Artemis, I’ve A Feeling We’re Not At Castilleja Anymore
Confession time: I have not yet read "Conversations With Great Teachers" by Bill Smoot.
However, because of the time I have spent in Ecuador studying the flaws in education and various pedagogy I know that it will be one of the first things I do upon returning to the States.
I also know that I still have two more months before I can discuss the Ecuadorian education system with Mr. Smoot and Artemis, or any of my Castilleja teachers as a matter of fact, so here is some of what I've found to be so different between Castilleja and Colegio Municipal:
In Thinking Beyond Borders Seminars we've been reading and discussing "Pedagogy of The Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and "Whatever It Takes" by Paul Tough. So far we've talked about what an opressive education looks like, how education shapes us, and the role of teachers in the classroom. We've talked about teaching and being student-centered vs. teacher-centered and the differences between receiving knowledge and really understanding it and between education and the educational system, to give you a glimpse into our seminar discussions.
Recently, we asked ourselves how our own educational experiences have shaped how we teach English in the classroom. I said that I would have liked to include discussion and more interactive learning techniques (like those instilled in me at Casti) but that here we can't do that.
We are not here to "save" them or pull a white savior complex over their eyes. We are not here to "fix" whatever flaws we might find. That isn't what I wanted to do anyway. We are here to assist in teaching English and to learn from the experience and from the students themselves (as the student-teacher and teacher-student exchange should be). But even that is hard. We have to play the game.
We teach to the books. Not that teaching to the books is necessarily a bad thing, but here students treat their textbooks and teachers as word of god. They do not question what they have learned, and why should they? But they have not necessarily learned either. Their pursuit of knowledge does not venture beyond the books. I've noticed this in a few places.
It all starts in class. Teachers ask students merely to copy down what is written on the board. Not to understand it, just copy. If it's english class, just copy down the chart of regular and irregular verbs, if it's math just copy down the table. When it comes around to actually apply the knowledge, the students can't. They don't know why whatever is written in their pages works. Never at any point during my Castilleja experience was I ever asked to just memorize without understanding the knowledge first.
Take for example the English classes we teach. The students are so much farther behind than where they should be in the book and this is because they have only ever copied it down. A few of us were teaching a 2nd Level (approximately Sophomore) class where we were supposedly "reviewing" the present progressive and past participle tenses. Not only could the students not answer the questions in the tenses we were "reviewing" when asked again in simple present or simple preterite, they could not understand. It's as if the educational system here just pushes you along. It doesn't matter if you've learned it, so long as you've done the work.
One evening Madison and I were helping our homestay sister with her math homework. (It was logarithms) There were a number of things she couldn't understand or fully complete, like even separating a variable, but that isn't what surprised me. She had a number of homework problems that asked for the output of a calculator. It didn't require any extra thought, computation, or logic. She was only being asked to output something that could be written in one of her copied down tables.
The teachers that we work with don't seem to think these are problems, in fact it doesn't even matter what is written on the page when you turn homework in. But if you have a drop of water? Minus two points.
Something that I think plays into this ability to really learn and comprehend and I know Castilleja has been looking at for many years is how scheduling plays into it all.
At Castilleja there were seven periods. Typically every one was filled until Junior and Senior Year. The day started at 8 and finished around 3 with breaks and lunch throughout the day. Each period lasted (in a regular) 50 or 55 minutes and a long (depending on the year) was 75 minutes or 2 hours.
Imagine that you are a student in high school in Ecuador. Your school days last from 7 to 1 with only one break in the middle of it all. Your classes are always 40 minutes long, which personally I feel isn't quite long enough to learn the necessary material. To top it all off, over the course of your 5-day schoolweek you will take classes in 15 subjects:
-Literature
-Advanced Verbal
-Math
-Biology
-Physics
-Chemistry (Yes, you take all three sciences every single year!)
-Philosophy
-History
-English
-Physical Education
-Entrepreneurship
-English
I've counted it out on the schedule, there are 15 classes. I just can't remember them all nor do I have the schedule in front of me at the moment.
Also, what I've found is how unmotivated the kids are to learn. Specifically English. But what I understand is that most of these kids will never venture outside Ecuador and will never need to use English. So why bother learning it?
But I've also been told by my peers that what I'm witnessing is far more common in every other school in the world. They've been to private, public, charter, parochial, etc. What I'm witnessing may not necessarily be a lack of motivation but compared to Castilleja, anything is.
I don't know what to make of it all. From my readings to our discussions to what we observe and experience every day I don't know what to think of it or even what I could do to change it. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it need to be fixed? What are the problems that face education and the educational system back home?
What this does is it makes me want to learn more. Learn more about the successes and failures of education systems everywhere and their unique pedagogies.
It puts into perspective what my incredible seven years at Castilleja meant and why I will forever continue to value them.
However, because of the time I have spent in Ecuador studying the flaws in education and various pedagogy I know that it will be one of the first things I do upon returning to the States.
I also know that I still have two more months before I can discuss the Ecuadorian education system with Mr. Smoot and Artemis, or any of my Castilleja teachers as a matter of fact, so here is some of what I've found to be so different between Castilleja and Colegio Municipal:
In Thinking Beyond Borders Seminars we've been reading and discussing "Pedagogy of The Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and "Whatever It Takes" by Paul Tough. So far we've talked about what an opressive education looks like, how education shapes us, and the role of teachers in the classroom. We've talked about teaching and being student-centered vs. teacher-centered and the differences between receiving knowledge and really understanding it and between education and the educational system, to give you a glimpse into our seminar discussions.
Recently, we asked ourselves how our own educational experiences have shaped how we teach English in the classroom. I said that I would have liked to include discussion and more interactive learning techniques (like those instilled in me at Casti) but that here we can't do that.
We are not here to "save" them or pull a white savior complex over their eyes. We are not here to "fix" whatever flaws we might find. That isn't what I wanted to do anyway. We are here to assist in teaching English and to learn from the experience and from the students themselves (as the student-teacher and teacher-student exchange should be). But even that is hard. We have to play the game.
We teach to the books. Not that teaching to the books is necessarily a bad thing, but here students treat their textbooks and teachers as word of god. They do not question what they have learned, and why should they? But they have not necessarily learned either. Their pursuit of knowledge does not venture beyond the books. I've noticed this in a few places.
It all starts in class. Teachers ask students merely to copy down what is written on the board. Not to understand it, just copy. If it's english class, just copy down the chart of regular and irregular verbs, if it's math just copy down the table. When it comes around to actually apply the knowledge, the students can't. They don't know why whatever is written in their pages works. Never at any point during my Castilleja experience was I ever asked to just memorize without understanding the knowledge first.
Take for example the English classes we teach. The students are so much farther behind than where they should be in the book and this is because they have only ever copied it down. A few of us were teaching a 2nd Level (approximately Sophomore) class where we were supposedly "reviewing" the present progressive and past participle tenses. Not only could the students not answer the questions in the tenses we were "reviewing" when asked again in simple present or simple preterite, they could not understand. It's as if the educational system here just pushes you along. It doesn't matter if you've learned it, so long as you've done the work.
One evening Madison and I were helping our homestay sister with her math homework. (It was logarithms) There were a number of things she couldn't understand or fully complete, like even separating a variable, but that isn't what surprised me. She had a number of homework problems that asked for the output of a calculator. It didn't require any extra thought, computation, or logic. She was only being asked to output something that could be written in one of her copied down tables.
The teachers that we work with don't seem to think these are problems, in fact it doesn't even matter what is written on the page when you turn homework in. But if you have a drop of water? Minus two points.
Something that I think plays into this ability to really learn and comprehend and I know Castilleja has been looking at for many years is how scheduling plays into it all.
At Castilleja there were seven periods. Typically every one was filled until Junior and Senior Year. The day started at 8 and finished around 3 with breaks and lunch throughout the day. Each period lasted (in a regular) 50 or 55 minutes and a long (depending on the year) was 75 minutes or 2 hours.
Imagine that you are a student in high school in Ecuador. Your school days last from 7 to 1 with only one break in the middle of it all. Your classes are always 40 minutes long, which personally I feel isn't quite long enough to learn the necessary material. To top it all off, over the course of your 5-day schoolweek you will take classes in 15 subjects:
-Literature
-Advanced Verbal
-Math
-Biology
-Physics
-Chemistry (Yes, you take all three sciences every single year!)
-Philosophy
-History
-English
-Physical Education
-Entrepreneurship
-English
I've counted it out on the schedule, there are 15 classes. I just can't remember them all nor do I have the schedule in front of me at the moment.
Also, what I've found is how unmotivated the kids are to learn. Specifically English. But what I understand is that most of these kids will never venture outside Ecuador and will never need to use English. So why bother learning it?
But I've also been told by my peers that what I'm witnessing is far more common in every other school in the world. They've been to private, public, charter, parochial, etc. What I'm witnessing may not necessarily be a lack of motivation but compared to Castilleja, anything is.
I don't know what to make of it all. From my readings to our discussions to what we observe and experience every day I don't know what to think of it or even what I could do to change it. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it need to be fixed? What are the problems that face education and the educational system back home?
What this does is it makes me want to learn more. Learn more about the successes and failures of education systems everywhere and their unique pedagogies.
It puts into perspective what my incredible seven years at Castilleja meant and why I will forever continue to value them.
Hi Gracie,
ReplyDeleteIn Mexico many of the teachers in the public schools really do not speak English well and so have to teach? from a book only. Homework is very important but parents and teachers seem to leave it up to the kids whether they do it or not...so...
Your idea of supplementing the book learning with discussion is a very good one. It gives the kids a chance to talk the language w/o having to memorize parts of speech. Some will be ashamed to try. It may be that the teachers don't feel comfortable doing that because they don't speak English well enough.
But Grace, I would love to hear of your experiences outside of the school room and hospital room. What kind of experiences are you having in day to day life? Are you able to communicate with people? Are they friendly? Are they artistic? Have you bought any little momentos? What is the weather like?
Keep writing. I enjoy your thoughts.
Love,
Uncle Greg