PERU: The Rose & The Guiding Question

How is progress measured in the Peruvian classroom, and how are students motivated to reach goals and/or master standards

​This was my guiding question that I used to focus my research for my time in Peru. Observation and interviews gave me the answers I was seeking, but I returned to the U.S. with so much more than this. I added on to my question according to the curiosity of my students and even my IB coordinator. Peru provided inspiration that I didn’t know I needed. 

​“According to Students”
Students accredited their ability to stay motivated to their desire to secure a better future for themselves. They felt that being fluent in English and earning the IB diploma would qualify them for higher paying jobs and enable them to potentially go to college in the United States. Despite their goals, many of the students seemed to lack insight on how to get scholarships or which schools were best for their career ambitions. This lack of awareness made me appreciate school counselors and other educators in the USA that constantly guide students in their next steps. I now want to gather intel on resources and programs designed for students like the ones I met in Peru and feed that information to the schools. I could even get my students involved in that exchange. Other students aimed to please their families with their success, which is still a healthy form of motivation.
“According to Teachers”
Unlike the US, Peru has national standards for learning that do not vary across the different regions. There are standardized tests that match these guidelines and teachers also create their own standard based assessments to track student learning. Similar to how it is done in my state, teachers are expected to keep records of students’ grades and then upload them to a platform that is mandated by their ministry of education. This is the first year that COAR Huancavelica has used this platform. Students receive frequent feedback in class, but their parents are shown their grades at the end of each bimester. A unique aspect of their grading process was that all parents are required to conference with teachers concerning their student’s grades and tutors are assigned to struggling students. While this is not a foreign concept to the US, I feel that we would only benefit from mandating such a thing consistently. Some things just should not become more lax over time for the sake of convenience. Teachers in Peru use minute by minute informal assessments just as we do to check for understanding in the classroom. There are no high school exit exams or SAT equivalent tests. However, they do use the Cambridge English Proficiency Exam to assess their foreign language learning.
“Unique Qualities of COAR Huancavelica”
The IB programme promotes international mindedness in all IB students and teachers. The school I was assigned to use their lessons to show their students the world. It is not feasible for them to help their students travel abroad, so they must bring the world into their classrooms. They use English class to study other cultures the most, but it is enforced that teachers apply global learning to every content area.  The academic program at this school is based on 7 principles:

1. Work from local to global.
2. The student is the center of the learning process.
3. Classes are based on developing higher-order thinking skills.
4. Evaluation is the principle strategy for learning.
5. Research is the base of the teaching & learning process.
6. The use of technology is required in class.
7. There must be interdisciplinary comprehension of complex systems.

I intend to reevaluate my own practice to see how many of these principles I uphold.
“The Concrete Rose”
I have to say that my main lasting impression came from simply glancing up at a poster on the wall of one of the classrooms which had the three moral codes of Quechua culture in three different languages. These codes are: Do Not Lie, Do Not Steal, & Do Not Be Lazy. I plan to make these codes the law of my classroom.

• Do Not Lie- Be transparent about the help you need. Take responsibility for your actions.
• Do Not Steal- No plagiarism or copying work. Learn for yourself.
• Do Not Be Lazy- Work hard and exceed expectations. Do not give up due to difficulty or even past failures.

Besides these principles, a life changing moment occurred in class when a student told me that I had made his dream of meeting someone from abroad come true. I was honored and humbled all at once and we were both overcome with emotion. I told him that meant that it was time for him to get a new dream, but what I didn’t say was that they helped me discover a dream of mine that I didn’t know I had. I seek to travel the world now not only for recreation but to teach and learn. My life and career will never be the same. What a beautiful and unexpected rose. 

Beautiful rose thriving on COAR Huancavelica's campus despite the frigid temperatures in the Andes highlands.