Last week I attended the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Orientation in Washington, DC. Teachers from all over the country attended, who are fellow Fulbright DAT (Distinguished Awards in Teaching) recipients. These US educators will be traveling to a variety of countries over the course of the year. US teachers will be traveling to Chile, Mexico, Israel, Palestinian Territories, New Zealand (woohoo!), the UK (Belfast, Ireland and England), South Korea, India, Finland, and Singapore, 41 of us in total. In addition, we welcomed international teachers (11 in total) from India, Singapore, Mexico, Morocco, Finland and New Zealand. We also met US teachers who completed the program last year and traveled to the UK, India, Finland, Israel, and Mexico.
OK, so here's the thing...I have always had to work hard in school. As an adult I'm most grateful for this hard work because I think this is why my work ethic is pretty solid. That being said, I had to pinch myself throughout the whole experience last week. Here I was, this girl who loves to travel and meet people, but also had to spend countless hours toiling away on my studies. Therefore, I honestly kept thinking, "This is a dream", "How did I get here?", and "I'm so lucky!". It brought tears to my eyes on several occasions, even while running on the treadmill! However, as those thoughts kept repeating in my mind, I talked to all of the other teachers and they too felt the same. Everyone was humble, yet intelligent and kind. At the closing ceremony, while people were saying their goodbyes, the word that was used to describe the week was "warm". We learned from each other, had our voices heard, laughed a lot, and became rejuvenated. We were thanked for the work we do and we were honored as distinguished teachers.
This experience reminded to keep my mind open, to really listen to others, and gave me the faith that people really do want to make positive changes. People want to live in a world where we can exchange ideas, learn from each other, and accept each other and our differences. This may sound idealistic, however, this past week truly promoted a mutual understanding of cultures and ideas.
I have never met people of such like minds...people who have a love of learning, meeting others, discussing ideas (both professionally and personally), and a desire to see the world, actually, a desire to soak up the world.
In my next post I will list resources that I gleaned from the professional development, but right now I'm basking in this revelry of being a Fulbrighter and feel honored to be in the same class of people that I met in Washington, DC last week.
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| Receiving my Fulbright pin! |
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