Today was a professional development day with our Belizean counterparts. We held a Teacher Summit with eight teachers and the principal of St. Jude's Primary School. We worked together to discuss common issues, challenges, and experiences that we all share as teachers, and to brainstorm strategies to address them.
Our opening activity was the Chopstick Challenge. Small groups sat in a tight circle, with each person holding a chopstick balanced on one end. On the count of three, everyone had to let go of their own chopstick and grab their neighbor's chopstick without letting any fall. After lots of giggles and shouts of victory and dismay, we eventually got good enough at working together that we could successfully do the challenge in a whole group of all seventeen participants.
The meat of the morning session included generating a list of knowledge, skills, attributes, and values that we want our students to have when they graduate from our schools. What will they need to know and be able to do in order to thrive in the complex, unpredictable world that awaits them? The goals for our students are largely the same, whether they are attending school in Belize, Canada, or the U.S. Then, we brainstormed strategies to address seven relevant questions such as "How can we increase student engagement and motivation?" and "How can we ensure students stay in school and feel successful?" The sharing of ideas, challenges, and successful approaches was rich for everyone. As is often the case, it became clear that the similarities among our classrooms are greater than the differences.
After lunch, we spent time in grade-level groups getting to know one another better and developing ideas for collaborations among our classes for the coming academic year. Plans were made for Belizean-North American pen-pals, video exchanges on topics like rainforest animals and cultural celebrations, and collaborative writing projects. By the end of the discussion, ideas were flying, contact information was being exchanged, and the level of excitement had skyrocketed.
We closed the afternoon with the Marshmallow Challenge. Small groups of new friends each received twenty strands of uncooked spaghetti, a yard of thread, a yard of masking tape, and a large marshmallow. The task was to build the tallest freestanding structure possible that would support the weight of the marshmallow - the highest marshmallow would win. It was an intense competition, complete with enthusiastic collaboration within groups and playful trash talking among groups. Bragging rights went to the early childhood teachers, whose structure was by far the sturdiest and therefore the only one to actually hold the marshmallow aloft. By the time we parted, it with hugs and promises to be in touch about our projects as soon as the school year gets underway. It was a day of learning, fun, and new friendships for everyone.
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| Our brainstormed list of the Global Graduate |
The meat of the morning session included generating a list of knowledge, skills, attributes, and values that we want our students to have when they graduate from our schools. What will they need to know and be able to do in order to thrive in the complex, unpredictable world that awaits them? The goals for our students are largely the same, whether they are attending school in Belize, Canada, or the U.S. Then, we brainstormed strategies to address seven relevant questions such as "How can we increase student engagement and motivation?" and "How can we ensure students stay in school and feel successful?" The sharing of ideas, challenges, and successful approaches was rich for everyone. As is often the case, it became clear that the similarities among our classrooms are greater than the differences.
After lunch, we spent time in grade-level groups getting to know one another better and developing ideas for collaborations among our classes for the coming academic year. Plans were made for Belizean-North American pen-pals, video exchanges on topics like rainforest animals and cultural celebrations, and collaborative writing projects. By the end of the discussion, ideas were flying, contact information was being exchanged, and the level of excitement had skyrocketed. 
We closed the afternoon with the Marshmallow Challenge. Small groups of new friends each received twenty strands of uncooked spaghetti, a yard of thread, a yard of masking tape, and a large marshmallow. The task was to build the tallest freestanding structure possible that would support the weight of the marshmallow - the highest marshmallow would win. It was an intense competition, complete with enthusiastic collaboration within groups and playful trash talking among groups. Bragging rights went to the early childhood teachers, whose structure was by far the sturdiest and therefore the only one to actually hold the marshmallow aloft. By the time we parted, it with hugs and promises to be in touch about our projects as soon as the school year gets underway. It was a day of learning, fun, and new friendships for everyone.
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