!"

    Classroom Materials Wish List
* letter magnets (capital & lower case)
* magnetic cookie sheets (with edges)
* miniature muffin pans
* small to medium rubber made containers
* duplo blocks
* foam blocks
* teddy bear counters
* unifix cubes
* skinny white board markers
* 25 metal fastener rings (˜2 inches)
* Pocket Charts (& metal/pvc holder) (individual & large sizes)
 small objects for alphabet containers (ie P: plane, pumpkin, pie, pom pom, etc.) multiple items that     would fit in a medium sour cream container
* 25 white children's athletic socks (to use for erasers)
* Thermal Laminator Pouches-Letter Size 8.9 X 11.4  Multiple boxes
* small letter tiles
* scrabble letter tiles
* plastic storage containers with small compartments (to hold letter tiles) Like a craft/beading   container
* ABC puzzles (in Spanish), number puzzles
* Discovery Toys educational games (lacing activities, geo boards, geometric shapes, bug pattern matching, etc.)
* USED I-pods (for listening centers)
* USED I-Pads (for learning centers)
* USED projector/document camera or device for turning I-phone/I-pad into projector or document  camera
* Used speaker for computer
* Picture books English or Spanish
* Early reader books: Spanish

What are we doing here exactly? (Part 2)

Time to go a little deeper into what each of our roles are here at NCA Matagalpa. 

NCA Matagalpa began its first year in February, 2013, with just 43 students in grades 1-7.  Mike & I joined the staff in January of 2014 for NCA’s second year—then with an additional 100 students & grades K-8.  The current plan is to add one grade each year until it has pre-school through 11th grade (that is as high as schools go here).  There are also future plans to create a Special Education program, as well as a vocational skills training facility. 

NCA’s mission is for long-term change, not a short-term fix.  What is so exciting and inspiring is that my class of kindergartners will be the first class to graduate from NCA Matagalpa having completed all years there, &  the students in Mike’s 8th grade English & PE classes will be the very first students to graduate from NCA in just 3 more years.  The education our students are receiving this year is worlds away from what they would experience in a public school or even another private school here in town.

The concept of educating students here is still eons behind what we would consider modern day education.  Students here even in preschool are required to do copious amounts of copying into composition notebooks.  Unfortunately they measure how much a student is learning by how many notebooks they fill up.  Assessments are based on how well kids memorize often the exact test material given to them to ‘study.’   On a broader level this means students are not actually learning meaningful content—they’re not taught how to think for themselves, how to problem solve, how to demonstrate their understandings in ways other than regurgitation, and most importantly how to question.

Put this in context now with Nicaragua being the poorest Spanish speaking country in the world, and ask yourself what this means?  It means not enough people are thinking for themselves—thinking that there might be a better way to live.  Not enough people are asking questions like, “What are we going to do about the devastating number of poverty-stricken people in our country?” (even if it isn’t them).  Not enough people are using their own understandings, skills, and knowledge to come up with solutions to the everyday problems this country faces. 

This is why what Mike & I are doing is so much more than ‘just teaching’ (even though there never is such a thing!).  In essence we’re trying to do our part to change the continuing downward spiral the country has faced for decades by giving students an authentic education and at the same time demonstrating to our Nicaraguan colleagues how we teach.  Like our students who will be learning at NCA for years, the teachers here (a product of the same outdated education system) cannot automatically transform.  It takes TIME; first for them to even envision that teaching & learning can look different, then for them to be able to begin trying new teaching methods, and finally to figure out how to adequately combine quality learning with their given text books and the Nicaraguan education ‘standards’.  Our job, in addition to our full time work of teaching Kindergarten, English, & PE, is to help with this transition. 

For us, it can’t come soon enough, but it is a huge undertaking, a long process, & one we quickly realized couldn’t happen in one year.  When we arrived for the school’s second year, and to brand new programs (neither Kindergarten, PE, or 8th grade English existed before), we first had to develop new curriculums, & create standards, materials from scratch, year-long learning targets, etc.  We did this while at the same time learning how to adapt, live  & work in a new country, help our kids transition to school & life here, try to fit in homeschooling, communicate with our loved ones & donors back home & manage our finances from abroad.  As the year progressed we gradually began to feel more grounded, & were able to begin focusing more on the mentoring side of our job.  But realistically we envision that to be the focus of our second year teaching here.  This year has been about getting our bearings with teaching, developing relationships with our Nicaraguan colleagues, allowing them to see how we teach and how our students learn.  Now comes the fun part of them asking, “How do we do it?” and us getting to share ideas and teaching practices with them.

So, when people back home ask us, “What are you doing down there in Nicaragua?”  We say, “Annette is teaching Kindergarten, & Mike is teaching English & PE.”  But what we really want to say is, “We’re Teacher Missionaries in Nicaragua, giving our time and talents to help others create change for years to come.”
“Be Shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.” 
1 Peter 5:2-3

Short Term Mission: Long Term Vision

As we begin to fundraise for our second year of teaching here in Nicaragua we’re thinking about how we can best explain why we are teaching here-specifically at Nicaragua Christian Academy Matagalpa and why we’re asking for funding (possibly from you).  For some of our supporters we find that they just ‘get it’- they understand the purpose of our mission and our desire to serve in a country so desperate for help (& we’re so thankful you do).  Other supporters may just want to support our mission based on the trust they have in us, but may not really understand what we’re doing (& we’re so thankful for you too!).  And from others we get questions like; What are you doing exactly?  Isn’t that kind of just like what you do in the states accept you don’t get paid?  Why is it that you don’t get paid & need to fundraise?  Why Nicaragua?  And our favorite, are you really just on a long vacation working on your suntan in an exotic country?  Okay so no one actually comes out and asks us those questions, but we’re pretty sure they’re being wondered. 

So over the next several weeks we are going to do our best to answer those questions as best we can and to give you a real glimpse into our teaching mission.  What are we doing here?  Why do we feel called to serve here in Nicaragua?  How is our teaching mission here so much more than ‘just’ teaching one class or one group of students?  What has it been like adapting to life here and how different is it from back home?  What do we hope to accomplish in our second year of teaching here.  We hope our stories, experiences, & observations will help anyone reading this blog to understand what our mission is all about.  If it does & you feel inspired to donate to our cause then click on the above link, if you’d rather just read along & not financially support us, hey we understand that too.  So onto the first question:

What are we doing here???

Short answer-we’re teaching students and mentoring teachers.  Long answer-we’re laying the foundation for a better future for Nicaragua.  Sounds cliché but we believe it is true.
Nicaragua is the poorest Spanish speaking country in the world, & the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. One third of all Nicaraguan children never enroll in school, fail to attend, or drop out before reaching the sixth grade.  The majority of these children drop out in first grade, before they learn the reading and math skills they need to succeed in life. Other risks that threaten the well-being of Nicaragua's children and youth are malnutrition, teenage pregnancy and early marriages, child trafficking and sexual exploitation, gang involvement and HIV and AIDS.  We believe quality education and mentorship to both students and teachers is critical to facilitate the changes Nicaragua so desperately needs.  Because we are part of Nicaragua Christian Academy with over 900 students at three schools, we are short term missionaries but part of a long term investment for positive change in Nicaragua.


Nicaragua is beyond simple fixes, it is need of drastic change, which we believe can only come from its future leaders.  This is why we felt called to serve and teach at Nicaragua Christian Academy where the mission is to equip children with the spiritual discernment, the moral courage and the academic excellence to impact society through Christian living motivated by a heartfelt love for God.  NCA Matagalpa & especially our classes are drastically different from what the average student in Nicaragua experiences in school.  Besides being overcrowded, lacking materials, & having very short school days; the schools here do not encourage critical thinking or meaningful learning.  Students here simply copy things from the board or a book and memorize specific answers for tests.  We see the result of this form of learning in our DAILY interactions with Nicaraguans; it is as if they cannot think for themselves, they cannot think outside of the box, they cannot imagine, cannot create.  If you think of this in terms of a country laden with poverty, political corruption, unemployment, & a failing school system, you can see why the country is not improving. 

We & NCA believe providing a quality Christian education to Nicaragua’s middle class has the most likely benefits for creating future change within Nicaragua.  It is a long term vision, one that we can’t snap a picture of & show you, one that we won’t even see the results of while we are here.  But it is exciting to know we we are laying the foundation for a better future. We believe in this mission & we believe we are making a difference.

Luke 6:47-48  I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.  He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.  When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 

15 Years, 100 DAYS & STILL COUNTING!

July & the beginning of August have been extremely busy (but I think I say that every month:)!  Going in reverse order...I'm still on a celebratory high from my 100s (all) day party with my Kindergarten class this past Friday.  After building up to this day all year my class was beyond excited to celebrate this special day.  For me, it was an extremely rewarding day to see how much my students have learned on so many different levels.  In our stations we built with 100 cups, made a snack with 100 food items, made glitter 100 crowns, painted 100 dots, and made a 100 fruit loop necklace.  In PE we did as many exercises we could think of 100 times (I had to fill in for Mike who unfortunately was home with a sick Kai).  In math we played hide & seek with numbered sticky notes, and finished the day off with story time.  All in all it was a fantastic example of learning through meaningful, engaging, & fun activities.  A great lesson for other teachers as well as my students' parents.  Just to give you an idea of how different my class is, the typical Nicaraguan Kindergarten class is just now starting to learn the numbers 1-10 & vowels!

August 3rd, Mackenzie celebrated her 13th birthday!  Having a teenager makes me feel older than turning 40 did!  But we are so proud of her and actually looking forward to these teen years.  She has been trying to convince me to let her sit in the front seat, which at home I could possibly see but with the crazy driving here...not so much.  We were supposed to have a sleep over birthday party last weekend (on her birthday) but unfortunately had to postpone it to this weekend because we were stuck in Managua for the second weekend in a row trying to deal with our never ending car troubles.  Which is how we spent July 31st, our 15th anniversary!  Driving in Managua traffic with our car spewing out white smoke, after!, it was supposed to have been fixed:).  Wasn't a high point, but thankfully we eventually did get it fixed.  So, now we are hoping to sell it & find a cheaper, more reliable vehicle!

Fortunately we had already celebrated our anniversary the previous weekend (when we were also in Managua because of the car).  We are so extremely thankful for a group of missionary families we have met there who graciously open their homes & hearts to us!  We went to a movie & had some delicious gelatto (which are both special treats for us & found only in Managua).  It was fun celebrating as a family, & in Nicaragua, one we will be sure to remember!

We also had our two week winter break in July.  We were able to visit the ethereal Ometepe Islands for a few days & had a great time exploring around two more volcanoes, Concepción & Maderas.  Then we took the bus down to Costa Rica to renew our visas and met Mike's family there!  It was amazing to get to spend a week with family, & relax in a first world country.  We felt truly spoiled to have hot showers, drinkable water, toilet paper flushing toilets, and most of all lots of hugs from Grandma & Grandpa Mueller & Uncle Mark.  I was worried it would be too hard to say goodbye, but it actually gave us all the 'pick me up' we needed to get us to December when we get to come home to visit.

Which leads to our huge focus right now, planning for next year!  We have committed to teaching for another year, which means mostly fundraising!!  We are so thankful we have had the opportunity to serve this year at NCA in Nicaragua and can now clearly see how much more we could accomplish with a second year here.  I have been gradually mentoring my aid Karla who will eventually take over as the Kindergarten teacher.  Working with her and seeing how she is beginning to understand the teaching methods I use has been just as rewarding as watching my students learn & grow.  Next year I hope to continue to mentor her and work with her as a student teacher.  I am so excited about this opportunity and know that after another year, Karla will be able to continue the Kindergarten program I have initiated this year as well as continue to mentor future teachers.

We will be emailing out a Newsletter explaining a bit more about our plans and our needs, if you are able to help in any way we would so greatly appreciate it.  Please consider printing out or forwarding our Newsletter to someone, a church, or an organization you know who might be interested in supporting our teaching mission.  OR you could always choose to donate or pledge now using the link above to RCE.  I also plan to post a list of materials I'd like to bring back next year for my & other classrooms at our school, if you could start saving those items for us to pick up in December that would be fabulous.

As always we are SO Thankful for so many of you who are praying for us!  We are so thankful to be here, to be serving, to be safe & healthy, & to know we have so many people sending us love.  We also always love to hear from you!  Please let us know how you are doing, how we can pray for you, and if you have any questions about our mission or about making a financial contribution.

Peace & Love!

The Muellers

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!

                                                    

We’ve been hearing that a lot lately.  We fortunately can usually pick up the games by a slightly delayed stream on our computer.  We’re reminded it is slightly delayed anytime there is a goal, we can hear all the neighbors (including the bar up the street) yelling GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Moments before we actually see it, kind of a nice heads up if  you’re not paying attention.☺

Capitalizing on this excitement, Mike has decided to set up a little mini world cup of his own at school, which has brought much enthusiasm to recess time as well as many opportunities to teach about good sportsmanship and teamwork!  Evan & Kai were on the same team and won the primary division, & Mackenzie did a great job on her all girls team.

I’m beginning my mid-year student evaluations of my Kindergartners and couldn’t be more proud of the growth they have shown.  It is really exciting and very rewarding to see all of their growth, but especially that of my three students with special needs.  Special Education, IPEs, etc. do not exist here and most children with special needs are not even allowed to attend school.  So I am so thankful I have the opportunity to give these students the chance they deserve to learn and grow like any other child.

We are looking forward to our ‘Winter Break’ coming up in a few weeks (your July 4th weekend!), we’re especially excited we get to see Grandma & Grandpa Mueller & Mike’s brother Mark!  We have to leave the country to renew our visa, so we will be taking the bus down to Costa Rica and meeting up with the Mueller family there.  They’ll also be bringing us some much needed food and vitamin staples from Costco & Trader Joe’s, Yay!  (Keeping up with the boys’ food allergies, means stocking up on Gluten, Dairy, Soy & Potato Free foods!)

On a not so happy note we've decided we need to sell our vehicle and  try to find a more reliable one.  Of course, first that means making the necessary repairs to our current car so we can sell it and still afford to buy another one!  Buying cars is always a gamble here because people just do not maintain them, & the roads here are very hard on cars.  We are hoping that we’ll find a car that has been well maintained by a single owner this time around.

We're happy to say we're working on plans to try and stay a second year!  Mike will apply for a second leave of absence as soon as he is able, & we will begin fundraising for next year as well.  We're are so thankful for all the support we have received from so many generous people, and we thank those of you who have already let us know you will continue your support next year!  If you would be interested in donating again or continuing your pledge another year we'd love to hear from you.   We’re very excited that we will come home for our summer break in December & January, this will be a great opportunity to share our experiences with many of you, answer questions, and catch up with friends and family.  (The kids are already looking forward to lots of sleep overs!)

Happy Summer to you all!  Enjoy the sunshine, we’ll be enjoying the rain!