{"id":430453,"date":"2026-09-09T08:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430453\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T08:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T08:14:22","slug":"uh-education-students-gain-global-perspective-on-teaching-college-of-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430453\/","title":{"rendered":"UH Education Students Gain Global Perspective on Teaching | College of Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Costa Rica is more than 1,500 miles from Texas, but students from the University of
\n Houston College of Education returned from a service-learning trip with strategies,
\n ideas and inspiration that will translate directly to working with their future students
\n across the Houston area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis experience showed me that I am capable of teaching in a diverse classroom,\u201d
\n said teaching major Areeba Sohail. \u201cI\u2019m excited to carry these lessons forward in
\n my future classroom.\u201d\"Areeba<\/p>\n

Sohail was one of 18 COE students who participated this summer in an eight-day UH Learning Abroad<\/a> program, led by professors Justin Burris and Susie Gronseth. The students spent a
\n week teaching mathematics and English to second and fourth graders at Escuela Nuevo
\n Horizonte in Heredia, Costa Rica, a small mountain town just north of the country\u2019s
\n capital, San Jos\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Designed to help future educators understand how their students\u2019 backgrounds shape
\n their learning, the Costa Rica study abroad program reflects the realities many teachers
\n will encounter in diverse Houston-area classrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe designed the experience for teachers to learn how instruction can and should be
\n responsive to a child\u2019s family, culture and community,\u201d said Burris, who earned his
\n Ed.D. from the College of Education and now serves as the mathematics education specialization
\n lead for the program.<\/p>\n

The program also included workshops and professional development sessions for local
\n educators and education students from Universidad Hispanoamericana, with a focus on
\n designing technology to support inclusive teaching and discussions about the use of
\n artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teaching Across Language and Culture\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before leaving Houston, program participants studied Costa Rican culture and the local
\n community where they would be working and began developing lesson plans.<\/p>\n

At the elementary school in Heredia, they used manipulatives, images and games to
\n make concepts tangible and connected math and English lessons to students\u2019 daily lives,
\n drawing on familiar places and interests such as soccer, playgrounds and local food
\n markets. These research-backed, culturally responsive strategies are designed to make
\n learning more meaningful, encouraging students to participate, share ideas and engage
\n with challenging content.<\/p>\n

\"AlyssaThe experience prompted the UH students to consider what it feels like to learn in
\n a language that is not their first. \u00a0<\/p>\n

For teaching major Alyssa Stevenson, navigating language differences while building
\n meaningful connections with students became one of the most significant lessons from
\n the trip. Some of her fellow participants are bilingual, but Stevenson had to rely
\n on her high school Spanish and the app Duolingo to communicate with her students and
\n build relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is when I noticed how important it is to be understood and how a student feels
\n more valued when you consider their identity and interests,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n

The experience reflected a core principle of the program: viewing students through
\n an asset-based lens and focusing on what they bring to the classroom. Burris encouraged
\n participants to recognize the knowledge children bring from their homes and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cResident teachers are learning to use, acknowledge and honor what elementary students
\n bring to the classroom as assets,\u201d Burris said. \u201cBy connecting our lessons to students\u2019
\n lived experiences, we are communicating a form of caregiving. As teachers, we are
\n saying, \u2018We care about you, and we adapted these lessons to connect to your lives
\n outside of school.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

By day two, faculty members saw a shift.\"Two<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first day brought nerves because our resident teachers did not yet know their
\n students or their instructional needs,\u201d Burris said. \u201cBy the second day, they felt
\n more comfortable and confident. They were also able to adjust and adapt instruction
\n and activities to meet their students\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly Davis, a teaching fellow in the College of Education, said the growth was evident
\n by week\u2019s end. \u201cYou could tell by the end of the week that the teachers had gained
\n confidence in adaptability, delivering content and classroom management.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learning Beyond the Classroom\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students lived with host families, visited local markets, participated in a traditional
\n Costa Rican cooking class, toured a wildlife rescue center and learned how chocolate
\n is made, among other activities.<\/p>\n

Eden Bilbo said the experience provided opportunities to learn both inside and outside
\n the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSpending time in their classroom allowed me to see how important immersive teaching
\n is, not just for the students but for anyone willing to step into a new culture open
\n to learning,\u201d she said. Outside the school, she explored local traditions, foods and
\n customs while developing relationships with community members and her host family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Two\u201cThis week was a reminder of why it\u2019s so important to commit yourself to listening,
\n learning and appreciating the culture that welcomes you in,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burris said living with host families helps students move beyond surface-level cultural
\n experiences. \u201cBy spending time, talking and sharing meals with host families, our
\n teachers could identify their host families\u2019 culture while making connections to their
\n own,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Growing as Educators\u00a0<\/p>\n

The experience reinforced participants\u2019 commitment to teaching.<\/p>\n

Valeria Trujillo, who learned English as a child, saw parallels between her own experiences
\n and those of the students she taught.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned how meaningful it is to connect with students, build on their interests
\n and experiences, and create a space where they feel comfortable learning and being
\n themselves,\u201d Trujillo said.<\/p>\n

Lizeth Arredondo, an English learner herself, said the experience brought her educational
\n journey full circle. \u201cI traveled to teach, but I quickly realized that my students
\n taught me just as much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The UH students also had the opportunity to meet with their peers from Universidad
\n Hispanoamericana.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was such camaraderie and positivity in the room that felt electric,\u201d Davis
\n said. \u201cI really appreciated that time to learn from one another and make personal
\n connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lasting Impact\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students came home to Houston with new confidence, a clearer understanding of culturally
\n responsive teaching and lessons that will shape their future classrooms: Meaningful
\n teaching begins with relationships. Students\u2019 cultures and communities are strengths.
\n And learning thrives when students feel seen, heard and valued.\"UH<\/p>\n

They also brought back a deeper understanding of Costa Rican culture and community.
\n \u201cI truly learned the meaning of pura vida, which is the pure life,\u201d a catchphrase
\n used by Costa Ricans to describe their philosophy of living a peaceful, stress-free
\n life, Sohail said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Burris said the benefits of the trip extend well beyond a brief trip abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that this trip empowers teachers to teach with empathy, learn with openness
\n and curiosity, embrace all cultures and communities, and strengthen their teaching
\n practices to support every student,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Costa Rica is more than 1,500 miles from Texas, but students from the University of Houston College of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-430453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}