Wait wait wait... half way point?

Technically my half way point of time here would be next Tuesday, April 1 - but speaking in terms of "work days," I believe that today would be the day. Either way, time is flying down here in Costa Rica.

I am still moving forward in planning a special community day (EARTH DAY!!) for April 22 at the local elementary school where I am working. I am developing ideas and identifying other stakeholders - maybe students in the wildlife/forestry major here? Maybe students at the local SFS Field Station that I was going to be a student of before I decided to go to EARTH? I identified some of the local "needs" in terms of natural resource awareness and hope to incorporate these into the plans.

Other than Earth Day plans, I helped out with several extension events this week. Let's review the week briefly, since I didn't reflect much on my activities in my last post.

Note: now that I am doing a lot more "planning" and "coordinating" than actual lesson execution, I will admit that my blog posts may not be nearly as exciting... but I will try to keep them spicy for you with some cool photos! I definitely have a lot from this week!

Monday:
I visited my Escuela and helped some 5th and 2nd grade students with their math and science work. This was where I learned that, for whatever reason, I may not be cut out to teach young Ticos. They stare at me like I am an alien when I try to explain something... #culturalbarrier? #overtheirheads? #whoknows
This was also where I was given permission by the principal to do whatever I want for Earth Day! WOHOO! I hope it all comes together and she doesn't change her mind... we shall see. Knowing Ticos, something is bound to change. But I remain hopeful. Note: this event will serve as my "Community Based Unit of Instruction" for my PSU student teaching internship.
In the afternoon, I worked in the office at UTN and met with the food tech staff member on a lesson plan/activity for today. We were asked to develop something to "apply" the concept of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates to food technology. More about this later...
I also got to tune in to the weekly PSU Teach Ag Great Teacher Chat, featuring Mr. Craig Kohn, as he talked about STEM integration into Ag Education - it was a great talk, one that all of us in agricultural education could benefit from!

Tuesday:
I was at "school" again, this time with 3rd and 4th graders - and some adorable preschoolers! I loved seeing them interact and learn, but wasn't so happy when I learned about the food insecurity in the classroom. Some students only get food at school, so the meals are (thankfully) pretty nutritious and provided early in the day.
In the afternoon, I helped with a UTN basic chemistry lab for some Animal Production freshmen. They were learning about thermodynamics of reactions, so they did an acid-base reduction experiment and measured the energy/heat change. I was given more responsibility in the lab and helped several complete their lab notebook assignment... hmm, maybe I am cut out to be a chemistry teacher too? I once considered it! I love chemistry!

Pre-lab mini-lecture

The boys, thinking hard...

Making their mini bomb calorimeters!

Wednesday: fun day!
On Wednesday, a Dairy Production seminar was hosted at the University by the Costa Rican dairy industry master: Dos Pinos. The event was a collaborative effort of this massive company and the UTN extension office, as it hosted over 100 of the more local farmers who produce milk for the Dos Pinos dairy cooperative. This company is by far the leading power when it comes to Costa Rica's significant dairy industry - they process 85% of the nation's commercial milk and are the main provider of raw material for beef and dairy cattle feed (source). I found it very interesting that this company was the main supporter of extension programs, especially considering their already strong hold on the dairy industry. They, in all of their successes, provide nutritional information and products for their cooperative farmers and host these seminars to increase production. It is a very smart business tool, but it may not always be the best for these medium to small-scale farmers. However, due to the lack of noticeable success of University level extension programs, this event was encouraging to see, in order that at least some information is being disseminated to the local agricultural producers.
With that said, the events for the day were as follows:

• Registration and introductions 
• Lecture by UCR (University of Costa Rica) researcher: "Strategic feed supplementation in crisis seasons"
• Tractor/wagon tour of the campus:
• Presentation, by UTN environmental management professor: "Biodigestors and alternative uses of manure"
• Presentation, by UTN animal/dairy production professor: "Alternative supplements produced on the farm"
• Demonstration and discussion, by UTN animal production researcher: "Evaluation of bovine features and their relation to yields in dairy production"
• Lunch! 
• Mini-Rodeo: organized by animal production students (some of whom I was teaching chemistry to the day before!)

I served as an assistant for the event by helping with registration and I also was one of the University photographers for the day! Wohoo to using my camera for the first time since arriving! It was hot and exhausting running around campus all day, but it was fun and I learned a lot about how farmers are receiving information for improved production. The rodeo was hilarious - mainly because the students are still learning a lot - but definitely a good time!

I know, right, the nutritional needs of a seeded area is such exciting stuff!

Tractor tour

The UTN forage expert, speaking about making hay and silage on the farm

One of the UTN Holsteins listening to the talk about feeding her

The "bovine traits" evaluation talk - very interesting for those who show cattle (he mentioned us gringos and our cattle shows)

A Latin American Rodeo event called Floreo - it is like color guard but with Lassos! and boys!

Look at them cowboys.

Of course we must have barrel racing.

I have never seen this but it was amusing: relay race on bareback!

Another amusing event: musical tires! When the music stops, you have to jump off and stick your boot in a tire first!

And what would a Rodeo be without calf tying? #classy

Thursday:
A group of about 60 high school students visited the university for a tour and a "talk" - a service put on by the extension programs. The talk that they requested was to be on carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins (verrryyyy broad request). So, one of the UTN professors did a 40 minute lecture on the basics of those three biocompounds, then I jumped in with the activity that I and a food technology staff member worked on. I was presenting all by myself to a group of 55 teenagers, in Spanish... it could have gone badly, but it went pretty well! The activity was to have them identify, in small groups, an unknown food based on the biocompound description/process on their papers. Some of the descriptions were a bit confusing for them, so I had to scaffold a bit, but the overall activity was cool. They got to get up, move around, and find groups, then they shared their paper when they thought it applied to the food on the projector. There was some chatter and quiet reading, but they were overall, pretty good for being such a large group. I learned that I still have that "presentation mode" in me from my state FFA officer days and that, even in Spanish, I can manage large groups! Wohoo!!

The high schoolers playing with the large buck at the goat barn

Friday:
Today is a chill day - I am working at home and planning for the Earth day events, in addition to making contact with local supporters for this community event and hopefully visiting today or Monday.
I am also working on finalizing my honors thesis - what which I wrote based on observations and research on agricultural education in Turrialba when I was in Costa Rica 2 years ago! It's kind of strange to be back here, completing it... but since it's due next week, I should get going...
I am also super excited to leave town this afternoon to visit my dear friend, Gaby, in Guanacaste. She is a 3rd year student at EARTH from Mexico and she is spending part of her semester at the "dry tropics" campus of the university. She is one of my closer friends now and I am so thankful not only for the opportunity to have been at EARTH and met such great friends, but I am super grateful that I can see here now that I am here for my internship!! Don't worry, friends, I will be reading and working during the bus ride - it will be a productive trip :)

From Atenas, Costa Rica, I am signing off - I hope you have an awesome weekend!! Pura Vida!

Educación Publica en Costa Rica

Translated: Public Education in Costa Rica
For the third time I find myself in Costa Rica for some educational purpose... and I feel like it is time to reflect on the Public Education system that I have come to know so well. I know many of you may have interest in this, but for those of you who do not... feel free to not continue reading :)

I will reflect on public, not private, education systems - public systems are regulated by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) at the national level. Each teacher in the country is therefore independently contracted by MEP. There are 4 basic cycles, as seen below in the table.

Cycle (education type)	One (primary: general basic education)				Two (primary: general basic education)		Three (secondary: general basic education)			Four (secondary: diversified education)
Approximate Age	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Grade/year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Diploma received: must pass national standardized tests to receive at each level						Primary Education Diploma					Bachillerato (high school diploma) Required for post-secondary education	Technical/ specialty diploma
Attendance Required	Obligatory				Obligatory		Obligatory			Not obligatory

Secondary education (which I thoroughly researched for my undergraduate thesis) is a little different than in
the U.S... here is a diagram to explain the structure.

Within these structures, MEP mandates academic standards to all levels with a hierarchical system (overarching themes, unit goals/objectives, lesson objectives). Apart from this structure, there is no requirement or common resource for teachers. The annual school year schedule for public education in Costa Rica includes 200 school days. The school schedule follows the calendar year in that students move to the next grade level at the start of the calendar year. The school year is split into three time frames or “trimesters.” The first trimester runs from February to May. The second runs from June to August, with no vacation between the first and second. The third trimester begins in September after a 20 day vacation and runs into the start of December, thus allowing for approximately 2 months of vacation before the start of the new school year. However, within these 200 school days, there are numerous "feriados" or holidays in Costa Rica - at least 2 per month where there are no classes. Additionally, in small schools, class may be canceled for a day or two if a teacher is not available. Thus, I would estimate students are only in school about 170-180 days a year.

From now on out I will mainly reflect on my current observations of the local school where I am working, but I also have experience in another rural (technical) secondary school. Lesson planning does not seem to be very common an action from my observations. Teachers do seem to be resourceful when it comes to activities. One example is the use of standardized curriculum books for all classes at the rural primary school where I am working. The students literally travel to and from school with 5 or 6 workbooks and their individual class spiral bound notebooks. These notebooks do allow for student-centered instruction or group work, nonetheless, much instruction comes from reading or lecture.

For Social Studies, 5th grade students are asked to highlight then summarize info in graphic organizers

Backpack full of books and notebooks! A lot to carry around every day!

What else is unique about the education system here? One would think that Costa Rica, being a Latin American country, would not have many resources or technology, but it is the richest/most developed country in Central America and does not have a military - thus funnels much of its economy into education. Teachers are valued in Costa Rica... it is interesting to compare the US with CR in this respect. Mainly because, while teachers are respected, the value of work is completely different.

(Reflection time)
I was surprised that a comment arose over this topic today when I was talking about my future plans with some friends at the University. They noted how different the "priorities" are between here and there... I said I was ready for whatever God had planned for me (meaning I would get to travel or work in something exciting rather than get married and start a family right away - especially since I am single). I will put it straight: life is so "Pura Vida" here mainly because people do not idolize their jobs the way they do in the United States. Idolizing means that, in the U.S., many people define themselves by what they do from 8-5 everyday. The "American Dream" has caused us to be constantly focused on how to climb the career ladder and increase this feeling of value that comes from having a satisfactory job. Bringing this back to Costa Rica, I have found that people don't get so worked up over their jobs nearly as much as they do over their family and friends... what is so wrong with that? Well, I agree that there are many benefits of being fully dedicated to our jobs (i.e. progress, economic gain, development), I often feel they take over our lives in ways they shouldn't. As I reflected last time... at the end of the day, what really matters? That you did a really good job in the workplace or that you positively influenced a life?

Here is the hitch... agriculture teachers (and educators in general) get to do both at the same time! So how exciting is it that, while being dedicated to your career (which, if you are in education, is STUDENTS) you are serving as a positive influence on countless lives? Well, I have come to realize that this is the case in Ag Education, but nonetheless feel that we all, even in ag education, can forget that our jobs do not define us. Personally, my identity is found in Christ Jesus, and the faith in Him that disseminates to all areas of life.

So, let's pull this back to public education in Costa Rica (note blog title). Many teachers know that they are valued and that education is important, but it sometimes seems that they do not realize the potential that they have in planning and developing relevant and challenging educational experiences. This is a problem in the States too, mind you, so now I am bringing it home in another way. However, I cannot deny that, after spending time at an outstanding agriculture program where the curriculum and lessons are meaningful and relevant, I get frustrated watching teachers simply teach from a book. The laid back atmosphere of Costa Rica can also be seen in the relaxed schedule, where lessons often start late or do not even start at all because another lesson is still occurring or students did not work diligently enough... or because the teacher leaves for a meeting during the school day (see previous blog). Don't get me wrong - this public primary school that I am working with is outstanding because it provides low SES students with a place to be and grow. The teachers are loving and care for them, and they get nutritious meals and technology/resources they would not get otherwise. However, we, as positive agents of change, should always be looking for improvement opportunities!

Speaking of the technology, here is a photo of the "computers" that the students all get through this rural grant program, "Conectandonos."

Each classroom (3 total) has WiFi for the students to "connect" if they need an online resource or if they simply want to play a game during free time. 

5th grade classroom

So, throughout all of this educational reflecting, I have come to accept something... or at least I am recognizing something from my past few days of working with these kids.

I don't think I am cut out to be an elementary educator... at least not in Costa Rica. Maybe it is just from the initial shock of a "gringa" being in their school (I am sure many of these kids have never seen someone from the U.S. before), but when I try to explain something to these kids, I often get blank faces.

I know I often struggle with appropriate explanations for content, but I figured that, given my level of Spanish and their levels of curriculum, it wouldn't be so bad for me to help out with some math problems or individual geography work, but I swear these kids think I am an alien! I get blank stares and minimal responses when I talk to them... maybe it is my poor explanation skills in Spanish, maybe it is my white skin... maybe a combination! Either way, I have been mostly unsuccessful with these elementary school kids.

Oh well! Still moving ahead and hoping that it gets better as I attempt to love on them!

Thanks for listening to my rambling of thoughts regarding public education and my philosophy of such! I hope you learned something :)

Otra semana... ya?

That means: another week... Already???

Whoa, time will fly here. I guess after spending 4 months in Costa Rica, 7 weeks seems like nothing...

Since my Wednesday update, I've been learning and experiencing some pretty awesome things.

On Thursday, I observed the "lab" class for an animal nutrition course. The second year animal production students have been leaning about ration formulation (whoa, flashback!). Their lab was held in the "concentrates plant" which I would basically title a feed mill. They were creating the concentrate rations for all of the university livestock! They used formulas established by the university for each type of production in the cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep. Watching boys throw around 100 pound bags of soy and corn meal, then mix them in the giant mixer made me feel like I was home on a my grandpa's dairy farm... It was fun to watch and they were an amusing group. I also observed another group of students (in their dairy production practicum) give selenium to a pregnant cow and others were inseminating heifers. All in all, an amusing and informative morning when it comes to learning about experiential learning in tropical universities. Here are some photos...






Corn Silage!





Then, after class, I went with the director of extension (kind of my "boss" here) to visit with the principal of a local elementary school.. K-6 and 69 students! It's rural, folks. Almost as small as a 1-room schoolhouse. The classes are combined (1/2, 3/4, 5/6). I got to see some of the kids and the facilities - and I learned that the principal is also the 5/6 teacher! She is also a rock star and has worked hard to fund programs for her kids, like the program Conectandonos, which is a 1-to-1 computer granting program, mainly focused on rural, low SES schools now. So all the kids have small personal laptops! And she has thought about and has begun the process of applying for a School Garden grant - the exact thing I was hoping to do with the school!

I returned to the school on Friday to "observe" and maybe talk with the principal a bit more about some options of "working" with the school and this program. She had to run an errand to town before a certain time and there really wasn't anyone else running the class... so instead of letting the kids just play on their laptops (which weren't working anyways), we had a short "Spanish" lesson.

Yes, I taught 13 5th grade Costa Rican kids how to use a comma... in Spanish. I might say that it was slightly challenging and somewhat unsuccessful, but we got through it (thanks to their workbooks).

So that was a surprise! Happy Friday to Alli! But it was fun, and the kids are awesome - I am hopeful to work with them more at the elementary school, even if it is only a few days a week. It would be even cooler to get to plan and implement and teach about a vegetable garden for the school! We shall see what happens with this goal...

I just got home from a wonderful weekend with some friends in Turrialba, where I lived 2 years ago on a short term immersion experience. It was so wonderful to spend time with a family (and their adorable puppy) and realize what really matters in life - not homework, not vacations, not the amount of money I will make or the jobs I will apply for - people matter. God made us for relationships - firstly, for a relationship with Him... then, as an extension of that, relationships with others. This family is a beautiful example of the love of Christ. We spent some nice quality time together, then, this morning, I got to see them get baptized!! It was done in a river up in the mountains (amazing) with tons of other members of their church. I didn't want to come back from the wonderful fellowship, but I remembered that there are opportunities to continue these meaningful relationships here - with people I encounter at UTN, with the children at the school who don't have much in terms of worldly possession, my host family, and more.

If you were to die tomorrow, how would people remember your today? They won't remember how hard you worked on a project, how good you were at interviewing, or how well you speak - they will remember how you loved them. Go love people! And remember that you are loved more than anything...



My new favorite CR dog - Sam!



Baptism in the River... awesome.





My girl, Mariana - she is 7 and a beautiful and respectful angel



I hope you had an awesome Sunday!

Mid-week update: Dios es bueno

Dios = God
Bueno = good
I'm sure you can put them together :)

I know this is a semi-professional blog, but I don't think there should be a problem giving credit where credit is due for an improved professional experience. After all, my life is centered around my faith, and the Lord has provided some great things, through faith and prayer, that have been beneficial to this experience thus far. Friendships, opportunities, beautiful weather, joy and peace are among a few of the blessings that have been poured out over the past few days.

So what is going on? Well, since my last post, where I shared that things were still very much up in the air, I have been able to pin down some more concrete areas to focus on. But first let me reflect on what this experience is meant to be about - my major is agricultural and extension education (why yes, that is a 10 year old picture of me on the web page... #awkward).

While student teaching for this experience usually focuses on school-based formal agricultural education (see previous blog posts about my teaching experience in Wellsboro), we knew that my time in Costa Rica would be unique, as this internship has never been done before outside of the U.S. Again, as I reflected last week, the placements here in Costa Rica are normally a formal classroom setting, but because I am in agriculture, I was placed with a University, which happens to specialize in ag. However, I have accepted the fact that teaching students at this university in a manner comparable to the first portion of my student teaching experience would be almost impossible. They only have 5 weeks left in the semester, meet only once a week per class, and already have professors with concrete curriculum. So I have basically given up on attempting to truly "teach" the students here at UTN - after all, they're my age and probably know more than me in their focus areas.

Like I said, my major is agricultural and extension education, and if you are unfamiliar with the concept of extension - it is a more informal manner of educating people about agriculture (or other areas). This is more "field work" where the educator usually travels to the pupil (farmer) and works with them to improve their existing systems and farming activities. My father works with extension programming at Penn State, and extension is an area of interest for me on a global level. While formal education (schools) are important in the developing world, public and informal education is a more common means of working in community development, especially in agriculture.

So, with that said, I am attempting to develop experiences more focused in extension work, here at UTN. They have a similar 3-pillar structure to Land-Grant Universities in the U.S. - teaching, extension, research. My original "mentor" here at UTN is actually the director of university extension, so it seems to fit that I can now focus more on the development of public, non-formal educational programs.

Okay, so what does that mean? Well, other than working with a university employee to plan an "Animal veterinary fair" for the public (more on that to come) and offering assistance with other scheduled events, I am helping with some "tours" of the University... TODAY I GOT TO TEACH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS!

Whoa, say what? A university, high schoolers? Well, haven't you ever had a field trip or school visit to a university in high school? Exactly. UTN opens its doors to groups of secondary students (and even primary students) for tours of the campus and animal facilities (stay tuned for a photo blog "campus tour") and additionally offers its expertise (via professors or employees) to give "talks" about a requested area by the visiting school.

Today, a group of students from a CTP (Colegio Tecnico Profesional) traveled over 2 hours to visit the university. CTPs are "technical" high schools in Costa Rica that offer students a general diploma PLUS a technical diploma in a specific "major" or technical area. I worked with another CTP during my time in Turrialba (2012) to collect data for my thesis so I know a bit about them... but let me not digress too much. These 20 students are in 12th grade (final year) of a "major" known as agroindustry. Basically, they are studying food processing and technology. They came to see the facilities at UTN that encompass the Food Technology major and programs - a dairy processing plant, meat processing plant, and general food laboratory. They also requested a general "talk" about food safety, microbiology, and flow diagrams of food processing. Since I was previously a food science major at Penn State, I knew exactly what they were looking for. So I worked with my new friend, Carolina, to develop a 1-hour LESSON PLAN yesterday afternoon (yes, to my AEE cohort members, I made a complete lesson plan for this :) ).

She had already begun working on a PowerPoint, and gave me an overview of what they wanted and what she was preparing to talk about... then I got all "teacher" on her and threw out some more "student centered" instructional ideas. After all, a group of 12th grade students doesn't want to sit and listen to someone talk for an hour! For the portion of the "talk" that was to discuss 7 major career areas that follow the "food technology" program/degree, I gave the idea of making small groups of students study the career then present to the whole group while I "interviewed" them about what they learned.

It went super well!! They seemed to have fun... and they learned about careers! Then we "quizzed" them about microbiological agents in food technology (both harmful and helpful), followed by a short time where Carolina discussed dairy processing and machinery. Finally, instead of just talking about flow charts (diagrams) of food processing steps, we made the students figure out the 13-step (simplified) process of making yogurt. Considering they have already made yogurt in their practical experiences, they did a pretty good job at working as a group to complete the activity. Here is a video of them "discussing" which goes where :)

Overall, the experience was awesome! Although we had planned for an hour, we got cut to 30 minutes due to scheduling changes (something not all that uncommon in Costa Rica) - but with a bit less time on some other activities and adaptations for the group activity, we made it work in about 35 minutes! Plus, I think the kids loved it. It was also very rewarding because I was able to collaborate, facilitate, and teach in Spanish - for the first time ever :) Mind you, this was something I feared, but the only problem I think I had in "facilitating" them was getting them split into groups (a typical high school student problem).

Okay, so now that I shared a lot for just having given one lesson (whereas I gave hundreds at Wellsboro), I will close with some fun (phone) photos. Don't worry, real pictures (with my dear camera, Boaz) are coming soon.

That's right. A lesson plan. Oh yes. 

Learning objectives! In Spanish!

Explaining the activity 

Organizing them into groups... more difficult than you think with highschoolers 

Group work!

Just because... campus decor.