In an earlier post I “introduced” Traci & Katherine, the two St. Ambrose student teachers who are working at the CEDEI School. Every week I ask my students teachers to take time to reflect on their experience. This week I asked them to put their thoughts to paper, and write a blog post to give each of you a feeling for what they are experiencing. Below are their thoughts to date. We have talked extensively about their experience, and all agree that the observations included in this posting are the result of only two weeks of work at the school. It will be interesting to see if their is an evolution in their thinking as time goes on.
Dr. R.
Katherine and I have been at the school participating and observing for two weeks now. What we have seen is interesting, and really makes a person think about how things work in a school. There is no right or wrong way to run a school, but in our opinion, this school could definitely function more efficiently. There are two teams of teachers. The National team, who are people born in Ecuador and speak exclusively in Spanish with the students. Many of these teachers have been at the school for several years. The International teachers change every year for the most part, and they speak English with the students. The National teachers are in charge of their own classroom and the International teachers come and go with their different subjects. On average, the students spend more time with an English speaking teacher than with a native Spanish speaking teacher. This would be all well and good except it is our belief that the students aren’t getting the quality of information and education they could be getting if true co-teaching was going on where both teachers are in the room at all times reinforcing the other teacher in the other language. Two years ago when we were down at this school, there was one International and National teacher per classroom. This co-teaching was happening. Not perfectly, but the students seemed to be more comfortable with their learning and were actually learning. I believe now that the students are sent through so much confusion with changing schedules and inconsistencies that the information that teachers are trying to present them is lost in translation. Katherine works with a third grade group. Two years ago, we visited a third grade classroom and we could easily sit down and have a conversation in English with these students and everything would be understood. Now in her classroom, this isn’t possible with most of the students.
The set-up of this situation is completely different than in the States. The States has more of a consistent schedule that is more disciplined and structured. That is lacking here in Ecuador. There is a ‘Principal’ at the school but half the time she isn’t in her office and no one knows where she can be located. She also doesn’t seem to help bring the two teams together. I realize that changing the International teachers annually is hard, but there doesn’t seem to be any effort made to help bring the teachers together. Everything is done separately. From our experiences in the schools in the States, the principals are everywhere in the school and are available to help out with a discipline problem. If they aren’t in their office, someone knows where they are and it won’t be long before they return to help sort out the problem.
Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy being at the school and the students are great. The lack of structure is taking some getting used to. It does make you realize how nice organization is. This school is one that will definitely help me with management: Management of classrooms, management of materials, and managing the students.
Traci E.
Traci makes some very valid points. This school is not like any of the schools I have been in the States or any of the typical schools in Ecuador, which tend to be more like parochial schools in the States. This school was specifically set up as a loose structure facility. When you look into a classroom, you see what seems to be chaos, but when looking closer, you will see that the students are doing what they are supposed to be doing. In the class that I am teaching (3rd grade) is an example of this theory. It is not a perfect theory, the theory of method to the madness. One of its flaws is that the teacher has to pay extra attention to what the students are doing because it may seem that they are working when they are actually playing around and not staying on task.
One of the things that I have noticed is that the teachers do not have extensions or a plan ‘B’ for when the students are finished with their work. The students instead, get out games and play, rough house, or play soccer inside the classroom. This can be very distracting to the students who are still working. Most teachers in the States would never start a class with only one thing to do that day, they are taught to over plan for the lesson because you will always have the students who finish early, and sometimes the students surprise you and are able to finish the activity quickly.
I am in an interesting situation. Like Traci said, I am in a classroom, and if you also noticed, only the National teachers have a classroom, so that means that I am working with a National teacher. I am not sure if I am part of the National team or part of the International team. I feel some alliance with my National teacher, but I relate to the International teachers because we have similar backgrounds. The fact that I feel that I have to choose between the alliances of the teams is a problem in and of itself. I do not believe that I should have to choose which team to work with; I believe that I should feel free to be with both teams.
Another part of my situation that most student teachers do not have to deal with is language. My teacher is a native Spanish speaker and I am a native English speaker. She knows enough English to get by and I know enough Spanish to get by. We end up speaking in three languages to each other, Spanish, English, and Spanglish. Most of the time, if I start talking to her in Spanish, she will answer me in English and if I speak in English, she answers in Spanish.
I also have the ability to speak to the students in both Spanish and English. Usually people that are native English speakers are only to speak in English to the students. Since I am with a National teacher, I feel that I have more freedom and can speak to the students in Spanish to help them understand the concept. Traci has a different situation because she works with all grade levels and she is with an International teacher, which means that she can only speak English. Which is good for the students, but the younger students (kindergarten) do not understand any English yet and so they are not learning the subject material they need because they cannot understand what is being asked of them.
This theory of this school is a good theory, but it needs to be implemented in a different way. I am okay with students having more freedom to move around to do work, and being flexible, but at some point it hinders the students’ ability to learn.
Katherine S.
NOTE: What we have observed is only from a two-week period. We learn that nothing is perfect and every situation has its flaws. This is a learning experience for the both of us; learning what to do and what not to do in a classroom.
