Dear Family and Friends,
As many of you are aware, we are in the process of completing our last full semester of classes at California University of Pennsylvania. With new classes beginning in January, we will be student teaching in America for the first seven weeks of the semester. Not long ago, an amazing opportunity was presented for us to teach abroad for the final seven weeks of the semester. As both Rachel and I have participated in mission trips to foreign countries in the past, the opportunity to engage our personal and professional aspirations brings about more joy than we can place into words. We will be traveling to Pune, India to teach at the BSSK orphanage from March to May of 2011. This opportunity presents itself as a blessing, as we will have the opportunity to interact and educate those with special needs, infants and toddlers, and school-age children during our time abroad. Along with several supplemental instructional strategies we will be helping students to engage in, we are working to develop an enriching and sensory filled curriculum to help the children prepare for adoption to the greatest extent possible. We will be providing students with stimulating tactile materials to work with, with the hopes of fostering a greater sense of normal stimulation before the children are adopted and immersed into various cultures full of these materials that are foreign to them. Some of the materials include shaving cream, sand-papered letters, feathers, play-doh, and countless other items that are normal to our everyday lives in America.
With this wonderful blessing also comes the question of financial feasibility, as we will be supporting ourselves with our housing, tuition at our home university, vaccinations, and the traveling expenses to teach abroad. Because we would like to prepare several suitcases with the tactile materials for students, we are asking for your support whether it be through financial means, item donation, or simply lifting our names in your prayers as we prepare to begin this wonderful journey. We have created a blog to update our friends and family during our journey and that can be accessed at www.envisioneducators.blogspot.com. To automatically receive updates, simply click "follow" to the right and enter your information - you will need a gmail, yahoo, or twitter account to register. Our goal is to post entries, videos, and photos to the blog at least once each week to update everyone on our personal, professional, and spiritual progress during our journey. We have also created a joint email account for family and friends to reach us and it is EnvisionEducators@gmail.com We believe that God has opened the door to this experience for us and we plan on making the most of this and all of the experiences we believe are soon coming.
We would like to thank you, in advance, for your support and prayers during this exciting time in our lives. We look forward to beginning this journey to Pune, India and having the opportunity to educate, empower, and, ultimately, bless those that God has entrusted into our care. We hope that you will stay up to date via blog and email, as we are excited to share our journey with you.
For more information or to make a contribution to be taken abroad, contact us at EnvisionEducators@gmail.com. Donations can be also mailed to:
Jackie Davis & Rachel Fletcher
California University of PA
250 University Avenue – Box 85
California, PA 15419
Blessings & Love,
Jackie and Rachel
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