Saturday June 23

Saturday, June 23, 2012

This morning we were up bright and early in order to catch the bus to travel to UAEM--a local university.  Here we met with Marta Fuentes the coordinator of the special education program.  She talked to us about a group of teachers who were pursuing their Master’s degree in special education.  Marta told us about the availability of night classes so that teachers who are currently teaching can enroll in Master’s programs.  In all, the college serves about 1,000 teachers.

After the overview of the school we were introduced to some teachers who are currently enrolled in the program.  We were able to talk about issues in education in Mexico.  We discussed the identification process for Special Education services as well as how identified students are served in schools.  They told us that gifted students in Mexico are also served by special education programs.  These programs are either integrated into the regular education classroom or take place at a school called a “Centro Multiple”.

The issue of school funding in both countries also arose.  Dr. Hatt explained that due to decreasing funds for education in the US, teachers and teacher education programs are under attack.  She further explained how teachers who have increased their salaries by continuing their education are losing the raises that they earned.  

The panelists described how lack of funds in Mexico means that many schools turn to parents to provide money for building repairs and basic materials such as toilet paper.  They discussed various initiatives the government has attempted: providing Smart Boards for classrooms but not money for training, electricity or computers to operate them and providing books for classroom libraries only to have the district or school authorities keep them because they are afraid students will tear or dirty them.

We also discussed other current hot topics in education both here and in the United States such as the nutritional quality of the food served in schools and problems with bullying.  The final topic the panelists brought up was the influence of US media on kids in Mexico.

It was truly wonderful to spend time talking with teachers.

When we got back from our visit from the UAEM we helped set up for the 25^th anniversary party for CETLALIC.  Once the school was set up for all of the  guests, we were ready to start the party!  It was amazing to see so many people gather together to support Jorge and Marta and all of the families and participants of CETLALIC.  We had a delicious dinner made better only by the wonderful conversation.  After we finished eating the dancing started.  We loved watching the Chinuelo, the state dance of Morelos.  It was almost like our party turned into a parade.  There was dancing and laughter well into the night.