I leave for Mexico in 3 weeks! Drop in all of the common phrases here: (What a long journey since the application a year ago, Can't wait to get out of this bitter cold, Hard to believe that I will be living somewhere else for three months). Actually the last one is true. I have lived in no less than 22 different homes since age 18 and three different states....visited many, many countries for 1-3 weeks.... but never LIVED outside the country. Much less a city of a million people! Where I grew up there was one stop light about six miles from my house. The nearest movie theater was a 45 minute drive to the next state. I spent many a summer working on a farm and relaxing on (top of) our road in front of our house (couldn't be seen from the windows of the house), it was so rare for a car to drive by.
Now I am going to a large place site unseen. I can't help but remember the time my good friend Candace and I spent a long weekend in NY. I had been accepted into graduate school with a fantastic scholarship. Unfortunately New York City was downright scary compared to the little hamlet of Holland Township. No matter, I went on to Lehigh University instead and had the fortune of taking a class with Hannah Stewart-Gambino before she went on leave. There are many others to thank in this blog, but it is thanks to her "Politics of Latin America" class that I first read Paulo Freire and studied liberation theology. It is that work that has informed my professional work as an educator. Everyone, in my humble opinion, should read Pedagogy of the Oppressed (http://tinyurl.com/nswfw6t).
Back to the matter at hand, my upcoming trip. I was awarded a Fulbright Award for Distinguished Teaching and will be traveling to Mérida, Mexico for three months. While in Mérida, I will study at the state university, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Uady), specifically at the Ciencias Antropológicas Campus. While taking classes and studying Spanish I will be working with professors from UADY global and visiting high schools and learning more about the Mexican education system. This information is particularly valuable as it is not well documented and easily determined (in English). It is my hope that by visiting the escuelas secundarias first hand and meeting administrators, teachers, community members and of course speaking directly with students that I will be able to paint a more complete picture of public high school in Mexico. Essentially, secundaria is not compulsory after age 15 and I want to understand this part of the system better and perhaps uncover the reasons why some students continue and others do not. There are a couple of other interesting facts to explore while I am there such as the very large indigenous Mayan population in Yucatan and how they have been successfully (or unsuccessfully ) integrated in education. And how the NCLB style legislation has fared in Mexico after the US has just passed the ECAA act in place of it. So many thoughts about race, class, and teaching in general to explore!
In closing, I plan to take this valuable knowledge back to my own district and use it to inform practices and programs to retain students that are new to our district. This information will also assist with our current goal to address the achievement gap...a gap that is wider than ever and impacts new immigrants, second generation immigrants and African American who have lived in the district for decades. I will introduce you to my district another day, but one mantra that I have is "if it can be done anywhere, it can be done here" as PPS is a wealthy community filled with endless possibilities.
¡Nos vemos más tarde! La próxima sesión: Fiesta de Andrea
Now I am going to a large place site unseen. I can't help but remember the time my good friend Candace and I spent a long weekend in NY. I had been accepted into graduate school with a fantastic scholarship. Unfortunately New York City was downright scary compared to the little hamlet of Holland Township. No matter, I went on to Lehigh University instead and had the fortune of taking a class with Hannah Stewart-Gambino before she went on leave. There are many others to thank in this blog, but it is thanks to her "Politics of Latin America" class that I first read Paulo Freire and studied liberation theology. It is that work that has informed my professional work as an educator. Everyone, in my humble opinion, should read Pedagogy of the Oppressed (http://tinyurl.com/nswfw6t).
Back to the matter at hand, my upcoming trip. I was awarded a Fulbright Award for Distinguished Teaching and will be traveling to Mérida, Mexico for three months. While in Mérida, I will study at the state university, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (Uady), specifically at the Ciencias Antropológicas Campus. While taking classes and studying Spanish I will be working with professors from UADY global and visiting high schools and learning more about the Mexican education system. This information is particularly valuable as it is not well documented and easily determined (in English). It is my hope that by visiting the escuelas secundarias first hand and meeting administrators, teachers, community members and of course speaking directly with students that I will be able to paint a more complete picture of public high school in Mexico. Essentially, secundaria is not compulsory after age 15 and I want to understand this part of the system better and perhaps uncover the reasons why some students continue and others do not. There are a couple of other interesting facts to explore while I am there such as the very large indigenous Mayan population in Yucatan and how they have been successfully (or unsuccessfully ) integrated in education. And how the NCLB style legislation has fared in Mexico after the US has just passed the ECAA act in place of it. So many thoughts about race, class, and teaching in general to explore!
In closing, I plan to take this valuable knowledge back to my own district and use it to inform practices and programs to retain students that are new to our district. This information will also assist with our current goal to address the achievement gap...a gap that is wider than ever and impacts new immigrants, second generation immigrants and African American who have lived in the district for decades. I will introduce you to my district another day, but one mantra that I have is "if it can be done anywhere, it can be done here" as PPS is a wealthy community filled with endless possibilities.
¡Nos vemos más tarde! La próxima sesión: Fiesta de Andrea