What I want to focus on is what I said in my previous post: this trip opened up a whole new world to me, because to be honest, while I learned some new teaching strategies, I came for the entire experience-- to push myself out of my comfort zone, and to learn about a region I knew absolutely nothing about.
And after attending this conference, where I met teachers from Ethiopia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, America, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt {the list goes on...}, all of whom teach in an IB program, my biggest take away is this: All over the world, we face the same educational struggles. We all use the same educational strategies. We all care about the students. However, education aside, as HUMAN BEINGS, no matter where we come from, people face similar challenges, have similar fears and hopes + dreams, share similar interests, and take pride + joy in the same things.
And so the most eye-opening revelation is something that is so basic, yet needs to be said as a gentle reminder {mainly to myself}: we are all human, despite appearances, beliefs, and geographical location.
So simply put, I learned something so basic from Doha + its people, yet something so unforgettable {ok, now I'm off my soapbox!}. And for that {along with the camel-riding adventure!}, I am incredibly grateful for this experience.