LWB Community

Every two years, and sometimes more often thanks to generous donors who believe in the power of education, LWB sends a training team to China. This teacher training team collaborates with teachers in our Believe in Me (BIM) Schools about how to better meet the needs of students with a variety of abilities and challenges. It’s an incredible time of working together on behalf of students.

Instead of meeting at a central location as in years past, this year the workshop trainers from the USA will split into three groups. During the week of June 8, Team A will visit teachers and students in Huainan and Fuyang. That same week, Team B will work in Changzhi and Lanzhou and will be joined by teachers from Pingliang. Team C will spend time in Jinjiang and Shaoguan and will be joined by teachers from Qingyang.

Twenty-two Believe in Me teachers in China are preparing their classrooms to welcome the three training teams from the USA. Teachers and teams will work together at each location for approximately three days. During this time, the American training team will present workshops about teaching students with various special needs, teachers will try new lessons with their students, and classroom teachers and the training team will collaborate about how to best meet the needs of particular students at their schools and create the best learning opportunities possible for all of their students.

Much preparation goes into teacher trainings in the months leading up to the actual event. In China, the LWB teachers and education staff in China preparing for our team’s arrival, and in the U.S., training teams are planning workshops and curriculum activities.

Now, let’s introduce the teams!

Team A:

Carol Mauermann is the Curriculum Coordinator for our BIM Schools. She is a certified special education teacher and school psychologist.

Dana Ryan is new to the 2015 training team. She is an early childhood specialist who works as a project coordinator for the outreach department at a school for deaf and blind students.

Team B:

Tracey Scherr is a school psychologist and university professor who also serves as an Associate Director for LWB’s Education program.

Mary Beth Doerr is an occupational therapist with both pediatric hospital and school-based experience.

Team C:

As in years past, Vicki Cavalier will share her classroom teaching experience.

Speech pathologist Leah Sophrin (seen above on the right) will be lending her expertise in working with students with special needs.

Breclyn Everett, Believe in Me Shaoguan Assistant Coordinator, will be a translator for Team C and will share her experience with Montessori teaching.

In addition to the teams traveling to China, several team members have been working hard to help prepare materials and documents for the team’s use.

Our document translators, Brigitte Wang (seen above) and Shen Zhang (below) are doing a fantastic job of translating from English to Chinese the educational materials we will be sharing with the teachers.

Kristie Morrison will also be helping us by translating some materials.

As you can see, it takes a village! And this “village” of teachers has a lot of fun together.

Please follow along with us in June as we post updates from the trainings in China. If you wish to contribute to the upcoming or future teacher trainings, please visit our website.

We are so very grateful to be able to give our Believe in Me teachers this opportunity for professional development and know that the children will truly benefit from their growth!