Teacher Seminars
“Wonn Refleksyon” or Touchstones Discussion Method as it’s referred to in US (touchstones.org), is an important part of teacher training that Haiti Partners does with more than 300 teachers a year. Here, a group of teachers at one of our partner schools are doing a Wonn Refleksyon session.
Posted in Circles of Change, Haiti Partners, Reflection Circles, TEACHERS Program, Uncategorized | No Comments |
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Open Space meeting at Bèl Platon Community School
July 19, 2010
Last Saturday, Haiti Partners long-time colleague, Enel Angervil, new staff member, Benaja Antoine, and two local partners, Pastor Ilven Obel and Principal Jean-Thony Delus, organized and conducted a community-wide Open Space meeting in the remote island village of Bèl Platon, where one of our partner schools is located. Despite a rain storm, 56 participants came from 10 regional institutions and included local officials, representatives of international non-governmental organizations, as well as a number of school principals, teachers, and pastors. The theme of the meeting was: What kind of education and activities are best for community development?
For more post-quake pictures from Bèl Platon Community School, click here.
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9th Annual Haiti Open Space
June 27, 2010
Among the highlights for me (John Engle) at our 9th* Annual Haiti Open Space meeting that convened more than 80 Haitians from around the country was emphasis on social enterprise. In particular, social or “community” enterprise that can generate funds to pay teachers’ salaries which will lead to better education that is accessible to more Haitian children. This is something to get excited about.
Stay tuned. Our film about a Haitian success story using community enterprise to fund teachers salaries in numerous community schools and a companion booklet should both be finished by end of August. We’re grateful to Vista Hermosa for a grant that’s making this possible. Below is a short video about this. Click here to view photos.
*I erred in video saying 8th Annual Haiti Open Space. It’s the 9th.
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Partnership with BuildaBridge
June 5, 2010
Haiti Partners staff member, Benaja Antoine, who is based in Haiti and who works with our partner schools to strengthen their teaching and help with computer training, is attending the annual BuildaBridge Institute in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. We’re excited about the training he’s getting in using the arts to improve educational impact and to help students heal after a disaster. Click here to learn more about this institute. Haiti Partners is excited about partnering with BuildaBridge. Their philosophies, principles and practices will be shaping our work with partner schools.
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Vero Beach, FL Visitors Observe Teacher Training
April 2, 2010
Visited a group of teachers that were receiving training which was funded by Haiti Partners supporters. The training was on earthquake and natural disasters, how to prepare and how to deal with them. How great having principal of Vero Beach high school with us along with other Vero Beach visitors.
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LWA 2 PYE – LAW OF 2 FEET
August 12, 2009
Here it is on a license plate: “Law of 2 Feet” in Haitian Creole. Pictured with owner of truck, Eric Graham. Eric participated in a couple of open space meetings and liked the law : ). He’s part of our Capacity Building Project. If you’ve looked at any of our recent photos of open space meetings in Haiti, there’s a good chance he took them. We’re lucky to have him as a very active member of our Haiti network.
Thank you, Eric! Click here to see some of his photos of a Capacity Building seminar and open space meeting last week.
For those unfamiliar with Open Space, the law of 2 feet is key. It means that each person is fully responsible for how she spends her time and that if she finds herself in a discussion where she feels that she neither learning nor contributing, she needs to get up and go somewhere else.
John
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Open Space meetings in 38 Schools in 2 Months
August 8, 2009
I’m (John Engle) in Carrefour Haiti participating in one of our Capacity Building seminars, which includes 35 of my Haitian colleagues from around the country. Among them is a small team of four that are having incredible results with Open Space meetings in schools. They have contracts with Save The Children and Concern Worldwide to work with dozens of schools. During the next two months they will do open space meetings in 38 different schools.
Last year around this time this particular team of colleagues did open space meetings in 29 different schools. The objective was to engage parents more in the life of the schools and also in their child’s education. There are numerous testimonials from school directors now that the year is over about the transformative role these meetings have had in their schools functioning, especially as relates to parents paying their child’s school fees which make it possible for teachers to get paid. In Haiti, 85% of schools are private because the state doesn’t have resources to create and run more schools. Thus, these small and often poorly run private school live on the fees paid by parents. When fees aren’t paid, teachers don’t get paid, motivation falls and everything degenerates. Open Space meetings with parents have delivered incredible results in confronting this challenge.
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8th Annual Open Space
July 11, 2009
Kent and I were in Haiti during last week in June. We were there for our 8th Annual Open Space meeting (among other things) which convened for three days 70 Haitian educators and community leaders from around the country.
Click here to view a great photo gallery. (Photos taken by Haitian pro photographer, Eric Graham.)
These meetings are a time of hope, fun and creativity, not to mention deep learning and trust building. Important work gets done. During the days small and large groups convene all around the guesthouse campus to address topics hot on people’s minds like “How Can Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) improve their/our impact” to “How we’re funding teachers’ salaries with social enterprises.” In the evenings we set up the projector and laptop and did Internet training, a session on self-evaluation, and viewed an exciting presentation about man-made lakes in Haiti that feed people (fish production) and reduce flooding.
There are so many exciting things happening. We couldn’t be more grateful for the generous support and encouragement from our friends and supporters. I’m feeling deep gratitude.
Here’s an unprofessionally done video, created by me ; ) I made it especially for folks who were there but I’ll share it here in case some of you want to get a better feel for these meetings and people involved.
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