We met again as a whole group to debrief our experiences in our host communities. We discussed the similarities and differences about our schools and next steps. The range of our schools was wide. There was one pair of teachers that spent their week at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school and saw the IB curriculum in full effect. Two pairs of teachers stayed near Lima and worked at schools in some of poorest area. A pair of teachers near Trujillo also worked at an all-girls school and sounded like they had a similar experience to ours in Tarma. Part of our debrief was to revisit our guiding question as well as provide insight to our colleagues questions. Because I teach in an alternative school in Denver, my guiding question focused around alternatives for Peruvian students who do not find success in the traditional school models. From my observations in Tarma, alternative education did not seem prevalent and I did not observe what happened to students who did not succeed in school (we didn't even see a student misbehave...they were excellent). I believe part of this was due to the all-girl environment where I was teaching. Clever would explain to the students where I worked (defining what an alternative school was in the United States) and the girls would literally gasp...in each class...11 classes in total! I am not exactly sure what he said to them but I think he mentioned their past troubles and how the majority of them had been expelled from their previous schools. This was a moment that I wished I knew Spanish and could explain more fully that even though my students have had troubles, they were capable learners who needed a second chance and a different environment to learn in. I think I will be able to convey this message as I continue to work with Clever and virtually introduce our students to no another. In addition to discussing our guiding questions, our group had time to brainstorm and discuss next steps.
My Next Steps:
-EB
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