Related Questions:
How do Colombia's education goals differ from the United
States?
How are they similar?
Do teachers feel prepared to help all students reach those
goals?
How do teachers track students' progress?
How does the local community help the schools accomplish their
goals?
What are some hindrances to achieving the schools’ goals for
students?
During my time in Colombia, I found many opportunities to observe, ask, and focus on my essential question. The major goals I noticed were to bridge the achievement gap, to reach all populations of learners within the nation, to educate the "whole child," and the enhance bilingual education. Over the three weeks in various educational settings, a unified theme kept reemerging- the government is spending extra money to provide schools with the teachers and tools that they need to educate Colombia's children to competency and independence as thinkers with the skills to contribute to Colombian society in a positive way.
One of the schools that our team visited placed a big emphasis on business and entrepreneurship. The business teacher helped his students to develop business platforms which could them be used in the community. Specifically, one student developed an app and QR code readers that would lead users to cultural information about landmarks in the city. The plaques with the QR codes would be posted at different locations around the city. At another school, students took a business course where they were designing marketing materials for a fictional business. The students took their tasks seriously and were engaged with technology while designing.
Enhancing bilingual education was evident in each school visit, both public and private, and with the teacher interviews. Students were constantly reminded to speak in English, especially to us as school visitors. Some students were shy about communicating in English, but as our time extended, they became more and more comfortable. I especially loved visiting the Centro Colombo Americano Bogota. The students were learning about different types of music and had lots of questions about how to tell the different types apart, especially country and folk. Lucky for them (or maybe not!) I had all kinds of music on my phone to use as examples as we conversed in English. After the fun music conversion, we moved to more serious topics including why they wanted to learn English. Many of them responded that they wanted to pass their exit exams and earn scholarships to study abroad. Others were interested in perusing careers in business and acknowledged that having a good command of English would help them be more successful no matter what business they entered.
Closing the achievement gap looked different with each of our team's school visits. One of our teams visited a school where a whole class was dedicated towards test preparation. The teacher's job was to prepare students starting in 9th grade to pass the 11th grade exam. He had his own goals for his students outside of exam prep, but acknowledged that the 11th grade exam is a challenge students must face if they want to go to university. Another example of closing the achievement gap was again at Centro Colombo Americano. Outside of Bogota, there is a large area of indigenous Colombian people. Through a scholarship, the center chooses star students from that population to receive extra English instruction. Traditionally, this population of people have not had access to the same standard of education other students. This scholarship program is one way the government is trying to close those learning gaps.
During my time in Colombia, I found many opportunities to observe, ask, and focus on my essential question. The major goals I noticed were to bridge the achievement gap, to reach all populations of learners within the nation, to educate the "whole child," and the enhance bilingual education. Over the three weeks in various educational settings, a unified theme kept reemerging- the government is spending extra money to provide schools with the teachers and tools that they need to educate Colombia's children to competency and independence as thinkers with the skills to contribute to Colombian society in a positive way.
One of the schools that our team visited placed a big emphasis on business and entrepreneurship. The business teacher helped his students to develop business platforms which could them be used in the community. Specifically, one student developed an app and QR code readers that would lead users to cultural information about landmarks in the city. The plaques with the QR codes would be posted at different locations around the city. At another school, students took a business course where they were designing marketing materials for a fictional business. The students took their tasks seriously and were engaged with technology while designing.
Enhancing bilingual education was evident in each school visit, both public and private, and with the teacher interviews. Students were constantly reminded to speak in English, especially to us as school visitors. Some students were shy about communicating in English, but as our time extended, they became more and more comfortable. I especially loved visiting the Centro Colombo Americano Bogota. The students were learning about different types of music and had lots of questions about how to tell the different types apart, especially country and folk. Lucky for them (or maybe not!) I had all kinds of music on my phone to use as examples as we conversed in English. After the fun music conversion, we moved to more serious topics including why they wanted to learn English. Many of them responded that they wanted to pass their exit exams and earn scholarships to study abroad. Others were interested in perusing careers in business and acknowledged that having a good command of English would help them be more successful no matter what business they entered.
Closing the achievement gap looked different with each of our team's school visits. One of our teams visited a school where a whole class was dedicated towards test preparation. The teacher's job was to prepare students starting in 9th grade to pass the 11th grade exam. He had his own goals for his students outside of exam prep, but acknowledged that the 11th grade exam is a challenge students must face if they want to go to university. Another example of closing the achievement gap was again at Centro Colombo Americano. Outside of Bogota, there is a large area of indigenous Colombian people. Through a scholarship, the center chooses star students from that population to receive extra English instruction. Traditionally, this population of people have not had access to the same standard of education other students. This scholarship program is one way the government is trying to close those learning gaps.
One thing I found interesting at my host school, Aspean Gimnasio Cantillana, was how they worked to evaluate the "whole child." The students progress on their "report cards" not only included academic information, but evaluations on things like student interactions, friendship, caring for the school, and emotional indicators. The school had a guidance counselor assigned to each student and they met as needed to help with academic or emotional needs.
The system is not without its flaws. Many teachers I spoke with talked about inadequate teacher preparation for elementary teachers, bureaucratic issues, and government corruption. One of the frustrations I heard the most was that the government has a good plan to increase English language instruction, but fluent English teachers are not available. Sometimes, teachers who do not speak English are trust into English teaching positions and the classes are ineffective.
Overall, teachers in Colombia remind me a lot of teachers at home. They care about their kids and their learning. They want to provide engaging, developmentally appropriate instruction. They sometimes get frustrated by lack of resources and expectations they are not trained to meet. But they show up; they teach with passion; they get students excited about learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment