This month, ten educators from School of the Nations participated in the AMISA 2023 Educators Conference, an event organized by the American International School in the Americas and the American School of Guatemala in partnership with Colegio Maya.
This year's theme, "Architects of Learning: A Conference on Co-designing," had as its main objectives to empower teachers to build new learning opportunities, redesign learning spaces, and construct new frameworks that will welcome students as our partners and design the future of our School.
From March 29 through 31, our team was in Guatemala City, participating in workshops and conversation circles and giving lectures on learning-related topics.
Check out our teachers' workshop themes and more details about the event on School of the Nations' website.
Diana Bracarense, High School art teacher
Ms. Diana gave the lecture "Fostering Creativity in an Inspirational Environment." She argued that creativity requires a compassionate and inspiring environment where students can co-create with teachers, design, take risks, deal with frustration, and gain autonomy in their productions. Diana shared her experience as a teacher fostering a space for students to think critically and solve real-world issues.
Damian Funches, Elementary English teacher
The workshop "Focus on What's Strong, Not What's Wrong" aimed to help educators understand the importance of highlighting students' strengths. Mr. Damian invited participants to identify a student's strengths and leverage those strengths to build confidence and encourage collaboration through tutoring. He also helped participants devise strategies to create a welcoming, cooperative, and uplifting environment.
Fabíola Freitas, Middle School Portuguese teacher, and Jorge Sobrinho, High School history teacher
Ms. Fabíola and Mr. Jorge gave the workshop "Interdisciplinarity between Language Arts and Social Sciences." They invited participants to create methods for students to work in an interdisciplinary way and find the best way to express what they have learned from an autonomous learning process. Thus, they engaged educators in discussions about interdisciplinarity, student voice and choice, and deep learning.
Fernanda Gonçalves and Roger Souza, Elementary English Language Learning teachers
Ms. Fernanda and Mr. Roger offered the workshop "Grade-Level Multidisciplinary Projects: Building Learning Together." They explained how School of the Nations uses a project-based learning approach that promotes deeper learning by enhancing critical thinking skills. The participants practiced building a multidisciplinary project, redesigning their teaching practices based on multidisciplinary projects, and organizing strategies to help students develop essential skills.
Pedro Porto, Early Childhood Learning Support Facilitator, and Ms. Ana Patrícia Scheidemantel, Middle School Learning Support Counselor
Mr. Pedro and Ms. Ana Patrícia offered the lecture "Rethinking our Practices: Facilitated Differentiation in an Equitable and Inclusive Classroom." According to them, rethinking practices offers the opportunity to reflect on traditional classroom structures, provide practical strategies, and establish school cultures that take advantage of each student's learning capacity. Thus, participants shared suggestions, tools, and inspiration as they promoted differentiation in the educational environment, allowing each student to see themselves as a key player in creating an inclusive and equitable classroom culture.
Michelle Ray, Early Childhood Education teacher
In her lecture "Educating the Whole Child: Dance and Literacy," Ms. Michelle taught educators about the "Hat Dance" pedagogical approach and how they can apply it to language learning, literacy development, and science. "Hat Dance" is a method in which students choose vocabulary words from a hat and demonstrate them through dance. Educators learned how to integrate different subjects with dance and the benefits of learning through body movements.
Comments