About me
I believe that quality education must be owned by the student, the one being educated. They must be allowed to, and taught and motivated to take control of, to direct, and to make the the decisions that add meaning to their learning. I love traveling with students, and I have been fortunate to have participated in numerous school-based trips. Pictures and descriptions of many of my trips are provided below.
I believe students should regularly be provided the opportunity to assess themselves through self-reflection, and peer-to-peer sharing. These types of assessments I believe are more authentic and provide the learner the opportunity to grow, not just intellectually, but also socially, and personally as well.
One of the most rewarding teaching experiences I have been able to participate in was a school trip to Puerto Rico in in February 2011. With two other teachers, I supervised and lead a two-week social studies/language immersion trip for fifteen high-school students. We were hosted by a local Puerto Rican school called Nuestra Escuela, and were accompanied by their students throughout our travels. What impressed me the most was the willingness by both groups of students to break down and overcome the differences they had in order to find common ground with which to build friendly relationships and to learn from each other. I was also impressed with the effort many of our students exhibited in the use of and desire to improve their Spanish language use. I would be misleading if I were to say that swimming with sea turtles on a coral reef, night diving in a bioluminescent bay, or trekking through a lush tropical rain forest weren’t enjoyable, but the memories of doing these things with students caught in the awe of the moment, as well as the manner in which they carried themselves, are the ones which resonate the strongest with me today.
I believe students should regularly be provided the opportunity to assess themselves through self-reflection, and peer-to-peer sharing. These types of assessments I believe are more authentic and provide the learner the opportunity to grow, not just intellectually, but also socially, and personally as well.
One of the most rewarding teaching experiences I have been able to participate in was a school trip to Puerto Rico in in February 2011. With two other teachers, I supervised and lead a two-week social studies/language immersion trip for fifteen high-school students. We were hosted by a local Puerto Rican school called Nuestra Escuela, and were accompanied by their students throughout our travels. What impressed me the most was the willingness by both groups of students to break down and overcome the differences they had in order to find common ground with which to build friendly relationships and to learn from each other. I was also impressed with the effort many of our students exhibited in the use of and desire to improve their Spanish language use. I would be misleading if I were to say that swimming with sea turtles on a coral reef, night diving in a bioluminescent bay, or trekking through a lush tropical rain forest weren’t enjoyable, but the memories of doing these things with students caught in the awe of the moment, as well as the manner in which they carried themselves, are the ones which resonate the strongest with me today.