By Rebecca Timus

I can’t believe this trip is almost over! This has been an amazing experience for me as an educator, person, and specifically as a woman. Today we went to visit the Mariposa center again to observe the teachers, spend time with the students and to present our ideas on how to strengthen curriculum and classroom management and also how to effectively evaluate teachers so they can grow in their field.we started off by observing 2 of the classrooms in action. I loved watching Fernanda teach math because through watching her, I see that she wants the best for her students. She had clear expectations and she had an engaging lesson. I also enjoyed hearing the girls practice their English in English class. As a native English speaker, I don’t always see how the pronunciation of words can be tricky to someone just learning it. For example the word “hold” was tricky for the girls to pronounce because of the “old” ending. This experience made me think of my own quest to learn spanish. I figured if the girls at Mariposa can dedicate time to learn a language other than their own, I can take the time to deepen my knowledge of spanish.

After lunch, we presented our ideas to the teachers at Mariposa. This was a great experience because I can clearly see how the 5 big ideas of NOBIS play out. In order for us to come up with a curriculum, we needed to learn about the mission of the Mariposa foundation, the structure of schooling in the Dominican Republic and also what it means to be a Mariposa girl. All of these threads helped us create something that can truly be useful to the teachers at Mariposa.

This trip has been an amazing experience. I wish all of my travels here was video recorded so I can relive this moment. I look forward to where my travels will take me next.