Our plans for the August summer institute in northern Haiti continue to develop nicely.
Our core leadership team is now in place and we have confirmed with our school partners in Haiti the core subject areas that will be the focus of the educator workshops: math, science, critical literacy, special education, school leadership, and early learning. The core leadership team includes people from Ontario's French language school boards, public school boards, the Ministry of Education, and faculty from Laurier.
Recently, Laurier sent out a notice to alumni inviting them to consider participating. To read this announcement, please click here.
We are anticipating 300 Haitian educators and a team of up to 30 Canadian and US educators will be involved. Over the 5 year period that we have committed to the summer institute, we are expecting to engage 1,000 Haitian teachers and principals. The team will also include a group of Laurier teacher candidates who will participate as part of an "alternative placement". This provides an amazing opportunity for our emerging teachers to gain a greater global perspective and to interact with educators from diverse regions of the world.
I am also really excited about a summer camp that will run parallel to the summer institute. We are expecting a number of school-aged students from Canada and the US to be part of the camp and to play and learn with their Haitian counterparts. Again, this provides an amazing opportunity for young people - whether Haitian, Canadian, or American - to learn from and with each other. A group from the US will be leading a special science and technology component of the camp with a focus on robotics.
I am delighted that the videographer who accompanied the Laurier team last May and developed the following video will be joining us again to capture the key learning experiences of the Laurier Educator Institute:
Click here to watch a 5 minute video on Laurier's work in northern Haiti
One last exciting note: We are now in the midst of looking to see about Laurier Educator Institutes being developed for other parts of the world!
About Me
- Steve Sider
- I have been an elementary and secondary school teacher and administrator. Currently, I am a faculty member in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. My M.Ed. and Ph.D. had a focus on the educational and linguistic experiences of children who moved from other countries to Canada.
