Final Reflection
“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” Mandela
As a result of this experience at the Green School in Bali, I feel more empowered and inspired as an educator. This is very much a school in the process of growing (student population and curriculum) and dealing with the changes.
I participated in meetings with staff and students where dynamic conversations took place. For example, a student was having issues with too much freedom in the curriculum. He needed a certain amount of credits to graduate and could not decide which courses to take. There was an added pressure of deciding which path to take after Green School, as not all schools currently recognize the curriculum here. Although, this is changing as a result of the hard work done behind the scenes by the dedicated school staff. This has taught me that working individually with each student is vital to providing quality education that fits especially in an international school setting.
With the progressive nature of the Green School, the teaching staff must be flexible to changes. They also have to deal with the unique challenge of balancing life in a new country and their teaching careers. I learned that a work life balance is important to sustainable education for teachers and students.
I believe that healthy living (food, exercise, and spirituality) should also play a part in any work place. At Green School, sustainability is a major piece in the daily life of all who work or study there. The school has a recycling system (open to the local community), a water filtration system, gardens to grow produce, solar panels for energy, and even a bamboo electric car. Students are encouraged to co-exist with nature, and the school has contributed to saving the Bali Starling from extinction. There is a bird breeding program at the school that encourages students to take ownership of caring for the birds.
As a result of this CFE, I have come away with many new ideas for classes and projects. My goal is to always improve my teaching practice, and I feel very grateful to have had this experience in Bali.
Faculty Advisor Questionnaire
- What did you learn or discover about your strengths as a teacher from the programs and teaching you did at your CFE site?
I believe that my two greatest strengths in teaching at this point is the ability to create rapport with students, and being flexible with my teaching style in order to support diverse learners.
- From your experiences, what did you learn about teaching and/or how children/students learn?
From my experiences, I learned that teaching is about providing opportunities for students to try new things and connect with the material. The students at Green School have many opportunities to learn and apply their knowledge. For example, classes are structured in 6 week blocks. In this time, they learn a concept and do a project that allows them to gain hands on experience with what they studied.
One such class taught students the concept of taxation. Instead of just teaching students about the definition of tax and taxation, a project was created. The classroom was turned into a town and certain students would be responsible for businesses, farmers, and government. Together they would figure out what is tax, why it needs to be in place, how much to tax, and where the tax money gets spent.
I personally believe that this is a much better way to teach students than the traditional “textbook style” because they are able to understand and experience first-hand what they learned.
- What did you do and accomplish by the end of your work on any special project?
One special project I did was assisting the High school manager in redesigning the template for the Green School Transcript. Green School is K-12, and the transcript should show the marks and comments for a student from grade 9-12. The High school manager expressed that the current template did not look professional enough and there were spacing issues. We worked together to make the template 3 pages with room for marks, comments, the grading system and Green School headers/footers. She was very pleased with the results.
- What have you learned from doing this CFE that you think will be useful in your future teaching?
I learned that having a manageable work load is very important to prevent teacher burn out. I participated in staff meetings that discussed how many weekly hours a teacher should be working (teaching and planning). I learned that supporting other teachers by collaborating during lesson planning is not only useful but an enjoyable process. Co-creating with students is also very important because every student is different (level of knowledge, goals, background). I believe that smaller class sizes is the answer to ensure that students get enough support from teachers.
- What did you see as the connections between your time at the CFE and your time in our UBC methods courses?
What stood out to me was seeing universal issues in teaching such as how to assess different types of students, and student centered learning struggles (too much freedom vs. too little freedom in learning).
- What impacts did “culture” have on your teaching experience and how will this inform your practice?
I learned a lot from the Balinese culture as the people are hardworking, friendly, and approachable. This is how I would like to come across as a teacher to my students. In addition, the Balinese people are welcoming, artistic and creative. I would like my students to always feel welcomed and encouraged to develop their own ideas in my classroom.
- Any other thoughts regarding the CFE?
This experience has been very meaningful to me, as one of my long term goals is to start a school for disadvantaged students. I am grateful that I was able to have this experience and see how it could be possible.
Green School was started in 2008 with a strong focus on sustainability. Over time, the school has developed into much more, and scholarships are given to Indonesian students who could not afford to attend otherwise. The passion and progressive nature of the school has been very inspiring to me. I hope that one day I will be able to give back to a local community as this school does.