Danvers Teacher Brings Lessons From Ghana Home To Holten Richmond School

DANVERS, MA — Danvers teacher John Hodsdon brought some of the lessons he learned during a two-week trip to Ghana home to the Holten Richmond School after the 30-year veteran took part in the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program this summer.

Hodsdon spent his trip speaking with and learning from students in Ghana on how their views on climate and resources compare with middle school students in Massachusetts.

"Working with the kids, they had so much joy in learning, in spite of the fact that they don't have a lot of the conveniences that we have here," Hodsdon said. "There's more of a disconnect to the environment here, like if you were to ask, 'Where does your water come from?' In Ghana, they're gathering their own water from a well."

The sixth-grade science teacher said students from Danvers wrote letters to the students he met in Yendi at the beginning of the school year and sent them school supplies. He said the Danvers students' next plan is to raise money to help the Ghana students plant trees to help combat climate change.

He said he sought the opportunity this summer because "Danvers is becoming a more diverse community of students."

"I wanted to increase my own cultural understanding and my knowledge of global education," he said.

The program is designed to equip educators to bring an international perspective to their schools through targeted training, experience abroad, and global collaboration.

"There are some really great teachers over there, so we learned a lot as well," Hodsdon said. "And in working with the kids, they had so much joy in learning, in spite of the fact that they don't have a lot of the conveniences that we have here."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)