That is a line from the school song, which I often have stuck in my head because it makes a weekly appearance at school sing on Fridays. The song is in a mix of Spanish and English, with tons of great lines like “Look all around, if you can’t find me then look up here, get me out of this tree!” and the above, which means “How lucky I am to be able to learn here!” - all of which totally define the culture of this school. I definitely have my criticisms of the school (good old Swat teaching me to be critical of everything), but I’m a huge supporter of the school’s underlying values and traditions, which I’ll get into later.
So far, I’ve really been enjoying learning about and becoming a part of the really strong community that is this school. Again, I feel like I’m repeating myself in every update I give: I’m constantly feeling more and more comfortable and in place, first with Spanish, then with being on my own, with my family, and in Costa Rica in general. But I will say it again, because it continues to be true and, after a month and then some with my class, I’m now able to add my time at the CEC to my list of new normalcies (if that’s even a real word?).
If I were to write this blog post last week, I would talk a lot about how I’m slowly gaining responsibilities and gradually feeling more and more comfortable working with students in small groups, trying to pick up on and address the different learning stages and styles of my students. How I’m still really hesitant to do things in front of the whole class, because that is such an intimidating idea- to be largely in charge of the learning and development of fifteen kids? Talk about responsibility!
But, this week took some unexpected turns. As I was getting ready for school on Monday morning, I got a call from Jesse, the school director. Beverly had been sick all weekend- would I be okay taking lead of the class? (The school doesn’t have a budget or the resources for substitute teachers, so a teacher absence often causes lots of flip flopping of job responsibilities.) “Umm… I guess so?” was my response. This was surely a change from my as-of-then role in the classroom, where the most I did was work with small groups and lead a read aloud or two. It was actually kind of ironic, because the Friday before, Beverly and I had a conversation about how I could establish myself as more of an authority figure in the classroom- like gradually taking over morning meeting. Now, here I am, fumbling to play lead teacher of the class (I guess immersion is the best way to learn…?)
Let me just say, I was nervous heading to school on the bus that morning. I’ve been thinking recently a bit about how it’s kind of funny that I’ve wanted to be a teacher for basically my whole life, when I really dislike being in front of crowds and most forms of public presentation. But anyway, thankfully Jesse was able to switch around his schedule and be with me in class for most of the day on Monday. That put me a bit more at ease with the classroom/behavior management aspect of teaching, which is something I haven’t dealt with very much until this week.
I suppose day went pretty smoothly, considering that it poured all day so all the energy the kids usually expend during their hour plus of recess remained pent up in the classroom. On top of that, they were definitely testing the waters to see what they could get away with having me in charge of the class. I ended the day exhausted and really doubting whether or not teaching is what I want to pursue… which didn’t make me feel too good, since this has been my dream job ever since I was old enough to conceive of one. To be honest, these doubts have been in the back of my mind the whole month I’ve been at the school. I’ve spent so much time in my classes at Swarthmore constructing my idea of my ideal classroom and teacher—and my time here has been proving to me just how hard it is to put those ideals into practice. I’ve been countering my doubts, though, by telling myself to stay patient- nobody walks into teaching and works miracles. It takes a LOT of time- struggles, failures, good and bad days.
Thankfully, I’ve already been able to see loads of improvement! It turns out Beverly would be sick for the whole week. Since Jesse had to get back to his regular job at the school, I was left the rest of the week actually in charge. My nerves resided with each day. I won’t give a full recap of it all, because that would take forevaaaa, but I will point out some things:
But now, aside from these great, incredibly practical experiences I’m getting here, I’ll tell you a little bit about the school itself.
The type of education the kids receive here is so along the lines of what I imagine and want education to be everywhere. Teachers have seemingly endless flexibility with what they do, enabling them to make sure it is accessible to all the different learning styles of each student. So much of the learning is based on student learning paces and hands-on, creative activities. For Leap Day, for example, Beverly and I were able to take the whole day to plan activities that weren't necessarily in line with the current point in the curriculum, but that taught about the day and also was a celebration. Also, for Ana Yeris' birthday, her mom brought in arroz con pollo, juice, cake, and goodie bags. She came during writing workshop, but we stopped class and had a birthday celebration. Afterwards, we still had thirty minutes before recess was supposed to start, but instead of trying to squeeze in the rest of the writing lesson, we were able to let them have extra recess time- what they really needed after getting hopped up on sugar and birthday excitement.
The underlying beliefs of the school enable these types of serendipitous things to happen all the time. The CEC’s three main objectives are:
But, encompassed in the goodness of this unique school culture also are some things that make me a little uneasy:
There is a ridiculously high rate of teacher turnover at this school. Next year, for instance, about half of the entire school staff (faculty and administration) will change. The majority of the staff is foreign- most come to work at the school only for a few years, then return back to the States to find a more permanent job. Or, some people come with the intention of staying longer, but it just turns out to be unfeasibly financially (the school runs entirely on donations and gives out a ton of student scholarships, so staff salaries are very low). On top of that, volunteers and interns are constantly coming and going- for a week to a semester at a time. One of my biggest apprehensions going into this internship was the fact that I was joining this culture of inconsistency.
Nobody I’ve met or read in the world of education really thinks high turnover is a good thing. It makes developing a strong and stable school culture pretty hard, since the people composing it are changing every year or two. How does this impact the cohesion of a teaching and administrative group? From what I’ve seen here, there seems to be a really clear divide between the foreign teachers and the local teachers (many of whom who have been here for five to ten years). Whether this is directly attributable to the inconsistency of the foreign staff from year to year, I can’t say. I’m sure language differences have a lot to do with it as well, as many of the foreign teachers come here with no Spanish.
Also, high turnover can bring a lot of trial and error- as soon as a teacher or administrator is getting the hang of the job in this unique context, they are being replaced by someone else and the process has to begin again. How does this impact the quality of the education the students receive? Also, how does this forever coming and going of people impact their image of schooling? It’s something they’re expected to stick with through all the grades, yet they see their educators doing just the opposite.
I had a conversation with Beverly about this, where she pointed out a really interesting thing about the turnover. While she doesn’t think it’s a good thing, it could have one major benefit: the labels of “good class”/”bad class”/”hard worker”/”trouble-maker” that are so often assigned to and limit the potential of classes and individual students won’t necessarily get passed on from year to year. As new teachers come in, they accept their class with no predeterminations about how they are. Beverly gave me the example of how a class that years ago was considered to be the worst class at the school is now seen as one of the hardest-working and most well-behaved. Students mesh better with some teacher personalities and the turnover allows for ever-changing student-teacher relationships and “wiping of the slate” of student labeling. So, it might not be entirely bad. Plus, I think every school has its weaknesses, after all!
Despite these criticisms, I am still very thankful to be having all of these experiences here. I just can't help but thinking about how happy it is to be here- at the CEC and in Monteverde in general. I feel like I'm constantly living in a state of disbelief that this is my life right now, but also at the same time a sense that this is totally normal and natural. Other than missing my family and friends, this place has everything I'm looking for-- nature, hiking, walking, the feria, calm, free time, school, kids, and if I get my act together- doing ceramics with some local artists! Plus, how great is it that I’m getting so much practical teaching experience?!
Anyway, I will stop talking now. Haha thanks if you made it all the way through this novel! Hope everyone is well! <3
So far, I’ve really been enjoying learning about and becoming a part of the really strong community that is this school. Again, I feel like I’m repeating myself in every update I give: I’m constantly feeling more and more comfortable and in place, first with Spanish, then with being on my own, with my family, and in Costa Rica in general. But I will say it again, because it continues to be true and, after a month and then some with my class, I’m now able to add my time at the CEC to my list of new normalcies (if that’s even a real word?).
If I were to write this blog post last week, I would talk a lot about how I’m slowly gaining responsibilities and gradually feeling more and more comfortable working with students in small groups, trying to pick up on and address the different learning stages and styles of my students. How I’m still really hesitant to do things in front of the whole class, because that is such an intimidating idea- to be largely in charge of the learning and development of fifteen kids? Talk about responsibility!
But, this week took some unexpected turns. As I was getting ready for school on Monday morning, I got a call from Jesse, the school director. Beverly had been sick all weekend- would I be okay taking lead of the class? (The school doesn’t have a budget or the resources for substitute teachers, so a teacher absence often causes lots of flip flopping of job responsibilities.) “Umm… I guess so?” was my response. This was surely a change from my as-of-then role in the classroom, where the most I did was work with small groups and lead a read aloud or two. It was actually kind of ironic, because the Friday before, Beverly and I had a conversation about how I could establish myself as more of an authority figure in the classroom- like gradually taking over morning meeting. Now, here I am, fumbling to play lead teacher of the class (I guess immersion is the best way to learn…?)
Let me just say, I was nervous heading to school on the bus that morning. I’ve been thinking recently a bit about how it’s kind of funny that I’ve wanted to be a teacher for basically my whole life, when I really dislike being in front of crowds and most forms of public presentation. But anyway, thankfully Jesse was able to switch around his schedule and be with me in class for most of the day on Monday. That put me a bit more at ease with the classroom/behavior management aspect of teaching, which is something I haven’t dealt with very much until this week.
I suppose day went pretty smoothly, considering that it poured all day so all the energy the kids usually expend during their hour plus of recess remained pent up in the classroom. On top of that, they were definitely testing the waters to see what they could get away with having me in charge of the class. I ended the day exhausted and really doubting whether or not teaching is what I want to pursue… which didn’t make me feel too good, since this has been my dream job ever since I was old enough to conceive of one. To be honest, these doubts have been in the back of my mind the whole month I’ve been at the school. I’ve spent so much time in my classes at Swarthmore constructing my idea of my ideal classroom and teacher—and my time here has been proving to me just how hard it is to put those ideals into practice. I’ve been countering my doubts, though, by telling myself to stay patient- nobody walks into teaching and works miracles. It takes a LOT of time- struggles, failures, good and bad days.
Thankfully, I’ve already been able to see loads of improvement! It turns out Beverly would be sick for the whole week. Since Jesse had to get back to his regular job at the school, I was left the rest of the week actually in charge. My nerves resided with each day. I won’t give a full recap of it all, because that would take forevaaaa, but I will point out some things:
- I have been learning so much about flexibility and doing things on the fly, something I don’t consider myself especially skilled at, especially when it includes some form of public presentation. It a lot of fun to see where unplanned class discussions can go- I’m always totally blown away by all the interesting things these students have to say!
- It’s amazing how supportive some students are and how some of them are able to realize and acknowledge the fact that this is very new and difficult for me. I’ve gotten a bunch of drawings and notes saying things like “You are doing so great on your own!” (actually: “Yuo do grate ahlon!”) and offers to help me get the class to be quiet.
- Kids really see their teachers as having all the solutions- to a tricky math problem, to social problems at recess (“He wouldn’t play in the tree with me!”), to stomach/tooth/anything aches. It’s such a multi-faceted role as a sharer of knowledge, listener, mother, nurse, cheerleader, and (my least favorite part) disciplinarian.
- There’s something really fulfilling about finishing a day of teaching. I can’t put my finger on any specific part that makes it feel this way, but I know that, regardless of how frustrating or tiring it may be, it makes me really happy. That’s got to mean something for my potential future as a teacher, right? It’s sure done a lot to help me ease my doubts as to whether my whole life vision is totally off!
But now, aside from these great, incredibly practical experiences I’m getting here, I’ll tell you a little bit about the school itself.
The type of education the kids receive here is so along the lines of what I imagine and want education to be everywhere. Teachers have seemingly endless flexibility with what they do, enabling them to make sure it is accessible to all the different learning styles of each student. So much of the learning is based on student learning paces and hands-on, creative activities. For Leap Day, for example, Beverly and I were able to take the whole day to plan activities that weren't necessarily in line with the current point in the curriculum, but that taught about the day and also was a celebration. Also, for Ana Yeris' birthday, her mom brought in arroz con pollo, juice, cake, and goodie bags. She came during writing workshop, but we stopped class and had a birthday celebration. Afterwards, we still had thirty minutes before recess was supposed to start, but instead of trying to squeeze in the rest of the writing lesson, we were able to let them have extra recess time- what they really needed after getting hopped up on sugar and birthday excitement.
The underlying beliefs of the school enable these types of serendipitous things to happen all the time. The CEC’s three main objectives are:
- “To discover and address the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of each child in order to stimulate their creativity, natural love for learning, and sense of wonder about the world around them.
- To provide a strong interdisciplinary curriculum that incorporates environmental education in every way possible.
- To inspire and educate students to be caring, develop a strong sense of community and take an active interest in conservation and sustainability with a desire to contribute from local to global levels.”
But, encompassed in the goodness of this unique school culture also are some things that make me a little uneasy:
There is a ridiculously high rate of teacher turnover at this school. Next year, for instance, about half of the entire school staff (faculty and administration) will change. The majority of the staff is foreign- most come to work at the school only for a few years, then return back to the States to find a more permanent job. Or, some people come with the intention of staying longer, but it just turns out to be unfeasibly financially (the school runs entirely on donations and gives out a ton of student scholarships, so staff salaries are very low). On top of that, volunteers and interns are constantly coming and going- for a week to a semester at a time. One of my biggest apprehensions going into this internship was the fact that I was joining this culture of inconsistency.
Nobody I’ve met or read in the world of education really thinks high turnover is a good thing. It makes developing a strong and stable school culture pretty hard, since the people composing it are changing every year or two. How does this impact the cohesion of a teaching and administrative group? From what I’ve seen here, there seems to be a really clear divide between the foreign teachers and the local teachers (many of whom who have been here for five to ten years). Whether this is directly attributable to the inconsistency of the foreign staff from year to year, I can’t say. I’m sure language differences have a lot to do with it as well, as many of the foreign teachers come here with no Spanish.
Also, high turnover can bring a lot of trial and error- as soon as a teacher or administrator is getting the hang of the job in this unique context, they are being replaced by someone else and the process has to begin again. How does this impact the quality of the education the students receive? Also, how does this forever coming and going of people impact their image of schooling? It’s something they’re expected to stick with through all the grades, yet they see their educators doing just the opposite.
I had a conversation with Beverly about this, where she pointed out a really interesting thing about the turnover. While she doesn’t think it’s a good thing, it could have one major benefit: the labels of “good class”/”bad class”/”hard worker”/”trouble-maker” that are so often assigned to and limit the potential of classes and individual students won’t necessarily get passed on from year to year. As new teachers come in, they accept their class with no predeterminations about how they are. Beverly gave me the example of how a class that years ago was considered to be the worst class at the school is now seen as one of the hardest-working and most well-behaved. Students mesh better with some teacher personalities and the turnover allows for ever-changing student-teacher relationships and “wiping of the slate” of student labeling. So, it might not be entirely bad. Plus, I think every school has its weaknesses, after all!
Despite these criticisms, I am still very thankful to be having all of these experiences here. I just can't help but thinking about how happy it is to be here- at the CEC and in Monteverde in general. I feel like I'm constantly living in a state of disbelief that this is my life right now, but also at the same time a sense that this is totally normal and natural. Other than missing my family and friends, this place has everything I'm looking for-- nature, hiking, walking, the feria, calm, free time, school, kids, and if I get my act together- doing ceramics with some local artists! Plus, how great is it that I’m getting so much practical teaching experience?!
Anyway, I will stop talking now. Haha thanks if you made it all the way through this novel! Hope everyone is well! <3
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