Changes

The bus ride was only eight hours: better than the alternative, thirty hours from direct Lima. Once the poorly dubbed B-movies stopped playing on a television inconveniently placed inches from my face stopped playing, I managed to get some sleep, despite the incessant swaying of the bus as it snaked its way through the Andes. We arrived at 6 Sunday morning to a sleepy town, built in the traditional style: a grid with a central plaza. We had decided to use our one free day to explore Kuélap, an ancient city another 2.5 hours from Chachapoyas, so we didn't even manage a cup of coffee before heading up some even more winding roads.

The bus ride was only eight hours: better than the alternative, thirty hours from direct Lima. Once the poorly dubbed B-movies stopped playing on a television inconveniently placed inches from my face stopped playing, I managed to get some sleep, despite the incessant swaying of the bus as it snaked its way through the Andes. We arrived at 6 Sunday morning to a sleepy town, built in the traditional style: a grid with a central plaza. We had decided to use our one free day to explore Kuélap, an ancient city another 2.5 hours from Chachapoyas, so we didn't even manage a cup of coffee before heading up some even more winding roads.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuelap Kuélap] was settled at least 1500 years ago. It is an extensive ruin on top of a 3000-meter peak. The most characteristic artefacts are the circular foundations of the houses, packed together in a tight matrix. Diamond-shaped patterns, reminiscent of snake skin were frequent sights [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Building_ruins_of_Kuelap.jpg].

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuelap Kuélap] was settled at least 1500 years ago. It is an extensive ruin on top of a 3000-meter peak. The most characteristic artifacts are the circular foundations of the houses, packed together in a tight matrix. Diamond-shaped patterns, reminiscent of snake skin were frequent sights [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Building_ruins_of_Kuelap.jpg].

When we got back to town, we discovered that coincident with our week-long teacher-training workshop was a week-long festival, celebrating both the revolution against Spanish rule and some ancient traditions regarding inviting the coming solstice. It meant parades and firecrackers at sunrise, and music each evening. The rhythm of week was established: breakfast at 7; at the workshop by 8; an early dinner at 7; evening sessions beginning at 8:30; and dancing from 11 to 1 AM. The music and dancing offered an opportunity to get to know the teachers outside of the workshop. It was also an opportunity to observe some of the local ways. Most notable to me was the way in which the crowds organized themselves: tight circles of 10 to 15 people. If you took an aerial photograph of the festival, you'd see the same circle patterns as we had just seen in Kuelap. Sometimes a culture expresses itself in unexpected ways.

When we got back to town, we discovered that coincident with our week-long teacher-training workshop was a week-long festival, celebrating both the revolution against Spanish rule and some ancient traditions regarding inviting the coming solstice. It meant parades and firecrackers at sunrise, and music each evening. The rhythm of week was established: breakfast at 7; at the workshop by 8; an early dinner at 7; evening sessions beginning at 8:30; and dancing from 11 to 1 AM. The music and dancing offered an opportunity to get to know the teachers outside of the workshop. It was also an opportunity to observe some of the local ways. Most notable to me was the way in which the crowds organized themselves: tight circles of 10 to 15 people. If you took an aerial photograph of the festival, you'd see the same circle patterns as we had just seen in Kuélap. Sometimes a culture expresses itself in unexpected ways.

Monday morning, we were joined by Elver Guillermo (our host), Alex Santivanez (DIGETE), and Jorge Parra (DIGETE) (Alex and Jorge arrived from Lima that morning). And 60 teachers from across six different regions from Amazonas. We began the week with a question: "how do you use XO/Sugar for learning?" It was no surprise that most teachers answer with, "No sé." Even the few that had had some minimal experience with the XO answered with mundane themes, such as doing research on the Internet. We asked the same question at the end of the week, and although I haven't seen the survey results, I am certain that the teachers expressed a wealth of ideas around communication and expression, math, science, and the arts. We also asked the teachers if and where they hung out on-line. Almost all of them were Facebook users, so Raul set up a Facebook group, [http://www.facebook.com/groups/370964266297045/ Amazonas XO], for them to use as a forum for sharing experiences.

Monday morning, we were joined by Elver Guillermo (our host), Alex Santivanez (DIGETE), and Jorge Parra (DIGETE) (Alex and Jorge arrived from Lima that morning). And 60 teachers from across six different regions from Amazonas. We began the week with a question: "how do you use XO/Sugar for learning?" It was no surprise that most teachers answer with, "No sé." Even the few that had had some minimal experience with the XO answered with mundane themes, such as doing research on the Internet. We asked the same question at the end of the week, and although I haven't seen the survey results, I am certain that the teachers expressed a wealth of ideas around communication and expression, math, science, and the arts. We also asked the teachers if and where they hung out on-line. Almost all of them were Facebook users, so Raul set up a Facebook group, [http://www.facebook.com/groups/370964266297045/ Amazonas XO], for them to use as a forum for sharing experiences.

At the end of a day using Write, Record, Fototoons, Memorize, Mind Maps (Labyrinth) and Paint, we introduced the teachers to Portfolio, and they created their first reflections on the week. That evening, I reviewed the variety of Sugar activities available and introduced the Sugar concept of the "gear": the invitation of create your own variant of an activity. I also showed them a new Sugar activity I wrote Sunday night after visiting Kuelap: [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4585/ Amazonas Tortuga], a variant on Turtle Confusion that uses images from the region. A long day "drinking from a fire hose." Time for some music and dancing. A party in a different barrio each night.

At the end of a day using Write, Record, Fototoons, Memorize, Mind Maps (Labyrinth) and Paint, we introduced the teachers to Portfolio, and they created their first reflections on the week. That evening, I reviewed the variety of Sugar activities available and introduced the Sugar concept of the "gear": the invitation of create your own variant of an activity. I also showed them a new Sugar activity I wrote Sunday night after visiting Kuélap: [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4585/ Amazonas Tortuga], a variant on Turtle Confusion that uses images from the region. A long day "drinking from a fire hose." Time for some music and dancing. A party in a different barrio each night.

On Day Two, we did sessions of Turtle Art and Scratch. Melissa and split the groups into two. My first group of Turtlistas made rapid progress from pretending to be a turtle in the courtyard of the school, dragging a piece of chalk when "pen down", to mastering Stacks (Accions) and Boxes (Cajas). The second group, which had been working in Scratch for three hours, struggled with the programming concepts of Turtle Art. On the other hand, Melissa reported that the group that had used Turtle Art soared in Scratch class, much more will to explore. We still need controls: Scratch followed by Scratch and Turtle Art followed by Turtle Art, but it seems that using Turtle Art before Scratch helps Scratch proficiency while using Scratch before Turtle Art impedes Turtle Art proficiency. It is worth looking more deeply into this.

On Day Two, we did sessions of Turtle Art and Scratch. Melissa and split the groups into two. My first group of Turtlistas made rapid progress from pretending to be a turtle in the courtyard of the school, dragging a piece of chalk when "pen down", to mastering Stacks (Accions) and Boxes (Cajas). The second group, which had been working in Scratch for three hours, struggled with the programming concepts of Turtle Art. On the other hand, Melissa reported that the group that had used Turtle Art soared in Scratch class, much more will to explore. We still need controls: Scratch followed by Scratch and Turtle Art followed by Turtle Art, but it seems that using Turtle Art before Scratch helps Scratch proficiency while using Scratch before Turtle Art impedes Turtle Art proficiency. It is worth looking more deeply into this.