And what a day it was!
We have a record number of participants, including more than 500 teachers and principals, as well as 230 children. Wow.
Teachers lining up for registration |
Piti piti (little by little)
Ti pay pay (straw by straw)
Zwazo fe niche (the bird builds its nest)
The expression captures the essence of why we - Haitian and Canadian educators - do what we do: Whether in Canada or in Haiti, we want to build the foundation of our countries through the opportunities available through education.
The Canadian instructors in the Educator and Leadership Institute developed new strategies and shifted timetables to accommodate the changing class sizes and dynamics. Haitian teachers were given many, many opportunities to learn about experiential learning, group work, and participatory classrooms. It was a beautiful thing to watch!
By early afternoon, when we stopped for lunch, both the camp and professional learning program had been a significant success. Haitian participants were already asking instructors if they were planning on returning the following year :)
How do you feed 550 people? |
The Laurier students shifted to an afternoon ESL program and the ELI instructors supported the Haitian participants as they implemented the things they had learned in the morning with the children now in their classrooms. At 4:30, with the work of the day completed, both groups returned to our hotel to debrief, relax, eat, and re-charge.
Rob McBride, a long-term leader of our work in Haiti, led our evening debrief. He asked specific Canadian participants to share key moments of the day and it is already clear that this inter-cultural experience is having a massive impact on both Haitians AND Canadians.
Now I just need to learn how to sing (in the midst of chaos).
No comments:
Post a Comment