GLXi's Teacher Training Graduation
“Teaching work begins at home and continues in the classrooms. For me, the Open Books, Open Minds Program is a means of continuous learning and updating of reading didactic strategies to help teachers grow in new knowledge that will be developed within the classrooms. For students, reading is fundamental to learning and acquiring knowledge in various curriculum areas. The strategies learned in each program class were put into practice with our students, where they acquired new knowledge through play.”
GLXi held its teacher training graduation on Jan. 20 with a well-attended virtual ceremony.
We held our teacher graduation on Jan. 20, and it was a virtual celebration to remember!
Our 57 graduates prepared with excitement for the big day, and chose to wear coral and/or white clothing to stand out on screen and make the ceremony as beautiful as possible. They also chose to decorate their background screen (physically or digitally) to further brighten the occasion.
Teams from Guatemala and the United States attended the virtual celebration, and were thrilled to be able to personally congratulate the graduates on their remarkable efforts.
Graduates of our 2023 Open Books, Open Minds training program hailed from many corners of Guatemala, spanning across the departments of Guatemala, Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, Jalapa, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, Mazatenango, Baja Verapaz, and Quiché. They represent 24 public schools in Guatemala, and a non-profit educational organization.
The GLXi® OBOM program started in March due to the late start of classes in public schools in Guatemala. The training was conducted entirely virtually, for nine months. And new this year, seven teachers participated in the pilot program for pre-primary education.
The inclusion of pre-primary teachers was very important because it reminded all teachers of the importance of stimulation and skill development for vocabulary acquisition, which is fundamental for reading and writing in the early years of primary school.
Once again, teachers were asked to create a digital book for students as their final project and a culmination of the training program. Five of these books received special recognition during the ceremony, and the top two books were read aloud by the teachers who created them.
At the ceremony, we also recognized the teachers with the highest grades in the class. These teachers represent the fundamental objective of GLXi and the OBOM program and they should feel proud of their efforts!
We’d like to also recognize them here:
Gloria Sánchez from Sacatepéquez, and María Batz from Guatemala, with a 96.4 average
Gloria Figueroa from Mazatenango with a 96.5 average
Edgar Soliz from Sacatepéquez, with a 97 average
Marlyn Ambelis, from Sacatepéquez, with a 97.6 average
Deyfi González with a 98 average
These teachers not only participated fully and actively throughout the program, but they demonstrated a genuine interest and passion for teaching – especially when it comes to the reading and writing skills of their students.
Their place on the honor roll was a surprise to them, which led to an exciting moment during the ceremony as their names were revealed.
New this year, seven teachers in the training participated in the pilot program for pre-primary education.
Finally, the ceremony offered the chance for some of the teachers to share their thoughts on their experience. We offer some of their words to you:
“Fellow teachers who are part of the Open Books, Open Minds Program, I want to say THANK YOU for making space for new learning and CONGRATULATIONS for completing the program, contributing to the change for educational quality. We know the efforts, sacrifices, and time it took to attend each virtual class, but the enthusiasm and love for our teaching work were awakened in the attention and participation to learn more.” - Edgar Soliz from EORM San Cristóbal El Bajo in Sacatepéquez
“Thank you for providing us with tools that served and will serve us to promote the habit of reading in our students and in this way show each of them that reading leads them to be more analytical people, which will allow them to open up to new horizons that lead them to success.” - Marlyn Ambelis from EOUV in Pastores Sacatepéquez
“I urge you as an organization to continue your very important project that provides useful and quality materials to our children, and motivates us as teachers to continue providing quality lessons to our children. Keep going GLXi, because through your board of directors you provide us with a project that benefits thousands of children and teachers in our beautiful Guatemala.” - María Batz from EOUN No. 9 Cristóbal Colón in Guatemala
You can help support the next class of teachers by donating to GLXi here.