Day 2 Leadership Development Conference

An update from the team that we will be joining:
"The second full day of activity and study has now been completed! It was a great day, and all of our team are thankful for the genuine enthusiasm and participation on the part of the teachers here. The number of teachers attending today stayed very much the same, about 114 teachers plus another 16 small group interpreters. Because of the teachers’ strike throughout Guatemala right now, we understand that some of the teachers have had to be busy with other things and were unable to attend. But those who are here are truly a fantastic representative of the exciting things going on in classrooms throughout the Peten region of Guatemala .
Our schedule remained much the same as yesterday, with Alan Scholes and Paul Neumann both giving the 2nd session of their series of talks. Added today was national staff member Dr. Jose Ajsivinac, speaking on the “Importance of Spiritual Values” and Bob Wilson adding a morning presentation on the influence of the media on shaping morals in our youth. All of these were excellent and so well received by the teachers.
Afternoon sessions began with the 2nd day of the Inductive Bible study in Titus, today concentrating on the ‘interpretation’ phase. Following this, the teachers began setting up their display boards showing how they have incorporated the lessons from the ISP Morals and Ethics curriculum into their classrooms. They are so colorful and creative, and it is exciting to see how thrilled these teachers are to share these things with their colleagues. It is also a joy to see how resourceful these teachers are with so few available supplies!
Our final session this afternoon was in two parts: the first being teachers from different cities once again sharing what has been happening in their classrooms since they began using the ISP curricula in their school or classes. Over and over again we heard excellent and exciting ways these teachers have implemented and expanded their own training in the curricula to integrate the basic principles into all of the various subjects they are teaching.
The second part of the session, led by national staff members Martita Arreaga and Hilda Ajsivinac, was a practical lesson on how to begin developing value lessons using examples and stories from the Bible. The teachers were given step-by-step lesson plan sheets with Bible references for character traits. They are using elements of the Inductive Bible study method to put together an outline for a lesson. All of the teachers were actively involved in this group activity right up until the end of the afternoon.
The teachers were also given a blank ‘Action Plan for 2010’ sheet for them to begin planning and committing to how they, as a teacher or a group of teachers within a city, will begin to implement at their school or in their classrooms what they are learning at this conference.
And now, before I sign off for this evening, here are two of the wonderful examples of what is happening in the Peten region since God brought ISP here in 2008:
One group of teachers from Poptun shared how they put together a banner (flag) of all of the values they wanted the students to learn and demonstrate. Then this banner began to be displayed at all of the school activities and meetings, right alongside the Guatemalan national flag and the school flag, thus keeping these important words and concepts in the forefront of the student’s minds while they were at school. On this flag the teachers wrote the year ‘2008’ because that was the year they attended the first ISP training here in Peten and the values program began at their school. They thanked God for this opportunity to be in yet another training with ISP. They said,
“The purpose of having the curriculum is to give the children internal values. The teachers transmit these ideas to fellow teachers and to the students.”
And now from the city of San Benito this report:
“We have values listed on the walls of our classrooms and we are using the values curriculum. As a result, we have seen a great change in our students.”
These teachers went on to relate how they were using the last unit of the Elementary curriculum to teach the children about God’s creation and to be thankful for all that is around them. One teacher related that after taking the students outside and asking “What do you see? How do you think the trees came into being? The birds? Water? The grass?” she then began having the children answer and then talked with them how they must be grateful to God for all of these beautiful things around them. She went on to relate how they looked at the creation story in the Bible and then did various art activities of their choice to reinforce what they had read and learned. She said the children had enjoyed all of this very much and she was able to also use these stories and examples in other ways: in spelling, reading, language, and even math. She concluded by encouraging the teachers here at this conference to use the curriculum in many ways by integrating it into different subjects.
Our hope is that all of you who are praying for us while we are here will be blessed by these reports. God is truly doing a work in this region of Guatemala and we are thrilled to be a part of His plan. Please know you, too, are a part of all of this…..we couldn’t do this without your support and prayers.
Please keep our team covered with prayer as some of our team members are now experiencing some health problems. All of us truly desire to be at our best for these precious teachers, so we do appreciate your prayers on our behalf.
Until manana……
May God’s blessings be yours,
Linda
for all the ISP team here in Peten , Guatemala"