Life in another country is always full of surprises. One such surprise came in the form of we've invited all the English teachers in Cartago to a conference you girls are giving. So, what's a teacher to do? We quickly moved into planning mode. Days before we had visited Casa del Virrey (Viceory's House) with three very special high schools students. Casa Virrey was constructed at the end of the 18th century for Don José de Espeleta, a viceroy of Spain. He never made it to Cartago. The house was declared a national monument and it serves as a conservatory. It is a gem of a building equipped with an auditorium where we would give our conference.
The conference was attended by the Secretary of Education, school principals, teachers and more fancy people. Before we started, we awarded Angelica and Gabo's principal a beautiful certificate of appreciation issued by IREX. Annie kicked off the presentations with teaching early literacy skills through children's books and manipulative. She walked the group through a guided lesson and shared examples of some of her favorite authors. The lesson included forming word families with Wikki Sticks. Annie gave sets of Wikki Sticks out to the group to take back to their classrooms. All teachers love a freebie! My presentation focused on the structure of the educational system in Oklahoma. In addition, I gave an overview of Truman Primary School, including the video tour my 2nd graders made! Later in the presentation I shifted the focus to globalizing classrooms. I shared the water as a global issue project we worked on last semester at MOSAICOS. Perhaps the most powerful moment of the conference came at the end as we opened up the session for Q&A. We fielded questions about technology in the classroom, class size, resources and teacher strikes in the USA. This unique opportunity for cross-cultural exchange was a highlight for me. Through these conversations something became very clear. Teachers are teachers, no matter where in the world they teacher. We all get up each morning with the same goals. We want our students to love learning. We pour our hearts and souls into every day and every student. We celebrate our students. We cry for our students. We worry about our students. Our work doesn't end when the last bell sounds. Teachers are teachers!
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AuthorI am a professional educator, lifelong learner, and global citizen with a passion for travel! Archives
September 2018
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