meet Maeve.
Although I will not be traveling to the Dominican Republic this summer, I chose to take the one credit preparation class anyway because I wanted to be more involved with service-related opportunities at Hiram. Prior to taking the class, I had not realized that I did not know much about the Dominican Republic. In addition to her stories, I was able to understand aspects of Dominican life through Cristina’s photos and video footage. Needless to say, it is much different than our own in the U.S.
Our main assignment was to create a lesson plan, something that I had never done before. What made it more challenging was the fact that the circumstances and environments in which Dominican children learn are much different than any that I have experienced. We were told that there is a need for geography and literacy lessons, as well as lessons revolving around human trafficking. As a Sociology major with some knowledge on the topic, I chose to pursue the latter.
I just finished my final version of the lesson, and I am nervous about how effective it will be. Staying appropriate as well as enforcing an effective message while trying to imagine the context of a foreign classroom setting were obstacles that I faced. Despite these challenges, I think I have created a strong and important lesson. At the very least, I think the messages will stick. I look forward to hearing about how my lesson works when it is applied, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to be part of this team.
