Day 1
On Tuesday, April 26, we went to Ambrit for the first day of our internship. Above, you can see us in our group shot. We took the photo before we entered the school behind us! I am in the green shirt in the back :)
Inside, we got our school lanyards and badges to wear for the remainder of our internship. The entrance passes the Café, then take you into the Atrium. The Atrium was the center of the school, with an open ceiling reaching the third floor. There were two staircases on each side. The flags from every country represented through Ambrit's student body were hanging proudly all around the atrium's ceiling. The school library was on the back wall, in a greenhouse like structure.
After marveling at our surroundings, one by one, we were connected with our host teachers and off we went! I met Mr. Litman, my host teacher. Litman is the fifth grade resource teacher. Earlier through email I learned that he works with all three fifth grade classes, as well as two English as an Additional Language (EAL) middle school students.
We began in 5M - Mrs. Mallory's fifth grade classroom. This is the class that my roommate Kendall Messersmith interned with for the trip. Mr. Litman explained that the fifth graders were preparing for their Primary Final Project: an exhibition. The exhibition is a two day long event where students present the results of research and activities based on topics related to the theme of "Sharing the Planet". The exhibition requires the students to find a subject of inquiry, write a research report, and create supporting materials that center their inquiry, including a second literature piece, a media piece, an Italian piece, a math piece, a performance piece, and an action piece, where they perform some action in response to the issue they researched. Mr. Litman introduced Kendall and me to the class. In turn, the students introduced themselves by stating their name and home country, and research topic for the exhibition. I was impressed by the diverse student population, and blown away by the topics the students chose. The students were researching gender equality, gender stereotypes, women's rights, refugees in Syria, food distribution to developing countries, pollution, deforestation, and more! Their inquiries were very mature and relevant to current events.
After the introduction, Mr. Litman read a chapter of a novel to the students. The book followed two fictional Syrian refugee teenagers. The students were all engaged. Again, the fifth grade students were exposed to was impressive.
After reading to the students, Mr. Litman and I went to the Atrium library to meet with his mentor group. Mr. Litman explained that the students all have a mentor that meets with them and two other students, outside of the classroom. His three mentees met us in the library. We discussed their current progress in their exhibition project, examined their work, provided suggestions, and gave a timeline of the next assignments to work on before they all met together again. One student's exhibition project was Food Delivery in Syria. His father worked for the UN's FAO in Rome. During the mentor meeting he shared with us his media piece. He put together a video that included front line footage of delivering food in Syria. He narrated the video and added appropriate music. I was blown away by the professionalism of the video.
Following the mentor meeting that took approximately 30 minutes, Mr. Litman and I retired to the school's café, or as they call it in Italy, the bar. Mr. Litman kindly treated me to a Cappuccino. We engaged in conversation with each other and the other faculty and staff members of the school as they came in and left. The break was pleasant, and I got a good feel of the school climate among the employees. Everyone was friendly and happy.
Then, we went to the bottom floor of Ambrit to the EAL classroom. We met Qhuan, one of Mr. Litman's two EAL middle school students. Mr. Litman meets with Qhuan for one hour, twice a week. He meets with his other EAL student, Anzhe, for one hour, twice a week, as well. Mr. Litman meet with both of the students for a two-on-one tutoring session for one hour once a week. Qhuan is in eighth grade and is from South Korea. For the tutoring session, Mr. Litman asked Qhuan to interview me. For homework, Qhuan took the information he gathered from our interview, and wrote a short biography on me.
Our day ended by assisting another fifth grade classroom. The students were working individually on their exhibition projects. I assisted different students on their pieces. Not before long, it was 3:15, and I made it to the end of day 1!
