Lessons on Collaboration

Her long braids and traditional Bolivian skirt swayed as she walked towards me. Her huge smile revealed deep wrinkles and missing teeth while she served me a bowl of piping hot sopa de mani; my favorite Bolivian dish. “Jillian! Eat, eat, eat!” Mrs. Lidia told me in her broken Spanish. I sat down on a hard wooden bench, swatting flies from my soup as her five year old granddaughter ran out to the dusty courtyard to proudly show me her favorite doll. Believe it or not, this was what I had been striving to accomplish my entire two year service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Sure, I had helped build a library with the community, started a successful girls’ group and conducted numerous teacher workshops. But an invitation to Mrs. Lidia’s carefully prepared soup meant so much more than just lunch.

“Get to know your community, get to know your community, get to know your community” was drilled into my head during my three month Peace Corps culture and language training. Bottom line: I had to get to know my community before any work would start. As I reflect on what I learned in Bolivia, I think to the future and envision putting these skills to use as a teacher. Getting to know my students will help me identify their learning styles and interests. Being an understanding teacher will assist me in creating a respectful learning environment where children enhance their confidence and self-esteem. Listening and communication skills will be fundamental to forming relationships with my students and their families, and essential to generating collaboration in the classroom. Providing choice and authentic, student-centered education will promote enthusiasm and motivate learning. Finally, my students will get to know me as a person and we will all teach and learn together.

Although Mrs. Lidia was never a teacher in a classroom, she taught me many skills that will help me to become an effective teacher. For instance, she taught me to be patient, to listen and to wait longer than usual for the person to respond. She taught me that forming relationships and collaboration takes trust and time and even though you might not be able communicate with someone doesn’t mean there can’t be understanding. Finally, she taught me that the struggles of life should never stop you from sitting down to share a smile or a good bowl of soup!