Allen Educators Conduct Summer Institute For Jamaican Teachers
20
Teachers around the world share the same goal – to help their students succeed . Unfortunately , helping students succeed can be much more challenging when there are no resources , no books or even paper .
Working to bridge that gap is a group of teachers from Allen and area school districts who travel to Jamaica each summer to bring school supplies and conduct an annual teacher institute .
Teachers from the Montego Bay area of Jamaica attend the workshop conducted by North Texas teachers .
The group called “ Teaching With Jamaica ,” was started by Plano ISD teacher Karla Hughes Cass in 2006 . While working on a missionary project there she recognized an urgent need for teacher training and classroom resources .
“ Compared to teachers in the United States , Jamaican teachers have less formal education and few supplies and resources ,” said Patti Gilbert , a retired teacher from Vaughan Elementary School who currently heads the “ Teaching With Jamaica ” project . “ Most of the island ’ s teachers have only six months training in instruction .”
Approximately 20 teachers travel to Jamaica at their own expense to conduct a three-day conference for teachers in the Montego Bay area . The conference includes grade and subject teaching strategies for preschool through 6th grade .
Teachers also collect supplies during the year to send back with the attendees . Working with the Keep Allen Beautiful committee , the group also collected over 6,000 books which were catalogued and sent to Catherine Hall Primary School in Montego Bay .
“ It was exciting to be part of building the library ,” said