August 2010 Blog Posts (10)

Wednesday, August 11th and Thursday, August 12th Continue

There was a week-long flurry of activities at Utumishi Boys’ Academy, Gilgil when over 140 educators engaged in discussions around four teaching learner-centred methodologies in the third round of EBB workshops in Naivasha district – Kenya. The group guided by the theme ‘Focus on Learning, not on Teaching’ began by developing three outcomes around which the assembly would articulate issues in the interest of teacher professional growth. The objectives of the week were to;

 Model and share… Continue

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Today our facilitator workshops focused on collaborative learning and teaching. There was lots of laughter as we shared ideas throughout the day. We facilitated an introduction to collaborative learning using a

reading circle approach that had the Kenyan teachers reading their…

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Monday, August 9, 2010

This is the first day of facilitator workshops with the Kenyan teachers at Utimishi Academy. Many of the facilitators arrived last night so we had a chance to get to know

each other over supper. Today there was an amazing amount of great discussion

about Professional Learning Communities (PLC), the graffiti activity questions

prompted…

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Thursday, August 5 and Friday, August 6, 2010

We’re busy planning for the upcoming facilitator workshops. We had worked on our handout packed for the four teaching methodologies that we are presenting next week. This was the best thing that we ever did because now

we can focus on planning and using the handouts as a guide.

We were also watching…

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The schools are all closed now for a term break. The break came early due to a referendum vote today on changes to the Kenyan constitution. All Kenyans need time to vote either yes or no to the changes.

We’ve been asking about the changes so we have a bit of an understanding of the

importance of the referendum. Some of the changes include: decentralizing the

government and giving more power to local…

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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

This morning we visited classrooms at Utamishi Boys Academy in Gilgil. The school is our home for the next three weeks until we return to Nairobi on our way home. Utimishi is a

National boarding school for secondary students who have performed at the top

of the grade eight national exams. The majority of the students at Utamishi

have parents who are police officers. Half of the students are away for…

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Haiti Trip Summary

In case you are wondering how my trip back home went I would prefer to tell you what you do not usually see or read about in the mainstream media. Sure, there are obstacles. Seeing the destruction, the litter, and the makeshift tents, Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas seem like a war zone. Yet, there are signs of hope, for…

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After five days at Utumishi Boys' Academy preparing for a week long Naivasha (Kenya) District teachers seminar, it feels anxious to think about the outcome of the collective effort. The nitty-gritties have to be combed through but then that is just the start. The week was not just exciting seeing the team disagree on principle then concede and agree to a particular way that all the same delivers the objective but also provided a time to reflect on what influence a teacher wields.



I… Continue

Monday, August 2nd, 2010 Continue