I Have a RAP Partner, Now What?

So now that you have a Read Around the Planet partner*, what will you do next? I’m working on some materials for my teachers and also a few of you have emailed this question. So here’s some tips. If you have any more, please share them!

  1. First, of course you should review the RAP Teacher Packet, or the World Languages Teacher Packet.
  2. Look over the Ideas List on the TWICE page.
  3. The photo gallery from past years is another place to get ideas for fun visuals and how to organize students.
  4. Use this student job list to involve all your students. (Thanks to Kim Pearce, Gatesville ISD, TX.)
  5. Plan for a way to celebrate the geography of your connection (even if you’re connecting within state). Show a map. Tell a bit about your area. If you have lots of connections in your building, make a school map for all the connections you’re doing. Take the opportunity to teach geography skills!
  6. Ideas from last year’s RAA blog entries: snow ball fights and books, stretching half way through, acting out books, share the weather & poetry, hats are fun, Spanish songs & poems, and songs.
  7. Still need more ideas? Check out lesson plans written in my online classes and the Jazz workshops, especially the Language Arts and Foreign Language lessons.
  8. Most importantly, talk to your partner teacher via email or phone. Just a few conversations will make your connection smoother. But don’t stress if you can’t get ahold of them either. We’ve had successful connections when the teachers meet for the first time in the connection and negotiate right then who is going first. It’s just better if you can talk to each other.

If you run into any scheduling issues (which almost always happens with this project), be sure to review the tips for resolving scheduling conflicts. One year some of our RAP connections in MI finally happened in May!! So hang in there with your partner until you make it happen! If you need encouragement in your misery of rescheduling, review these previous posts: Top Ten Reasons a VC Gets Cancelled, and When Things Go Wrong.

Feel free to share these tips with your teachers!

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