CASEY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
CASEY
Elementary Education Undergraduate |
Today was a very busy day for our group! The day started bright and early with a beautiful breakfast prepared for us at the CCC, or the Cabarate Coffee Company. The CCC is located right at the end of Nanny Estates’ driveway, and is owned by the Mariposa DR Foundation. When I was here in 2017, the CCC was my favorite place to get a quick breakfast, especially since they make amazing homemade waffles (which is just what we had, today!) Once we were done with breakfast, we headed off on our tours of five different schools, the Mariposa DR Foundation, and a neighborhood named “La Cienega,” which translates to “The Swamp.” Below are pictures from all of the destinations we visited, with a little bit that I learned about each one! This is a private school called Cadin. Cadin is the private school that we visited in 2017 where many of the Mariposa girls attended. When we walked into the courtyard today, I saw two Mariposa girls that I had met my first time here, ChiChi and Katiana. It was so cool to see familiar faces, and to see how much they had grown up in just two years! Flavia is the principal of Cadin, and believes and preaches in following three steps; love, discipline, and respect. She said that if you show the students love, they won’t be as upset with you when you have to show and teach them discipline, and when there is discipline in place, they know to show you respect, because you have first shown them love. One thing that I took away from this school was something that Flavia said about teaching the students to use books and encyclopedias to do research. She said that the students are only allowed to use the computers in the library once they have already found an answer to their questions in a book or encyclopedia. She brought up the point that when people use the internet to answer a question, it is given to them instantly. With this fast of a result, you are never really learning anything or thinking, just looking for a quick source of information. I think that this should be taught in schools back in the United States, since I have seen students relying on ipads and laptops in so many different placements I have encountered during my time studying with Buffalo State. This is a public school called Punto Cabarete, or “The Door to Cabarete.” This school teaches 175 students from kindergarten through 6th grade, with only 10 teachers working there. The students who were in this school had been in the one room school, “Punta Cabarete,” that we had visited when we were here back in 2017. The principal of Punta Cabarete made the move with the students to Punto Cabarete, and said that the change in the organization of the school, as well as the way the school ran, was something that would take some getting used to. This is a private school called Puerta Cabarete. Puerta Cabarete holds 572 students, and was opened pretty recently. This school was not running when we visited back in 2017, so we didn’t even have a chance to see it. Puerta Cabarete was the biggest school I have seen in the Dominican Republic, and was so organized and well built! It seemed like a school that’s really going in the right direction to educate students to the best of its ability. This is a private school called Coral. Coral is the school that I had the pleasure of observing and teaching in when we visited back in 2017! Today, I was able to see the classroom where I taught third grade students. But, to my surprise, when I walked into the classroom, it was full of twelfth graders! I learned today that this school runs in two sessions. In the morning, students from grades 6 to 12 attend class, then kindergarten through 5th grade attends in the afternoon. There is one kindergarten class that runs in a separate building in the morning, along with the older students. In total, the school holds over 400 students, taught by 13 teachers. I am the most excited about this school, because just as last time, this school is the one that we will be observing and teaching in. I will be having the pleasure of working with the class of five-year-old students that runs in the morning, starting Monday of next week! This is the public school called Salomé Ureña. We only visited this school for a few minutes at the end of the day, and it was BUSY! The school holds about 150 students between first and eighth grade, taught by 22 teachers. Like Coral, the school runs morning and afternoon sessions with different students. The principal informed us that the school has come a long way, since the school started as just a learning center with one teacher who taught three different grades, 1st through 3rd, all at once. Once we had finished touring the schools, we were able to visit the Mariposa DR Foundation! I was so excited to see the foundation, especially since it was my favorite place that we visited back in 2017. The Mariposa girls were on a trip today, so there weren’t any girls there when we visited. However, I was able to see my Spanish teacher from last time, Maria Alexandra! It was such a surreal feeling to be able to see the Mariposa DR Foundation once again, especially since I had such a hard time saying goodbye the first time. There were some renovations, reorganizing, and painting that has been done since I was here in 2017, which made the foundation look all the more beautiful! I don’t know how someone could walk into the foundation and not feel an immediate sense of excitement and happiness in knowing that there is a foundation like this that helps girls learn and be able to live up to their fullest potential as not only human-beings, but strong women. Once we had entered the foundation, we were served another delicious lunch by Freddy and his family, and were then given a full tour around the foundation by a volunteer named Emma. If you would like to learn more about the Mariposa DR Foundation, click this link!: (https://mariposadrfoundation.org/) Once we had finished our full foundation tour, Emma, Victor, and a few other volunteers took us on a tour of the neighborhood, “La Cienega,” or “The Swamp.” I remember taking this tour back in 2017, and feeling so humbled in seeing the houses in which many of the Mariposa girls come from. I couldn’t help but to feel the same way again, realizing how lucky I am, and how grateful I should be for everything I have, have done, and the opportunities I have been given.
1 Comment
Julie Henry
1/12/2019 10:28:15 am
Hi Casey,
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHello! My name is Casey, and I just graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Childhood Education. I had the pleasure of studying abroad in the Dominican Republic in January of 2017, which was an absolutely amazing experience! I am so excited to have been given yet another opportunity to expand my knowledge in the field of education, while simultaneously exploring the beautiful culture of the Dominican Republic, once again. When we return at the end of January, I will be starting my Master’s program with Buffalo State, majoring in Curriculum and Instruction, with a minor in Early Childhood Education. ArchivesCategories |