Morocco has a well-deserved reputation for hospitality. Throughout these past two weeks, I've been welcomed into schools, classrooms, and homes. Students and teachers especially have been excited and enthusiastic to talk with me about education, culture, religion, travel, food, art, music, technology, and a hundred other things. They've shared perspectives and listened to mine with open minds and hearts. I'm especially grateful for the hospitality of Mr. Benhammou and his family. He welcomed Ms. Cooper and me into his home and his classrooms from the beginning of our trip to the very end. He answered our questions, co-planned and co-taught with us, and drove us all over Morocco at all hours. I am also grateful to his family, his wife especially, for letting us borrow him for the week to learn about Moroccan education and culture. Since they are both teachers, they also provided insight into balancing their teaching careers with their busy family life. At both a professional and a personal level, this issue of work/life balance is one that I too am contending with, and it was reassuring to see a family in a different context work through these challenges together. As my field experience comes to an end, I'm starting to think about what I will say about Morocco when I get home. We've talked a lot about storytelling and strategies for sharing this experience with our students and communities. Though I don't have all of the details of my story yet, I know that I will start with Moroccan hospitality.
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Mrs. ShepardTeacher, ELL tutor, traveler, hiker, reader, and aspiring citizen of the world. Archives
April 2019
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