Education and Children Changing the World
Congratulations to Villard’s Teachers
We would like to say congratulations to all the teachers who attended the teacher training workshop this past week. We are so proud of all of you!
Boats and Good-Byes
On the last day of the workshop we spent time working on things that the teachers wanted to learn more about. One of the main things teachers wanted to do was to see an example science lesson. Over the week we did a language arts lesson by having the teachers translate a poem. We did a math lesson about linear algebra where the teachers derived the formula themselves. Eric also did an example social studies lesson about Christopher Columbus including hooks to get students interested in the lessons and connecting the lesson to the knowledge that the students already have. The teachers enjoyed these lesson so much that they also wanted to do a science lesson as well. To give an example of a science lesson Eric had the teachers do an experiment in buoyancy by making boats! This was a lot of fun and the teachers had a great time, not to mention the kids in the schoolyard who were also very excited! It is important that science is fun and exciting and not too abstract so that students can really get into it and learn about the world around them.
Eric also did a summary of the week and after lunch we had a end of the week ceremony to give the teachers certificates. In the end we awarded certificates to 54 teachers in Villard!
The ceremony was a beautiful one with a speech from Principal Saimplice, Alina who organized the project and two of the teachers who expressed heartfelt gratitude. All the teachers received certificates from Haiti School Project for completing the workshop. It was an emotional day. Everyone was so happy with our time together but also very sad to say good-bye!
Workshop Training
Today was a slow day with activities taking longer than expected but the teachers are grasping the ideas.
We did one activity relating to science exemplifying the strength of knowledge involved in group work. Eric also did an example lesson of a math class by having the teachers figure out a linear equation. Instead of simply giving an equation, it is important that students create it themselves so that they can really understand how it works, what it means and why it is relevant to them.
We went over the basics of a good lesson plan and started a social studies lesson that will be important for tomorrow’s activity “preparing a lesson plan”.
Eric Leading Seminar
After lunch, Eric continued with a reading about Paulo Freire‘s work on banking education versus liberation education. The teachers found this very interesting. We had teachers discuss in their groups about reading and different ideas about education, schooling and the two different types of teaching. There was some lively discussion among the groups about these styles of education.
Teacher Training Activities
We started the training that day by rearranging the desks so that the layout of the classroom could more easily accommodate group work, something not normally done in Haiti schools. After registration, Eric started with an activity to demonstrate different ways of learning such as visual and auditory. It illustrates the different ways we learn, being creative, thinking outside the box and demonstrates multiple solutions to the same problem.
The teachers loved these interactive activities and some even said they would like to use them in their classes!
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