Kuwait

Just finished working for 3 days in Kuwait at the Kuwait International Educators Conference. This conference brings together educators from over 30 schools within Kuwait and exposes them to professional development options that they otherwise would have to travel far to see. All the participants were engaged and interested in the content and excited by the new learning they heard.

Lynda Abdul Raheem is doing a wonderful service to the whole Kuwaiti Education Community organizing this bi annual event. She has created an amazing bi lingual opportunity for educators.

In 2009 I had the pleasure of meeting Jeanette Al-Sabah in Germany. Jeanette made it possible for me to be included in this event. The conference was a positive experience and I hope it is the start of future work with Jeanette and with Kuwaiti educators.

Second grade students at the Benjamin Franklin School, Barcelona

Keelin Swalve shared a great story of second grade students from BFIS  in Barcelona Spain participating in a PASEO  activity. Goes to show that it is not just adults who benefit from structured opportunities to collaborate!  Thanks for sharing Keelin.

International School of Tanganyika December 2011

2011 was bookended by 2 trips to work at IST in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. In February to work with elementary school teachers and in December to work with a group primarily from the secondary school.
It is always wonderful to work at the same place more than once and i feel very fortunate to return to IST.
After 2 busy days we managed to explore many materials and practice a number of new skills. Reflections
attested to the fact that this proved to be a valuable experience for many participants who left keen to try their skills in the teams they work with.

I hope to return to IST  in 2012 to see how everyone is getting on and to expand the group of teachers who are developing their skills with teacher collaboration.

ECIS Lisbon Portugal November 2011

I was fortunate to have the help and support of Lola Lauscher and Keelin Swalve at the ECIS pre conference in Lisbon this fall. This was particularly helpful because we had close to 40 participants and every hand was needed to personalize the experience. We did our best to break the large group into smaller groups so folks could learn from our facilitation and from each other. Lola and Keelin certainly had the opportunity to practice their skills.

  It turned into a busy but productive 2 days and we felt good about both the focus and learning taking place.  I was also able to present 2 shorter introductory sessions during the main conference agenda. Both were well attended and I hope useful to participants who become engaged and intrigued.  ECIS always has wonderful keynote speakers and because it is a large conference it is a stimulating event.

Panama City

In October I had the opportunity to present at the Tri Associates Conference in Panama City. This conference is for educators at International schools, primarily US  based schools in Central America.
I presented 3 different sessions at this event. They all consisted of introductions to the work of Critical Friends Groups. This was a new topic for most teachers in attendance, many expressed interest in learning more. I hope to present a longer 2 day pre conference at this event in Mexico City in 2013.

International School of Helsingborg, Sweden

 

Helsingborg, Sweden

In August 2011 I travelled to Sweden to work with the teachers at the International School of Helsingborg. For two days prior to the start of school the staff from all three levels of the school, primary, middle and high school, came together to get to know each other in different ways and to learn tools for collaboration which they plan to use during the 2011-2012 school year.

 I had had the opportunity to work with the  director of the School Mr Michael Moore in Fall 2009, at an ECIS conference. On his arrival in Sweden, Michael made the decision, that the staff at his new school would benefit from an engaging collaborative experience, which could set the stage for the new school year.

Michael and I planned the two days collaboratively by skype and they proved to be busy but fun and useful for the faculty.

Along with a facilitator led visioning exercise which will take place at the school in early October the faculty will be well prepared to work together productively, both efficiently and effectively,  during the 2011-2012 school year.

As teachers reflected in writing at the end of the session they felt energized and ready for a new year.  They had learnt a lot during the session  but they had also had fun!

AASSA Conference Campinas Brazil

 I have just returned from a busy trip to Brazil and Argentina. I had the opportunity to work for 4 days at the AASSA Conference held in Campinas, Brazil.  The highlight of this was the opportunity to work for 2 days with the wonderful group of people above!

This group of teachers, principals, IB Coordinators and literacy specialists covering grades pre K -12 worked hard but also had fun! They all actively grappled with the new materials presented and made sense of it by practicing with each other and imagining how it could work in their school settings.

Some quotes from their reflections include:-
"I was worried this would be a scripted program i was so relieved to find out it is not and that it is tailored to our needs."
 "We had thought provoking and powerful discussions today."
"These materials will help me become a more effective leader"
"I now know ways to keep adult discourse authentic, productive and professional." " Today was serious thought provoking and challenging for me." "This was a fantastic energizing 2 days."

I hope I will have the opportunity to be in touch with these participants as they begin to implement the ideas we explored in their work. I also hope to see many of them once more in March 2012 in Quito, Equador at next years conference.