MR. POWELL'S CLASSROOM LIBRARY

Thank you for visiting this page.

Here's the deal:

I've taken a position as a 6th grade ELA teacher at DM Smith Middle School in Cleveland.

I want to spend a significant amount of our time, in and out of the class, focusing on independent reading. I mean, and I’m going to state the obvious here, the only way to get better at reading is to read. 

We need to surround these kids with books. We’re going to learn how to pick out a fun book that they can read.

We use what is called the “Five Finger Method:” pick out a book, open it to a random page and read it, count the number of words on the page that you don’t know. If it’s one word, the book is too easy. If it’s 2-3 words it’s just right, and if it’s 4-5 words it’s too hard (just a little note, even as adults we can use this rule if we’re trying to grow our minds through reading).

In brief, this is what I’m asking, donate a book.

Here’s the link to my classroom wish list:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/10H6Z5SUPR1T5/ref=topnav_lists_1

Send it here:

Drew Powell
715 Martin Luther King Drive 
Cleveland, MS 3873

I picked these books out because the content level is appropriate for 6th graders, there’s varying reading level, and because I know people who credit these books with fostering a love for reading.

If you have a copy of one of these books and would rather send me your copy as a donation, that’s fantastic too!

Here’s what I can offer you:

If you donate a book you’re going to get a hand-written, legible thank you note from Drew Powell. So make sure to attach your name when you send it! Also, Roald Dahl says “if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” That’s better than Maybelline.

If you donate more than $75 you’re getting a shelf named after you in the classroom library.

Thank y’all so much! We’re going to work so hard in my class this year to grow as readers. We can’t do this without you.

We found it!

High up in the mountains of Cusucuo National Park, at approximately 6:30 pm Saturday, June 13th, we discovered it. We named it the Equatorial Chicken Moth. We were watching the chapolins fly over the hills when it came up the hill fluttering like a fish through the air and landed beside us. The guy we were with (Walter) has lived in the mountains for 24 years and never seen anything like it before.


Oh, and I also saw a tucan, which was pretty straight.

Selma

Milton's Quiz

5. Who is Anne Frank?

a girl that were obligada to die and she do a diary like of 100 pages and now they put all of the copyes in the librari

I never know what to write here.

Swine flu or not, people in San Pedro have dawned the surgical masks.

All hail!

Chip

Jim Bob

Journal Entry

Journal Entry: If eating a worm sandwich meant that you could be on your favorite television show next week, would you do it?

Christopher: "Hannah Montana... I would eat poop for that show."

Murray

Penny

Life:
Well, it's been a while since I've written, and I was thinking earlier today that it was about time for an update. So, a short update about what I've been doing then on to the good stuff. This past weekend Chrissy, Tim, Jenna and I made our way over to Copan. Tim has a friend there named Merrill who put up with us for the weekend. We didn't see the ruins (Mayan) but we did go to these real chill hot springs. The water coming right out of the earth was something like 80 degrees Celsius but they filtered it down to a bearable temperature. It was a cooler day (for Honduras that means it was in the 60's) so the hot water felt good and it was nice to sit in the closest thing to a bath I've felt in a while. The town itself is really chill. There's a lot of backpackers moving their way through to see the ruins, but it's still enjoyable.

Notes:
-My friend Jon's coming down in a month. Should be good times.
-This Saturday we're going to go up to Cusuco National Park
-On Sunday I'm going to a ranch with a student I tutor on Sunday to ride horses around, maybe herd some cattle

Meat:
There's a lot of street dogs here in our fair Cofradia. They have very saggy nipples. I think had the great gospel song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" originated in Cofradia, it would have had very different lyrics. Last semester I started taking it upon myself to photograph these dogs and give them names. I figured I'd put a few on here every so often. This is Penny.

Victoria!

Well, we had quite an epic showdown with the rival bilingual school on wednesday in soccer. Our team took the field at around 9:30 am. The field is located adjacent to the school, so it's a short 2 minute walk to get there. Cofradia Bilingual (CBS) was already on the field warming up. They had 4 or 5 boys on the team who were pretty big boys. So, Tim and I had just gotten our team in a huddle when we hear yelling coming down the street. The rest of our school is stampeding down dirt road to the field, first graders, sixth graders, all. It was awesome.

The first half didn't go so well. CBS scored 2 goals in the first half and put us behind. I could tell our players were feeling pretty dejected at half. But what happened next was nothing short of a miracle. If we had solid film of the game I'd submit it for sportscenter and possibly one of the greatest comebacks of all time. To be honest, CBS whipped us pretty good in the first half. We were having some trouble moving the ball downfield and clearing it from in front of our goal. lOn top of that we were having some trouble keeping the rest of the school kids off the field. So at half, gave the team a little pep talk and put them back out there.

We caught a break something like 5 or 6 minutes in. One of their players passed the ball back to their goalie and he picked it up with his hands, which isn't allowed. Penalty Kick! We put Clint in there and he pulled the trigger and put one through. SJBS (our school) went nuts. Game resumed (score now 1-2, CBS). Then, Glenin was rushing down the field as another kid was catching up to him. At the last moment he stretched out his foot and put another one into the tall grass behind the goal (the phrase "in the back of the net" doesn't work, perhaps in Cofradia the phrase could be "hit the loitering cow" as there is more likely to be a cow behind the goal than a net).

We went to penalty kicks. To make it even more intense all the kids gathered around the goalie box as every kid stepped up. I can't express the emotion that was in the kids. Some of our players were obviously really nervous as they prepared to kick. We ended up winning 3-2 in penalty kicks. When CBS's last player missed his shot, the kids went absolutely nuts and dog piled. Quite possibly one of the more exciting sports moments of the last couple years... in the world.

Two weeks and then home.

Tim and I have quit working for BECA.

Frankly, we got a better offer.

Someone asked me

recently what was something that I've learned thus far in my time in Cofradia. One thing stands out. One thing stands out above everything else that I have supposedly learned. Do not bring/buy body wash with exfoliating beads. If there is one thing I've learned during my time here, this is it. The showers here are cold, and you will regret the extra time you are forced to spend beneath the water trying to get those stupid little specks off your skin. Oh sure, the excess skin has been removed from my body and my arms are lush and smooth, but it's not worth it. Trust me. Body Wash with Exfoliating Beads + Cofradia = bad.

My Students' Blog

www.Comingoutoftheclouds.blogspot.com Go There! It's my 9th Grade Students' blog. Write them some comments so they know people are reading them and it will encourage them to write more in the future.

Please do not make any mention to my blog or anything of that sort (meaning any other mention of me). That'd be dank.

Disaster Strikes.

Sketch Ball has been terminated from his position. Puchika!

November

Well, it´s november. It´s kinda hard to believe, but it´here. I´m sitting in an internet cafe, typing on a keyboard that is constantly sticking. The man to my right is wagging his finger playfully at a web cam at who i assume to be his girlfriend. It´s a little chilly here. The last few nights Tim and I have been sleeping in sweat pants. I just got a whiff of something that smelled like BBQ. I´ve been a nostalgic this past week with the change in temperature.

We´ve had a lot of people coming and going over the past few weeks. And by a lot I mean Marilyn and Laurence. Marilyn was a former volunteer here few years back and was here making a documentary/promotional video. She lives in DC now. I do love the idea that when I leave here I´ll be apart of an Alumni. I think I´ll be proud to join such a group of people. Laurence is our soon to be director. He was here bribing us with licuados (and doing an excellent job of it). Every time I say goodbye to someone down here ¨Dust in the wind¨ by Kansas plays. No joke. It´s nice to spend a few days or so meeting other people who have done the same thing we have and are also invested in what we´re doing here.

Tim and I have been keeping track of the number of Licuados and Baleadas we have consumed (started in October). I would have assumed Licuados to be ahead at this point but Baleadas have a commanding lead of over 20. I credit it to the temperature change. A small note, strawberry licuados were had this past weekend and they once again showed why I them to be the best (only competition is banana with oatmeal).

I´m home in like a month and a half. I´m excited to get home and sit and drink coffee and chill and see everyone and use an internet connection where it is possible to watch a youtube video or load a video online etc. I am confident I will miss Cofradia and its saggy nipple dogs while I´m away though.

A couple weeks ago someone posted a message in my comments, inquiring about the organization with whom I am serving. Could not access their email. If you read this, this is the website of the organization: http://www.becaschools.org/

That´s Our Guy (to be said while removing a top hat and oscillating your wrist)

I´m not sure if I have mentioned the man before, but Tim and I have a vigilante who guards our streets (or watches them as he would put it, with two fingers pointing at his eyes and then surveying ´´his road´´). We call him Sketch Ball. At first i was a little apprehensive of sketch ball, but it didn´t take long for him to grow on me. He started, something like 2 months ago. He´s not a very large man, but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in his strategically placed cardboard boxes to rest his rumpus. He was so dogmatic (yes i know it is in the past tense and you will soon understand why I chose the tense) in his tireless effort to watch our street.

I would now like to tell a story about sketch ball, unless there are any objections. Tim and I were sitting in the town center late one night at what I would not estimate to be something after 10 but before 12. We were sitting on a bench watching the goings on. Aside- I think this is a part of Cofradian life that few volunteers in the past have really experienced, the town center at night, but Tim and I are avid observers from our apartment as well as from the center itself. We spotted a man making his way across the town center in a path which we would intercept. From behind him comes mighty sketch ball, perhaps holding his machete, i can´t remember. Sketch ball grabs the guy´s shoulder and the man turned to him. They argued about something and then the man just walked away. Here´s the kicker. Sketch ball looks directly at Tim and me and then turns and walks away. Sketch ball, there are 8 people that live on the street on which you watch. Two of them just saw you get shrugged off by a homeless man. Don´t you have anything to say to us? Why are we to fear you?

But we love the guy. He´s our sketch ball. He´s provided hours of conversation for Tim and me. We´ve watched him fall asleep at his post and then fall out of his seat onto the ground. Tim and I have bathed in the rain in the streets when we didn´t have water and been embraced by sketch ball´s flashlight and his boyish exuberance and giggling. We have been hit up, countless time for money so sketch ball could go buy a licuado. But as of late we have seen a new sketch ball, and this one is less satisfactory. Lately sketch ball´s lady has been joining him more and more as of late. Oh at first it was nice. We were able to hear snoring in the night from our balcony. We ´startled´ them when they were in a dark hallway on the second floor.

But the honeymoon is over. Now the only thing we find is sketch ball and his lady on the steps of the apartment. Sitting lazily. He doesn´t have the vigor for patrolling the streets he once did. I want the old sketch ball back. The sketch ball who would sit at the end of the street and grunt a response when we called to him. The sketch ball who would take his machete to an empty bucket for a period, just to pass the time. The sketch ball who built a fire on the side of the street, even though it was 85 degrees that night. Someone may look at sketch ball and say ¨what´s the big deal?¨ Sure, sketch ball might not have been much to anyone else. But he was our sketch ball. And I miss him.

Well this thing keeps moving on.

This past week was an up and down week. I've introduced a system in my class where I have these circles cut out of this foam paper and a Pepsi bottle (which weren't difficult to find) and I put the circle in the empty bottle (1 for each class) when they're on task or speaking in english etc. and take one out when they're off task or whatever. It's starting to work better. The older system of reward was mediocre at best. It was handing the students fake money things... Whatever. I think it would work well for some teachers but it was too meticulous for me, having to keep up with each students... This one is working better so far. The reward is a free day in my class and a party. I figure I make up the time of the party and the free day. We start soccer practice on monday. Atleast we're supposed to. Supposedly we have a game next saturday against another school? I don't know.

Can I just say how much I love Oliver Purnell. Seriously, best college basketball coach in America. It does help that he's held in contrast to Tommy "Parity, Parity, Parity" Bowden. But homedog had his press conference last week and i read the transcript off http://clemson.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=860105 . Thankyou OP for saying that we have the goal of winning the ACC and National Championship. Thankyou for not making excuses. Thankyou for continually improving our team every year. Thankyou for developing our players every year. Thankyou for creating a team that the country respects. These are all things that Tommy Bowden does not do. For anyone who is not a Clemson fan and is still reading this, I'm sorry. But Clemson is frustrated right now... cause we suck when we should be a top 10 team. Fire Bowden. Hire Bugs Bunny. Atleast he's sort of funny sometimes.

Belize, well mostly.

This is going to be horribly written and all scrambled but stick with me.

Well, every 90 days we have to leave the 5 countries that make up CAFTA or however it's spelled. They're the 5 countries that make up the unified central american states. So we head up to Belize. Our trip began last thursday at 4:45 in the morning an the path went something like this. Basically we took a bus up to the honduran-guatemalan border. From there we took a cab to Porto Barrios. Then a boat ride to Punta Gorda, Belize. Then a bus ride up to Mango Creek. Then a water taxi over to Placencia. Rebecca had been feeling badly during the trip (and the day before) so she and Tyler and Jessica stayed in Punta Gorda, planning to come the next day.

While we were on the boat we met two guys who were traveling together for a short while. One was a German guy named Alton and the other was a New Zealand Kiwi named Allister. Turned out they were going to Placencia as well. Placencia is a big traveler's spot in the area. It's an island with beautiful water most of the year. I think someone said they saw a sign somewhere about pieces of land being sold for 1.7 million dollars American. Come to find out while we were on the island, this guy named Fonto (a local) told us that part of "Flavor of Love" had been filmed on the island and that he had met the Flav himself. He pointed to a house where he had stayed. He kind of played it off at first but you could tell he was really proud of it.

It was cool hanging out for a few days with Alton and Allister. They had just met recently and were just traveling together for a few days. Some of the time they sat around and bashed the US, which was fine. It was honestly pretty funny. Other times we just talked about different stuff. Tim and I left the island a little later than the others on Saturday, and I told Chrissy that night that it was a miracle that I didn't head north with Alton and Allister.

So it turned out that Rebecca had Dengue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever). And then Jenna showed up with a rash all over her and she had been complaining of headaches, so... you guessed it, when we got back to Cofradia she went to a hospital and they confirmed dengue. Yippeee! So, it's Sunday night and here's where we all are (as far as I know):

Drew- Cofradia

Alison- Cofradia (in bed with headache and says she's really tired)

Anne- Cofradia (really tired in bed)

Jenna- San Pedro Sula (going back to the hospital in the morning for more tests)

Chrissy- San Pedro Sula (with Jenna)

Paxton- Cofradia

Rebecca- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (in a hospital)

Jessica, Athena, Tyler- Porto Barrios, Guatemala (with Rebecca)

Tim- Punta Gorda, Belize