Taken from a reflection written on March 6, 2017.

My most memorable experience today was touring the University of Glasgow Dumfries campus and Troqueer Primary School. I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by education and have always considered myself someone who knows a lot about different aspects of education, but today I learned even more. I think it’s important to remember that Dumfries is a satellite campus and that Troqueer’s facilities are fairly new, but the small class sizes and new buildings were very impressive. Dumfries had a large number of computer labs (called IT Labs) that seemed very accessible.  I felt these were fairly comparable to the facilities we have access to at the MLC in Athens. Troqueer Primary looked like such a fun learning environment. I would love to be a teacher there, and I know I would’ve loved being a student there. The focus on keeping kids in charge and letting them govern their school was so special. For example, every year the students pick areas that they would like included in their education and then form peer action committees. Anytime a student asks the Head Teacher (Principal) if the school can do something, he redirects them to the appropriate committee. Putting students in control makes them feel empowered and valued, which is something I strive for whenever I work with kids. I also really appreciated the focus on health and fitness. In addition to the three outdoor break times (similar to recess) and PE, they run a mile daily. My elementary school only ran the mile once a year. The difference is crazy!! This school definitely challenged my views of what a school day is “supposed” to look like and how you’re “supposed” to run a school.

Today also reminded me how much I love little kids. I worked in a preschool for two and a half years, so I always thought I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Recently I’ve been focusing on more middle school age curriculum and teaching strategies. Being able to briefly interact with the Primary 1 and 2 students reminded me how much I love small kiddos! It scares me because I don’t want to change my career paths, but younger kids are so fun. We’ll see how this develops over the rest of the week…