On 9th May 2013, Joanna left a comment under my page about Josh Rader’s book ‘Detective Stephy Wephy Holmes in: The Missing Cake’, saying the following:
“I am a fourth grade teacher in Honduras.
This year students selected books for their reading fair. The book Detective Stephy Wephy Holmes in: The Missing Cake, was selected by two fourth graders. They loved the book, got inspired to give their best. They reached out to Josh Rader, author of the book and the class had an interview with him via skype. After the interview kids in the classroom are reading and writing with passion. Highly recommend the book!!”
In subsequent correspondance with Josh, I found out that not only had these kids interviewed him, but also his Brother Jared, who is an author as well, plus, to add to the excitement, Josh and Jared are twins and it was Twins Day in Honduras!
I was intrigued about these enterprising kids and their teacher, so I asked Josh to contact them and ask if they would contact me (after all, wouldn’t YOU be surprised if I contacted you before you knew anything about me?)
They were happy to let me know all about themselves, so without further ado, allow me to introduce them and their Teacher and Teacher’s Aid
Submitted by Joanna Mojica (Teacher)
Our school, located in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is a catholic, bilingual school, which believes in an integral education with high moral values.
This year in particular has been full of wonderful experiences, for me as a teacher and for my students as well. I actually have 20 students (my fourth graders are nine and ten years old) and I teach them Language Arts, Science and Social Studies classes.
I have always believed that you learn more by doing, which is why I create, with my students, many projects which enrich their learning process.
This year, the students homework for the whole year has been reading and filling their homework log worksheet. Doing a reading log consists of reading a book or short story and doing a summary of what they read. It has been such a success that the kids are even reading during weekends and doing summaries.
Every Friday we select a story from the independent reading list and we read, discuss and do other activities.
We are blessed to have internet in the classroom, plus smartboards and iPads, which have given me as a teacher, the opportunity to create a whole different experience for the kids in the classroom. (The students have their own iPads from the third grade and up.)
The use of this technology in the classroom helps both teachers and students to access a variety of resources and vast opportunities for creating great classes.
We download books in iBooks, so that every day the students have the opportunity to read and explore videos and many other educational apps.
After their interview with Josh and Jared Rader, my students got inspired to read and write more! We are currently doing a comic project, in which the kids have, as a central theme, “No Gossip”. They have been creating their comic strips and stories in pairs and I am really impressed with their creativity and improvement in writing.
Along with the comic project, my students have been writing their own inspirational poems, each student is making their own personal e-poetry booklet, and this week each student will select one poem and video record it.
Parents feel very excited about the experience my fourth graders had in interviewing the authors Josh and Jared Rader; it was an event, as they said, they will never forget.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Brilliant idea. The importance of an inspiring teacher can never be over-estimated. I had two. But equally this spotlight is a great gift!
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What a wonderful article but I love the comments as much as the piece itself. Keep on inspiring people xx
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I’ll certainly try to Norma 🙂
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Thank you Mr. Chris
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Welcome Ana 🙂
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