Aldine School District

For spring break I went on a trip to Aldine Independent School district in Houston, Texas. Here was a rough outline of the itinerary:

Saturday

Depart from Cleveland Airport at approximately 2pm

Arrive in Houston around 6pm

Dinner

Sunday

Toured NASA

Galveston Beach

Monday

Observed at Johnson Elementary

Went to the Rodeo

Tuesday

Observed at De Santiago Preschool

Departed from Houston at about 6pm

The trip was taken with about 30 people that are in the Early Childhood program, and as you can see contained many things in a short period of time. As hectic as it was, everything went incredibly smoothly. Here are a couple things I learned from this trip.

Collaboration is Key

The amount of communication and collaboration I witnessed  between teachers was exciting. Teachers at Johnson would divvy up the week's lessons between themselves based upon their strengths. The teachers would then share their lessons with one another. Besides sharing with each other, they were more than happy to share information with me. In my past placements, I would often sit in the back of the room and I would be completely unaware of why the teachers were doing what they were doing. In the Aldine schools I visited, teachers would explain what they were doing as they were teaching. They were very receptive to questions and were more than willing to share materials.

Passion is a Must

At De Santiago Preschool I observed in a deaf education classroom. I had never observed in this type of environment before and I was blown away by the dedication of teachers. Despite the lack of parental involvement it was evident these teachers were passionate about educating their students. The teachers expressed their frustration to me, but their performance in the classroom was not affected in any way. The classroom had a great amount of energy and enthusiasm circulating that the students could not help but being  excited about.