Morocco Day!

After returning from Morocco, it was a whirlwind being back in my home classroom! I landed at about 9:30PM in Minneapolis and went straight into teaching the very next day. It was a tough transition because there was barely any time to breath or think or process the amazing experience that I just had. Plus, the jet lag. Oh, the jet lag! Took me a good week to get over it. Nonetheless, I was excited to see my students!

Thankfully life and school had carried on without me. They still learned chemistry while I was away (thanks to my AMAZING colleague who filled in for me!). As much as I wanted to share every detail of the experience with them, there was real life to be had. Units to get through, state tests to prepare for and the end of the school year was coming in hot! PLUS we had so many snow days this spring!

But finally, I was able to squeeze in a "Morocco Day"! I was very excited to share with my students... and they were excited to hear what I had been up to across the Atlantic! I put together a slide show of pictures, taught them about the education system and what day to day life was like. I showed them how to properly greet one another and... very important detail... where exactly Morocco is in the map. I dressed up in both my djellaba and kaftan (wardrobe change!) and, of course, made mint tea for all.

After sharing my experiences with the students, I handed out postcards. Before I left, students wrote postcards to the Moroccan students. Moroccan students wrote back and my students were thrilled.

After the postcards, Hassan (my host teacher) and I put together a Flipgrid asking each other questions. My students were very surprised how in depth the Moroccan students questions were. It was great for my students to see these perspectives. My students received many questions about Ramadan, since it happened to be during this time. My students quickly realized what a big deal this holiday was in comparison to Minnesota.

After getting to know each other, they continued their exchange with trash data. While in Morocco students collected trash (see "That's Trash" post...). My students collected trash around our school. Students compared and contrasted the data from the two schools and reflected on causes of the litter and came up with solutions to prevent it.

It was SO fun to be able to bring this culture into my classroom. I feel so lucky that I have this connection overseas and I hope to continue to cultivate it and have a life-long connection with Sidi ou sidi High School in Morocco!