smcmedstudies

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Memoirs of an MATer- Austin Gore

I never thought I would say this, but I miss waking up at 6 a.m.; I miss waking up and driving 45 minutes to Chopticon High School. There comes a time in the MAT where you get separated from your students for eight weeks, and you just sit in your own classes as a student and miss them. Sure, I love sleeping in until 7:30 on Tuesdays/Thursdays and 9:30 on Mondays/Wednesdays, and I love only having a three minute drive to campus. But, there's something missing every time I walk into a classroom here on the campus instead of my classroom at Chopticon. I should place a disclaimer: I love all of my professors and all of my fellow MAT students. However, there is a special relationship formed between MAT interns and their students. It is the first time we get a true taste of changing individual lives, and there is something magical about the experiences of a classroom teacher. It's not just staying up in Goodpaster planning the "perfect" lesson. It's also the time a student gets lost on their first day and you help navigate them around the school, the day one of your students makes you learn a cool handshake and they do it every time they see you in the hallway, or the times a student tells you they are having the worst day and your class makes it a little better. I've never had this feeling before in my life: caring so much for a group of people. I sit in class talking about research and different methods of instructional design, and I just cannot stop thinking about my students and all I am missing day-to-day. Of course, there are times I sit there and think "This article reminds me of student x" or "wow, I should really try this with my first period class," but I think about how happy my students make me everyday. So, for the first time in my life I can state that I wish I was sleeping less, and I wish I was driving further. I love my cohort, I love my professors, and I love this campus, but I miss my students even more!

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Loneliness & Cultural Adjustment: Thoughts from MAT student Rachel Peele

I do not feel that I have experienced loneliness in the literal sense of the word.  People have surrounded me since I got here.  Most of it has been my host mother’s family. But, I can experience isolation in large group conversations where people are speaking Spanish and I have no idea what they are saying.  I am like a mute individual.  

 Since this is the first time I have been out of the country, one might think that I would be having a hard time.  Really, I am not.  I am just at peace with the way things are.  Strangely enough, oftentimes I do not feel like I am in a different country. This could be because I live closer to the city and not in the rural area.  The true “hardest part’ for me is being without Internet, at least for the first few days.  I know, this sounds like a “first-world-problem.”  But, going back to the fact that this is the first time I have been out of the country, I yearned for time to contact my family and let them know that I was okay.  On day four of the trip, I was able to go to Starbucks to use the WiFi (thank you Starbucks!).  I was able to delete several unwanted all-student emails and then answer and send emails to my family.  That was the second time I was able to email family, and that made me feel better and more at ease.  Was it because I was able to send important emails?  Or was it because I now know where there is WiFi and how to get there? Who knows?  It may be a little bit of both.  But, at least I can now focus on language learning at ICADS and preparing for my student-teaching experience at an elementary school.

 One thing that has been stressful for me is traveling using public transportation.  It is difficult knowing where to catch the correct bus to get me to the area I wish to be. I went with Caroline on a trip to the Poas Volcano.  We had to take three different buses to get from our meeting place to the capital, from the capital to another city, and then from that city to the volcano.  A part of this also meant navigating the geographic environment of the capital – since there are few street signs to direct you any which-way.  Since neither Caroline nor I live in Costa Rica (duh), understanding the geography of the capital city and the central market was stressful.  I was lost in which direction I was in relation to other things and where I was supposed to catch a bus going in the correct direction to get back to “my city” when going home from our volcano trip.  Eventually, we figured it out and I got back home safely.

 All of the related emotional frustrations come from lacking control of the environment in which I am.  I do not speak Spanish (though I did learn a great bit from ICADS!), I do not live in Costa Rica, I clearly look like a foreigner, and I am a (short) female.  All of these things put me at a disadvantage with regards to having “control” over my environment.  I think that is where the stress I have related to traveling comes from and is something I will always experience to some degree. Hopefully, however, with time, I will feel more comfortable in this environment to navigate the city and explore. Time will tell :)

  ELL Relevance & World View:

Coming to Costa Rica with very little Spanish language under my belt, I understand my behaviors in the perspective of an ELL student.  At the beginning of the trip, I was certainly in that beginning period “silent period.” I didn’t speak very much throughout the day, because I simply could not.  It takes me a long time to formulate a reasonably phrased question and the responses that I can give to questions from others is yes, no, or I don’t know.  There is not much of a rich conversation that will emerge from my mouth.  Now, in my second week of being here, I am in the “early emergent stage,” because I am able to converse more (thank you ICADS for the Spanish language instruction).  As a teacher, I can use this experience to sympathize with students.  I know that I need people to speak slower to me and use gestures when possible.  Knowing that, and understanding the silent period, I will remember that students who are starting out need simpler language, easier words to understand.

 Being a new Spanish language learner also makes me think of how people treat others who do not speak English in the United States.  I know people who are oftentimes frustrated that those individuals do not learn English before coming to the United States.  But, considering that, what about me?  I am a native English speaker coming to Costa Rica with little Spanish language acquisition.  I am grateful to those who can speak English and grateful to those who treat me kindly (like my host mother and her family).  Essentially I am in a similar situation as individuals who live in the United States and do not know English.  This will definitely give me perspective when coming back to the United States and interacting with individuals who do not speak English (or speak very little).  I am a patient person in general, but I understand the importance of patience with individuals who are new at speaking another language.  It really is not fair to be angry or annoyed with non-English speakers in the United States.  But, those feelings may also relate to the politics of having English language learners in the United States – those of which I do not explore.

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Some great photos of Caroline enjoying her time in Costa Rica!

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Finding Pura Vida in Costa Rica by MAT student Caroline Szendey

                 Before coming to Costa Rica I had heard the phrase “Pura Vida” was popular. It means pure life. It’s the idea of enjoying life, relaxing, and going with the flow. Until recently I had only seen Pura Vida in souvenir shops. You can get magnets, t-shirts, key chains, and other souvenirs with this phrase.

           On Sunday I had intended to go to El Telodo coffee tour in Atenas. The website provided a very detailed explanation of how to get there by public transportation. So I assumed everything would go smoothly. I got to the bus station in San Jose and confirmed that this was the bus to Atenas. The people said yes and I got on. I thought this was going to be a about an hour bus ride but it took around an hour and a half. The El Teledo website said I could either take several public buses within Atenas to get there or go by taxi. Since the tour was supposed to start in 20 min I opted to go by taxi. I asked a taxi to go to El Teledo coffee and he told me it was actually in walking distance two blocks down to the left.

           I was confused how all of a sudden the coffee tour was so close to the bus station but followed his directions. Well, after following his directions all I saw were some houses. I tried the next block and still only some houses. So I walked into a shop and pointed to the address I wanted to go to. They told me Atenas was a different town and I found out I was actually in Orestina.

           At this point there was nothing I could do. I was in the middle of nowhere with no way to get to Atenas and the next bus back to San Jose was not for another two hours. Luckily I had not prepaid for the tour so at least I was not loosing money. Since I love photography I went on a mini photo adventure of the town and then I opted to buy some ice cream and relax in the park. I had my Spanish hw and journal to keep me occupied. The park was really pretty and had some nice benches to sit on.

           Shortly after sitting down on a bench a little boy came up to me and gave me a flower. I said gracious and attached it to my backpack. Then, while the boy was playing his father came over and we started chatting. I only knew some Spanish and he some English yet I felt the conversation was so genuine and great. I showed him the flower his son gave me. We laughed about some of the goofy things some other people were doing in the park. I pointed to a robin nest with two babies in it and he talked about how robin’s are Costa Rica’s national bird. And that is truly experiencing Pura Vida.

           On this day I did not make it to a coffee tour. But I am glad that I made friends with Franklin and his son San Pedro. I ultimately came to Costa Rica to have an adventure and experience the true Costa Rica beyond the tourist sights and through meeting San Pedro and Franklin I managed to accomplish that. This was the real Costa Rica and I am glad for this moment. Let this be a reminder to anyone that feels overwhelmed by a travel mistake. Not everyone’s adventures abroad are as picture perfect as the post cards and photos they take. So it is ok if something does not go as planned because where there is a thorn there is a flower.

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The Challenges of Being a Silenced Extrovert: How Learning a Language is Hard by MAT student Caroline Szendey

        I love being social and love spending time with others. However, after spending a week in Costa Rica I am seeing challenges in keeping that mentality. I do not know much Spanish and I knew going into Costa Rica that this would be a barrier, but I never really thought about how this significantly limits my interactions. I find myself constantly saying no compredo or no mucho Española. Many meals consist of small interactions and I feel like my energetic personality does not come out. My host family is wonderful and we rely on Spanish/English books to communicate what we are trying to say. However, it is still a challenge when there is so little that can be communicated. I do not know much about them or their interests and nor them mine. It sometimes takes me 15 minutes to figure out the proper translation for something I want to say – only to mispronounce or pick the wrong Spanish word that my host family does not understand what I am trying to tell them. I struggle with having so many ideas but not sure of how to communicate them.

          While this has certainly increased my intrinsic motivation to learn Spanish that does not mean I can magically become fluent overnight. Learning a language is hard. And part of the flaw is that I was too scared in our American education system with languages to try to become fluent. When I was in school I also felt that we rushed to soon into grammar skills when I was still struggling to retain word memorization. I was more extrinsically motivated to pass tests than actually mastering a language that I stopped taking a language as soon as I could. I just never found language classes useful because I believed I would never become fully fluent and had the selfish view that most other countries know English as an additional language so if I travel somewhere it will be fine.

           Little did past Caroline know was that I would one day do the non-tourist experience in Costa Rica and live with a host family that knows little English. I now want to learn Spanish so I no longer feel lost in silence, and to further increase communication skills so I can spread my radiant energy to all.

There are still many days where I just want to hide in my room so I don’t have to struggle through communication. I have grown to find a lot of comfort with my host family’s dog, Cookie. Neither of us needs the same language to communicate and play with each other. Cookie normally nudges me when she wants attention and I do not need to speak to give her attention, instead I rub her belly. Just as I am able to communicate with Cookie with no language I am learning how to communicate with my host family with some language. While the silence can be uncomfortable I am learning that a smile and a laugh still go a long way in communicating without English. And because I am extroverted it only increases my motivation to keep trying Spanish phrases with my host family. Because I would rather spend 20 minutes looking up in a Spanish/English dictionary the translation for what I’m trying to say than sit in silence. And that is the benefit of being a social butterfly in an unfamiliar language.

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Ed. Studies Seniors!

With less than 40 days til graduation, we wanted to talk about postgrad plans within the ed studies department!

Your fellows, Austin and Robin, are both attending grad school!

Austin will joining the 2016-2017 MAT cohort studying secondary theater education with an endorsement in English while Robin will be pursuing a MS in Children and Youth Studies at University College Dublin with a concentration in children's disability studies.

Other ed studies seniors have shared that their postgrad plans include everything from joining Austin in the upcoming MAT cohort to pursuing other advanced degrees, coaching, working as park rangers or in specialized summer camps! We are proud of each and every ed studies senior and know that you will all do great things!!

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SMP Spotlight: Katherine Niccolini

Like our last SMP spotlight, Ms. Niccolini is a senior Psychology major and Ed. Studies minor. Her SMP, mentored by Dr. Katherine Koch, is titled “From the Mouths of the Observers:BCaBA and BCBA Perspectives on Special Education Settings.”

Ms. Niccolini, who is employed as a Registered Behavior Technician, says that she wanted to write about the viewpoints of BCaBA/BCBAs (Behavior Analysts) on inclusion vs. self-contained classrooms. She explains that there is a significant amount of research about the opinions of teachers and parents, but that BCaBAs and BCBAs have not been included in the literature nearly as much.

She says that the hardest part of her SMP is finding a decent sample size: behavior analysis is a growing field, and BCaBA/BCBAs are in short supply. However, she is personally interested in the research, and is enjoying reading the existing literature.

Stay tuned for the date of Ms. Niccolini’s SMP presentation! And if you see her in the halls of Goodpaster, wish her luck!

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SMP Spotlight: Genevieve Dubroof

Genevieve is a senior Psychology Major​, with Minors in Ed Studies and Music​,​ here at St. Mary's College of Maryland, who is doing her St. Mary's Project in the Educational Studies Department. Under the advisement of Dr. David Morris, an Assistant Professor of Educational Studies, Genevieve is looking at support services in schools and how they affect teachers' self-efficacy when working with students who have ​Individualized Education Program​​​ (​IEPs).

Ms. Dubroof's attraction to this project is due to her experience working at an inclusion camp, where campers with developmental disabilities interacted (W/C) with campers in the general education setting. After her experiences, she decided she wanted to look closer at how teachers work with these students, and her adviser's interest in self-efficacy added to the project.

Genevieve says that the senior capstone project is stressful, but she and her adviser came up with a highly productive plan. She would recommend doing the St. Mary's Project, but she suggests students think about their topic interests a semester before they begin their project. She also notes that this project counts towards her Psychology major, but she chose an Ed Studies project based on her interests. 

After graduation, Genevieve hopes to attend graduate school for school counseling, and she looks forward to working in the field of education. 

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High School Monologue Workshop

I was recently in a production of Crossroads: On Common Ground, which examined the history of St. Mary's College of Maryland, specifically in regards to race relations at the college. It is a show that required performers--like myself--to examine our own relations in regards to racial identity. On Friday, November 20th, I was thrilled to be asked to participate in a workshop with local high school students in the creation of monologues. Six performers from the production performed their monologues, and then we asked them to briefly do our process. 

Basically, students were asked to find three adjectives about themselves. For example, mine were "Straight (heterosexual), White, Male..." and then they were to write about their experience from the prospective of those adjectives. Personally, mine was about white guilt, but many of the high school students talked about their experience in school and their home-lives. One in particular that struck me was a student struggling with transferring schools. For me, hearing these students stories reminded me that everyone--teachers and students alike--go through different struggles, and we have to understand our struggles to find a "Common Ground."

For me, this is a great lesson plan for teachers in English and Theater classes to show that we as educators care about their background, show that we are also humans, and to create a culture of trust within a classroom. Students have freedom to share as much or as little as they want, and it gives us the chance as educators to learn about our students. This is a lesson plan I want to incorporate in my future English/Theater classes. 

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The Ed Studies Minor

The Educational Studies minor at SMCM can be part of a pathway towards the MAT, or can be added as a useful supplement to any major/career path.

When I began my Ed Studies minor, I had every intention of using it as part of the MAT prereqs. But now, as a senior, I have realized that I won’t be applying to to MAT.

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love the MAT program, and I feel it has so much to offer for future teachers. For anyone looking into working as an educator, I would highly recommend it. Everyone from staff to students to employers of alumni have nothing but good things to say about the program. 

The problem is not that I realized that I do not want to be a teacher. The problem is that, as a part of my Ed Studies minor, I took Exceptionality: Introduction to Special Education; and between that course and my experience working as an ABA therapist, I fell in love with special education and realized that I would be happier in that field of education.

As of right now, there is not special education certification through the MAT program, partially because there is not a separate special education minor. There is talk of adding the coursework necessary for this (you may remember filling out an interest survey a few semesters ago). Some new topics classes related to the field have been added (Topics in Behavior Related Disorders and Learning Disabilities, both offered by Dr. Koch in the spring). However, this is a process, and although it may all come to fruition someday, a full-fledged special education program will not be available at SMCM in time for a senior such as myself to take advantage of it. 

What do you think? Should the department continue to push for a special education program? Are there other education-related programs that you think should be added? In order to bring about change, we need student input!

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We’re Back!

Your beloved fellows, Robin and Austin, are back and here to keep you updated on all of the amazing things that will be going on in the smcm ed studies/MAT world! 

Current reminders: MAT applications for the 2016 cohort are due November 20th. The application can be found here: http://www.smcm.edu/mat/how-to-apply/application-process/

Good luck!

Also, The Big Draw is ongoing in the Boyden Gallery until Friday, October 9. Stop on by!

That’s all for now...but stay tuned!

Hope everyone’s semesters are off to a great start :)

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Natalie- Costa Rica Blog #10

I have officially been home from Costa Rica for 48 hours. It doesn’t actually seem real that I was gone for six weeks; it just feels like I was gone for a long weekend. Then I think about my time in Costa Rica and realize what a different person I am. I am so much more confident in myself and my ability to survive in a foreign country.

Towards the end of my time in Costa Rica I realized how much I had learned about the country. In Spanish there are two different words for “to know” the verb “saber” which is to know information and the verb “conocer” which is to know in a familiar way. Towards the end of the trip I finally felt comfortable saying “Yo conozco Costa Rica.” What made me realize that I really conozco Costa Rica was one time on the bus. Leila and I had gotten on the correct bus at a new stop we had never used before. Then a few stops later some people who did not look like the typical Ticos got on the bus. The bus costs 265 colones (about 50 cents) and one of the boys tried to pay with a $5 bill. We immediately recognized that this wasn’t going to work well since the busses don’t have change for United States dollars on board. Luckily there were other people in his party who had colones for him to pay with. After they took their seats in front of us we were able to assist them in getting off the bus and figuring out where they were going (they had already gotten lost once). This experience caused me to reflect on how at one point, I was exactly like them, I had no clue what bus to get on or how they worked, and by that time I was able to give directions and explain how to use the busses.

From that experience I gained so much self-confidence. I went into Costa Rica knowing almost nothing about the country and remembering almost none of my high school Spanish. I took eight days of Spanish classes and was shown around my immediate area for three days, and then Leila and I were on our own to figure out the country. I think we did an amazing job of figuring everything out! The first time we took a bus by ourselves we took a bus going to wrong direction, but that was the only time that we got lost. There were other times when we took busses that we going along routes that we were not expecting, but we always could get ourselves home without another bus. Only getting really lost once showed me that I could go somewhere that I had limited knowledge of and figure out how to get where I needed to go.

Finally, I became so much more confident in my ability to learn language. I have always struggled to learn languages; I struggle to remember the vocabulary most of all. Unfortunately the vocabulary is the most important part, if you have the vocabulary, you can typically get your point across, but without vocabulary, grammar won’t help you. Somehow I managed to pick up enough vocabulary and mime my way through six weeks of Spanish. Of course, people in Costa Rica knew a good amount of English and would speak to me in English, and in the schools I let them, but when out in town, I would always challenge myself to speak Spanish to everyone. Now I can do pretty much everything I need to in order to survive in Spanish!  

Overall, this experience has shown me that when push comes to shove I can do what needs to get done and being unsure of myself will not hold me back. I had the most amazing time in Costa Rica; I remember being scared and unsure of leaving the country six short weeks ago, and now I feel like I can take on the world. Going to a new country will always take some time to figure out, but now I am sure that I can do it.

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Robin-Study Abroad Recap

With only three days left in Ireland, I wanted to share some of my experiences abroad and how they have shaped my future plans.

Firstly, the education system in Ireland is so different than it is in America. The University, besides having 10x the enrollment of SMCM, was also heavily research-based. The classes I took were in giant lecture halls, with very little discussion. Although it was not my preference (and definitely not what I was used to) I think the change of pace made me a more well-rounded student. The grading system was also vastly different. Though I found the professors to be relatively strict graders, a passing grade is only 40%! A ‘C’ is also officially considered a “good” grade by the University, whereas a ‘C’ often represents “average” in America. My classes were all very interesting.  One of my courses focused almost entirely on Autism Spectrum Disorder. Taking this class immediately after taking Exceptionality last semester at SMCM has left me very interested in the field of special education.

After making friends who had grown up in Ireland, I learned how different their elementary/secondary education system is from ours as well. There are very few public, coeducational schools in Ireland. The majority are either single sex, Catholic, or both. I wondered about the social implications of this, especially as Ireland is starting to move away from its more traditional Catholic roots, and LGBTQ rights referendums are soon to be voted on.  

From my Irish friends, I also learned a lot about how the American education system is perceived as well. They were shocked by the popularity of public elementary/secondary schools, how much we pay for college, and our 60% passing grade scheme (that’s a ‘B’ in Ireland!). Many Irish college students want to spend time in America to study as an Erasmus student, but have expressed their anxiety in the different expectations. But, I learned that one system is not necessarily easier or better, they truly are just different approaches. Once you understand that, it gets easier to figure out what to do in order to get the experience (and the grade) you want. As I said before, experiencing all of this definitely made me a more efficient student, and I think it can make me work better with students as well. 

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Leila- Costa Rica Blog #10

Hi everyone! I'm back in the States and will be heading back to St. Mary's in a few hours! I am so excited to see my family and friends, go to the docks, finish my MRP, and graduate in less than a month! It is crazy how fast everything is going! I definitely will miss Costa Rica though! I'm having trouble not responding to every question in Spanish, and I'm definitely lucky my parents understand enough Spanish to not be completely confused! My time abroad was so beneficial for me for a number of reasons. Getting a chance to actually have a placement in teaching English as a second language will be invaluable to me when looking for jobs and in the school system. Since I will be certified to teach ESOL, I am glad I now actually feel qualified to do so! My placement allowed me to learn different strategies and approaches to take in English language teaching which will definitely be useful for me! I have also had the ability to greatly improve my Spanish language skills, which was one of my biggest goals for going to Costa Rica. I love the Spanish language, and I am so excited with how confident I now feel in speaking it. Coming back to speaking exclusively English has actually been such a struggle. In the airports in the States, Natalie and I had serious trouble responding to people appropriately in English. My school Spanish has also improved to a great deal, so I feel really comfortable interacting with Spanish speaking students and their families, and I think that this is something that I will really value next year in the schools. Going abroad also just increased my self-confidence in general. I feel like if I can navigate a city that I'm not familiar with in a language that I am still learning, and do not completely understand, I will be fine anywhere. This experience has really pushed me outside of my comfort zone in a lot of ways, and that's something that I think I will be able to translate back into my life in the States. For example, I am terrified of heights, and while on this trip I went para-sailing and ziplining (and even went upside on the zipline!). Also, I'm so desensitized to spiders now (even horrifyingly big hairy ones), so that's definitely a plus. Just in general, this trip has made me get used to things that I otherwise would never have to face, and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to do that. Also, in terms of a school environment, this internship has also helped me to clarify what I value most in a school environment. The things that I really missed while in my school placement in Costa Rica were classroom management, and technology. This will be useful for when I do school interviews with principals, because now I know more about what kinds of things in a school help me to be the most effective teacher I can be (a school-wide discipline plan would definitely be at the top of this list). This opportunity has been amazing, and I am so, so glad I decided to do the away placement in Costa Rica! It was definitely a fantastic experience!

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Leila- Costa Rica Blog #9

Having the chance to teach English in a public school in Costa Rica has been an amazing experience. I have had the chance to work with a wonderful mentor teacher, learn new techniques to teach English, and work with some of the sweetest, most curious kids I've ever met. I am really going to miss my students and all of the staff at my school. The school system in Costa Rica is slightly different from the system in the States. The biggest differences that I noticed were in classroom management. At my school the way that behavior was dealt with was that teachers would write notes in students communication notebooks (like agendas) that would go home every night. However, many teachers expressed that parents didn't really take these notes seriously, and thus classroom management was very difficult. Students got away with much more in the schools here, and even violent behavior, like hitting one another was accepted. The school day itself was structured very differently. Periods were technically 45 minutes, but most classes lasted double minutes, so elementary school students were expected to sit in one class for an hour and half at a time. In between each class was a recreo, or recess, which lasted 10, 20, or 30 minutes. The 30 minute recreo was technically supposed to accommodate lunch.  However, because the dining room was so small, students were allowed to eat their lunch during any of the recreos (students frequently brought lots of snacks or a whole lunch, and still ate the school lunch).  Additionally, during specials time, teachers took students to the lunch room (we had to take first graders to lunch on Tuesdays and Fridays).   English was treated like a special, along with Music, Art, Religion, and Physical Education).  This means that we did not have our own classroom, and traveled to each of the classrooms with a shopping cart full of material (which you can see in the picture above!) We saw each class three times a week, twice for a double lesson, and once for a single lesson.  I thought that it was super interesting that students had Religion classes even though we were in a public school. It also seemed as if students spent a lot of time in specials. They did not have the core subjects, like Spanish and Math every day, which is super different from the States.  The system as a whole was very different, but getting to understand more about how education is viewed and carried out here was such a great experience!

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Leila- Costa Rica Blog #8

Hi everyone! Today is my last full day in Costa Rica! I't starting to hit me that this time tomorrow, I will be on a plane headed back for the States. I'm going to miss this country so much, and I will definitely miss all the friends that I've made here! For one, my familia Tica have been amazing! I have loved playing with my niece and nephew, watching the news and a lot of CSI with my Mama Tica and talking about social issues in Costa Rica with my Papa Tico. Having the chance to be immersed so fully into Tico culture through my host family has been extremely beneficial for me as it's helped me to understand the culture at a deeper level, and it's allowed me a low pressure place to practice my Spanish. I will also definitely miss my mentor teacher, Karla.  She has been a wonderful resource in the school, and she has been my guide to understanding the Costa Rican educational system. Karla's been a wonderful person to talk to, and because she speaks English so well it's been wonderful having the opportunity to really compare and contrast issues in the school system here and in Costa Rica. Throughout the weeks that I was in the school, she also became a person that I could talk to about non-school related issues. She taught Spanish in North Carolina for a while, and so we could talk about cultural differences on a greater level as well. I also made friendships with students from the States that I really cherish. One of the first people from the States that we met here was a girl named Sam, who was also studying at ICADS. Sam is from Wisconsin, and she is also planning to begin teaching in the fall. We became close with Sam really quickly, and she was a great friend to have. Sam was here finishing her minor in Spanish, and she's pretty much fluent.  She also had already been in San Jose for a month when we arrived, so she was a wonderful resource for us, especially in the beginning of our trip.  Later on we also met other students from the Field School that ICADS runs. One student, Curtis, had been here since January, so he helped to show us around and take us to awesome places, like Manuel Antonio National Park.  We met lots of the Field School students throughout the trip, and it was always really interesting to compare our experiences and to have an English break as well! Although, speaking Spanish with other students from the States was really nice too, because there was almost no pressure to be 100% correct. Getting to talk to Ticos around our age was probably my favorite part about going out on the weekends. We normally went out on Calle de la Amargura (which means street of bitterness, named because of the abundance of bars on the street) in San Pedro.  San Pedro is where the Universidad de Costa Rica, Univerisdad Latina and Universidad Fidelitas are located, so there are always lots of college aged people around. Learning about Costa Rican culture from people our age was super interesting, because this age group is one that I don't think we got to interact with as much, being in the schools and in our families. It was super fun to learn about Tico slang and things like that from Ticos our age.  I'm definitely going to miss everyone that I've gotten close to in Costa Rica, but I'm excited to come home and see all my friends at home as well!

[smcmedstudies]

Spending four weeks in a Costa Rican school has been a wonderful experience for me. It allowed me to experience how schools in another country are different. It showed me how difficult it can be to teach English as a second language and how to teach it effectively. And perhaps most importantly it showed me what is important to me as a teacher.

I have had a very skewed experience of the school system in Costa Rica. For the past four weeks I have been in a private school in Costa Rica. It is not really fair to compare their private schools to our public schools. I feel like I have experienced different types of public schools in the US from my experiences being a student to my experiences as a teacher. I do not feel this way about Costa Rica, I have experienced one school that I have been told is not representative of the schools in Costa Rica. That being said, I can compare what I have heard and experienced in schools in Costa Rica and the United States.

During my time in school in Costa Rica, two of the four weeks that I was there for were test weeks. This was something that was very similar and different to the education system in the US at the same time. At first glance it is very similar. These tests are supposed to be everything that the students have learned over the past trimester, very similar to standardized tests in the US. Everything else pauses for these tests. Nothing new can be learned during these two weeks. Students should not be doing or learning anything outside of their tests. The school has fun activities for the students to do between tests to let them relax. This reminded me very much of when I was in high school and we had HSAs where the entire school would stop so that we could take tests. What makes these tests different from standardized tests in America was that the teachers made the tests based off of what they had taught instead of teaching what was on the test. My mentor teacher had kept very specific records of how many lessons she had spent teaching each subject and was careful to create the test in proportion to what she had taught. This made the tests seem more like a final exam rather than standardized test.

Another thing that I noticed between these school systems was the teacher-student relationships. In the US it is always obvious that teachers care deeply for their students. They are willing to do almost anything for them to ensure that they are able to succeed. Teachers in Costa Rica love their students an equal amount, but show their affection in a very different way. In my private school, teachers were very close with the students and did not have as much of a professional relationship with their students as a personal one. Many students had my mentor teacher’s cell phone number. When she left for a three week vacation all of the students had better contact with her than I did. There was one day when I was in a sixth grade class the students were trying to make sentences in the past perfect in English. One of the students said that Teacher Ana loved him. She agreed with him and kissed him on the top of his head before correcting him about how to use the past perfect. Teachers in the US are cautioned against hugging their students, no less kissing them. I also worked with a male teacher in this school, male teachers in the US have to continuously think about how their actions could be viewed and whether they could be viewed as sexual harassment. This male teacher seemed to have none of that fear. I saw many students come to him complaining of various injuries, if it was an upper body injury he had no problems lifting a student’s shirt to see exactly what the problem was and apply appropriate medical care. In the US I would not lift a student’s shirt for fear of it being considered sexual harassment. These differences may be because I am in a very small private school where most of the families have been with the school for years and know the teachers and administration very well.

The final difference that I noticed was in the classroom management. In the US students are expected to listen to their teacher’s, sit quietly, and pay attention. Here that is not the case. The students do what they want. If they don’t want to be learning in class that day they don’t. If they want to be talking to their friend that’s what they do. This puts a lot more responsibility on the students for their own learning.