After three full days at Colegio Roosevelt, I am getting to know the students better (and remember everyone’s name). Seeing what certain students excel in and what others need to improve in, as well as how Mr. Riley uses these components to sustain an effective and cooperative environment, has allowed me to reflect on what I have learned at Marquette and what I have seen in other classrooms in the past. Taking into account what I have been seeing, doing, teaching, and learning throughout the day at Colegio Roosevelt will allow me to look back once we leave and compare the school to other schools in Peru as well as schools in the United States.
Throughout each school day, I have noticed a number of things that Mr. Riley does that I really like and hope to incorporate into my own classroom someday. One of the first things he showed me is his Reasons Why folder, where he keeps everything his students have given him. He explained that anytime he is annoyed or frustrated throughout the day, he looks in the folder and is reminded of all the reasons he loves being a teacher.
When the students are talking or presenting, Mr. Riley has taught them to make sure the other students are paying attention before and during talking. Using this “teacher method,” the students call out names of children who are talking or doing something else they shouldn’t be doing. This is definitely a strategy I plan on adopting as it teaches students to pay attention to their audience and hold power of a group. When observing this, I made a connection to the discussion we had in seminar on Tuesday about voice in education. Giving students at every age a chance to express themselves and what they are passionate about allows them to be confident and maintains a positive, compelling environment. Mr. Riley’s students also have time each Wednesday to present about anything they choose to, which they call Passion Projects. This can be anything from dance, to show-and-tell, to demonstration/how-to. This Wednesday, a student showed his collection of key chains and explained that he gets one from every place he travels. Another student discussed scuba diving and the dangers it includes, as well as what makes it exciting. It’s wonderful to see children passionate about something and sharing that excitement with the group.
We also discussed the terms “diversity” and “inclusion” in seminar and how the two work together. We pointed out that diversity, a term that sometimes is misused in situations, typically has a positive connotation, but is actually a pretty broad, neutral word. We often use diversity to describe majority to minority ratios in a community, but what is important is the connections and relationships within that community. We can use the terms “inclusion” and “exclusion” to exemplify this. For example, schools may be described as diverse, but what does that mean when it comes to the relationships they have between students and between students and teachers? From a teacher’s point of view, we must understand the diversity in the classroom and the school as a whole and learn to embrace it and use it in a positive way that will make a difference. In seminar we also discussed the work of Maxine Greene and her reviewer Barbara Thayer-Bacon. Thayer-Bacon wrote, “Greene does not seek to resolve differences, she seeks to awaken them.”