Author: Melanie Miller Foster

Dr. Melanie Miller Foster is an Assistant Professor of International Agriculture at Penn State University.

High Five Series: Final reflections – How will you use what you learned in the future?

Melanie Miller FosterPreTrip Observations

During the final reflection session of #AgEd2Malaysia, we captured the responses of all #AgEd2Malaysia participants to five final reflection questions.  This blog post is part of a series to showcase some of the responses to those questions.  The last question prompt was:  

How will you use what you learned in the future?

Freshly painted signs for the newly constructed pollinator garden

“I hope that I can lead others and my students by example in showing acceptance and empathy for cultures different than my own.” – Jeanne, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

“”I’ll use how I learned  to start a conversation with a new person and actually having an engaging conversation when I’m in the same situation or conference where I’ll be meeting someone new.  I’m going to use the teaching techniques, especially how to give direct and clear orders to students when I’m going to do my practical teaching.  I’m also will be more aware about other people thoughts and beliefs when making decision in the future.” – Yazlin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“I plan on sharing this experience with EVERYONE.” – Mikaella, Iowa State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“The team spirit I learned throughout this program is something I want to carry forward in doing assignments with my friends in UTM.” – Nisah, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“As a teacher, I will take extra time to work with ELL students in my classes because I know understand how frustrating it is to have everything translated so I can understand.” – Darla, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

Preparing a visual aid for an aquaponics lesson

“I will use all the knowledge that I gained into my lesson in the future, because the method of lesson for USA and Malaysia is very different.  So, I want to mix and match all the knowledge that I got to makes my lessons more meaningful, good and effective.” – Fatin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“These experiences have pushed me to peel back the layers of who I am and to reflect on my beliefs.  Moving forward, I know that I will be more open-minded and patient with others.  I hope that these behaviors will be reflected by my students.  I am thankful to be more knowledgeable about different cultures & religions.  I am excited to teach my students about global awareness lessons on empathy and also global agriculture.  Overall, I just think that I will be able to provide a positive outlook towards people that are different from me.” – Shelby, Ohio Agriscience Teacher

“I will use it to tell my students to be open minded and accepting all people all over the world to learn something from them.  Join all the programs and take the opportunities.  We all are being human.  The best quote that I will give to my student later on is:  ‘Real experience is the best teacher to us’.” – Syed Huzaimi, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

Enjoying the cooler temperatures at the Desa Dairy Farm in Sabah

“Everyone is an individual with their own story to be told, you just need to let them tell it.  Continuing forward I believe I can be more inclusive of others as I understand more about the diversity of the world.  I can also relay these priceless experiences and agricultural knowledge to my family, friends, professional contacts, and future students.” – Thomas, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“I will ensure that I will practice all the knowledge that I get when I become a teacher someday so that my students will practice it too.” – Nina, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“I will use the strategies for reflection and content delivery every day in my own classroom, as they are an aggregation of some of the best ideas that the teachers and facilitators on this trip have to offer.” – Carson, Michigan Agriscience Teacher

“I will ensure that I’m confident when doing something.  Learn from mistakes. Always learn how to improve myself.  Need to communicate in a good way.  Always listen to others opinion (be a good listener).  Work together when in a group.  Listen actively to what leader has to say.” – Ain, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“This trip has given me experience in living in a culture that is different from my own.  This would also help me student teaching when trying to include international agriculture in the classroom.” – Manny, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

The Final Five Blog Post series is curated by
Global Learning Specialist, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie).
You can reach her at melanie@psu.edu

High Five Series: Final reflections – What were some of the most challenging moments, and what made them so?

Melanie Miller FosterPost-Trip Thoughts

During the final reflection session of #AgEd2Malaysia, we captured the responses of all #AgEd2Malaysia participants to five final reflection questions.  This blog post is part of a series to showcase some of the responses to those questions.  The fourth question prompt was:  

What were some of the most challenging moments, and what made them so?

Shelby and Fatin with their host parents in the FELDA

“Living with my host family at FELDA was challenging because of language barriers. I wanted so badly to talk with my host mom and grandma but felt helpless because we didn’t speak the same language.  Along those same lines, our first teaching experience was challenging because of the language barrier.  I have never felt so helpless in the classroom.” – Shelby, Ohio Agriscience Teacher

“My challenge task making reflection and teaching in class.  I feel unusually anxious and nervous.  I also felt afraid to answer any question asked because of my lack of self confidence.” – Azira, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“Personally, I was very scared to fail at times, riding bikes, the waterfall experience, communicating and assimilating into the group.  But as we step out of our comfort zone and tackle fears we grow and build new strengths.” – Thomas, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“To talk in front of public especially in English.  This is because I don’t have enough confidence.  I also had a lot of challenges in understanding some words in English.” – Nisah, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“Some of the most challenging moments of this trip were communicating with my host family at FELDA because I could not speak Malay.  I had so much to tell and ask this family but felt guilty to bother Yazlin, my UTM roommate to translate my thoughts.” – Darla, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

Ali and Melissia team teaching an aquaponics lesson

 

“The most challenging moment in this program is when I am the only student who had to (partner with) two USA students when teaching a lesson at the first school.  This is because I’m not too good to communicate with them.  Beside I don’t have the teaching experience.” – Ali, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

The warm welcome from the UTM students and faculty at the airport

“The most challenging moment for me is to teach for me the first time at the school.  This is because not only I’m going to teach the students, who most of them does not used to foreign teacher, but it is also my first time teaching in a real class at school.  The other challenging moment is when we first met at the airport and I’m afraid to how I’m supposed to approach them for the first time.” – Yazlin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

 

“The most challenging moments is having using the same bathroom with USA students because we use wet toilets and they use dry toilet.  But day by day we are flexible, to go through this challenge.  I’m happy to stay with them.  For me, throw out this toilet challenge and lets make a new experience.” – Syed Huzaimi, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“Learning everyone’s names at the beginning was challenging because I had never heard names that unique before.  I really wanted to know them and correctly say them though because I feel that is one of the best ways to show respect and that you care about them.” – Tessa, Iowa State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

The Final Five Blog Post series is curated by
Global Learning Specialist, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie).
You can reach her at melanie@psu.edu

High Five Series: Final reflections – What was your most meaningful interaction with a person from another culture?

Melanie Miller FosterPost-Trip Thoughts

During the final reflection session of #AgEd2Malaysia, we captured the responses of all #AgEd2Malaysia participants to five final reflection questions.  This blog post is part of a series to showcase some of the responses to those questions.  The third question prompt was:  

What was your most meaningful interaction with a person from another culture?

Azira and Kaitlin symbolically locking a padlock representing group unity

“The most meaningful interaction happened in FELDA when we were put together a room with a U.S. friend.  It started a meaningful conversation about culture. We learned about differences and similarities.”  – Ali, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“Meeting the man in charge of the Sikh Temple. He wanted us to understand his religion so badly that he took a lot of time to walk around and really explain everything so we could reach an understanding.  He kept saying how his religion was a loving religion and that they accept everyone and will feed them.” – Jeanne, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

“Sharing same room together.  When they (U.S. friends) understand and respect our culture,  especially at prayer time.  Sharing our thoughts about our culture and religion.” – Ain, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“Shelby, Mickaella, and myself traveled to a point on Mr. Kinabolu where Azaira’s brother lost his life.  She shared with us their strong connection, and several stories and memories and as closure she wanted to visit this site on the mountain where she held a picture of him before he passed. It was awesome to be there for her as she went through several emotions, sad, guilty, nervousness, closure.” – Melissia, Indiana Agriscience Teacher

“The most meaningful interaction was when I started speak to them for the very first time and they accept me openly as a new friend.  They helped me a lot when I faced difficulty especially when I don’t understand them and gave positive encouragement.” – Nina, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“The most meaningful interaction I had in Malaysia was a short but powerful conversation with my host grandfather.  He said, “When you leave, represent yourself, your family, and your home.” He had the respect enough for me to offer words of wisdom like I was his own grandson. We stayed at his place for just a few days, and in that time, it was enough to make a mutual connection.  That’s a powerful thing to feel respect.” – Carson, Michigan Agriscience Teacher

Lots of time to get to know each other on the bus!

“The most meaningful interactions between me and U.S. participants was about us or Americans culture.  Talking about that makes me feel like I have been there before. A lot of new things that I learned and I just knew that there are some of my information that I know about the USA culture are totally wrong.” – Fatin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“My most meaningful interaction with a person from a different culture was spending time with my host brother Izzat in FELDA Ayer Hitam.  I was beyond nervous coming into the home stay, and was continuously stressing about unknown variables throughout the day, Izzat and his energy left a lasting and life-changing impression.  He took time out of his day to teach me Malya words, play games with me and just talk about life. But maybe most importantly, he reminded me that all over the world people are people and have more things in common than different.” – Thomas, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“My most meaning interaction with a person with different culture is when I first time talk to Darla in the bust from airport to UTM.  She shares a lot about herself and that is my first time talk with other people in another language. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life.  This is so meaningful for me to interact with people who are really different from people around me before.” – Suhana, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“My most meaningful connections with the UTM students were the nights spent in the dorms laughing socializing about our culture differences.  Not knowing it then, but when I look back I recognize those high peaks of becoming life-long colleagues, friends, and family.” – Kristi, Iowa State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

Yazlin and Darla with their host parents

“It is when we were placed at the same house at FELDA, I learned how Darla starts the day as I have never sleep in the same room with (a person from a) different religion or culture before.  It is quite shocking at first to know that what they mean as shower in the morning is just brushing their teeth and washing their face. I’m impressed later on as how they stay fresh all day without having any odor.  I also learn it that they sleep very early.” – Yazlin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

” Overall, I cannot pick one moment that was the most meaningful.  This trip meant everything to me and I feel like my world has been changed. I just want to share this with others now.” – Mikaella, Iowa State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

 

The Final Five Blog Post series is curated by
Global Learning Specialist, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie).
You can reach her at melanie@psu.edu

High Five Series: Final Reflections – What was your most powerful learning moment?

Melanie Miller FosterPost-Trip Thoughts

During the final reflection session of #AgEd2Malaysia, we captured the responses of all #AgEd2Malaysia participants to five final reflection questions.  This blog post is part of a series to showcase some of the responses to those questions.  The first question prompt was:  

What was your most powerful learning moment?

Teaching teams creating lesson plans together

“The most impactful learning moment during AgEd2Malaysia was to try to adapt and learn everything together.  Every task became easier because I have a very good team that always helps each other.  I never thought that I can become the person I am now. So, for me, I realize I can accept every challenge ahead to gain new experience.” – Fatin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“The first time that I walked into a school In Malaysia to teach.  We walked into the room and the students stood up and started reciting words in Malaysian.  I froze. The Malaysian students responded to them then all eyes were on me. I asked my teaching partners what I should do?  They said, ‘They are ready for you to tell them what to do.’ I had 30 students, standing quietly with excited expressions on. I asked them to sit and the lesson started.  This really taught me what it is like in Malaysian schools, seeing the culture in the schools was amazing.” – Jessica, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

Wearing batik to teach at the FELDA school. Public servants, including teachers, wear batik on Sundays to support the industry

“I think my most powerful learning moment happened through the lesson planning process.  This experience forced us to rely on our strengths as a team and to trust one another. As a young teacher, it was nerve-wracking to realize I was the most experienced in the group and the student teachers were looking to me for advice.  Looking back though, I think this pushed me to trust my own abilities.”  – Shelby, Ohio Agriscience Teacher

“My most powerful learning moment was when we wore the batik and hijab to teach. Wearing the outfit made me feel confident but wearing the hijab for the few hours that I did was honestly quite hot, so it felt really nice to be able to take it off.  It was powerful for me to experience that because the Malaysian students didn’t get to take theirs off. It was important for me to have this experience to understand their religion and culture better.” – Kaitlin, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“I learned new teaching methods.  We were divided into groups which consisted of 1 teacher from USA, 1 student from USA, and 1 UTM student.  Here we learned to change ideas and methods.” – Ali, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“I learned the most when talking and having a sharing moment while on the bus.  Exchanging stories and always learning something new unexpectedly. For instance, I learn from Darla how maple syrup is made, as she had an experience with the whole process back at her school.  And it is also my first time knowing that maple syrup came from a maple tree.” – Yazlin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

 

Teamwork makes the dream work: Suhana, Ain, Darla and Kristi team teaching an aquaponics lesson in a high school classroom

“For me, the most powerful learning was not just about agriculture.  The thing that I learn in this program is about how to do a good lesson plan before you go to the classroom. This will really help me in the future when I become a teacher.” – Suhana, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“My most powerful learning moment was being able to enter a mosque and witness prayer.  The entire process of cleansing with water, to the serenity and calmness of the mosque, allowed me to take a glimpse into another religion. People everywhere want to be loved, included, and to share love, and I am so blessed to have been able to witness this on this experience.  My mindset is forever changed.” – Thomas, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“The moment that was very powerful that give impact to me is about accepting different culture from a different country.  It taught me that we as humans are nothing without everyone else. I learned a lot from this trip in the concept of cultural accepting.” – Syed Huzaimi, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

The Final Five Blog Post series is curated by
Global Learning Specialist, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie).
You can reach her at melanie@psu.edu

High Five Series: Final Reflections – How has this experience help you grow professionally?

Melanie Miller FosterPost-Trip Thoughts

During the final reflection session of #AgEd2Malaysia, we captured the responses of all #AgEd2Malaysia participants to five final reflection questions.  This blog post is part of a series to showcase some of the responses to those questions.  The first question prompt was:  

“How has this experience help you grow professionally?”

Communication was very important as this team worked together to try to make it over the finish line without losing any team members

“This trip helps cement the idea that there are a lot of different people in the world but that you can still find love and kindness everywhere. As a teacher it’s important to accept and love all students no matter their nationality or race. Through this trip we interacted with a lot of different races and religions.  I now have more knowledge and acceptance of other cultures.” – Jeanne, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

“Learning about different people, culture, language, religion, and agriculture really has changed my perceptions about a lot of things.  All this experience will be useful to me and my future students. It also helped me to grow to become a better person. Communication and relationships are very important and that’s what I learned in #AgEd2Malaysia.” – Fatin, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“I now have a new professional family that stretches across various states and another country.” – Thomas, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

Manny, Azira, and Nina teach an aquaponics lesson to a class of special education students

“The experience in preparing a lesson and teaching in a real situation was very valuable to me.  This is something that will help me in preparing to become a teacher one day. We have to have experiences such as these in order to understand the challenges.”- Ain, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher Candidate

“After this experience, I have more empathy for international students because I was the international student in Malaysia and can use that to help them feel more welcome in the U.S. whether that person is a student, future colleague, or fellow classmate.” – Kaitlin, Penn State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

“I have a new global perspective on agriculture that I’m excited to share with my students.” – Shelby, Ohio Agriscience Teacher

“This program helped me increase my confidence level to talk with other people that have a different language.” – Balqis, University of Teknologi Malaysia Teacher 

“This trip has helped me to become passionate about educating others about the world. There are many ways to do things and we can learn from these.  I want my students to be more open to accepting others.” – Jessica, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

Learning how to break through a language barrier to become a winning handball team

“I’ve learned to accommodate for various levels of English language proficiency in a classroom and have a new outlook on the diverse needs of students in a classroom.” – Darla, Pennsylvania Agriscience Teacher

“This experience has helped me learn how to work with a diverse group of people with different backgrounds, perspectives, religions, beliefs, cultures, etc.  Because of #AgEd2Malaysia, I’ve learned to look past snap judgments or first impressions and dig deeper for a good look at how to combine our strengths to make a rockstar team.” – Tessa, Iowa State Agricultural Teacher Candidate

 

The Final Five Blog Post series is curated by
Global Learning Specialist, Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie).
You can reach her at melanie@psu.edu

 

Engaging The Senses: Global Competence

Melanie Miller FosterIn-Country Sharing

You might be sitting on the other side of the world, reading the #AgEd2Malaysia blog and following our tweets and wondering why our group is engaged in such a wide variety of activities.  I thought they were there to study agriculture education, you might ask yourself.  Why on earth are they doing things like learning to play musical instruments?

The answer to this question is global competency development.  Global competence is a big term that helps us express all the knowledge, skills and dispositions that students need to be global citizens in the 21st century.  One of the four aspects of the Asia Society definition of global competence is that globally competent students have the ability to investigate the world.  This means that globally competent students are aware, curious, and interested in learning about the world and how it works.

Looking at the four items listed above, you can start to categorize our activities.  For example, we are engaging all five senses as we investigate the country and culture of Malaysia.

We’re using the sense of taste by eating different types of Malaysian food, including foods we’re never tried or even heard of before! An early and impactful tasting opportunity included visiting the university orchard, where students were able to walk up to a tree, pick off a fruit, and enjoy it in the moment.  The picture to the left is a photo of students trying rambutan for the first time in the orchard.

Our sense of smell is overwhelmed as we smell the durian fruit, which is unique to Malaysia. You don’t even have to get close to the fruit to smell it – you can easily whiff the aroma from quite a distance.  In fact, durian is not allowed in many hotels because the smell can disturb other guests!  The picture to the right was taken immediately after three participants tried durian for the first time – they are trying to decide if the strong smell matches the actual taste of the fruit.

We’re using our sense of hearing to listen to the different languages we hear around us, notice the calls for prayer, and to engage with traditional musical instruments.

The picture to the left is from our gamelan music lesson.  The gamelan is a traditional instrument from this region of the world that remains very popular.  Not only did we engage deeply with our sense of hearing, but learned other important lessons as well.  The music teacher, Mr. Seth, emphasized that with gamelan, teamwork is essential.  When we started to rush through the song, he wanted to know if a ghost was chasing us.  And finally, we got to experience what it might feel like to be in a high-pressure Malaysian classroom when each of us had to play the entire song through by ourselves.

We’re using our sense of touch through experiencing the weather, riding bikes through campus, dancing the traditional Zapin dance, and trying new things such as weaving a traditional fabric called songket.  The picture to the right is of a teacher participant getting her hands in the soil by planting a pineapple plant at the Pineapple Development Center.

Finally, we’re using our sense of sight to take in our new surroundings.  Whether it is people watching in public spaces, noticing different styles of dress, observing different religious spaces, and seeing how people interact with each other.  The picture to the left is of the group exploring the inside of a Hindu temple.

Of course, with each of these experiences, we are engaging more than one sense.  At the end of each day, we spend at least half an hour in a reflection session, but there is no way to talk about everything that we saw, heard, smelled, tasted and touched that day.  But because we are engaging all of our senses, we have a better chance of creating lasting memories and developing global competence. Stay tuned as the bold learners and adventurers continue to expand their horizons and share their discoveries with you!

Dr. Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie) is a Global Learning Specialist (@GlobalTeachAg) at The Pennsylvania State University (@Penn_State @Agsciences).

Pictured is Dr. Melanie Miller Foster seeking one of her favorite foods: Korean BBQ!