![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/adv\/alumni-news-media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/McMahon-Headshot-274x300.jpeg\")
Jennifer McMahon \u201996<\/p><\/div>\n
By day, Jennifer McMahon \u201996, \u201916W (EdD) works as the director of learning for the Livonia Central School District. By morning and night, she commutes to Cambodia\u2014via Zoom, and takes part in a 6 a.m. English class with teachers who are striving to keep up their English and hone their teaching skills.<\/p>\n
McMahon started working with these Cambodian teachers in the spring of 2019. That\u2019s when a Livonia High School graduate who was living in Cambodia asked her to consider creating a sister school relationship with a floating village in Cambodia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI immediately envisioned our young students connecting with young Cambodian students, reading the same books, and video chatting about their different perspectives,\u201d says McMahon, who soon learned that the Cambodian schools didn\u2019t have Internet, reliable electricity, or even enough books for their students in this floating village. According to her, only about half of the teachers there had two years of provincial teacher training and the other half had only a 12th-grade education with no formal teacher training.<\/p>\n
McMahon realized that she could make the biggest difference by offering professional learning experiences to the village\u2019s teachers. So, she planned a remote \u201cTeacher Institute\u201d for teachers in the Prek Toal floating village in March of 2019.<\/p>\n
Getting started<\/h3>\n
McMahon ran the institute like a conference, with a weekend in a Siem Reap hotel, then owned by the Livonia alumnus. The institute focused on discussion, writing assignments, and student engagement strategies. To help her, McMahon engaged several teacher volunteers from the Rochester area as well as translators in Cambodia. For many of the 19 Cambodian teachers in attendance, it was their first time in a hotel, first time participating in any professional development program, and first time leaving the village.<\/p>\n
They all used Zoom before Zoom was what everyone was using.<\/p>\n
The teachers loved the institute. Afterward, they brought learnings into their floating classrooms and started applying new techniques. They were excited and wanted more, so McMahon evolved the program into a Teacher Leader Academy (TLA) which still continues\u2014through Zoom\u2014to help teachers become leaders, coaches, and mentors, all while building a repertoire of teaching strategies.<\/p>\n
For the TLA, McMahon draws on her experience as a URochester undergraduate as well as a Warner alumna. \u201cBefore going to the URochester, I really only knew about other places through reading and a few formative conversations with exchange students as a child,\u201d she says. \u201cMy undergrad and graduate education allowed me to meet people from other places and explore different perspectives through my varied coursework. I then became even more curious about other places and driven to try to make a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once McMahon started working with the Cambodian teachers, she wanted to do more to help them. \u201cThey are all so committed to making a brighter future for their students and their country\u2014a place that has a recently tragic past yet one that is preceded by a proud history,\u201d she adds. \u201cI am amazed by everyone\u2019s grit, determination, and commitment to education and sustainable improvement.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It soon became clear to McMahon that she needed to meet the Cambodian teachers in person. And so, she went to Cambodia in November of 2019. She led in-person TLA sessions and she dug into ways to help the teachers help their students write across genres and engage with each other\u2014techniques McMahon had been using forever but were new to the Cambodians.<\/p>\n They even went on an overnight field trip with about a dozen middle school students. \u201cIt was another first for everyone,\u201d says McMahon. \u201cWe went to an art museum; to Angkor Wat; and to Phare, a circus that was a lot like Cirque du Soleil. Everyone was so excited and eager to learn, write, and talk about their experience\u2014they still talk about it.\u201d Soon after that, the Cambodian teachers took several other students\u2019 groups on similar field trips.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”22112,22102,22092,22072,22052,22032,22082,22062″ img_size=”800×600″ onclick=”” show_image_title=”show_image_title” show_navigation_controls=”yes” title_alignment=”left”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner offset=”vc_hidden-xs”][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Students were getting it, too. They were responding to new ways to share ideas with one another. \u201cAt first, teachers and students were reluctant to give opinions,\u201d says McMahon. \u201cCulturally, it\u2019s just not done. But, exploring ways to do that got them excited and it engaged them.\u201d<\/p>\n McMahon adds that having cultural humility is key to her involvement. \u201cI don\u2019t have all the answers, and I\u2019m not there to do things for them or push \u2018my way\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m there to give them techniques, to lift up ideas, and to help them identify strategies to teach what is important to them. I always need to remember that this is a culture and a community that has endured significant trauma and hardship. Sharing, partnering, and being respectful is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n Things were all going well, which was leading to the next step for McMahon\u2014to share the TLA with more teachers in Cambodia. She was poised to do so, too. She had a plane ticket and was ready to go to Cambodia again in April 2020. But then, COVID-19 happened.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough they didn\u2019t have wide community spread, tourism halted and the schools shut down, forcing us to refocus,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was heartbreaking to learn about how things were changing over there. People had to go back to the countryside as there were no longer many jobs in the city. Many of these people were just starting to make it, too, and now they weren\u2019t. These are similar challenges to what many continue to face here\u2014they live so close to the edge and are barely making ends meet. It\u2019s interesting to see the parallels between cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n The pandemic has been a catalyst for changing how teachers everywhere work with students. \u201cWe had to improvise,\u201d she says. \u201cFor instance, in both Livonia and Cambodia, there were students who did not have access to the Internet. We needed to figure out how to reach and engage them.\u201d She adds that in Cambodia teachers often would take a boat across the village\u2019s Tonie Sap Lake to meet with students. In Livonia, teachers took a similar tact, for instance, meeting with students in driveways. These were safe, socially-distanced solutions teachers came up with for students without Internet access.<\/p>\n COVID-19 has prompted a new development for the TLA, too. This past summer, McMahon was a guest on a podcast<\/a> hosted by Craig Hansen, director of the University of Applied Research and Development in New Zealand. She talked about her work as a school leader and she discussed the program in Cambodia. Hansen was intrigued, as his university offers an online master\u2019s teaching program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw how our program could mirror theirs from a bachelor\u2019s perspective,\u201d says McMahon. \u201cSo right now, we are codifying our curriculum to more formally match their program.\u201d The goal is to have the TLA evolve into an accredited bachelor\u2019s degree program, from which teachers could easily transition to the New Zealand-based master\u2019s program.<\/p>\n Presently, there is no funding for the program; McMahon and others volunteer their time and expertise. \u201cIn addition to funding, I am also hoping to find people, like fellow alumni, to remotely teach the modules I have created or even be a guest lecturer for a class.\u201d She plans to use a crowd-sourcing model to create a robust learning experience for Cambodian educators with limited resources.<\/p>\n McMahon notes how she has been given the gift of literacy and the ability to question and critique. She is grateful for all that her access to education has provided for herself and her family. \u201cAlthough I do love feeling like I am using my education to help others, I do this mostly because it brings me such great joy.\u201d<\/p>\n If interested in learning more and getting involved in McMahon\u2019s Cambodia work, contact her at <\/em>mcmahon.jen@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”15px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”grid” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” background_color=”#e6f3fa” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”5px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1610039649732{padding-top: 1px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #e6f3fa !important;}”]The Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ recently launched Together for Rochester, a one-year campaign to make life better for the University community and the world\u2014just like McMahon and many of our alumni are doing in their lives and careers. <\/em>Learn more about the campaign here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”10px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609871363308{border-top-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1609866438246{border-top-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;border-top-color: #999999 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]<\/p>\n \u2014 Kristine Thompson, January 2021<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By day, Jennifer McMahon \u201996, \u201916W works as the director of learning for the Livonia Central School District. By morning and night, she commutes to Cambodia\u2014via Zoom, and takes part in a 6 a.m. English class with teachers who are striving to keep up their English and hone their teaching skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":22262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[272,32,722,52,652],"class_list":["post-21902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-alumni","tag-global","tag-rochester","tag-volunteers","tag-women-who-roc"],"yoast_head":"\nFeet on the ground<\/h3>\n
Being humble<\/h3>\n
Just keep swimming<\/h3>\n
New developments<\/h3>\n
Get involved<\/h3>\n