Wyoming Education Association

Fall 2015

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Back To School 2015 | wyoea.org 15 feel of the city architecture," Wedl Throughout Peru's Incas were the people of the the Spaniards brought their the country as the Incan still very throughout the country, other schools and, with the a non-profit Challenge, local service project. school the was Colegio presidencial de lima, elite public only the top academically can attend. taken from communities and schools that college dorms. doesn't cost families anything, but it's very competitive. "I was surprised to see better equipment in some rooms that even in our local schools in the U.S.," Wedl said. The students are bilingual and were very excited to greet the NFIE Fellows; they gave presentations about their excitement about being at the school. From Lima, the group traveled to Cusco, where they spent most of their time. The group enjoyed a Peruvian tradition known as the Sun Celebration, which is a reenactment of Incas giving thanks to the sun. This is a very traditional, national holiday where hundreds of thousands of people come to the reenactment to give praise to crops and harvest. Locals wear traditional clothing and make potato ovens out of mud (Peru has over 3000 kinds of potatoes!). "This is such a high tradition for everyone, and I was thankful to be a part of it," Wedl said. While in Cusco, the group partnered with Peru's Challenge and visited an outside village named Pumamarca. They visited a pre-K through sixth grade school, and talked with teachers about their classroom struggles and concerns, and how they could all help each other and their students. Their school days are from 8am- 1pm, and their concern was trying to get the required standards to students in the allotted time, especially when there is a high absenteeism rate. "This was the most fulfilling part of the trip, because they were as excited to see us as we were them," Wedl said. "We gave them books and saw their school day in action. We got to see how much Peru's Challenge had helped this village become 2014 NFIE Teacher of the Year Travels on 10-Day Fellowship self-sustaining and eradicate disease and alcoholism." Wedl said her key takeaway, especially involving student success, was the importance of being bilingual. "It should be a necessity for our kids to be globally competent, and now I see the marketability globally in a very different way," Wedl said. "It's not about your view or my view- -it's really about the WORLD view." Wedl said it's very empowering to now have NFIE colleagues around the country, other people from whom she can glean help and knowledge. "The NEA Foundation strives to make teachers globally competent," Wedl said. "They really taught us how to step out of our own comfort zone, which was hard to do, but we always ask our kids to do it, so I had to really embrace the fact that I was uncomfortable and just roll with it."

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