Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Getting Started - The Arar Academy Student-Centered Teaching Workshop and English Camp

Well, the countdown has begun - just over a week until I leave for Irbid. I have a team here that is helping me prepare and another group of people that will serve as mentors once the workshop begins. Patrick, Lauren, and Christian are busy helping me with the design and resources, while numerous faculty, staff, and friends have signed up to be mentors. I am not used to this level of support on these projects! I am very blessed.
Our fundraising campaign is going nicely, due in large part, to very many generous friends and colleagues. We have just about settled on a scope and sequence for the workshop, so we are collecting resources for the teachers and students. We want to build in enough flexibility so that the teachers and students will be able direct some of the activities. There is a really good vibe to all the synergy we are producing.
I am most excited about the possibility of helping the teachers learn to work with students with different needs, and then, helping the students learn to work together. I love going overseas to work with teachers, particularly in Jordan - they are always so receptive, hungry, and passionate about their professions. Spending two weeks thoroughly engaged with them will be fantastic. It is one of the clearest times I feel God's grace.
Tomorrow's task - designing the first few workshop sessions dealing with lesson and activity planning and working with students with different needs. We are still figuring out a lot of the logistics as we will have teacher and student groups that will rotate throughout the four days of the English Camp. The principal is also lining up several visits to local schools and community partners. It will be a very fluid fortnight.
I will be updating this blog daily from this point on. The posts may not be exciting, but feel free to stop by to see how things are going..............

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