Comments

Hello All! I've just returned from the CIS/ISS job fair in Philadelphia...

Overall, the job fair went really well. I made lots of contacts, met plenty of interesting people, and was able to attend several presentations to find out what it's like to live and work in different countries. I also feel much more confident about my interviewing skills now. I've learned SO MUCH since I started FASTRAIN in June, and I felt like I could really hold my own against the other candidates.

So, I didn't get my dream job, but I'm really glad I went, and I just wanted to say THANK YOU for putting together such a good and well-respected program. I look forward to seeing you all again over the summer.

Cheers, Nancy Bollinger

Article from FAST TRAIN student Meredith Alt, click here.

I find the quality of the FAST TRAIN students--their writing, their level of engagement, etc.--so far beyond any other masters students with whom I've worked. I love working with these students!

Anonymous

I graduated from GMU with a Master's in 2004. I never have written to thank you for allowing me to be involved in such an outstanding program. The classes and professors were excellent, but more than any other aspect, what made the experience so enjoyable was interacting with the other members of my cohort. I'm now studying elsewhere for a Master's of Education in School Leadership and a principal's license. Though I have been here for half a year now and have spent far more class hours with my peers than I did at GMU, I know very few of them well enough to even call them associates. The structure you have designed at GMU helped me to form friendships from the first week. Here, classes are large and lecture based. At GMU, students were constantly interacting with one another, using constructivist learning in practice not just in rhetoric. Now that I have a basis of comparison, I realize how valuable and unique my experience at GMU was. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Adam Kingry

(Paraphrased from a letter from Adam Kingry)

I just wanted to drop you a note and say that I have accepted a position at the Anglo-American School of Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend at the Search fair. I will be teaching K-12 ESL my first year there, and the following year I will be moving to a mainstraeam elementary classroom. I have to say that after looking at my resume several recruiters mentioned FAST TRAIN and had very good things to say about it. So thank you everyone at GMU for not just teaching us, but also providing us with a good reputation! It really means a lot.

Mirna

The fact that I had gotten my teaching credentials through the FAST TRAIN program was very well recieved.  I heard the comment several times from school heads or principals that FAST TRAIN was an excellent program.  It seemed to win me a lot of bonus points as far as my desirability as an International School teacher.  It definitely appeared that the completion of the FAST TRAIN program was a definite asset, compared to other programs leading to teaching credentials. 

Hope your all doing great,  wherever you are,

Darren

Thank you, ma'am, for all your help. I will pay the tuition and go to the immunization office tomorrow. I appreciate you all administering such a convenient and humanistic program. This FAST TRAIN program has been a wonderful experience for me, not to mention extremely helpful and interesting. When I graduate, expect some flowers!

I am still with DODDS in Japan and I think headed to Iceland for next year, if my orders come through. Thank you for all your help and encouragement to finish the program many years ago. This has been the best experience in my life!

Heather Kirk

FAST TRAIN really makes the world smaller!!!

Marcela Lema

FAST TRAIN has been a great year of my life and I really feel prepared for the international job world not only because of the program, but because of the students in the program who have so much world knowledge to share.

Rebecca Watters (I'm engaged!!! 6/02)

 

 

Thank you!! Tell your mom and Jack that I send high compliments about this program and all of you who work so hard to get it together. I was just saying ...the other night how confident I am in this decision, how reassuring it is to know that i am not just throwing my money into a faceless certification course, alone to navigate. You're all just great.

Allison Protas

I wanted to express to you and Jack how much I am enjoying the ride on FAST TRAIN. Thanks to you both for the hard work it must have taken to think this through, set it all up, and keep it rocking. I just love it!

Heidi Wern - Summer 01

I cannot believe the luck I have had first getting the job at Lincoln and now in Uruguay. I know this sounds corny, but I owe it all to FAST TRAIN.

Dave Lundberg

"I am very familiar with the FAST TRAIN Program and have worked with many teachers who have undergone its training. I have recommended it particularly to Peace Corps volunteers who wish to enter the field of teaching. It has been a great opportunity to enable those wishing to make such a transition into education to do so as quickly as possible but with very stringent requirements. I have a great deal of respect for your program."

Patrick Meyer
Director
International School of Ouagadougou
Burkina Faso (West Africa)

Dr. Levy:

My name is Tom Dickinson and my youngest daughter, Kathleen Dickinson Jardine, went through your program in international education two years ago. I am also a professor of education, as is my wife. I wanted to write you as an interested observer" of Kathleen and her initial year teaching first grade in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I have been impressed with how Kathleen has begun her career, which you would have to take with a grain of salt since I'm her father. But that aside, I think she had an exceptional foundation that prepared her for her first teaching assignment. I think it is safe to say that in addition to the solid foundation that the classes provided that one of the key elements of her first year was the wonderful teachers that she worked with during her program. Role models, mentors, exemplars--these are a number of terms that Kathleen used to describe her field experience teachers. Time after time she wrote me about doing a lesson that she had observed and the success she had with it. She was also quite explicit with indicating that she was not merely following blindly along with what she observed; the teachers had framed what they were doing as good pedagogy, as good examples of research-based instruction, and as good examples of good developmental psychology.

Beyond the powerful instruction that your program provided for Kathleen, she
has also been able to fit into an international school setting based upon the
work on that topic in your program. While she certainly had a background in
being a foreigner from her previous tours in Bangladesh and Barbados, there is
a certain quality of understanding that she took away from your program that
has made her sensitive to not only the learning needs of her students but also
to their needs as children in a complex learning environment.

I want to commend you, your teaching colleagues in the international program,
and your field based teachers. The work you are doing is quite wonderful and
far, far reaching. And from a father who has been in this profession for over
thirty years, and who is a native Virginia, hoorah!

With warmest regards,

Tom Dickinson

Dr. Thomas S. Dickinson
Professor of Education
Department of Education
Asbury Hall #4
De Pauw University
Greencastle, Indiana 46135