Global Education

What does it mean to learn? From our very first days we have been absorbing the world around us. Our families, friends and communities were the first teachers in our lives. Sharing their love. Showing us the big wide wild world. And I think very few of us would say that our learning and growing ever ends.

And my learning comes out when I struggle through a class-grasping for a way to explain a concept to my students. Or I learn to take a deep breath – people show up when I need them. A long day and my host mom has guava juice waiting for me. A lesson I’m anxious about goes extremely well because of the graciousness of my amazing students. I share in the joys of those around me and continue to constantly learn.

Today (March 27) in the United States is “Education and Sharing Day”. I could continue to tell you about my experiences here in Comoros but in the spirit of “sharing” I wanted to highlight the wonderful and inspiring words of two of my friends who are also teachers around the globe. Colter and Tori are walking alongside their communities as they learn and grow together. Colter is in Cambodia and Tori in Mexico. Both Tori and Colter are fantastic writers and beautiful souls. Enjoy their words and reflections as they contemplate on what it means to ‘educate’ and ‘share’.

Tori’s reflection:

Education in the school I work at is the most relationship-based I have seen across all of my practicums , student teaching, and substitute jobs. This does not come as a surprise, and relationship-based classroom management is certainly a goal that a lot educators in the United States seek to achieve. Seeing it played out here in Tetsijtsilin in such an implicit manner, however, is teaching me so much. To know students you must invest in knowing the community that they come from, their families, their activities, and whatever else is important to them. There are ways that living a small community naturally facilitates that, but most of the teachers are not from this community, and make the commute daily. Yet still, they come from other places and have become intimately apart of this place and apart of their students’ lives. I want to remember this and teach like this (in whatever teaching context I end up in) when I return to the United States.

The principal, before retiring, also would make a point of constantly reminding us of all the roles our students have. She reminded us they are daughters, sons, grandchildren, older siblings, most work outside of school, they are soon-to-be adults, but still have a right to their childhood. I interpret this to mean that anything other than high expectations for them are not an option, but of course remembering all of the identities people have allow for empathy and understanding on our behalf. Two qualities that are demonstrated without fail here in the school-both for staff and students.

Her disciplining methods with students were often a mini-lesson on solidarity. One of her little catch phrases was “there are more important things than unit four section one.” This is a perspective that many United States principals and school administrators have too much pressure to vocalize. Thankfully, though, I have heard it enough times to internalize it as a truth and I will remember it when I feel myself floating through my work in an unintentional manner. Or getting worked up about the stuff that maybe doesn’t matter as much-I’ve got an almost humorous (mostly frustrating) tendency of doing that.

Colter’s reflection:

I have had the privilege of co-teaching with a woman named Mrs. Pho at the secondary school since January. Teaching and learning another language requires a fair amount of humility and grace, and I find that in the ways she interacts with our classes. A lesson is more memorable when she takes a moment to tell a funny story. Genuine laughter in the classroom is a daily necessity as my students wrestle with a language vastly different than their own.

In my work with Life With Dignity, my friends/coworkers are teaching and sharing their knowledge with families. Mr. Touch is our resident agricultural technique expert, and regularly visits families to talk them through ways they can improve their home farms. I watched Mr. Longheng give a presentation on proper infant nutrition and diet to all of the mothers and their young ones in a nearby commune. The presentation was complete with a cooking demonstration, during which he made a delicious savory porridge perfect for when a child stops breastfeeding.

Whether in the classroom or in the field, I see Cambodians teaching and sharing with one another with humility and excitement. Students come to class with genuine smiles, mothers and uncles welcome LWD staff into their homes and ask us to sit in the shade. There is a culture of learning from one another, where questions are valued, thoughtfully considered, and answered fully. As the saying goes, there really are no secrets in Cambodia. ❤