Teachers in rural Central America face a number of unique challenges, from just reaching remote locations every day to teaching without adequate infrastructure or learning materials and working with children who begin school with early cognitive deficits associated with poverty. Few are adequately prepared to teach in these challenging environments.
We will be delivering extensive teacher training to our teachers, using the US AID developed and tested program known as CETT (Center for Excellence in Teacher Training). The program focuses on methods for teaching literacy but also includes math education, through both group and one-on-one training.
Partnering with the University del Valle in Guatemala, we create geographic clusters of teachers who meet with expert trainers every month for two years. The group is interactive, with teachers sharing their own experiences and gleaning from those of their peers, under the moderation of the trainer. At each session the teachers are tasked with working on a particular project with the students at their school, the results of which they display at the next session.
The trainers also make monthly site visits to the participating teachers, monitoring the teachers’ progress and providing personal feedback. In the course of their monthly visits, they identify teachers who are using "best practices" that should be recognized and shared with their peers. Twice a year, we ask these teachers to make presentations to experts and peers, and choose the best of the best for teaching awards including, for example, a personal laptop.
We chose the CETT program because it has a proven impact on learning in the classroom, and we reinforce the CETT methodology with teaching prizes because we believe good teachers need to be recognized and awarded. Our first cluster will begin in July 2011. Check back here for updates and progress reports!
