(Moscow, Russia) Vera is a pharmacist, who works the night shift in her hometown near Moscow. She is also a single mom to her 8 year old daughter. When she attended the CrossRoads training in January of 2007 she felt a deep conviction to go back to her old high school and volunteer to teach the program. Fear of doing it alone was holding her back.
Then Tanya, who also went through the training, agreed to team up with her. They went to the school and the director gave them a class of 15 students. These students were a challenge to teach but Vera and Tanya were an effective team complimenting each other. The walls came down when Vera took the opportunity in class to openly talk about her life. At that moment she was able to build a good relationship with them and they began to believe her and start to change. When the school year ended Vera had established credibility at the school but Tanya could no longer teach with her.
As the new school year began Vera hesitated to teach alone, and then finally decided to test the waters. If the director agreed that CrossRoads was needed at the school, she would step out and teach on her own. She was received with enthusiasm by the school and given the most difficult class to teach. Before long another teacher approached Vera asking her to also teach Life at CrossRoads in her class. Then another and another approached her.
Now Vera has four classes that she is teaching and three of the teachers sit in her class to learn from her. Students come up to her after lessons to get her advice on problems in their lives. The teachers want to talk to her about the principles she is teaching in the class. Clearly, the CrossRoads strategy is making a difference!
(Moscow, Russia) Vera is a pharmacist, who works the night shift in her hometown near Moscow. She is also a single mom to her 8 year old daughter. When she attended the CrossRoads training in January of 2007 she felt a deep conviction to go back to her old high school and volunteer to teach the program. Fear of doing it alone was holding her back.
Then Tanya, who also went through the training, agreed to team up with her. They went to the school and the director gave them a class of 15 students. These students were a challenge to teach but Vera and Tanya were an effective team complimenting each other. The walls came down when Vera took the opportunity in class to openly talk about her life. At that moment she was able to build a good relationship with them and they began to believe her and start to change. When the school year ended Vera had established credibility at the school but Tanya could no longer teach with her.
As the new school year began Vera hesitated to teach alone, and then finally decided to test the waters. If the director agreed that CrossRoads was needed at the school, she would step out and teach on her own. She was received with enthusiasm by the school and given the most difficult class to teach. Before long another teacher approached Vera asking her to also teach Life at CrossRoads in her class. Then another and another approached her.
Now Vera has four classes that she is teaching and three of the teachers sit in her class to learn from her. Students come up to her after lessons to get her advice on problems in their lives. The teachers want to talk to her about the principles she is teaching in the class. Clearly, the CrossRoads strategy is making a difference!