Ordinary Miracles of an Extraordinary Life

THE ORDINARY MIRACLES OF MY EXTRAORDINARY LIFE THE US



2011 ILEP Fellows in front of US Capitol Building in Washington DC


Extraordinary miracles usually happen in the most ordinary opportunities. I was very fortunate to be given a chance to be one of the fellows in the 2011 International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) sponsored by the US Department of State through the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX). The Philippine-American Educational Foundation (PAEF) administers it, which is also the Fulbright Commission in the Philippines. The 2011 ILEP is the coming together of 76 educators from 17 countries covering four continents and collaborating with five university cohorts in five different US states. On January 4, 2011, I was one of those thousands of Filipinos who boarded an international flight bound for the northern hemisphere. The only difference is that I was on a J-1 visa and entering the US because of my profession as a teacher, looking forward to a university life rather than going with the usual flow of brain drain or as a labor resource export. Out of the more or less 50 national applicants, I was one the twenty blessed finalists who qualified for the interview and TOEFL test (Test of English as a Foreign Language). From the final 20 Filipinos who competed against hundreds of ILEP candidates I made it to the final seven who represented the Philippines and as one of the three fellows who were assigned to Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina.

It was a tough chance to enter Clemson U because it requires the highest TOEFL score among the five university cohorts and because Clemson is known for science and engineering giving it the reputation as one of the hardest public universities to get into. But the toughness of its reputation and requirements is as gentle as the warmth of hospitality that I encountered-the other side of the American culture that is totally contrary to what we know based on print and non-print media. The entirety of my stay in the US is truly an unusual experience of everyday ordinary miracles and extraordinary encounter with ordinary wonders of being a Filipino, being a teacher, a human person, what it means to be a professional, how it is to be respected and be acknowledged as a social being. Our batch is the third from the Philippines, but the ILEP is already on its fifth year. Its objectives are to bring together international teachers to understand the American education and culture; facilitate exchange of educational trends to mutually enrich each other’s educational and cultural systems, and to develop leaders in education. The ILEP program is divided into three major legs. The first three days is an opening program at Washington DC where we met the IREX staff, initiated the what would be international circle of friends, and got acquainted with the core values of the "real" American culture. As a prelude to the coming intellectual adventure, we were introduced to the concepts of Service Learning and Citizen Diplomacy as educational trends and approaches to curriculum and instructional design.



I, in front of the Cooper Library at Clemson University,
during one of the coldest days of early spring

 Then for the next five months, stretching an entire spring semester, I lived a much simpler and more peaceful life in the university as a graduate student and as an intern in one of the public high schools. Even the snowstorm, which came a day after we arrived in Clemson, became another wondrous experience for all of us ILEP fellows. While it brought anxiety and fear to many, the night before and the morning after the storm brought so much excitement and joy to us. Clemson is a picturesque university town, the kind of neighborhood where you would always feel safe, with its gorgeous weather, nice people, and clean air. Our weekdays are busy academic life going every day to the campus, either by walking or riding the CAT bus (which is free for everyone) to attend our four audit courses.

My Active Learning and Seneca Science group, of which I am very proud of (L-R) I, Sunil, Ebo, May, and Ruth

 Two courses were required for all fellows while the other two are our own choice. All the fellows took the Educational Technology class and the ILEP Seminar. I, together with the other two Filipino fellows, took the Educational Assessment and International Education classes. At the first glance at my schedule, one would think that it was a tough one but with all the library resources and conveniences that are conducive for learning, it was just like any other university life in the Philippines. The best thing perhaps is that our professors are much more candid, approachable, and extend all the help they could offer to their students. The technology class, with Dr. Chris Peters, Dr. Ryan Visser, and Ms. Anna Baldwin, was mastery of basic computing skills for some while a refresher course for others, as well as, a beginner course for a few and advance training for most. It was a revealing chance to get to know innovative ways of using the technology for teaching and learning. Truly, knowledge is power but power with digital citizenship as a pre-requisite. As for the ILEP seminar, with Dr. Sarah Mathews, we exchanged ideas about American education, and educational trends. In this class, we were also divided into two groups to write a training module for teachers. I formed a group with the other four fellows who are all science teachers and we came up with a training module on Active Learning for Science. However, we designed the module to be flexible enough to be used in the other subject areas since it included four approaches: Case Study, Community-Based, Inquiry Learning, and the Integrated Project-Based (obviously, the fourth one is on my own insinuation).

With some of the students in Mr. Marcero’s chemistry class at Seneca High School where I had my internship
We also had a one-day ILEP conference for this class where other professors presented their research work on Teacher Observation and Supervision, Social Justice, Reflective Teaching, Photovoice, Inquiry Model, and the Upstate Writing Project. We received another tremendous amount of material to apply and share. Our assessment class with Dr. Debbie Switzer was a different approach to learning about educational evaluation. It was originally an undergraduate course but there are many realizations that I gathered that are quite needed to refine current practices in testing and measurement.

Perhaps the toughest one, next to the ILEP Seminar class, is the International and Comparative Education with Dr. Megan Che. It was indeed what it means to be a graduate student in the US. There are pages and chapters to read each week that I felt the number of pages increase every week and the complexity of ideas get harder every time the class meet. A reflection paper-synthesis had to be written for every reading assignment which we submit on-line the day before the class and which Dr. Che scrutinizes and comments upon returning our papers before starting the discussion. Unlike other professors who would just browse through paper, Dr. Che really reads it line by line and writes her views on every point that she sees. The final project is a scholarly paper, a sort of a research paper that would have substantial content for a journal article. I worked on an analysis paper about teacher training with the title Implications of Pre-Service and In-Service Training of Science Teachers on the Effectiveness of Curriculum and Student Achievement in Science. It was complete hard work but very rewarding. Intercultural seminar sessions with Dr. Louis Bregger were also strategically scheduled during the semester.



On Wednesdays, with two full-week straight during March and April, we were stationed at Seneca High School where I coordinated with Mr. Chris White a Physics teacher and Science Coordinator. He was my partner teacher for the entire semester with whom I had many interesting conversations about our roles as science teachers, as teaching supervisors, and as mentors. I also had the chance to have some discussion and observe classes with Chris’s intern, John Michael Hammond. Since I could not co-teach in Physics, Mr. White arranged a schedule so that I can co-teach with Ms. Amanda Gladys who handles Biology class. My stay at Seneca High School was another rewarding experience because I was able to observe different classes of different subject areas, engage in conversations with different teachers, joined one Professional Learning Community session, attended faculty assembly and department meetings, as well as, attend Chris’s conference with a parent and his post-conference with John Michael. Wednesday Seneca has been one of my most anticipated days of the week. What is most surprising is that teenagers are quite the same across colors and cultures.

My favorite picture with Lia and Dr. Fisk; the picture is quite blurred but
the brilliance of our happiness is very clear

Taken during our lunch stop at Summerville, on our way to Charleston, SC L-R: Lia, Irah, Doaa, and Uday

Our weekends are another series of exciting events. The Clemson ILEP Steering Committee, headed by Dr. Bill Fisk, scheduled our committee meetings on Mondays and school visits on Fridays. Co-curricular trips were also scheduled from Fridays to Saturdays that they made sure Sundays are free so that we could go to our respective churches. I lived just a few blocks from Saint Andrews Parish Church. On chilly Sunday mornings, I usually take a 5-10 minute walk alone to attend the Sunday Mass. I could never forget the astonished face of my roommate Lia, when I got home on the night of Ash Wednesday with a blackened forehead nor would I ever forget the hilarious uproar of the parishioners when during the Easter Sunday mass, Fr. Jack joked about turning on the basement sprinklers because he couldn’t reach us down there to sprinkle holy water.

We attended a conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches at Greenville followed by a short trip to see how Downtown Greenville look like during winter. Aside from the Seneca High School, that is part of the Oconee County, we were also able to visit high schools in other cities such as Greenville and Spartanburg. We were also invited at Edwards Middle School, also in Clemson where some of the fellows interned, and at Ravenel Elementary School. Other weekends were short trips with other fellows, either on our own, with our community partners, partner teachers, or some of our professors. During the spring break Dr. Margaret Warner, in-charge of our co-curricular trips, brought us to Walhalla. Along with Dr. Spearman, some of us even went twice to the Six Mile Wednesday market, and then to the spring jubilee picnic at Pendleton.

Our very first picture as a group along the steps by the right side of Tillman Hall overlooking the Bowman Field

To unwind and to battle homesickness, we went one our own riding the CAT bus to Anderson, downtown Clemson, to Bi-Lo at Old Greenville Hi-way and Ingles at Highway 93. We even walked the long stretch of Cherry and Perimeter Roads to get to the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The chilliness of winter and the cold winds of the spring added to our excitement to the long weekend trips to other cities. The Clemson committee brought us to other cities in South Carolina – Ashville, Summerville, Charleston, and Columbia. They also arranged interstate trips to Hartwell and Atlanta in Georgia. My community partners, Bob and Gayle Reynolds, invited me for a Superbowl dinner in Anderson – quite a culture at the end of professional football season, and a dinner at their home and boat ride at Lake Hartwell, also in Anderson when spring got warmer. Bill brought us to the orange and white football game in Clemson at the Death Valley stadium in the campus. On one of the hottest days of Clemson spring, we attended the Poetry Night and then the Food Festival which concluded the week-long International Week celebration in Clemson University. Tuesday afternoon is always quality time with my faculty mentor, Dr. Michelle Cook. On one occasion, she invited me for lunch. Our time together was cut short because she gave birth on March and was still on semi-maternity leave on my last weeks at Clemson.

Front Row L-R: Irah, Lia, I, Isabel, and Ruth; Middle Row: Doaa, Kate, Ruth, and Eduardo; Top Row: Ebo, Uday, Alaa, Houssam, and Sunil

 Our last two weeks in Clemson was devoted to the last weekend trips and almost endless farewells and souvenir photo sessions with the fellows. Every day that we see each other, we count the days when we finally return to Washington DC for the closing program. As for my own, I did not count the remaining days but counted the times that I have been with the fellow, instead. Suddenly, as I walk along College Avenue, I can’t help but think that almost five months earlier, I was walking along snow then it became concrete pavement along green grass with thin layer of mist or sleet, or snow melting at the tip of the leaves. Eventually, the sun got brighter and the angiosperms started to bloom – dogwood, hostia, hydrangea, narcissus, many others of different sizes and colors with the ever present squirrels and cardinals. Occasionally, during our long walks along the Elm Street, groundhogs go out of their burrows to stay warm under the sun - a sign that indeed winter is over and spring has come at last.

A souvenir picture with Fr. Gregory West, JSL taken after the 10am mass, my last Sunday visit to Saint Andrews Parish[with Ruth from the Philippines and Eduardo, my Village Green neighbor and ILEP from Brazil

 My last Sunday mass at Saint Andrews was especially meaningful and quite more sentimental than when I first came. The simplicity of the Sunday mass makes the religious service more solemn and the prayer moments even more intense. Perhaps, it would take a longer time for me to get over the thought of missing our Sunday services at Saint Andrews. It is quite an irony that for the entire length of our stay in Clemson, I was able to trim down my bare necessities, something perhaps that most of you would not expect to happen in the US. My backpack would only have my laptop, a pen, a highlight marker, the book or reading for the class, my Tiger1 ID, my BB&T card, keys and small amount of money [money is even optional]. There is no need to have a cellphone or any other accessories/gadgets that we usually have in our bags. There is no need to iron or even think about if your clothes match together. The trip to the grocery or pharmacy [a pharmacy is also a convenience store] is quite a breeze because the bus schedule is fixed and most importantly, bus fare is free. What is most amazing in the university life is the liberty to have access to all the resources of the Cooper Library, the convenience of printing our papers in the Barret Hall, attending the free computer trainings, other seminars and workshops in the university, and making the most of our vacant time studying in the Tillman Hall Library.

Waiting for "Hop-on, Hop-off" tour bus with other fellows from Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Kenya, and the Philippines at a bus stop along Connecticut Ave. in Washington DC

On our last week in Clemson U, I participated as an informant in a semi-structured interview for a research being conducted by the ILEP steering committee, Dr. Che (Megan as we fondly call her) was assigned to be my interviewer. It was actually a discussion of almost everything under the sun - about education: comparison of educational systems, instructional practices, the concept of democracy, ideas on professional development, curriculum, and many others. The topics were hot issues and the concerns were quite sensitive but it was an unusual way of spending a casual friendly talk, yet I left Tillman Hall with learning much more than what I actually contributed to the research data.

Our last group picture in front of Tillman Hall

There was mixture of much jubilation and sadness among the fellows as we do the last of our laundries, cleaning of the apartment, packing, unpacking, and weighing of our luggage. I spent my last two days at Downtown Clemson where Lia and I, for the last time, scouted for souvenir items and took photos of our last look of Tillman Hall. Our last hugs at the Greenville airport was a scene of laughter and tears as each one of us wave our last goodbye to the Steering Committee, silently praying that someday our paths would cross again.

When we arrived at Washington DC with Dr. Fisk for the closing ceremonies, it was automatic for us to look out for each other or Dr. Fisk that we always forget that we are supposed to be seated by country again instead of by university. Our last three days in the US was devoted for the presentation of our modules, orientation on the grant application, and our last trips around Washington DC. At the end of the closing program each fellow was able to bring home twelve new training modules, along with access to materials for the grant application and other training materials made by previous fellows that are available on the e-portal which all ILEP alumni could have access to.

We arrived in the US as individual teachers coming with our own understanding about education, equipped with our individual cultures and teaching repertoire. We are returning to our respective countries with an overwhelming amount of knowledge, experience, and materials to share. Each of us the same person but with an enriched, enlightened, even a different point of view with an intercultural perspective about contemporary education. Our greatest accomplishment, perhaps, is that we were able to build a strong foundation of friendship, that we love each so much as a family, despite our differences in beliefs, color, race, perspective, and views - that the tapestry of our diversity became the binding thread of our unity. 

  
The last day of the closing program at Washington DC, for me, was my last chance to say how grateful I am for having known 76 educators and having spent an entire semester with 13 wonderful fellows and innumerable number of South Carolina people who have touched my life in different ways. Our endless hugs, tears of goodbye, and streaks of laughter of our last meal with Bill, together as a family of various colors would be forever be kept in my heart. On my very last day in the US, as I stay in line for the airport security check, I once again looked back and waved goodbye to Amy Ahearn and Emily Longenecker, two IREX staff who brought us to the Regan Airport. I look forward to coming home but will always be praying at night how am I to overcome the thought of not having Lia, my Indonesian roommate, when I wake up in the morning. Every time that I would celebrate my birthday, I would tell myself, oh, it was Bill’s birthday yesterday. As I look at the faces of my students now, I look at them with much more affection because each of them represents the American students whom I have also loved as well. Each of the fellows that I have met and each of the people in Washington DC, most especially the colleagues at Clemson who have become my family of friends, represent the different seeds of goodness in a human person. Everything was beautiful and wonderful. As Sarah Maclahlan sings, "life is like a gift wrapped up for you each day, just another ordinary miracle today".