Hermosillo, Sonora Tour of Schools

One Week Later

It's hard to believe that it's already been a week since visiting six schools in Hermosillo. I'm working on a reflection about it that I might have to post as a P.S. to some of the pictures I'm posting.
My professor Anne-Marie Hall furnished me with a great deal of these pictures, so I have to say thank you for both coordinating/facilitating the entire trip with the Sonora secretary of Education, as well as for these many great pictures.
Normal School: Where Kindergarten & Primary School Teachers are Taught

Centro de los Maestros: a virtual classroom for working teachers
This kind of classroom would seem to raise questions about developing a pedagogy that not only allows, but supports this kind of technology.

Mural in the Hermosillo Capital Building--with a quote from Bernardino de Sahagún


The representative from the Department of Education helped us get a closer look at the govenor's office--we even had a chance to see him for a short moment.Aja Secondary Public School
Whenever I have a bad day, I'm just going to think about these kids...


My year of having taught third grade in Costa Rica pays off as I ask students their names, ages, grades & favorite sports.
(some of the kids even followed our group to the van to say goodbye...this is after a little boy asked to sing for us, making the majority of our group tear up)

Magdelena
Padre Kino's mausoleum is located near where this picture was taken Another of the PhD candidates in the course made a great point that all of our first year composition students should have to come down--I agree, but it might just be because I want to go back myself.

Vamanos a Hermosillo

Escuela de Tucson y Hermosillo
The Spring semester is off to a break neck pace. With some colleagues from a Comparative Pedagogy seminar, I attended a round table discussion with students at a local high school who agreed to speak with the group I'm a part of about the differences between education in Mexico, as opposed to the U.S. The length of time that the students had been in the U.S varied from a year to more, in addition to the various levels of English ability. The students seemed excited to speak with people who were interested in their perspectives. I'll have to go into greater detail at a later time.
At the moment, I'm trying to coordinate this next week because I'll be traveling with the same group to multiple schools (technical, private, public, afternoon, morning) in Hermosillo to observe and note some of the nuances which seem distinct from those with which I'm familiar with in the U.S. It does complicate things that I taught third grade in Costa Rica for a year, but that might also provide some differences that I might want to investigate further.