Nuestro primer dia en Monterrey

Our early morning ride to the secundaria was our first real look at the beautiful mountains of Monterrey. We saw the hustle and bustle of the busy streets with their passangers in cars, taxis and buses. Everyone from our group was still a little asleep as we made our way to our adventure in the schools of Mexico. We arrived at a secundaria where we had an informative and entertaining visit. The students were exceptionally well-behaved and attentive. We were treated to a presentation of dances both from their jazz dance group and their ballet folklorico. The principal of the middle school gave us a very informative interview where the success of school was presented. She demonstated scores and graphs to prove how well this award winning school is doing. She gave us information on how she has been successful in turning this school around from the ill-kept, graffiti tagged school that she was sent to six years previous. Information was given to us on how teachers are prepared in Mexico and what credentials are required to work in a middle school. Information was also given to us on the national exam that middle school students must take and the success that this particular school has had on the exam. While this was an exceptional campus and very informative it did not give us a glimpse into what a typical Mexican secundaria looks like. We were not able to visit in the classrooms and observe the students/teachers at work. However, it was a very informative visit on how we can be successful in turning a school around with hard work and dedication.
The remainder of the day was spent at the UANL where we met with a panel from the university that gave us information not only about the university but also about the training of teachers in Mexico. We learned that teachers in Mexico are now getting more credentials and degrees to be able to work in the schools. The panel from the university gave us information on some of the programs that they are doing to help schools in the communities. Information was also given about the other programs and degrees that are available at UANL and the exchange program through different universities around the world.

Lunes lunático

Our first day was wildly busy and incredible enlightening. We visited a junior high school where we met transnational students and had a very frank eye-openning discussion with the principal. We conferred with representatives of UNAL that made us realize the vast gap between the teaching profession and the university setting as well as some of the steps the university is takinhg to bridge said gap. And we ended our official tour with a stop at Casa San Antonio where we learned how incredible linked the business communities of San Antonio and Monterrey are.

A very mature junior high
The group left for the Secundaria Jose Vasconcelos. Boy was I gald I wore a tie! The ceremony for los honores a la bandera were an example of pageantry at its best. The 900 students of the school participated wholeheartedly and respectifully through out the entire ceremony. That alone signalled how different San Antonio and Monterrey´s educational system are. Imagine 900 San Antonio junior high school students orderly sitting through a lengthy pledge of allegience, a color guard and two dance performances, not to mention the various bilingual speeches presented by students.

The principal, Irma Villafuerte, presented us to a bilingual ambassador student group. About a dozen students were on hand to answer our questions whether they be in Spanish or English. I had a chance to speak to one student in particular, an 8th grader named Fernando Salazar. Fernando is an ambitiouse transnationa student who lives in Monterrey but spends summers in Austin Texas where he works in his aunt and uncle´s restaurant (Mr. Naturals, where I´ve eaten on several occasions). Fernando hopes to attend high school in Austin and after obtaining his university degree would like to expand his father´s business franchizing it on an international level.

After the opening ceremonies and dance performances, we met with the principle, Irma Villafuerte. She spoke very candidly about her successes and challenges. For the last five years, Jose Vasconcelos Junior High has won the ¨Premio Mérito Escolar¨. It is something akin to an exemplary certification. She realted to us the inspirations story of how she turned a graffiti-ridden, low-performing school into the best junior high in all of Monterrey, even when you include the private schools. Her secret is organization. Ms. Villafuerta shared with us the dtabase and charts she uses to track student and teacher performance that she uses to encourage her teachers to excell. An interesting difference between San Antonio and Monterrey schools is that parent participation in Monterrey is limited to contact wtih the principal. Parents do not visit classrooms. They put their children in the hands of the schools and trust that they will do a good job. I imagine that in principal Villarfuerte´s case, parents could rest assured that she will do an excellent jopb given the numerous awards the school has earned.

Principal Viallfuerte also talked to us a bit about the teacher preparation. All teachers who are certified through the normalist program must begin with a basic education that prepares them for elementary school. If they want to teach junior high, they must continue with 2 more years of education. For high school, it is more years of training. This is different from the Texas system where teachers go through a university. That´s right, the normales are not universities.

We learned about the differences between the normal and the university traing during our visit to the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon. More on that in a later blog because we are off to visit an elementary school.