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Ashley Mendoza

Meyer

ED199

16 September 2020

International School Study Trip

I believe that the biggest personal asset that I brought to this visit was my curiosity. I had

never heard of an International School before coming to Indianapolis when I first drove to

campus. I pointed it out to my family as we passed by and my sister informed me that one of her

really close friends in college attended an International School when she first came to the United

States from Brazil. That being all I knew about this type of school, I was very curious to learn

about their program. I was very surprised to find that it is so rigorous and set up completely

different than how schools here usually are. My attention was fully focused on the speaker the

entire time because I was enjoying learning so much about her school and the IB system.

I feel that the CoE core value that was most implemented during the visit is “The

Challenge of Integrated Practice and Collaboration.” More specifically, the speaker demonstrated

her skill in “ content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and [utilizing the] best practices to

provide clear and coherent and measurable instruction according to students' needs.” I could go

on forever on how much I adored our speaker. She spoke with such enthusiasm and you could

clearly tell how much she truly loves what she is doing. She spoke very clearly and never said

more than she needed to say. I believe that this may come from her working with students who

English is not their first language. However, her slow and clear way of speaking never felt

condescending. It actually made it much easier to understand her and stay engaged. I think this

practice can also be important even if you are not working in an International School. I think that
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is something every teacher should practice. Her description of the school’s regime itself also

aligns with this point of the core values. The school and its style of teaching revolves around the

student and is fully catered to the student and giving them the skills they need to thrive in the

world. That really struck me and made me very interested in learning more about the school and

their curriculum.

At first I wasn’t sure what to expect to be able to take from this visit. I do not speak a

second language and I came in with the assumption that You needed to be multilingual to work

at this school and that this trip would not affect me. I was proven wrong many times over. While

I know this is only our second visit, it is my favorite. Firstly, I loved our speaker. She took the

time to make a connection with everyone. She asked me how my family is doing considering the

fires after learning that I am from California. She is the only person that has asked me that and it

truly meant a lot. It was something so small and yet it made my day. I hope that I am able to

make just as meaningful connections with students in the future because I think that is one of the

most important things you can do as an educator. The main takeaway I got from this trip is open

mindedness. She told us her story about how she was dead set on becoming a child phycologist

and now she is an assistant principal and has taught every grade possible. While I still think I

want to go into elementary education, I am much more open to change and being open to trying

new possibilities. I loved that she gave us the opportunity to substitute teach as college students.

That is a wonderful opportunity and I am thinking about looking into it once I have more

experience and confidence. I have considered the idea of being a substitute teacher for a little

while right out of college so I can get a feel for teaching on my own and gain experience before I

am given an entire class to be responsible for for an entire year. It will also give me the
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opportunity to work at different schools and get a feel for each of them. This trip has definitely

impacted my possible future and I cannot wait to see what it looks like.

A photo from our visit with

Ms. Wolfe from the
International School of
Indiana on 9/14/20

A diagram of the IB programme at the International School displays how they are student
centered and what each level of education entails.

“Be open to movement” 

“If you love education, it’s not the specific grade that you love” 
“Do
not
teach
content,
teach
concepts”

“Student centered, teacher directed” 

Some of my favorite quotes from our speaker, Natalie Wolfe.