This article examines the challenges faced and lessons learned while developing the SPEAK Young Women's Vocal Empowerment Curriculum and leading 30 educators through a Professional Development Training on the curriculum in Guatemala in 2019. The guiding question is, "What does it take to train non-teaching artists in the skills needed to lead…

Service-learning (SL) is an active methodology built onto reciprocal learning that combines social responsibility and academic learning. Changes in students' profiles and the evolving interaction between educational institutions and society have encouraged the use of similar participative methodologies in diverse contexts, including higher…

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged educators to shift their practices and utilize technology to reach and teach learners at a distance. This study presents data collected in situ from 265 K-12 educators who adapted their practices during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Findings revealed that educators relied on multiple…

This article is the second in a pair examining my experience leading 30 educators through professional development training on the "SPEAK Young Women's Vocal Empowerment Curriculum" in Guatemala. To guide my examination, I have looked to the question, "What does it take to train non-teaching artists in the skills needed to lead a…

This article draws on lessons from the field to offer further guidance for arts organizations and teaching artists leading professional development.

This case study with educators from a school in an urban low socioeconomic neighborhood near Guatemala City, Guatemala, explored the effectiveness of the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle (PDSA) to guide teachers' professional development at a Pre-K-K public school (Langley, 2009). This three-year study focused on developing teacher leaders and…

This study examines 96 Guatemalan teachers' perspectives on the viability of educational mandates from Guatemala's Ministry of Education and explores their perceived ability to advocate in the schoolhouse. Data included focus groups prior to, and after, workshops on topics related to effective literacy interventions in diverse contexts. Findings…

The Peace Accords of 1996 sought to bring significant changes for Indigenous people of Guatemala by promoting new educational opportunities centering on the recognition that culture and language are critical components of education. Bilingual intercultural programs have been created and attention to the detrimental effects of language loss and…

The urgent call to internationalize teacher education in response to the impact globalization presents in our nation's classrooms, also calls for a fundamental shift in how the field of teacher education provides opportunities of professional learning for teachers. Traditional models of teacher education often fail to develop teachers with the…

Using a reflective exercise designed for this study, Guatemalan educators explored their students' and their own cultural capital. The "cultural capsule exercise" served as a vehicle to bring delicate issues that are difficult to discuss, but that are essential to effective schooling, to reflective conversations. A total of 108 teachers…

This chapter explores how systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can contribute to secondary teachers' effectiveness for teaching disciplinary literacies to refugee youth in the United States. The chapter describes the Milltown Multimodal/Multiliteracies (MMM) Collaborative, an SFL-based professional development partnership between a large public…

This qualitative study examined the influence of social capital upon Internet usage by Guatemalan English teachers in the rural, indigenous community of San Lucas Toliman. The purpose was to improve enrollment and persistence in online teacher professional development programs supported by the Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Woolcock's concepts of…

This article describes an early childhood professional development project that took place in the summer of 2005 in Guatemala City. Located in Central America, Guatemala has a population of approximately 12.3 million people, including more than two million children under the age of 5 (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2007; UNICEF, 2004). Events…

Mathematics consultants from the United States provide ongoing professional development founded on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000). Consultants provide teachers with sustained, hands-on opportunities to expand their abilities to teach mathematics more effectively. Readers will…

Good basic education depends on several factors working in harmony. The first is that students be healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Other essentials include an enabling policy environment and transparent management; a curriculum that reflects the society's values and aspirations for learning; and community support for education and parents'…