Now Recruiting! You can apply to participate on the July 7-14, 2012 team to Santo Domingo Este, Dominican Republic. The next team meeting is being held on Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 9:00 am. – 12:00 noon at St. Paul’s Leaskdale, 12251 Regional Rd.#1, Leaskdale, ON. This year the Canadian team will provide workshops on Team Building, Setting Expectations, Goals and Vision for the Dominican Professional Learning Communities. A second Canadian team will offer workshops for administrators on Instructional Leadership. We welcome all new and returning team members- including those who may not be able to travel but wish to support and participate in the planning.

TMA has conducted teacher-training projects in the Dominican Republic since 2005. Last year, a team of Canadian educators provided training sessions in the Dominican Republic from July 18-23, 2011, at the Centro de Excelencia Prof. Liduvina Cornelio, in Santo Domingo Este. The focus of the work continued to be Teaching & Learning Literacy Strategies in Language and Math as well as Leadership Development. Central to TMA’s work is the continued formation and development of Professional Learning Communities. A total of 42 Dominican teacher mentors, representing 17 schools, in a wide geographic area of Santo Domingo East, now form six professional learning communities that extend newly acquired language and math literacy teaching strategies among their colleagues.

2011 also saw expansion of the teacher mentor program to a school, sponsored by World Vision, in Villa Altagracia, DR. A team of educators attended the weeklong training and formed a Professional Learning Community at Martin Luther King School in Los Guananitos of Villa Altagracia.

Teacher Mentors Abroad met with Directors of Education from the Dominican Ministry of Education, Poveda representatives and World Vision DR representatives, interested in collaborating with TMA to enhance teacher training and develop school improvement plans for their districts.

Canadian teacher mentor teams are made up of 4-12 individuals, including project leader, project consultant, cultural/logistics coordinator, workshop leaders and facilitators, and translators. New team members are welcomed throughout the year. To make inquiries about volunteer opportunities here and abroad and 2012 team travel, contact info@teachermentors.ca