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D23 teachers build opportunities for peers in Guatemala, return with lessons of gratitude for students at home

A group of Betsy Ross Elementary School staff members spent part of last summer bridging cultures and building opportunities for teachers and students in Guatemala, and they have been incorporating their experiences into lessons for their own students since the start of the school year — especially during the holiday season.

The Prospect Heights District 23 teachers traveled to Guatemala City and a rural village in the municipality of Momostenango, where they led training workshops for fellow educators, worked with students and brought supplies and food to local families dealing with poverty.

Julie Murray, a second-grade teacher at Ross, says she has been reflecting on her Guatemalan travels and sharing about them frequently this month, as her class has been discussing the concept of gratitude.

“When young children hear stories about others in distant parts of the world who are the same age and live with far less, it helps them have a greater perspective on what it means to be grateful for the things and people they have in their lives,” she says.

The other Ross staff members who traveled to Guatemala were speech/language pathologist Jamie Gross, school psychologist Erin Lim and second-grade teachers Stella Prosek and Rachel Schoeny. They trip was organized by Ingage Unlimited, a nonprofit that disperses teams to communities around the globe to address inequities by providing training in education, leadership development and community health.

Once on the ground, the Ross team partnered with Potter’s House, a local organization that connected them to schools that have the greatest need and helped them set up the professional development workshops. The workshops covered topics such as delivering lessons in an engaging, interactive way, even when materials and resources are lacking, as well as the latest educational approaches that are popular in American classrooms. The Ross teachers then worked one-on-one with students to demonstrate the ideas covered in the workshops.

Murray says the communities were incredibly thankful, and the Guatemalan teachers were welcoming, although a bit shy and reserved at first.

“By the second day, they were engaged and even performed a traditional Guatemalan dance for us as a way of saying thank you and sharing a bit of who they are,” she says. “We wanted to learn from them as much as we wanted to teach them. It was truly an exchange.”

In that spirit, the District 23 teachers have incorporated their Guatemalan experience into literature, science and math lessons this school year, sharing stories anecdotally throughout the day. For example, Murray says she recently taught a number story that referenced plantains and was able to show her students photos of a typical Guatemalan breakfast, which often includes fried plantains.

“One benefit is that I’ve found the more I talk about my experiences in other parts of the world, the more willing my students are to share their own cultural experiences. I think exposing each other to different cultures helps us all embrace them and be more accepting,” Murray says.

Murray has traveled with Ingage Unlimited programs five times. She says in Guatemala, it was rewarding to see great progress and tangible results of the professional development. But she says the home visits were her favorite part of the experience.

“It’s heartwarming to be invited into a home and sit with a family to have a conversation about their lives and jobs and what their kids want to be when they grow up. And seeing their environment reminds us why we’re there,” she says, adding that the group was inspired by the families they met. “They may be poor in material things, but they are rich in love.”

The District 23 community supported donations for Guatemalan families through a Chipotle dine-and-share fundraiser. In addition, several Ross families contributed books and supplies.

A team of District 23 staff members will travel again in July 2024. Murray, Schoeny and Lim will head to Peru, where they will provide professional development for fellow teachers in rural areas, visit with families in their homes and deliver backpacks of school supplies.

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