We teach WHO we are (Professor Jim Plueddemann)

Their eyes shined and smiles lite up their faces. Finally, after years of hearing about him, reading his articles, and striving to live out his philosophy of education, they were able to meet Dr. Jim Plueddemann face to face and sit for a week under his tutorage.

Alfredo served as his translator all week.

To the CCI/LA instructors Dr. Jim Plueddemann is a famous person.

So, all the emotions and excitement was evident on their faces as they interacted with him, observed him, took copious notes both on the content of what he taught but perhaps more importantly on HOW he taught. We teach WHO we are as much or more than what we teach and Jim did not disappoint us.
 

I watched our professors observe Jim and see with their own eyes his masterful way of teaching and I was filled with such joy to be able to share him with them. It is a gift of experiential understanding since I have described him for years, but now they understand from their own experience.

When they are back in their countries teaching, I pray the image of the gracious, kind, and humble way he accompanies his students and teaches them will come to mind to inspire and guide them.

Norma said: "His gracious manner of teaching made the hours fly by. He is noble, accessible, simply profound and personable. What I noticed was how enriched he is by others cultures such that he respected ours and did not attempt to impose his culture on us. I felt respected."

Jim would explain a complex idea like power distance (definition of power distance) and then invite the class to share personal examples related to this theory. But then Jim doesn’t just smile, nod his head and say: Thank you for sharing. He prompts us to critically reflect on our own experience and on God’s word by intently listening to us, then deepening the dialogue with questions like:

• Why do you ask that question?
• What problems are you facing related to your question? 

When Evelyn was asked how this time with Jim fortified her as a professor? She responded:  Just like I study the content, I will study the student. We all observed how well Jim knew us because he had studied our biographies and he took that into account as he taught us.

What do you remember about your favorite teacher doing in class that really impacted you?

Just because Lisa says so?

Interaction between Victor Hugo Martinez from Monterrey, Mexico and Dr. Plueddemann:

Jim Plueddemann questioned Victor Hugo: “You traveled to Cuba to teach them about recreation, but why did you bring non-competitive games there? Just because it says so in the books Lisa wrote?"

I was watching this exchange with delight since I have been a “victim” of Jim’s challenging dialogues for years and have benefitted enormously. 

Victor Hugo reacted passionately, leaning in as he spoke:

“Look, Professor Plueddemann, this is how it happened."

"A Cuban guy traveled to Mexico and there he found one of our camping magazines so he got in touch with the president of CCI LA/Mexico via email. Then our president put together a delegation to do a training in Cuba. My wife and I took our 20-volume Games Encyclopedia and although the Cuban leaders initially rejected the idea of substituting their annual camp soccer tournament with cooperative games, after the training camp they were all convinced. They came to that conclusion once they noticed that there had been less discrimination against the women who were no longer just cheerleaders but participants. They told us the story about how one of their churches had canceled having any camps whatsoever ten years prior because their pastors had gotten into a fistfight during a heated soccer match. After attending the “hand-on” training camp where they experienced a camp program that created an environment of camaraderie, full participation, free of rivalry, discrimination, hostilities, and ridicule, these pastors re-initiated their yearly camping program. They invited us to return each year to do the training and each year they invite more and more churches to send their leaders to attend. We have been doing this for four years. “

Leaning back in his chair, Victor Hugo concluded: “That, Professor Plueddemann, is why I believe in and teach purpose-driven recreation.”

Jim smiled and reminded us all of the need to be conversant in the vision that drives us. 

If you have the opportunity to promote our 20-volume Games Encyclopedia to Spanish-speaking people, please direct them to amazon.com where they can place their orders or have them get directly in touch with me at capacitacion@ccial.org
(key words for amazon.com are: ENCICLOPEDIA JUEGOS CREADORES DE AMBIENTE)

Perspectives of Bob Sabean (one of the founders of CCI Latin America) & Robert Bruneau (Executive Director of CCI/LA)

Bob Sabean: 
Fellow missionary with Latin America Mission and co-Senior Professor on the team
(missionary in Costa Rica for 48 years)
"As I sit here and look at our team of professors, I realize that I dreamt of having this caliber of leaders back in 1992 after our first Institute for Forming Instructors. How naïve was I back then to think we’d get quality like this after just one training event! But, the vision was right on, my timing was not! Ha, ha, ha. God knew the proper time of germination and maturation."

Our multiculturalism is God's gift to the team and to those we will serve

Bob explains to the team a bit of American history

Robert Bruneau:

Fellow missionary with Latin America Mission and executive director of CCI/LA: When Lisa presented the plan for the Leadership Summit in 2010, I asked: Why Pittsburgh? Now I see two things. First: We needed to leave our countries to see Latin America, our home, as a whole, as a mission field.





Second: I realized after spending an afternoon at the Heinz Museum that Pittsburgh is a city of innovation and is multicultural! That’s exactly the spirit we want to foster amongst our team of professors: innovation and appreciation for the richness of our multiculturalism.

Lisa explaining the unique aspects of Pittsburgh.

Robert Bruneau:

We gathered around our guest teacher, Jim Plueddemann, to lay hands on him, pray, thank him for his dedication to us this week, and Robert said:

Of all the thousands of students Jim has had, God sent one in particular to Latin America to work for CCI/LA. Twenty years later, fifteen students return to the USA to continue to learn and now will return to Latin America to continue the pilgrim journey, this silent revolution in Christian Education, inviting others to join them to seek God’s glory in all they do.

Amen Robert, so be it, amen and amen.

Lisa Anderson-Umaña earned her MA in education at Wheaton College with Dr Jim Plueddemann. His Christian philosophy of education undergirds all our texts in CCI Latin America. It was a privilege to have Dr. Plueddemann (now with Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where Lisa is presently a doctoral candidate) teach us for an entire week.