07.15.05

Visiting faculty know learning goes both ways Teachers from abroad earn degrees at VCU while filling vital roles

BY HOLLY PRESTIDGE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Friday, July 15, 2005

A group of teachers sat in a Virginia Commonwealth University classroom yesterday talking about the ideal vision and mission statement for the ideal school.

One by one, the teachers shared their ideas as their professor, Harold Wright, wrote their thoughts on the blackboard.

Mutual respect, he wrote. Equality. Moral values. Patriotism. Good citizens. The words and phrases reflect ideals that often appear in the vision and mission statements of metro Richmond school divisions.

But these 13 teachers are not local educators. They come from 10 countries outside the United States. While their backgrounds vary, they are all teachers at heart with one binding goal -- to educate children and enrich their lives.

They are earning their master's degrees at VCU as part of a North Carolina-based cultural exchange program called the Visiting International Faculty Program. VCU became a partner in the program this year. It allows the visiting teachers to earn degrees in school administration while helping fill teacher shortages in Virginia in such critical areas as math, science and Spanish.

They pay tuition at VCU and pay their own travel and living expenses. They earn a salary at the schools where they teach.

The teachers come from such places as Canada, Jamaica, Kenya, the Philippines and South America. Their work visas allow them to stay in the U.S. for three years and teach while they earn their degrees.

Most are teaching in Northern Virginia schools. A few are in the Hampton Roads area. One is teaching at Tucker High School in Henrico County. Two teach in North Carolina.

Through such classes as education law, public-school administration and improving school performance, they learn how schools work in America.

But they learn even more, they say, from their experiences in the classroom.

For Luis Gonzalez, who is from Colombia, the biggest hurdle in American public schools is the parent-teacher relationship.

In Colombia, "parents don't interfere," said Gonzalez, who teaches high school Spanish in Newport News. "The teacher is the authority. They have a good amount of power over the whole situation."

Ecuador native Jeannet Constante agreed. Constante is a university academic coordinator back home. She teaches elementary Spanish in North Carolina.

In the U.S., "parents want to volunteer" in the classroom, she said, even if there's nothing for them to do. "They just want to be there."

In Colombia, Gonzalez said, "Parents would never question you, because you're the expert. Here they challenge you. Being parents doesn't make them teachers, necessarily."

Chris Smith teaches social studies and English in Nova Scotia. He said he was pleasantly surprised at the measures taken to discipline students in the United States. He said students here abide by school rules much better than his students.

"We pamper our kids a lot more," he said.

The teachers ended many conversations by discussing students' attitudes toward education.

Roderick Abcede is from the Philippines, where many of his students live in poverty.

"The way out of poverty is to study," he said. In the Philippines, he said, students are encouraged and pushed in math and science, something he doesn't see here.

In his high school math classes in Prince William County, he is teaching girls for the first time. His students in the Philippines were all male.

Other teachers said students here are accustomed to having everything they need at school.

"They are not so grateful here," said Rosana De Luca, from Argentina. She teaches high school Spanish in Virginia Beach. She said she had never seen such technology and opportunities available to students until she came here.

"They don't value what they have," she said.

Viviana Quiceno said that in her schools in Colombia, students in every grade have to buy their own books and all the necessities given to American students. She teaches high school Spanish and language arts in Prince William.

"There is more budget here for education," she said. "But we have the same needs."

Kenneth Magill, associate professor of educational leadership at VCU's School of Education, said that when he and state school officials learned of the Visiting International Faculty Program, they wanted it in Virginia.

"We have the same teacher shortage" as exists in North Carolina, where the program is based, he said. And the program, he said, is an opportunity to expand VCU's alumni presence around the world.

The 13 teachers said they have learned valuable lessons from their VCU classes and from their experiences in schools.

Christopher Gotora, from Zimbabwe, said he hopes to use what he has learned to become an educational consultant.

"We will go back better people," he said.

Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or hprestidge@timesdispatch.com

SOE News

• More News
• Contact
  
  Mike Frontiero
  News Editor/Public Relations Director
  mdfronti@vcu.edu
  804.827.2415
  P.O. Box 842020
  Richmond, Va. 23284-2020