Welcome to my Teaching Across Borders blog!
I will soon be heading to the south of France for my final semester of my Bachelor of Education degree through the University of Calgary. This will be a space for me to post my assignments and share my experiences. I am very excited to be sharing this adventure with my two friends and classmates, Carla French and Kendra Miller. We will be teaching English at a private junior high/high school for gifted students in a small town called Orthez, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region. À bientôt!
Good start to your blog. I have linked you to others in our Moodle site. Greg
ReplyDeleteHey Leanne,
ReplyDeleteThis comment is in response to your first reading review about the failing education system in France. (I couldn't find the comment section on your reviews page?) Upon arriving here, I too was under the impression that the France education system was one of the best in the world. I guess I haven't really been keeping up on the global education statistics as they were once on top, but are now placing near the bottom of the pile. I was shocked when I first spent some time at my school to see just how traditional things still are here. I am placed in a public elementary school in a small town. It is very interesting because I am here with three other girls and two of them are placed in a different school than I am and their experience has been even more shocking than mine. I immediately knew that the emphasis is placed on rote memorization of facts here, and the inquiry method would be thought to be insane if introduced to education here. In one of my articles, it was expressed that children are still mostly thought of to be "wild and in need of being civilized by adults" and that mentality is still quite apparent in my school, though not as bad as in other schools. I appreciate your opinion on the extra curricular options that students have in France and I also agree. In my school there is a very strong emphasis on extra curricular activities as students will sometimes go away for the whole afternoon doing activities like swimming or horseback riding (poney club). My school also has a music teacher who comes in every afternoon to expose the students to song and instruments. I can see that things are gradually changing here and that schools are becoming more autonomous in their pedagogical choices, just based on the totally different experiences of myself and the other girls I am with. I hope that things continue to change and that France continues to be exposed to some of the more progressive educational practices and mentalities. Thanks for the insight!
-Catherine
Hello, This is a response to Assignment 6. (I wasn't sure where to leave a comment so I figured here as good a place as any!)
ReplyDeleteI thought your review pointed out all of the facts in this case, and you were right to point out that there are many places that can still provide adequate accommodation to Tracy's needs. It is the quiet space that she needs in order to focus and disregard distractions from her peers. This is a crucial test for her and adding on the extra stress of having to deal with these distractions that she is not used to anymore is not fair to her and is completely disregarding the needs she has already in place as per her IPP.
I thought it was a great idea to tie in that the school is going against her Human Rights. It is something that I haven't seen in other responses or thought of in my own! Great job, hope you are enjoying your TAB!