It has taken me about a month to bring myself to write again on this website...
When I was a senior in high school 4 years ago, I was struggling to decide where I wanted to go to college. I knew the basis of what exactly I wanted in a school: education, a great teaching program, and a place to call home. My list narrowed down slowly but surely until it was between Indiana University, Texas A&M, and DePaul University. I went back and forth looking at all of their educational programs and opportunities and then I stumbled upon Global Gateway for Teachers at Indiana University. Having the opportunity to student teach in a whole other country was super appealing. I've always wanted to travel outside the U.S. and having this opportunity was a dream come true. So, I traveled down to Bloomington to learn more about this amazing opportunity. After a 2 hour information session, I knew Indiana University was the school for me.
Fast forward to freshman year. Finally, I'm on campus, moving into a dorm room, and making friends. My dreams are finally becoming a reality. I moved throughout my classes super excited to continue on my journey: one step closer to my journey abroad. October 2016: time to schedule classes for Spring Semester 2017! Walking into that appointment, I was super soaked to get my next semester classes. Until, my counselor told me I should give up my theatre license addition. I became extremely distraught knowing that my dream to teach English and theatre were going down the drain. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that I could still do Global Gateway. So my next step was deciding where exactly I would want to go.
The summer before my sophomore year, I received the greatest email ever. I had been accepted into the teacher education program at IU. I was finally moving away from University Division and getting a counselor at the School of Education. It finally felt as if I was actually on track to becoming a teacher like I'd always dreamed. Come October, it's again time to schedule classes for Spring 2018 classes. I schedule a meeting with my counselor aware of exactly what classes I was wanting to take and how I wanted to go about starting it. However, half-way through the meeting, my counselor informed me that I would not be able to participate in the Global Gateway program without having to go extra semesters. Hearing those words, I was absolutely crushed. My dreams seemed to be going down the drain. Knowing that doing 18 credit hours a semester and two summer classes every summer still wouldn't allow for me to participate in Global Gateway was like the worst heartbreak. It felt as if time had stopped and the pain was never ending. It took a couple months to actually accept the fact that it was never going to happen. Just like now.
I finally felt as if I was able to move past not being able to participate in Global Gateway until I received an email inviting me to the opening class since I had expressed interest prior to that school year. I felt the familiar ache beginning to rise in my chest, yet I sent an email anyway to meet up and just check with them to see if I could fit in the 9 credits. Walking into that meeting, my heart was pounding and I was sweating with nerves. I fully expected the heartache to increase knowing for sure it was definitely not going to happen for me. Although, I was given the greatest news of my life: if I dropped French I would be able to fit in all 9 credits without any problems. Taking all those credits and summer classes, allowed for a lot of open spaces in my schedule. I was ecstatic, time stopped, and my heart felt whole again. My dream of student teaching abroad would become a reality. Now the hardest challenge would be choosing where exactly I would be going: Ireland. Deciding between Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. All 3 have been dream places to go and I had no idea how I would choose. One of my friends mentioned if I went to Ireland then I could travel to other places in Europe on my spring break and on the occasional weekend. In that moment, a light bulb went off. I was definitely going to Ireland. Let the classes begin!
Project 1: Exploring Global Education:
This project was definitely an interesting one. Analyzing both global education and how I would apply overseas was a little tricky for me. What does global education look like? What is the importance of global education for you as a future teacher? Why? "Global Education is a way of learning that involves the skills necessary to function in a world that is constantly connected and multicultural" (my essay). When writing this, I mentioned that defining global education and cross-cultural understanding could be a difficult thing to do when growing up without it. At the time, I believed in order to understand global education you needed to have traveled the world and experienced it yourself. That thinking was reversed. You need to understand global education and cross-cultural understanding before you travel specifically to student teach. When it came to the importance of global education my favorite essay is "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" which I read my freshman year, but had the privilege of reading again. This essay brings to light how important it is for our future students to learn about issues outside of their own culture/community. It is essential in global education to understand that the way we view culture can be different than what it truly is described to be. If you had asked me what culture was before this assignment I would have mentioned food, language, dance, etc., but culture is so much more than that. It's our personalities, our beliefs, and our behaviors. The iceberg theory of culture is extremely essential when it comes to cross-cultural understanding because it allows for us to understand that what we see on the surface isn't everything and we must delve a little deeper to truly understand culture. That is why I used that model when teaching my students about culture. I made sure to spend an entire week on culture with my students in my Indiana placement. I made them analyze their own culture and even put two questions about it on their test. Seeing their understanding of both surface and deep level culture made me certain I'd be able to handle student teaching in Ireland.
Project 2: Detailed Country Profile:
This project was a little more fun. Being able to research all things Ireland was the best. Ireland's government, population, historical events, culture, education. etc. Knowing these things before going made me feel a little more prepared for the adventure of a lifetime. I already felt as if I knew a good deal about their country from the various YouTubers I watch from Ireland, but I was not prepared for all of new information I would receive through this project. While the basics like flag color, Saint Patrick's Day, and the Great Potato Famine seem to be things we were taught in elementary school, there was so much more to Ireland. Ireland has had an interesting history. From the Vikings to England to Independence to the Great Potato Famine, people began arriving in Ireland around 3000 BC. Saint Patrick came to Ireland to spread Christianity in the year 432 AD. And in the year 1531 AD, King Henry VII declared himself the King of Ireland. The Great Potato Famine was a truly trying time for Ireland as two million people died or left Ireland in hopes of a better life. Before the famine, the population of Ireland was exponentially over 8 million people and Ireland has never seen a population of that number since then. When it came to culture, we always thought of food, dance, and sports, but the Irish Travellers are an ethnic group that signify a certain culture in Ireland. Travellers share cultural values, language, and a membership that defines itself. According to Travellers Citizens of Ireland, "You cannot become a Traveller, you are born one, and Travellers know exactly who belongs in their community" (p. 27). Essentially, the Irish Traveller was a descendant of those whose land was lost during the Famine and they have grown ever since. These cultural elements are important for people to understand and the history of Ireland is important before going abroad. This is why I had my students research 20 questions about Ireland for one of their e-learning days. One of these 20 questions were to determine 3 facts about Ireland's education system that are similar or different to our own. The things they found were similar to my research for this project and I appreciated their in depth research on a place they weren't going for a while.
Project 3: Issues in Society and Education:
Purpose: To learn about issues facing society and education in your host country and to learn from your host country as to what you think the U.S. could consider regarding the country's successes and/or mistakes in addressing these issues.
Ireland has two main issues when it comes to society and education: racism/inability to accommodate Travellers and homelessness. Homelessness has become an increasing issue over the years in ireland. It is considered the silent crisis as the people are unaware of the huge calamity of it. Without affordable housing, those who cannot afford to live in houses are then forced out onto the streets. Because of unaffordable public housing, people are beginning to rent private homes which adds to the pressure on the private housing market causing prices to rise also. "There were 9,968 people homeless in the week of November 19-25 2018 across Ireland" (Focus Ireland 2018 paragraph 2). When working on this project I knew I had to be aware of the students who might be homeless because of the large number in Ireland. It's something I had to be aware of when I was in the U.S. as well. It's something as an educator we must always be aware of regardless of where we are teaching. Along with homelessness, accommodating the nomadic group the Travellers in education is an increasing problem. Growing up in the Traveller community, you are taught to learn through observation. You observe the elders as they work in the kitchen or the fields. You observe your older siblings to figure out the way of the Traveller. Because of the structure of schooling, where you are separated by grade level and age, school can be a confusing time for Traveller children. They become accustomed to being around their older siblings and learning from them that they cannot grasp the concept of being apart throughout the day and learning from someone new. This leads us back to the issue at hand: racism. Traveller children are typically bullied in the classroom for being different. They were being called names and sometimes this would lead to physical abuse. This issue might be difficult to a new teacher in Ireland's education system. As a teacher, we must all be self-aware of the students that might be struggling or disruptive as signs of their culture and not being accustomed to school life. Both issues are things you are going to see no matter where you are teaching. While racism might be less present, we should always keep it in the back of our mind to ensure the success of all of our students.
Project 4: Culture, Philosophy, and Values in Education
Purpose: To demonstrate how well you are aware of your own culture, and to make explicit and purposeful statements as to how you will utilize your cross-cultural training and awareness in your personal and professional life while in your host country.
This project was the most important in getting us ready to student teach abroad. We had to explain exactly how everything we'd done so far would help us student teach in our country. For me I had to understand Ireland in its entirety to succeed. Both Ireland and the United States have their own unique characteristics that make them who they are. From the inside, these quirks, norms, and practices are normal, but, from the outside, they might seem unsettling. If you are unaware of these norms, you will be a little uncomfortable or confused when first experiencing them, but as you progress, you might just get more comfortable in a land outside your own. When going to any country, the best place to start is diving into their culture. But when diving into their culture, it's important to look below the surface in order to be fully prepared.
Project 5: Service Learning Project
For this project, I was a conversation partner to a couple in which I would have conversations with them on various subjects. I even helped one of them write a letter to a university they were applying for grad school. The cultural insight I ended up gaining from them is that foreigners have it rough in this country. I learned that America isn't entirely a safe place for some people or a place of freedom. Most people are denied citizenship they need or t even the work visas to be supported in this country. They have to deal with constant phone calls and emails about their paperwork or even their visas. The cultural insights I gained about myself involved understanding how lucky I truly am to have grown up in this country. How I will never have to deal with the issues they are dealing with in this country. While I might have to deal with it in other countries, I don't have to deal with it in my schooling. This project was imperative for understanding how to student teach abroad.
These projects have helped shape the kind of teacher I want to be. I want to travel the world, but also be able to teach others around the world. My goal is to still continue my travels and go to countries that need English speakers to teach English. Now it's senior year. I've finished all my schooling and my Indiana placement for student teaching. The only thing left was to go abroad. Or so I thought. Exactly a week before my last day at my Indiana placement, I received the email that my student teaching in Ireland was going to be postponed until April. I was upset that I would be going for less time, but I was still thankful I would have the opportunity to go. Then two days later I received the email that I wouldn't be able to until May. My entire family was crushed and felt so bad for me, but I wasn't giving up hope yet. I couldn't let myself lose hope when there was still a chance for me to go. Then exactly two weeks from that email, I received the final blow. IU had cancelled all study abroad including the summer and my dreams to go abroad had been cancelled. It was in that moment, I knew everything was going down the drain because of COVID-19. I couldn't understand why we would call everything so fast. Why not wait? I mean cancelling summer programs in the first week of April didn't make sense to me. For all we knew this pandemic was going to end in the first weeks of May. We knew nothing. It's like colleges that are already closing down in person classes in the fall. My only thoughts are it's only April, we shouldn't be making calls on something so far in the future. Again, this whole thing could be done by July. At least that's my hope. Being stuck in this quarantine without my boyfriend or my friends I feel myself slowly slipping away into boredom. I've gone through the same monotonous routine: wake up at 12, eat lunch, watch TV, read a few books, go to sleep at 3am. I can't seem to wake up early or even go to sleep early. I just can't fall asleep before 3 no matter what I do. Sometimes I'm up till 7 and then sleep until 12 to continue my routine again. My goal is this will all be worth it in the end. I hope this COVID-19 will end soon so I can be reunited with friends and family. I can't help thinking that of course this would happen when I finally have the opportunity to fulfill my dreams of travelling. It always feels as if everything bad happens to me, but I know I'm lucky to be alive. I'm lucky none of my family or friends has gotten COVID-19 or died from it. And in this thinking, I must reflect on my time through Global Gateway. Even though I never had the chance to go abroad, I was able to gain so much knowledge from this program. I've learned all about culture and how important it is to look below the surface. I've learned about global education and cross-cultural understanding. I've learned all about Ireland's culture, government, and education. I have learned fun facts about Ireland that I can share with family and friends like how Saint Patrick's original color was blue not green and how Prickly Pear is a lollipop flavor. I've learned about my own biases and how it's important to be aware of all the difficulties and backgrounds of all my potential students. While the Overseas Program for Experienced Teachers through Global Gateway seems like an amazing opportunity, I don't truly know if I would participate. It's something I would have to look at at least a year down the road. My goal is to teach abroad at some point whether it's through the Overseas Program or through Greenheart Travel I have no idea. And I honestly couldn't tell you if this pandemic has taught me anything. I think it's a crappy things to be happening right now and I feel for everyone that has been affected by it, but I can't think of anything I could do with this pandemic in my own classroom in the future. I'm sure there will come a time I will think of something, but my hatred towards this situation is too high for me to think about it positively for a lesson in my classroom. In this moment, I choose to ignore what's happening. I follow all protocol, but I don't pay attention to the numbers of death or affected on the news. I try to block out what's happening as best as possible because it not only ruined things for a lot of people, but it crushed my dreams. I hope sometime soon we will be able to return back to a normal life and I'll be able to move past it, but I know it'll take a while. Having my middle name be the very country I was supposed to student teach seems to be an awful reminder of a dream being crushed. I'm sure there will be a day when I won't think on that name with distaste for the time COVID-19 destroyed everything because, even though I wasn't able to go, I received the greatest lesson in multi-cultural instruction in the classroom that I plan on using for the rest of my teaching career. So thank you to everyone who had a part in my experiences in teaching in college. My block teachers: Summer, Casey, Lottie, PC, and Becky. Thank you for teaching me everything I needed to know about lesson plans and being a teacher in a secondary classroom. My field experience teachers: Marla, Adam, and Grant. Thank you for preparing me for having my own classroom. My student teaching teachers: Susan and Kathryn. Thank you for teaching me what to do and what not to do when it comes to teaching students. Thank you Susan for trusting me as a teacher and not one of your past students. Your support is everything I needed to know I was ready for my own classroom. And last but not least, my Global Gateway instructors: Derya, Laura, Nancy, and Amara. Thank you for everything you did to ensure I could try and achieve my dream of going abroad. You made learning about another culture fun and exciting. You made me excited to go to another country. And even if all this hard work didn't pay off, without your support I wouldn't have gained the knowledge of global education I have today. Everything I have gained in my university years on being a teacher have come from my teachers and my experiences and Global Gateway has furthered those experiences. I know feel confident to go into my own classroom and bring intercultural instruction into my lessons so my students understand the importance of cross-cultural education and instruction. If I was given a chance to go back and change my mind to avoid "heartbreak" I wouldn't because I wouldn't change this experience for the world.
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