Buddy, can you spare a dime (x100?!)

I had challenged the Laurier teacher candidates to each donate a dime over a five week period to a centre for the disabled outside of Port au Prince.  We have spent the term looking at special education in Ontario and the many services/programs available here.  By donating to the centre in Haiti, the teacher candidates were contributing to the most basic of supports for those with special needs. The candidates took on the challenge and regularly caught me in the halls at Laurier and asked me where the change cup was where they could put their dimes.

Well, the dimes all added up ... the candidates donated just over $200!  I will personally deliver the donation when I'm in Haiti in May.  What a great reminder that (very) small steps can lead to significant change (so to speak!).

Upcoming work in Haiti - May 2011

I'll be in Haiti for the first part of May. The focus will be on 10 Haitian school principals who are involved in a Masters of Education program.  They have all completed research as part of their culminating project and will spend the week writing the chapters.  I will be doing 2-3 workshops each day on different aspects of writing.  I have developed a workbook to guide the week which is currently being translated into French.  It will serve as a resource for future M.Ed. research methods courses in Haiti.

I am delighted that my oldest daughter, Emily, will be joining me for this trip.  Her focus will be on video-taping each of the workshops.  She will then edit the videos and prepare them for posting to a resource web-site where other principals can access them.  She will also be putting together a short promotional video to highlight the kind of work I have been doing in Haiti.  Lastly, she will be responsible for updating this blog so stay tuned!