Professional Development at Colegio Bolivar

Colegio Bolivar recently hosted a professional development day for our teachers and other teachers from around Colombia and Ecuador. I attended a workshop called Destination Imagination, which is a worldwide program designed to help students learn to problem solve by activating their imaginations and creativity. It is an extracurricular program that the students prepare for a National Competition throughout the year, and if successful move onto the International Competition in the USA. The children compete in activities from creating skits to designing tools and machines. It was really inspiring to see what children are capable of when we give them the tools and resources to think outside of the box. It was also fun to participate in the activities ourselves to get a taste of what the children need to do. Colegio Bolivar has won the national competition every year and gets to travel to the US as a team. Hopefully, this year they can keep up the tradition! Although the school had us come to work on a Saturday, they ended the day with a Pacifico Band from the coast to play for us. All of the teachers were dancing down the aisles of auditorium. The performance really left us with a positive feeling and made me realize how refreshing it is to be in an environment where the people truly care about education, and the administration cares about the well being of the staff.