A Window into Struggle and Opportunity

Do we really get how hard it is for so many of our kids? Can we have empathy without having experienced this reality? Are we willing to talk openly about the full solution? Do you have the energy to be a part of the whole solution? Watch this video and sharing the conversation that emerges.

Notice

This week I've been intentional about taking time to notice. Life moves too fast, and I've seen that if I just take a moment to appreciate the ordinary that joy permeates deeper within me. I think that seeing the incredible images that friends, families, and allies provide me on Instagram pushed me to break my routine, pause, and notice. There is so much natural beauty around that is purposed for filling our souls with wonder and delight. Take notice. Smile. Stretch the time of the day.

Are we chasing the wrong things?

These three questions are dominating my thinking lately.

What is the best school that has come from our high stakes testing environment?

Is that school currently good enough for the learning that the students need for the next decade?

If not, why are we chasing the same model?

The Last 48 Hours

The final 48 hours in Guatemala were a complete blur. After we had seen the sights in Antigua, we walked in the dark to an Italian restaurant that was near our hotel. I should mention that our hotel was incredible. It truly was hotel as art. It had beautiful furniture, an interior courtyard, and more. It would have been a wonderful place to stay for three or four days as you explore Antigua. During dinner, we spent some time processing the week, and started the final game planning for our meeting with the Ministry of Education. Though it would have been nice to plan and create our presentation earlier in the week, the final vision for phase one of the Global Learning Exchange Initiative (GLXi) didn’t take shape until that day in Antigua. We stayed simple with our slides, and we featured photos of kids learning at the schools that we visited. 

The Minister herself took almost a full hour with us discussing our ideas to bring complimentary reading services to Guatemalan schools in grades K-3 during after-school programs using a technology-rich environment. We were excited to get a meeting with her, and blown away that she took a full hour with us. She too recognizes the power of focusing on literacy at early grades, and the Ministry of Education is very interested in how technology could be a part of that. Everyone did a fanastic job on short rest. After our visit, we had a synergy meeting with the Central American Lutheran Ministry Society (CALMS) folks. They are doing an incredible job with their work in small villages in Guatemala. We discuss the tenants of truly helping those in need without amplifying the fatalism that exists in many of these communities. I was pointed to a text called Helping Without Hurting. I’m excited to get more deeply focused on making sure that our work remains true to these tenants. Following lunch, we traveled to the book store to create our first box of travelling books. Our hope is to bring technology-rich guided reading to our programming while also providing additional supplementary texts for independent reading. 

We are hoping that schools throughout the US may see the power of bringing these books to towns and villages in Guatemala, and I’m hoping to help coordinate these efforts. After this stop, we went to JMDR, a public school in Guatemala City for our final school visit. This visit brought us a new set of realities. This schools was ringed with a street market and poverty just inches outside of its walls. We arrived at recess, and the place was a bit crazy. There were lots of students running around on a small playground, and there were many others very interested in us. We met with the principal of the school, and she was very receptive to us bring there. It was clear that she had a lot of pride in her school, and we would soon realize why. We also saw a new computer lab that was in the principals’ office. It consisted for 8-10 “thin client” computers networked together. They were a pilot from Microsoft and the Ministry of Education. The internet connection was very slow, and we weren’t able to see kids using them during our visit. From the beginning of our trip, we thought that this urban public school would include a lot of illiterate children. It was awful that we had that mental model to start because the brilliance of this third grade classroom was amazing. They were eager learners. They asked for tougher books. They wanted to play the math game over and over. This visit confirmed that, urban or rural, public or private, the GLXi project can be effective in any space. 

After our visit, we were quite weary and truly on empty after this completely full week of learning. We had 45 minutes to rest, only for it to be interrupted by the biggest earthquake that I’ve ever experienced. Dave, who led our trip, is a native of CA, so it was a little tremor for him. Later, we would realize that over 30 people were killed in the earthquake closer to the epicenter. The final push of the evening came from a farewell dinner from our “host family” the Bonillas. Jose is the in-country coordinator for GLXi, and was responsible for our flawless itinerary and trip. Jose’s father Eduardo, served as our driver for the week. He was a crafty driver in the crazy street of Guatemala City and a race car driver outside the city. Mrs. Bonilla allowed us to share her family for the week, and her smile and energy sparked us throughout our tired moments. This project wouldn’t be possible without this dedicated family. Dinner was incredible, steak, sausage, potatoes, salad, and drink, and the beauty of Guatemala for visitors is that it was quite inexpensive. Lots of hugs to end the evening, and lots of promises to return. I can’t imagine being in Guatemala City without being with the Bonillas. The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning for the final push home. I’m in the air about an hour from Saint Louis as I write this. There is at least one more blog post coming from the trip after it all sinks in a bit. I’m not to the takeaways yet, but I do know that I’m ready to build a network of kids, teachers, and more around the efforts of the GLXi because from those that have much, much is expected. This sense of service and empathy is a critical piece of building the whole child and more.

A pretty rough football game at JMDR School. 

The principal was very interested in the support of GLXi.

Dr. Henke and Dave Barford chat with the Minister of Education. 

Having a long audience with the Minister and her assistant was a blessing. Our work is designed to complement the work of the government in K-3 literacy. 

Antigua Guatemala

Today was an opportunity to prepare for our meeting with the Ministry of Education. Throughout the day and well into the night we fine tuned our message and left with a clearer purpose of how the Global Learning Exchange Initiative will do to support the literacy work in Guatemala. Included in our day was some time to explore Antigua Guatemala, a city that was the capital of all of Central America, many years ago. We took time to see the sites including the wonderful vista, the cathedral, the open air market, and the jade museum. Tomorrow is a full day of meetings with key players in the country as well as our final school. I'll be home in 40 hours, and it is hard to believe how much we accomplished. 

The view from above Antigua. The volcano, Agua, is in the distance. 

Our in-country coordinator, Jose, sporting his University of Missouri shirt.
MIZ....ZOU

The beauty and peace of Antigua filled our afternoon. 

Fish for lunch, the whole fish 

From the ruins...rises a new start.

The best power strip over.

The cathedral facade in Antigua.

Jade is only found in two places in the world, and one of them is Guatemala.
These women are working to polish the jade.

One of many open air markets.

Guatemala- A Design Thinking Challenge

Over the last few months, I have been working with an organization called the Global Learning Exchange that has a mission to bring technology-infused reading experiences to the children of Guatemala and beyond. Over the past year, our group has developed relationships with an initial set of schools, and my journey this week took me into those schools to learn the logistics necessary to bring our programming to their space. We learned a lot, and we were intentional about using design thinking as part of our growth process this week. We didn't want to bring our solution to a space without considering the needs of those that we were serving. We talked about the needs of those that we were trying to serve throughout this process. This led us to building a problem statement that reads:

The young, eager learners that are beginning and emerging readers in Guatemala need to experience the best practices of reading instruction that maximize engagement so that they can progress into lifelong readers and learners.

In order to tackle this issue, we have spent time in the ideation phase looking at a variety of ways to bring a solution to the table. One idea has emerged at this point. We want to bring technology-infused reading experiences to students by coupling the compelling nature of the XO Android Tablet with a projector in after-school spaces in the schools that we serve. We tested this potential solution over the past week in country, and we have had solid results in the how it draws students into the learning.

We have recognized a set of logistics that emerge when we take this project from our one time test to bringing systems into schools that are sustainable over time that we need to overcome. This is where we need some assistance from the wisdom of the masses. We are in need of a mobile learning system that allows us to have the following conditions in place.

1. We would like a lockable box that can be secured with all of the technology in one space. We also need this box to be able to be locked to a wall for additional security.

2. We would like for the box to house a projector with the following conditions: allows the fan to function to avoid overheating, serves as a space from where the projector can project without removing it from the box, sits at a height that can project onto a wall for visibility in the classroom.

3. We would like a space in the lock box for a universal power supply that could be removed each night for charging by the teachers who live in the town below.

4. We would like spaces to store 3-5 XO Tablets in the box.

5. We would like a space to store some additional supplies (30 portable white boards, a laser pointer, HDMI cable, etc.)

6. We would like a space for a backpack to be hung or stored on the box. This is backpack that will be used to haul the battery down the mountain each evening for charging.

7. We would like a storage container that has wheels for easy movement between classrooms in a rural environment.

8. We would like for the container to handle the weather (high humidity and some precipitation) without being compromised.

9. We would like the container to cost between $200-300 and be replaceable quickly.

With these things as guiding thoughts, I turn things over to the children of the United States and beyond. We are open to new, innovative ideas on our process, product, and storage needs. We looking forward to thinking together with all of those working on this project. For more details, please reach out to me at: rdillon25@gmail.com

Guatemala- Day Four; Our Trip to San Miguel

We woke this morning with a single mission in mind. It was to travel into the hills to see if our ideas for bringing technology-infused reading experiences could be effective and replicated in the rural sections of Guatemala. The group boarded our new vehicle capable of handling the extreme road conditions on the way to San Miguel, and we departed. The biggest early surprise was the beautiful town of Huite (wheat-tay). It was a clean and beautiful town with great homes, flowers, and parks. The road was straight up from there for about 20km until we reached the village of San Miguel. Pigs, goats, dogs, cows, and people littered the road to the village that climbed thousands of feet from Huite. 

We arrived, and there was instant interest from the kids like there has been in each school. All of the white people create quite the stir. We talked with the principal teacher and a few teachers. I should say that Jose, our translator, talked to these folks. I have tended to get really shy in these moments, part discomfort and part embarrassment that I have so much to offer, but nothing without language to share. Soon we realized that the school at San Miguel functions with no electricity. This was a surprise for us, but the school said that they could pay their neighbor who would loan us some electricity to showcase how our OX Tablets and projector can reshape reading in their classrooms. 

The next 30 minutes were complete chaos as all of the teachers left their rooms to meet with us, and they left all of their classes to do whatever. We were also trying to get the electricity run. This meant running an extension cord out of the window of the classroom (it was really three wires with a junction box attached on one end and a plug on the other), and then throwing the wire over the barbed wire fence that surrounded the school and attaching the cord to a second extension cord (attaching means jamming two wires into a plug on one end of the cord). This cord was run across the road before it was thrown over the neighbors hedges. From there, it was run through a hole in the wall in the neighbors home into and outlet for power.  

Once we had power, we showcased the potential power of the projector in these spaces. It was well received, and we discussed the possibility of bringing this technology to this space for future use. After walking the village a bit, we boarded the car to discuss the logistics to make this work in the poorest of conditions. We need help with this, and we are calling on experts, students, and solutionists to help us achieve our goals. More details about how to make this a successful project are coming soon. 

Our team preparing for the day. Lots of driving to get from Zacapa to San Miguel. 

The beautiful children of San Miguel. 

Sixth grade readers were reading at a first grade level at this school.
Our best work has to be with the toughest of places. These
students were so excited to learn and read. 

Recess in every place in the world looks a lot alike. 

Beyond the fence and the barbed wire about 20 meters is the electricity that this school desperately needs.
Never thought that we would be game planning around schools that have no electricity. 

Engagement is a beautiful thing to see in action.
These young learners are so ready to experience learning in a new way. 

With a projector and a tablet, we create our own interactive whiteboard along with a broom handle pointer. 

Some mom from Weikel Elementary School donated this shirt a long time ago, and it ended up in the mountains of Guatemala. We are such an interconnected place.  

The vista from San Miguel was magical. The fertile valley below, and the mining mountains in the distance.