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In the last two days, we have gone to our final classes at Colegio Roosevelt and have also visited the after-school art camp component of “Encuentras” in El Agustino. This will probably be the final time we will visit this amazing program during our stay in Lima. As such, there has been an accompanying sadness as I say goodbye to two places that I have learned so much from and will never forget. The people I have met, both at Roosevelt and in El Agustino, have been equal parts welcoming and inspiring, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet them and to learn from their strong belief in effective pedagogy.
Colegio Roosevelt, with its focus on inquiry and its emphasis on the high achievement of all of its students, presented me with alternative possibilities for student learning. At Roosevelt, I saw students create and explore in ways I didn’t think possible at the high school level. I will take what I saw with me back to Milwaukee, and attempt to apply the same innovation and belief in students to urban, less privileged schools. In El Agustino, I saw the empowerment of young minds despite a lack of resources and funding. I saw students engaged in conflict resolution, reflection, and the arts. Those students are being taught skills that will help them be successful in their future schooling and careers. Both educational settings have given me a new outlook on not only the possibilities for learning, but the responsibility accompanies teaching. I have been reaffirmed in my aspiration to become an educator, and yet I now further realize the weight that the vocation carries.
Up in the Mountains in El Agustino
Encuentras After School Art Location in the Mountains
Amidst the sentimentality that accompanies leaving two places in which I will (probably) never be again in my life lies reflection. For our seminar, we have been asked to reflect upon critical thinking and its role in schools. In order for students to think critically about texts, situations, problems, or solutions, they must be able to analyze autonomously and collaboratively. In order to truly think critically about any one subject or problem, students must develop the ability to see all perspectives. They must be able to inquire and to inquire creatively, exploring avenues one may not normally explore. Finally, I believe that students must be able to question the way current society operates. They must be able to analyze the merit of an argument and must be able to seek alternative answers.
On my second-to-last day of school, however, I witnessed an assembly at Roosevelt that the 11th grade students participated in, and it made me realize that a very important aspect may be missing from some of the students’ critical thinking. The assembly was supposed to be a student reflection on bias, led by peer mediators and teachers. The assembly started out with goals that lent themselves well to critical thinking; the students were being asked to analyze the way in which they use biases and how they can incorporate diversity inclusion at school and in their everyday lives. This assembly, I believe, was formed by the teachers in order to have students engage critically in inspecting their own values and lives. As educators, they were attempting to foster critical thinking in a way that was applicable to the real world.
Pictures from the Inclusion Assembly
However, when it came time for small group discussions, things went a tad awry. As I walked around the room, I heard discussion about how students at Roosevelt felt stereotyped for being wealthy. They mentioned how much this frustrated them. I also heard one group say that biases are evolutionary and help people stay away from danger; a few boys in the group then began to discuss people of the Islamic faith and how it is alright to stay away from them if they look frightening. They got quite angry when a girl pointed out that it was wrong to stereotype a person based on their religion. During this discussion, I saw somewhat of a disconnect in thinking and lack of empathy on the part of some students. On one hand, they expressed how they disliked it when they were stereotyped as “conceited” or rich. However, they did not see how it was wrong to stereotype another group of people in this way. The educators in the room did not address this ideological dissonance with the students. I believe that, as part of teaching students how to think critically, educators must also instill empathy and open-mindedness. These small group discussions would have been a great time to do so, and I am sad that the opportunity was missed.
That begin said, I did see A LOT of great critical thinking at Roosevelt during my two weeks there. Being that much of the curriculum (especially in the IA and TOK classes) was based on inquiry and real-world problem solving, it was a regular occurrence to see students engaged in critical thinking. Educators must pose problems for students and encourage them to be autonomous and to discover their own solutions; this is a thing that the staff at Roosevelt did very well. Students took control of their education; they asked questions of their teachers and of each other. They took initiative in a way I hadn’t seen students do before. This, I believe, is a sign that critical thinking is being taught at Roosevelt in such a way that, by grade 12, students have been formed into leaders and life-long learners.
This upcoming weekend and this next week, I will be exploring more of Lima and different schools in the area. Stay tuned, and until then, adios!