Traveling to the Philippines

Greetings to everyone. I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

Last year, I was selected by the IREX foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, for a Teaching Excellence and Achievement award. As part of my experience with IREX, I am going to be traveling to the city of Bacolod, Philippines over a two-week period beginning June 16. During this time, I will be working on staff development programs, teaching students, and embracing the culture of the country. I will be stationed primarily in the La Consolacion College, Bacolod, and my teaching exchange partner while I am there is Mr. Randdie Cuelo. I will be traveling to Bacolod with a teacher from Thorton, Colorado, and together we hope to make this experience vivid, exciting, and truly rewarding.

One primary aim of the exchange is to work together with a cohort of professionals and students from Bacolod to dialogue on the importance of establishing and reinforcing the notion of a global educational community. All too often, education occurs in small cells of experiences that are ultimately limited to the individual school districts, schools, and classrooms in which we ply our craft. With this said, the opportunity to experience education in a larger, global context is a primary concern and objective of the TEA program, and I hope to take from this experience a deeper passion and awareness of the importance of thinking globally when it comes to teaching.

This is a tenuous time in education, as many of you know. The narrative regarding the importance of teaching and learning in all of our lives appears too often to have been hijacked by those who wish to undermine the significance education in any number of ways. I am happy to share this blog with you, in no small part, to reveal the important and long-lasting impact educators can have on the lives of their students and the lives of those with whom we teach. I hope you enjoy the ride.




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