American International School LUSAKA ZAMBIA

For the last three days I have been traveling to work at the American International School of Lusaka in Zambia.  This drive to work involves a very short ride by school bus to the school campus. The school is a green and leafy place full of beautiful trees, covered walkways, and inviting places to sit and talk.  Many of the classrooms have covered outdoor spaces, in which to work, which extend the classroom space. Due to the low one-storey buildings and amount of outdoor space, the school is an inviting and pleasant place to be.

 I did 3 specific sessions at the school around discrete topics – Peer Observation and Effective Meetings with different groups of staff, in their newly created conference /Professional Development room. The administration has goals to promote both initiatives this school year and the timing was right as there is still plenty of the year left to implement both activities well.

I was also able to have follow up conversations with several individuals and small groups to address specific issues and offer resources.

It is my hope that these conversations will continue over the course of the school year and that the relationship I have with the school will develop over time. 

                        A big thanks to Director Tom Pado and his staff for making this visit possible.

AISA 2013 Accra Ghana

                                     

                                               What a fun week in Accra Ghana!
So good to  have the chance to work again with a wonderful group of teachers and to have new folks join the group. A big thank you to AISA  Director Peter Bateman and to Benjamin Betts for making this possible. You have been so supportive!

In 2012 we began a project of training Community of Practice Facilitators. The idea is that these volunteers will receive 2 1/2 days of training and an opportunity for ongoing training annually if they step up to facilitate  content specific  Job a Like Sessions at the Annual AISA conference and follow this up with ongoing online facilitation throughout the school year, for those participants who wish to continue conversations online.

The group who participated in 2012 had the opportunity to return in 2013 and many of them did so to improve their skills and continue the task. So I had the distinct pleasure of getting to work with them again. The plan is that we will continue this work this year and return in 2014 to train additional volunteers until every group meeting for PD at AISA has the leadership of a trained facilitator/teacher leader  to support their work.

              AISA is to be commended for supporting the development of teacher leadership in this way.

Communities of Practice are an opportunity for a group of AISA educators with  common goals to
                                               constructively collaborate, reflect and learn.


Thanks also to Tima Nisbet for attending in 2013 and also blogging about the event
 Life in Lusaka: The Happiness Project - Week 33

Off I go onwards to Lusaka Zambia to work next week at the American International School of Lusaka www.aislusaka.org/‎

A week in Senegal

Abudacar

In International Schools local school staff are often those with the longest institutional memory. At the International School of Dakar in Senegal, Abudacar holds that role! As my driver on my first visit to the school he picked me up and shared a warm welcome to the school and his country. He shared the names of all the directors he had worked for over the past 12 years, including Mr Wayne, Ms Barb and now Mr Paul, his pride in his role and place in the school was evident. ISD is lucky to have Abudakcar!

I am lucky to have had this opportunity to visit ISD and work with the staff. The timing of the session was good, school has been in session 5 weeks, the initial anxiety at the start of the school year has dissipated but a long time remains to get tasks accomplished and to change and make the very best of the year ahead. The staff approached the work with open minds, energy and enthusiasm despite the fact that challenges where apparent. Currently it is very very hot in Dakar 95 -100 daily with humidity which makes it " feel" like 105 -110 and Dakar is in the midst of a water problem so many teachers have no water at home and the school is reduced to using the swimming pool as a water supply. Currently the only usable bathrooms are in the pool block. . Plus they are in the midst of a director search with 4 candidates arriving for interviews this week and next.

Nevertheless the friendliness and enthusiasm of the faculty was infectious and made me feel very much at home here

These issues which could easily have frayed tempers did not however phase the staff who welcomed me and clearly focused on the work we did together. Time was tight but we managed to prepare a small group of teacher volunteer leaders over a few days to then work with me and co facilitate a day with the whole faculty of 50 teachers and teaching assistants. This was really a trial by fire for the teacher leaders as it required they put into practice facilitation tools and processes with their peers which they had only just begun to get comfortable with themselves. They all more than rose to the occasion and the success of the full faculty day should make them breathe a sigh of relief and feel pleased with their efforts. This day successfully jump started the work and moved it from theory to practice.

The school will I hope now have a bunch of new strategies,

 tools and thinking to boost their ability to collaborate. I believe

 the interest and success generated will pave the way to new

 understandings and opportunities for them this school year.

       The key now will be practice, practice, practice.

I will leave with many great memories from this trip among them meeting Shelley Stein a fellow Vermonter and past Mt Abe teacher, a school I had been in literally the week before I flew to Senegal! Proof of the fact it is really a small small world.

Many people helped make this trip possible. The AISA group from 2012 - Murray, Tamara and Tracy who on their return shared what they found useful in last years session. Tracy has now moved on from ISD  but she helped a bunch in making this trip happen. This would also have not been possible without the support of Ian Clark, elementary principal who I first met in Delhi in 2010 at a NESA event. Ian ably picked up the reigns when the curriculum coordinator had a family issue and made sure I had a visa and accommodation, skyped to make sure I was well prepared and made me feel at home on arrival. Thanks Ian!

So long ISD I wish you well this school year, success in your search process and most of all water, water, water, buckets and buckets of it!   I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks at the AISA conference at the Lincoln School in Accra Ghana!