Learning Styles & Differentiated Instruction Workshop: Facilitator Profile 2014

The Education Beyond Borders' Learning Styles & Differentiated Workshops ran on Monday, July 7th and Tuesday, July 8th at the CKC Centre in King'ori Tanzania. We had worked with facilitators last week to prepare and practice the workshops and that was our opportunity to work with the new Tanzanian facilitators to deliver a workshops. For me the best part of the experience was having the opportunity to work with Yustina, a primary teacher from Nkoasenga Primary School. 

Yustina began the facilitator training by sitting and listening while she was learning new teaching and facilitating  strategies. She often had questions to clarify her own understanding and spoke to her group in Kiswahili along with some English. As the facilitator week continued she became more confident. Last Thursday afternoon we were finalizing workshop preparation and needed to know who was going to take on what roles for the parts of the seminar. Every time Yustina volunteered she would say "I think I can do that." Monday morning came and Yustina was the only facilitator of the original four to be at the CKC Centre ready to deliver the workshop. We also had a facilitator from a previous year who volunteered to help lead the workshop. We redivided the workshop responsibilities and Yustina took on more roles. We had rehearsed with the original group and Yustina was willing to take a risk and do a role that she hadn't practiced. As the day went on her belief in her abilities became more apparent and she became to take ownership for the workshop. She also became a valuable person to discuss changes or ideas for the workshop as the day progressed. She stepped in when we needed translation, asked questions and offered opinions. At the end of the day Yustina sat with two of the Canadian facilitators for a workshop debrief and they discussed her ability to be flexible with the changes that occurred, congratulated her on her accomplishments and suggested changes for the next day. 

On Tuesday morning we repeated the workshop to a new group of teachers. Yustina's confidence grew, her voice was clear and it was obvious that she was a leader in the group. I called her my partner and I truly meant it. She asked what else she could do for the workshop and demonstrated her skills as a facilitator. I hope to see Yustina continue to grow in future Education Beyond Border workshops and also support fellow teachers as a role model and mentor. I'm sure that I will never her Yustina say "I think I can do that" again because now she knows that she can do anything.