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Overall Experience

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When looking at my overall experience in Barcelona and, especially, my time at St. Paul’s, I feel a lot of things including gratefulness to the school for accepting me in, sadness that my experience is coming to an end, and excitement to use my new found knowledge in my future classrooms. This school has taught me that there are a lot of differences between the schools in America I’ve known all my life and schools abroad that I am just now getting introduced to. Students at St. Paul’s are, plainly put, thirsting for knowledge every day when they come in and really try to make the most of each day. This has tested me as a teacher because I have had to change my teaching style to match their learning styles, not to mention molding my teaching around the language barrier. The teaching style of my cooperating teacher also varies from what most of my previous cooperating teachers have had before because he focuses on direct instruction heavily in each lesson and gives the s
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Schools Across the World

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At St. Paul’s school, my involvement is surprisingly similar to my placements in the schools I student taught in the states. I am responsible for solo lessons and helping the students with their learning during the day. I am responsible for monitoring students during recess on certain days as well. However, despite these similarities, my experiences at St. Paul’s have been very different than those in the US in many way. The students are as eager to know more about me as I am to know more about them which is exciting. The students are thirsting for knowledge in every aspect of their education, they treat their education as more of a privilege than a requirement. The teachers at St. Paul’s also have quite a few similarities as those I have been associated with in the US. The urge to help students become successful members of society seems universal as I look at these different teachers I have come into contact with. The teachers at St. Paul have also formed a commu
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Getting to Know St. Paul's

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St. Paul's School is not at all what I was expecting when I arrived on Tuesday. The campus is incredible and the staff is quite diverse. During my first days at the school, I have started to get to know my students and their abilities in the classroom. One major difference I have noticed is that the students advocate for themselves in their education. What I mean by that is that they are eager to learn and they make sure that is what they are doing.  My experiences, so far, in the school have been very pleasant. The staff is eager to help us in both during school activities and give advice on our exploration of Barcelona. My cooperating teacher, Martin, has helped me get used to the different inflections and accents of the students' names, which is one thing I always struggle with at a new school. The staff seems very close as well as collaborative in planning and discussing student progress. They have a common place they go during planning or off times to discuss with one a
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Before Barcelona

As a rule of thumb in my life I try to keep my expectations low for something in order to be pleasantly surprised rather than utterly disappointed. However, that normality is quite hard when looking forward to my trip to Spain. It is also hard picking one thing that I am most excited about because the thought of every second of it excites me to my core. However, the thought of seeing the incredible architecture is standing out on my list, such as the Gothic Quarter, as well as experiencing the cuisine such as Formatgeria La Seu. My research has led me to believe that I will definitely have a hard time getting in as much of Barcelona as I want so I know I need to make it a priority to budget my time well so that I can soak in as much of this incredible opportunity as I can. I am expecting to learn a lot about the differences in education between Barcelona and Kentucky and how teaching strategies vary. I know that it will definitely take some adjusting when I first arr
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