A gift to the world School of education professor to instruct teaching course in Colombia

By MORGAN BLAIR The Breeze

John Almarode, a professor of education at JMU, didn’t start his career hoping to make international changes to the way teachers teach — but that’s what he’s doing. In his profession, he’s found himself not just teaching students in a classroom but also instructing teachers in different parts of the world. Throughout his time in the field, he’s given courses on teaching in Australia, the UK, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, not to mention his trip to instruct a course in Bogota, Colombia, in May.

“We focus on what works best in teaching and learning, not just on what works,” Almarode said of his upcoming course in Colombia.

Almarode won’t be teaching the course in Colombia alone. He’s joined by his colleagues from San Diego State University and the University of Melbourne. They won’t just be instructing Colombian teachers either; Almarode said they’re expecting teachers from other South American countries to attend as well.

Almarode said in his teaching of JMU students as well as teachers, he tries to instill many fundamental concepts, most importantly, the value of assessing the context each classroom exists in instead of all classes as one, he said.

“The context of classrooms in schools means that the translation of research has to be flexible and durable in order for it to be usable,” Almarode said. “You can’t just take a research finding and plop it into a classroom and say, ‘Well, that’s what the study said we should do.’”

Almarode said that not taking into account each class’s uniqueness means removing “the social context, emotional context, cultural context, political context — all the other things that come with being both a human and a young human.”

Almarode isn’t the only member of his family working in education. His wife, Dani Almarode

(’06, ’07,), is an adjunct professor of physical education at JMU.

“There’s nobody else that could produce the quality work my husband does,” Dani said. “He pours his heart and soul into everything he does, every class he teaches, the research he does, the school divisions he works with and even at home as a husband and father.”

Tia Tutwiler, John Almarode’s mother-in-law and a local resident of the Harrisonburg area, said what stands out the most to her about John is his humility, adding that, though he’s accomplished a lot in his career, she always finds herself having to tell people about his work for him.

“He keeps all his travels and accomplishments to himself. He doesn’t boast about them,” Tutwiler said. “I’m usually the one who has to boast about him.”

Despite his humility, John’s career has made an impact both locally and globally, Dani said.

“I’m proud to say he’s made an outstanding local impact,” Dani said. “But what I find even more impressive is the impact he has made not just locally, not just in the state of Virginia or the United States, but globally. The fact that he has been able to bless other people in other countries with his gifts.”

Dani said her husband’s greatest gift is his ability to make those he instructs feel valued and important. He uses those gifts, Dani said, to guide the teachers and students he works with to find the best teaching strategies for them and their classrooms.

“When he goes and works with a school division, not only is he sharing his research with them and talking about the best strategies and how to use them,” Dani said, “but his gift is how he delivers it and how he connects with the people [that he works with].”

Working in the educational field herself, Dani has a deeper understanding of her husband’s work when it comes to comprehending the context of each classroom more than the average person.

“Context varies between classrooms, simply because no child is the same as the one sitting next to them,” Dani said. “In the [physical education] world, we call it creating a safe environment- not just physically but socially, emotionally and just when it comes to connections between students.”

John said what he finds most important is teaching his JMU education students that no two classrooms are the same and even the classrooms he’s worked in will be different from those his students will encounter.

“The goal is to prepare learners for the classrooms they’re going to walk into, not the classrooms I came out of,” John said. “So, if I’m going to be effective working with the amazing education students here, I have to know exactly what they’re walking into.”

For John, one of the biggest benefits of his work across the globe is what it gives him to bring back to his students at JMU. John said he sees his outside work and research as allowing him to provide his students with authentic examples of what classes are like in today’s field. He uses this experience to bridge the gap between the theory of teaching and the reality of the classroom.

“Every time I work with a collaborative partner, every time I interact with a teacher or an instructional coach, I learn from them what [their environment] is like,” John said. “I can then align my research as well as my teaching at JMU with those findings.”

John has many experiences to bring to his students and will continue to find more across the globe. Whether it’s in Bogota or Harrisonburg, he continues to observe and learn about the challenges faced in classrooms everywhere and brings what he knows back to JMU’s education students.

“I see it like if I were to teach without gaining these experiences, it would be like a doctor teaching at a university without having ever been in a hospital,” John said. “That would be dangerousvery dangerous,” Kensky said.

CONTACT Morgan Blair at thebreezeculture@ gmail.com For more on the culture, arts and lifestyle of the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, follow the culture desk on Twitter and Instagram @Breeze_Culture.