Esquela Numero Dos - Stella Maris School

This school is much larger than the other two we’ve visited. There are 1000 secondary students and 1200 primary students, divided into morning and afternoon 6-hour shifts. I assume that this is because of the physical space of the school, or perhaps to accomodate childcare or transportation needs.

This school had no big hoorah welcome celebration, but we had a very genuine, sweet visit. It was obvious that the focus here is on learning. We visited classrooms, and instruction didn’t take a break for us visitors. We were able to observe what true teaching and learning is like on a daily basis. The first classroom I visited was a high-school level English class. We were welcomed with gifts, then given short presentations by students (in English). Then, each of us were brought to the front of the classroom to interview us in English. The questions asked were:

1. What is your name?

2. Where are you from?

3. What is your favorite animal?

4. What is your favorite music?

5. What is your favorite Peruvian food?

The students obviously prepared their presentations and practiced thoroughly. None of them used notes; and their pronunciation was excellent. Agnes was able to teach her lesson, which was an introduction to her hometown of Oakland, California and school Fremont High School. She seamlessly presented in both English and Spanish with a powerpoint presentation to accompany her lesson. After presenting and passing out school swag, she even had hand-written letters (in English on one side and Spanish on the other) from her students, along with photos from their graduation. It was an excellent presentation, and students were interested and engaged.

Next, I visited a 4th grade classroom learning about writing letters. They brainstormed reasons to write a letter, to whom you might write letters, and types of writing included in letters. After taking notes, students used an organizer to plan for the letters that they will be writing. The organizer had them choose what type of writing they would choose (formal, information, informative), to whom they would write the letter, what they would say, and in what language it would be written. I’m excited to bring some of these photos back to my students to show them that planning before writing isn’t a “Ms. Strein thing,” but students around the world know the value of planning as well. Bribing and offering extra credit hasn’t worked well, so perhaps this method will get some more students to understand the value of planning before they write. There are two other take-aways that I took from this observation. The first is how engaged and interested the students were. The teacher’s pace was perfect. She checked for understanding, provided brief notes, and asked thought-provoking questions. Students both raised hands to answer and also shouted out answers. The second take-away was how she responded and redirected the one student that appeared to be on the Autism Spectrum. At first glance, I thought he was being excluded by sitting by himself in the back of the room, but upon further investigating, I saw that he was definitely included and expected to do the same work as the other students, but he was given some accommodations to help him be more successful. He frequently stood up and walked around the class, at one point he chose to kneel at his desk instead of stand, and when he became fidgety he was able to self-regulate how he chose. He kept up with the pace of work in spite of the many things that distracted him. At one point, he began to bother another student by hitting him with a pencil. At first, the student and teacher ignored the behavior, but as it became more aggressive, the teacher intervened. She was very calm yet direct and told him to sit down. He chose not to sit down, but he did keep his hands off the other student. I could tell by his body language (balled fists, slight rocking, a few growl noises) that he was still upset by whatever caused the altercation, but was working hard to self-regulate. Once he was feeling more calm, he sat back down and caught up with the rest of the lesson. I was impressed by the teacher’s response and how she didn’t allow his behavior to disrupt or stop the flow of learning. Without having special ed resources or training, she handled this perfectly, in my professional opinion.

After the class observations, we returned to the English classroom with some teachers and the administration of the school. Here we had the formal presentations thanking one another for this cultural and educational exchange. Next, two groups of students performed the traditional Maranara folk dance. Even though we’ve seen this on 3 or 4 other occasions, it never gets old. It’s such a beautiful style of dance - both romantic, yet classy, and sometimes coy. It is typically danced barefoot, though it appears as if the dancers are floating. After some tea and snacks, Sara presented to the group on accommodations and modifications for students who struggle. This was such an important topic to share with our Peruvian colleagues because we have witnessed the lack of training and resources on this issue. All the teachers and schools that we’ve visited thus far have a strong desire to include and help their special needs students be successful, so they were very attentive and appreciative of this presentation. Bravo, Sara!

We were told on the first day of this trip that the “F” in IFE (International Field Experience) also stands for flexibility (and food). Our itinerary has changed twice already because of a national holiday (Indigenous People’s Day), a transportation strike, and now another national holiday (Fisherman’s Day). So, when we arrived back on the bus we were informed of the changes to the rest of the week. We will still be able to do all that was planned, but the timing and plan of events had to be shifted around. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with Fulbright alumni teachers from Peru and collaborating with them on educational exchanges, then in the afternoon we will be visiting our fourth school, where I will be presenting. We’re all looking forward to a casual and not-so-early morning after another long, but meaningful day today.