Tours and Colegio Roosevelt

liz rivas
May 23, 2017
3 min read

Hello & Welcome Back!

Something I really enjoy about Peru is the fact that you wake up not knowing what day it is. It’s so great, except it’s also very confusing. Well, let me get you updated. Sunday, we spent the entire day touring the historical sites in Lima. We visited many churches that were beautiful and what amazed me is the fact that each church is different, there is no church that has the same style. (Pictures on Photo Page). Following the tour of Lima, we ate at Villa Chicken and what they served us was delicious! The architecture of this restaurant was not your tradition style, rather it was something I had never seen before… it was simply beautiful. After eating at Villa Chicken (and possibly gaining 5 lbs.) we headed over to Barranco. Barranco is another district that is next to Mira Flores which is about 20-30 mins away from Jesus Maria. Mira Flores has an ocean side mall that is unbelievable! Its big and goregous. Jose introduced us to picarrones and they were delicious! (See pictures on photo page)

Monday May 22 was officially our first day at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt which is a international american school that consists of 1700 students, from grades early childhood up to 12th grade. I was placed in a 5th grade classroom where I will be observing Mr. Stevens and the students of room 218. This would be my first time observing a 5th grade classroom. My previous class observations have been 3rd grade classrooms so at first, I was super nervous and unsure how this would go for me. There’s a first for everything, right? Let me just start by saying this school is beautiful! Its super big and I have never seen anything this big before. Have you ever watched a TV show or movie and it showed a school that was big, it was outside and basically it seemed too real to be a school? Well let me just tell you that this school is exactly like the schools shown on TV. Not only is the school beautiful but the environment is very welcoming. We met various people and they were nothing but nice! They are all friendly and it seems to me like everyone gets along very well. I spent a few hours inside room 218. I noticed that this classroom is like classrooms from back home. I entered the class while the students were finishing up their exhibition projects. This was a project based learning project which gave students the opportunity to choose their own topic, research the topic, and develop something new in relation to that topic. I’m also entering during the fractions unit for math. Children are learning not to only rely on finding a rule but rather learning to create a diagram that will help them solve multiplying and dividing fractions. I enjoy making comparisons between the various school I have visited, not only in Milwaukee but also within Lima.

Personally, I believe there is more to learning than just listening. The traditional classroom consists of children sitting in desks while the teacher lectures and they listen. Personally, I believe this is why some students fail to reach certain requirements. Students shouldn’t be expected to stay in their desk all day, but rather they should be doing hands-on work that helps them learn content in a better way. As Dewey mentions in his article, students don’t have the opportunity to grow as an individual if they are in desks all day. Classrooms should be engaging to the point where students don’t want to leave until they finish the problem. Overall, I like the fourfold interest method that Dewey suggests, however, there is one flaw to it. The fourhold method basically states that what comes naturally for students is great. However, Dewey doesn’t really mention what the purpose of this method is.

Can't wait to continue exploring Peru and thank you for joining me!

Smiles,

Liz

Plaza Mayor