An Overview of Week 1 & 2 of the Seminar and Our Future Hopes

The anticipation for Barbara and I began to build on Sunday June 18th, the night before we began facilitating our 2 week English Seminar. We had roughly 70 teachers, half of our teacher population was from the city of David, the other half was from the Comarca. The Comarca has schools that are outside of the city and are commonly traveled to by boat, horse, car, and walking for hours on end. Our seminar lasted from 8 am to 12 pm for 10 days total and the teachers were awarded with a certificate of completion at the end of the second week.




























Our first week consisted of setting the ground rules. Barbara and I began with a Social Contract, a new concept to many of the Panamanian teachers. The Social Contract allowed us to create three rules as a whole group that would set the environment for the rest of the seminar.
Teachers were taught attention signals through the use of application between Barbara and I. Our main focuses were: CHAMPs, Content & Literacy Objectives, the 4 Domains of Language, PWIM (Picture Word Induction Model), Phonics Q, Routines & Procedures, and Speaking & Listening Strategies.

We had noticed based on our observations that the classrooms lacked an interactive component outside of reading and writing and that there was a strong need for the practice of speaking and listening, so we integrated Kagan strategies while teaching new concepts through partner and small group work.
For example,  "Inside Outside Circle" was practiced  during our bell work routine.
Teachers were assigned "A" and "B" partners. These routines and practices are common within our own professional development, however, are scarcely seen in David based on our observations.
The teachers worked hard on learning how to incorporate different techniques within their lesson plans and apply it through mini-lessons and presentations that were created throughout the seminar.

The final project required the combination of all concepts and the work of 3 individuals collaboratively to create a lesson plan that they would be able to use in their classroom. The teachers had to have: Content Objectives written as taught (Audience, Behavior, Condition, and Degree), the integration of all 4 Literacy Objectives, a CHAMPs for each transitional period of the lesson, and the use of interactive strategies that would allow students to work collaboratively to complete not only the reading and writing, but also the speaking and listening domains of language.

The teachers' presentations exceeded our expectations. The work that they were able to complete with solely the use of construction paper and markers was impressive, to say in the least. The majority of the teachers were seeking teaching strategies that would not require technology, as they have little to no access to the technologies we take for granted in the United States. More than two thirds of the teachers in our seminar have to travel from classroom to classroom, carrying their own materials every hour in luggage and bags.

 Personally, I believe the more of a struggle that exists, the deeper the gratitude is felt. Although I believe most people have the best of intentions, people become desensitized when opportunities are easily accessible and become less valuable to the individual. Comfortability grows discontentment, and it is unfortunate that in human nature it takes loss or lack of opportunities to teach us to appreciate our commodities. Teachers were wanting the professional development, taking notes, the opportunity to grow as an educator, because it is not common practice for them to receive such support.

A grave concern Barbara and I had after our observations was that there were little to no books that could be found within the schools. I want you to imagine a school without an enchanted library of books ready to tell their stories to those who ventured to explore a new world, simply by beginning with the first page! It is a devastating sight to see in an educational environment. When we asked natives we were simply told, "Panamanians don't like to read." We must have heard this statement at least a dozen times from various individuals.
At the schools we visited, there weren't any libraries. We received an invitation from a Rotarian to attend a monthly city hall education meeting and we were invited to discuss our observations and our belief that the cultivation of a reading culture is a dire necessity for the future academic success of the students.
Not only should the books be supplied, but the seed of curiosity must be planted, the students must desire to seek knowledge because of the encouragement from their educational environment.

The supply won't have any significance without the demand. The demand requires that the students are led by example. It is not sufficient that teachers tell students to read, but show them that they themselves also read, and that they enjoy it! Leading by example will be how our next generation can be optimally influenced to continue to learn and grow their knowledge.
We are hoping by the time we come back to visit all of the phenomenal people we've met, there will be a growing reading culture that has been implemented. We leave in hopes that the previous customs of an illiterate society has been challenged to blossom into a quenched desire to seek the vast expanse of knowledge by the transportation of a book.