2023 Hawaii Fulbright Educator - Lauren Cummings of Sunset Beach Elementary It Takes a (Global) Village - Lauren's website about her IFE in Morocco. Two Oʻahu teachers travel to Morocco, Colombia to complete fellowship program - Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellowship program helps teachers foster global awareness within their schools, communities
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My classroom exchange was driven by my guiding question, "How do Colombian teachers promote and encourage student inquiry and to be problem solvers?" During my time in Colombia, I visited a total of eight schools. Unfortunately when we visited the majority of classes it was to introduce our self, presentation about our schools, and questions / answers with the students. Sometimes we would break into small group discussion and learn about the students' lives. While it was great to talk story, I rarely got to see a Colombian classroom in action. I did not get to truly observe my guiding question. What I did observe during my visit, Colombian students are graded on academics, behavior, and civics. A student can fail one section and still pass the class. Colombia is strong in humanities and social sciences, there is a government initiative to promote STEM. It seems there is a lack of training and funding to support STEM and it is up to the individual teachers on their own time and dime to make this happen. Many of the public schools' bathrooms did not have toilet paper, how are they suppose to have computers, internet conductivity, or just basic school supplies. When visiting private schools, not only were their campus larger and spacious, they had funding to support their students in STEM. Colegio La Fontant (Private School) had about 10-15 students per classroom (public school about 30 to a classroom). They had a Computer Lab, Makerspace Room, and clearly new buildings. Just like in the United States, there is a disparity between public and private schools. During our last day in Colombia, all the teachers returned and had a debrief of their Field Experience. We shared what evidence we observed of "How do Colombian teachers promote and encourage student inquiry and to be problem solvers?" (and similar guiding questions). It was mention, "To what extent can we draw conclusions that are not dangerous because we seen so little of the Colombian Education System." I personally do not feel I can truly answer my guiding question. What we did observe, students and teachers have a strong relationship and bond. I would see students hugging teachers and talking story with them. There is a trust between teacher and student. Do teachers in Colombia have a higher level of respect in the community than American teachers? We did visit a SENA (National Training Service / Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) School were students had computers and technology. During our visit they were creating a website and worked on coding. SENA students are part of vocational training programs for the Colombian labor force as a means to increase the competitiveness of Colombia's enterprises. It's a government initiative to develop education in Colombia and increase employment. There is a focus on agriculture, architecture, construction, electronics, electricity, mechanics, and technology. The selected SENA students were motivated and enjoyed being apart of this program. Follow up questions, how are students selected for SENA? What percent of the student population participant in SENA? I would of loved to visit more Colombian classrooms. It would of been great to seen Colombian Science and STEM lessons. I wish there was time built in to focus on one or two classes and to collaborate with a Colombian Science / STEM Teacher. I was unable to witness a Colombian Science / STEM lesson. I hope I am able to maintain the bond with my Fulbright peers and Colombian Teachers. I desire to link up my classroom with Colombian students and complete collaborative lessons. Colombia es pasion and a beautiful place, I yearn to return, but for now hasta luego y aloha
Principal Sara Beltran mission is to promote inclusion in the school environment (Facebook Diver Sos). Inclusion classrooms are not a guarantee in Colombian Schools, meaning special needs students are separated from the general student population. At her school, special need students are in normal classrooms, even having major roles in the Colombia Independence Day Ceremonies. Unfortunately there are limited resources and training to support these students, since they are one of 30 students in the classroom. One of the innovated ways to provide support is having parents act as one on one teacher aids for these students.
Another great example is Cafe de Sergio (IG @sergio_cafe1). Owned by parents of students from the school. They hired former students with special needs to provide them a job and show they can be a productive member of society. It was nice to visit Cafe de Sergio on a hot day with a cool drink, friendly hug, and a bright smile.
Cafe de Sergio video We got to observe a language art class at Institución Educativa Collegio Tecnico Francisco de Paula Santander. Compared to United States Schools, Colombian Schools are doing more with less. The profesora mention books are sparse. School and public libraries are limited and are not always easily accessible. Most Colombian students might be lucky to read one book a year in school. The L.A. profesora explain she will use her own money to buy her students books to read in class. She tries to get books her students want to read. The students I observed selected book topics from local gang violence, coming of age, to LGBTQ . The ending activity of their reading is to have a Literary Picnic. The students will bring food and share their books to their peers. Some students made puppets to large cardboard house to enhance their presentation. All students seemed extremely proud to share their book. I was impressed that all students were actively listening to each other and being respectful audience. Even though their where three groups of 10 students each, I did not see the profesora having to redirect any one in the group. Part of the IFE is to share cultural exchanges. The three teachers from Team Villavicencio got to teach a lesson to students of Francisco De Paula Santander. I wanted to share a hands-on STEM lesson with a Hawaiian Cultural theme. The students will create Ti Leaf Leis. I was unsure if Colombia has Ti Leaf or similar plants to work with. At the hotel, I noticed there were Red Ti Leaf plants, even though the leaves are smaller then the green leaves in Hawaii. Unfortunately, Ti Leaf Plants (Spanish - Banderilla) do not seem to be as common in Villavicencio as Hawaii. Most of the plants I saw were on private property and I required 60+ leaves to make the lei. My host teacher was determine to find a replacement. My lesson started with 30 10th grader students. They first watched a video (in English) on how to make the lei. Regrettably while the Colombian replacement leaf was massive, it was also brittle. I had to remind the students to be gentle (amable). Many of the leaves ripped, resulting in the students having to prepare another leaf and having to start all over again. While I am sure the class were getting frustrated, I appreciate their patients with me and my lesson. While I did not set these students up for success to make leis, the students were able to problem solve, team work, and create some beautiful creations. The conclusion of the lesson was to show how culture and STEM can be linked. The technique to create the Ti Leaf can be used to make rope. There are endless Engineering Design Challenge possibilities with this concept. Even though my Lei Making Lesson did not go according to plan, I hope the students still had fun
Francisco De Paula Santander Independencia de Colombia assembly
Below are Facebook posts from Francisco De Paula Santander about our visit
Francisco De Paula Santander Campus and Staff
Twenty teachers were selected to spend 2 weeks in Colombia has part of the Fulbright Teacher Exchange. We were later divided into 5 groups to travel to various locations around Colombia to complete our IFE. My group included, Victoria Cavanaugh 7th grade math teacher at the Florida Ruffin Ridley School, Massachusetts and Kara Lorenzana PreK-5th grade STEM Specialist at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy No. 3 in Los Angeles, California. We traveled 73 miles south of Bogotá to Villavicencio. There we spend a week with your host teacher 8th-11th grade science teacher Alexander Pardo and his host school Institución Educativa Collegio Tecnico Francisco de Paula Santander. Villavicencio is also called "La Puerta al Llano", or "The Gateway to the Plains", due to its location on the historical path from the Colombian interior to the vast savannas that lie between the Andes range and the Amazon rainforest. As part of learning about Villavicencio, we drove out to the country side and visited Tiuma Park. There we participated in a Cerrero Buggy Safari, Horseback Riding, and Tour the Wonderful Río del Cacique. The climax was rescuing a lost tourist via zip lining and rope bridges of Mision Delta. As part of the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms International Field Experience (IFE), we are tasked with creating a guiding question to direct our focus as we engage with the culture and education system of our host country, Colombia. My guided question - "How do Colombian teachers promote and encourage student inquiry and to be problem solvers? The first school during my 15 day Colombia visit as part of the IFE was the Colegio Aquileo Parra in Bogotá. The students and teachers are passionate about their school. Fun fact, most Colombian school buildings are used for both elementary and high school. High school is from 6:00 am - 12:00 pm, then the elementary students will use the same building from 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm. As community service, some high school students will assist in the elementary classes. One of the takeaways was making all feel welcome. There is a elementary student who is blind. Not only is she part of all school activities, she also presented to the Fulbright Teachers. As part of the presentation, one of her fellow peers is learning how to read and to write in braille (see example below). This show the strong bond each student has with each other and ensuring no one feels excluded. We are all different
"We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools." - Martin Luther King Jr.
Day one of Colombia and the International Field Experience is visiting the Computadores para Educar in Bogota.
Computadores para Educar is a National Government program that promotes educational innovation, through access, use and appropriation of technology in the country's educational centers. Likewise, through the environmental sustainability component they manage electronic waste and reuse it in educational robotics projects. Their Board of Directors is made up of the Ministries of Information and Communications Technologies, the Ministry of National Education, and the SENA. Their mission is to promote educational innovation with digital technologies, contributing to the well-being and sustainable development of society, promoting access and the generation of knowledge.
We got to tour their facilitates and learn how they turning e-waste into creativity by recovers computer parts and equipment to create Makerspace kits.
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