Ah mi gat wahn gud gud taim

  Hi again!

I want to use this blog as a chance to share some final thoughts and say hello from back home in Vancouver! So... Hello! :-)

I've recently really enjoyed reflecting on the experience in Belize in all its aspects: the workshops; teachers; co-facilitators; administrators; old and new friends; relaxing in the Cayes; adventures in Cayo; the amazing food, and; long bus rides to Punta Gorda.

First, the workshops...

The teachers in Belize District were very willing and eager to learn something new which was made my job so much easier. During week one, I really appreciated the patience exhibited by the teachers while dealing with Hurricane Ernesto, other schedule changes and especially the changes made on the fly due to slow internet connections and other technical obstructions.

 I had a large group (27 teachers) for the first week and I felt that each of them was able to add a few more tools to their pedagogical tool kit. They were also able to come away with new knowledge about how technology integration can benefit them on an individual basis in and out of the classroom in each of their own unique contexts. At the same time, I was able to learn from them and gathered lots of new ideas ranging from ways to use Google Docs for collaboration that I hadn't thought of to issues in education in Belize and Canada that I had never considered.


Then there were the other adventures...

In the seventeen great days Nicole and I spent together in Belize, we were able to seize the opportunity to see as much of the country and take in as much of the culture as possible. Of Course, there was our first weekend in Caye Caulker which included snorkeling with nurse sharks and stingrays. What else is there to say? It was amazing. It was also great to meet up with many of the facilitators in Cayo, and make the most of the postponed workshops due to the hurricane. We were able to see Cahal Pech and Xunantinich - both of which were both educational and awe-inspiring.

One of the highlights of the trip was taking the bus down to Punta Gorda for a weekend and visiting friends there. We all went out to the falls at San Antonio instead of Placencia and it turned out great! It was a fun weekend full of highly anticipated reunions, great food, swimming at the falls and we even squeezed in some relaxation and a football (soccer) game.


We finished off our trip with a weekend in San Pedro and wind down. It was nice to slow down the schedule before ramping it up again when we got home.  So, in closing, I'd like to thank everyone again for the opportunity. It was a very rewarding experience and I am glad to have made new friends - Belizean and Canadian alike, no chroo? I hope to keep in touch and I know I will certainly do all I can to remain involved in the Belize Literacy Program.

Ah wi gat wahn gud gud taim, no chroo?

  We had a great time, eh? ;-) > 

Cheers

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Raining yet again

Corozal received a lot of rain since last night. Many streets outside the town was flooded. There were puddles so big that they could be rivers! Despite the downpour, 29 teachers from the technology session and 13 from the curriculum session still made it to school. Some had wade through the knee-deep puddles to get their child to the babysitter before school, others fell in a puddle outside the school parking lot because the taxi driver refuse to enter the parking lot.

Google presentation with Magazine cover

For most of the day, the teachers worked on creating learning tasks based on their grade level. Many enjoyed using BigHugeLabs and Make Beliefs Comix. 

Some of the students left during lunch time because they were worried about flooding in their homes. Fortunately, I still had enough students to take a group photo.

BTW, here is what we have for lunch today.

Black dinner with rice

Time to Say Goodbye

Hard to believe we leave tomorrow.  Both Nicole and I have had the opportunity to learn with, collaborate and meet some wonderful educators in Dangriga.  It was especially rewarding to watch the teacher facilitators take over and run the workshops.  We see major potential for capacity building! This was supported by the comments and feedback from our participants indicating that they are eager to share new ideas and resources with their colleagues next year. The technology component certainly had some challenges but the teachers persevered and were willing to trouble shoot issues that popped up throughout the day.  Two qualities that will serve them well when implementing technology back at their schools.  I was pleased to see that many of the teachers had their own laptops allowing us to add more people to the workshop.   Such a worthwhile and rewarding experience for both of us!

It's The Final Countdown

August 16, 2012

Final Countdown

The Technology side accomplished much more than they had ever thought possible. Many of the teachers in this session came with no computer experience while others were quite computer literate but had no experience using technology in a classroom. Yesterday, everyone had the opportunity to find on line teaching resources and share with their colleagues. Sharing was accomplished by using Google Docs. In order to share pictures, pdf documents and any other document that cannot be used by Google Docs, the attendees opened a Dropbox account and created shared folders. Some of the skills that these teachers are using are advanced even for Canada! Today will be spent using technology as a teaching tool.

The Curriculum team did a fabulous job yesterday as well. The Learning Coaches led their first day of workshops for the teachers at the 10 pilot schools. The sessions focused on navigating through the curriculum, beginning the process of long term planning, and planning assessment for given learning outcomes.
Well done everyone!

Orange Walk Rotary District Meeting

Patsy and I were invited to the Rotary District Meeting tonight.  We had a delicious dinner and great conversation, all under a "hut" outside a Rotarian's home.  There are 10 Rotarians who are on this committee, only four of them were able to attend this meeting.

Friends and Colleagues

Today was a rewarding day in Punta Gorda as I got to see our enthusiastic new learning coaches begin their work with teachers from surrounding schools outlining the new math and science curriculum. I spent the day travelling from classroom to classroom doing breakout sessions on assessment strategies. 

Although it is near the end of my journey here in Punta Gorda, I feel the connections I have made  with the teachers both as colleagues and new friends  make me feel like I am just beginning to settle into a collaborative working partnership with a teaching staff that I am part of. It has become a warm and friendly community where we share experiences as teachers with a lot of laughter and camaraderie thrown in. 

Even though I know it is almost time to return home, I feel I am not quite ready to leave my Belizean friends and that there is much here for me to share and to learn.

Laurie

An Emotional Day

An Emotional Day

August 14, 2012

The Curriculum group had the last workshops today. Greg took the group through two morning activities. The first activity was a contest among groups  to brainstorm the most ways to assess understanding. The Belizean Learning Coaches were so good at describing unique ways to assess that Greg had to admit defeat. An hour had passed and there still ideas being generated! Many of the teachers felt a sense of confirmation that they utilize a variety of assessments while gaining new ideas from their peers. For the second part of the morning we focused on daily lesson planning. The Belizeans planned Enquiry based Math lessons designed to accommodate special needs. Many great ideas were shared.

The Technology group finished up using Google Docs and Google Earth today. The teachers searched the internet for resources that could be used in their classrooms. The day ended with all attendees blogging! Patrick was requested by the curriculum group to do an extra “after hours” session on cross curricular methods of using books to teach Math and Science.

Day 3 in San Ignacio has been exciting. I am working with the beginner group for technology. This group of students came into the class with limited knowledge of computers. Some student did not even have email account. I am happy to say along with Darrin's help this group has grown tremendously over the last couple days. They know how to create and email account, locate appropriate websites, collaborate with each other and have even started blogging. This is a new area for me and it is good, they have challenge the facilitator!  Way to go technology team in San Ignacio!

Patrick Reilly
Cayo District

Thank You...

Dear Facilitators,

I am sending this to Sandra to post because I do not know how to do it my self. I probably needed to sit in one of your technology classes!

By know you all are either loving Belize or counting the days.  You are all experiencing the frustrations that we face on a daily basis.  There is a reason that we have Belizean time and that is because we march to the tune of a different drummer.  We are at the mercy of so many factors that are out of our control, that we just cope. 

As Ernesto showed us all, we are at the mercy of the weather.  As our internet shows we are at the mercy of BTL.  The Ministry is severely understaffed and under-equipped; communication is often misunderstood or missing.  The Ministry is doing their best and we have seen steady improvements.

Each and every one of you taught teachers who are eager learn your techniques to improve their teaching skills. They want to give the children of Belize the best education possible.

We are a young Country we did not become Belize until 1973. We have much to learn.  We appreciate the time you have dedicated and the talent you have shared. We are very grateful to each and every one of you.

Thank you,

Sheree & Aki

Orange Walk has been incredibly receptive to both Melissa and Patsy. We have had two very full days of teaching in separate schools. The teachers have all been extremely motivated and are learning to work collaboratively with others. They quietly listen during instruction, then quickly get to work when assigned a task. We have been extremely impressed with the quality of their work and their confidence as they work thought it.

During the ''Getting to Know You" session, one teacher said he loved Orange Walk because the people here are very friendly. We both have to agree with him. The teachers have been very kind, and even smile or chuckle at our jokes.

Our Rotary hosts have been incredibly hospitable and generous: they ensure that we have food in our bellies and that our thirst is quenched.

The Technology class has progressed at an incredible rate. I am supposed to have the beginners group, however most of them peg themselves as intermediate in skill level, so when they are given a task they work diligently to complete it. Yesterday we used Google Docs to communicate with each other. I posted a rambling piece of "creative" writing that the teachers were able to comment on, and that they did. They had fun correcting my work or providing me with suggestions. Today we worked on Google presentations; the teachers teamed up with others at the same grade level. They had to collaborate using the "Five Steps of a Search Plan" to create a presentation that they will use with their students. They all created amazing presentations (and yes, they all shared them with me on Google)!

A teacher participant demonstrating how to use animation. 

Power Outage

Teachers blogging

Day 1 in Corozal: 30 teachers attended the technology session. Unfortunately, I only had half the number of working computers but at least I had AC! Some of these teachers travelled far (from Sarteneja, etc.) to attend the session and they varied in tech skills. For some, using the computer was a new experience and for others, it was a review session.  

Day 2 began with strategic searching; however, in the middle of the lesson, there was a scheduled power outage. Originally, it was scheduled 8:00 AM but it did not happen until 9:45 and it lasted for two hours. 

Deserted lab with no power

After the power was turn backed on, we continued with our day. Many teachers were frustrated because of the slow internet connection and the computers freezing. The most enjoyable part of the day was when they worked on their ABC Book of Belize. Many of the teachers used the share function of Google Docs to work collaboratively and put what they have learned the previous day into practice.

When the stars align...

To start with, I apologize that I have no pics to post at the moment. I am at the school and do not have my camera or SD card with me. I wanted to share my day with everyone nonetheless.

Before today:
I delivered our workshop in a condensed 2-day format to 27 teachers at E.P Yorke HS here in Belize City. It went well but we had our fair share of challenges; the internet, in particular. After the first day I had to reconsider much of the workshop and how to work around a very slow internet connection and other strangely unique web browser issues that we experienced. This included installing Google Chrome on all the PC's in the lab, setting up continuous pings and pairing up teachers to one PC to free up bandwidth.

In the end, the teachers still felt that they took some valuable information and skills from the two days. Before the end of that second day, however, my Belizean associate, Noel, advised that there was a nearby high school that he knew had a much more efficient lab so we investigated to see if we could use it... so an hour into my workshop with group #2 today, I got word that it was available so we jumped on the opportunity and moved everybody over... the stars aligned. :-)

My group was only 7 teachers (unsure why) and the computers and internet speeds are on par with any lab I've used back home. So to let everyone know, with a small class size and hardware that operates the way we are used to (or better), the day 1 workshop went extremely well and almost exactly as planned and right on time. Kudos again to Sandra for all the materials and planning.

I saw a lot more learning happening today with very little tech-frustration and it was nice to have a real sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.
I'll post pics and another post soon!

Cheers,
Will

REALLY Hot Off the Press!

Back to work! After a weekend seeing new sights Sandra  and I returned to St. Peter Claver to continue our  collaborative work  with the curriculum officers and teachers. It was nice to be welcomed back and see familiar faces. I genuinely felt part of a team. The work today started with looking at the new math curriculum and continued right onto lesson planning. It is great to have conversations about teaching practices and concerns all of us share as teachers as we strive to do our best for our students.  p.s. Apparently I am not the only one sweating out the weather as even the local teachers were jockeying positions for the chairs in front of the only fan. 

It's over before you know it

August 13, 2012

It's Over Before You Know it

Today we did some great interactive activities to learn about the levels of enquiry, learning styles, gradual release of responsibility, and the constructivist model. There was great discussion and the Belizean teachers seemed to really buy in to the idea that children learn by doing.

At lunch we were informed that the workshops would end tomorrow. I still had three days planned and now I only had a morning. It felt horrible to announce that we would be ending early and that I could not deliver on my promise to provide workshops on all of the topics they felt they needed.
Chris and Maria did a fantastic workshop on Long Term Lesson planning. The group stayed in and worked on unit plans until well after 4:00PM.
Tomorrow we will do a morning session on Assessment and another on daily lesson planning. After that, they will need the afternoon to plan their workshops. Patrick offered to do a workshop on cross curricular planning using story books. Everyone in the group agreed to stay. They so badly want every opportunity to learn!

GW

There's a Storm Brewin'

Aug 7, 2012

There's a Storm Brewin'

We have heard that the hurricane is moving north towards Yucatan and may not hit Belize City dead on as previously thought. We heard that our colleagues in Dangriga and Punta Gorda will stay put rather than making the long drive north to Aguada. Those of us in San Ignacio are obviously going to stay put as well. We have been taking advantage of the recent cloud cover and spending more time outside. Even baby Fenton was able to spend a good portion of the day in the pool without fear of burning or over heating.

We are not certain when the workshops will start up again. We also have no idea what we will do when we return because the point of the week was to train teachers to lead their own workshops for week 2. It has not been suggested that we run the workshops instead, but that may be a solution.

Our internet is very slow and intermittent. Communication via email has been difficult so we are keeping our cell phones charged and ready.

Rained Out

Aug 6, 2012

Rained Out

Our first day came quickly to an end when hurricane Ernesto decided to set his sights directly on Belize city. The opening ceremonies began with announcements from Rotarians and Ministry officials alike as well as a slightly off key and perhaps poorly timed version of O Canada by three Edmontonians. The entire cermonies took about 30 minutes and ended with an announcement that the workshops would be cancelled until further notice. The Edmonton facilitators met with the Belizian factilitators for the first time and fortunately found that our plans had a lot in common. We shared workshop documents and discussed plans for the week. We are happy to collaborate with Belizians to come up with some great workshop ideas. We hope Ernesto will give us an opportunity to work further together very soon. We also hope that everyone is able to take advantage of the advanced warnings and keep safe.

Ready, Set, Go!

Even though I have been here before, I am always amazed at what a beautiful country Belize is! Laurie and I spent a relaxing weekend in Placencia in a cheerful little cottage right on the beach. 

While Laurie was diving and swimming with the dolphins on Saturday, I caught up on some much needed sleep and managed to finish a novel. Despite the beautiful setting and the wonderful sunshine and heat, we both found ourselves anxious to get back to Punta Gorda to make sure we were ready for Monday morning. 

We both spent last Thursday at Peter Claver meeting teachers and getting to know some of the teachers. Laurie sat down with the curriculum officers and facilitators to coordinate their plans for this upcoming week. I am really looking forward to starting with the technology workshop and am thankful for all of the hard work that went into getting the school lab up and running.

Sandra and Laurie

When life gives you lemons (or hurricanes), make lemonade!

The teams in northern Belize were moved south to the Cayo district to stay safe from Hurricane Ernesto.  We had some heavy rain for a short time in the evening, but felt no other severe effects at our location.  Since classes were cancelled, we decided to learn more about the culture of this beautiful country with a trip to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, only 1 km away from the Guatemalan border.  On our way to the bus, we walked by a playground built by a rotary club, so  we stopped for a photo opportunity.

The ruins were beautiful; they are amazing structures.  We enjoyed a light lunch on the top of Plaza A6, before retreating back down the ruin.  On the way down, we spotted some howler monkeys playing in the trees.

On our way back , we received a phone call indicating that any storm danger has passed and that we would be returning to our respective locations to go back to the real work we came here for - to coach the teachers of Belize in curriculum implementation and technology integration. It is an adventure here!

Dancing in Dangriga

After recieving a warm welcome from the Dangriga Rotary club, we settled in at Miss Grace's house.  Miss Grace hosted a wonderful supper with many members attending.(she is spoiling us! I'll have to readjust once I return to Canada)  On Sunday the Rotary club invited us to attend a first class performance by the Garafuna Music and Dance group out of Dangriga.  The drumming and dance choreography was unbelievable.  Workshops started Monday morning with both Nicole and I recieving large classes.  Nicole was able to run her class for the morning session.   I had to move my session to the Junior College across the school grounds and then I started my session.  At noon workshops were postponed until further notice.  While weathering the storm over the last couple days we have had planning meetings with our teacher facilators which is turning out to be very beneficial.

After settling into Orange Walk Town on Sunday, we took a boat tour on the Lamanai River up to the Mayan Ruins.  We spent the day there learning about the culture and history of Belize and appreciating the jungle flora and fauna. 

We arrived at our schools on Monday morning ready to start the work we have been waiting to do.  Many teachers were already at the sites. About 30 minutes into setting up, we were called for an emergency meeting telling us that the training would be cancelled for at least a few days due to Hurricane Ernesto. 

We have now been temporarily located just outside of San Ignacio, Cayo.  We moved south to avoid the heavy storm, as it was headed for our area.  The program will resume on Monday, once the people have been able to recover from what may happen as the storm moves through their areas.

This is a beautiful country, with beautiful people!!

Lamanai River boat launch

The Calm Before the Storm...

We arrived first thing Monday morning at ITVET anticipating a day of facilitating and learning.

Joanne and Alvina in front of ITVET

There was 14 teachers attending the Math and Science curriculum session and 22 teachers attending the Technology Integration session. However,  upon arrival we were told that any CPD was cancelled  for the day due to tropical storm Ernesto.  We were going to facilitate for half a day and try to cram in a full-day into it but by the time we were ready to start, the whole session was postpone for next week. There were many disappointed teachers.

We were also disappointed but we decided to take advantage of the free time to find Joanne a cup of coffee. We ended up at Blues, where Joanne got her caffeine fix, and we both had a very delicious vegetarian pizza.

view from the restaurant

We are off to Cayo first thing in the morning.

Buenas Noches !

Hot and Humid!

We arrived in Punta Gorda late in the afternoon. It was beautiful, sunny, and hot! Laurie offered to help out on the flight and sat as co-pilot in case her flying skills were needed...

After a safe landing (thanks Laurie!) and taking a cab to Coral House (land lines were all down and no cell phone at hotel), we grabbed the bikes and rode downtown hoping that the chocolate factory was still open but unfortunately, it was closed. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Asha's and then settled into an early sleep planning to get up early and visit our school and set up for the week ahead. 

What we weren't expecting was the torrential rain and thunder storm that circled Punta Gorda for most of the night. Lightning strikes were finding targets all around us and accompanied by bed lifting cracks of thunder. By morning, we learned that more than 5 inches of rain fell overnight. Amazing!

Today is hot and very humid. We've found shelter under some thatch and working on what we can to get ready for the week. We are anxiously waiting to hear from someone (anyone)who can get us get us into the school and will take a walk over to see if someone might be there.

Sandra :-)

Belizean Yoga- Staying Flexible and Patient

Despite all the changes and shuffling and being unannounced in some places, today has been an interesting day.  Thank you for your patience and understanding.  Weekend plans stand unless conditions are still an issue.  

I can't figure out how to load a photo so here's the one of the Cayo participants.  Video and details to follow.  Our guys sang "Oh, Canada" acapello and did a great service to Canada.  It will go on the BLP Facebook page.  

My house is on a hill that is part of the foothills of the Maya mountains and I'm starting to get wind and rain bands.  The plants are off the railing on my porch and the chairs and low tables are now in the dining room.  

Cynthia

Welcome to the Belize Literacy 2012 workshop facilitator blog!

The Rotary International District 5370 Belize Literacy Program has been supporting educators in Belize since 2007.  This summer our talented team will be assisting in workshops in:

ü Learning with Technology (LWT)

ü ‘Off to a Good Start’ in Science and Mathematics

Note: A newly revised Science and Mathematics program is being implemented in 60 schools across the country.  This is year one of mandatory implementation for these newly defined subjects that address 21st Century learning

Meet the team of dedicated volunteer facilitators (teachers, principals and consultants) from Western Canada who will be working with educators and leaders in Belize, August 6 - 18, 2012: 

Belize City - Will Lavery (Vancouver, B.C.)

                    Wenda Fraser-HouseGo (Grande Prairie, AB)

Cayo - Darrin DeGrande (Edmonton, AB)

           Greg Wondga (Edmonton, AB) TEAM LEADER for 'Off to a Good Start' with Science and Math 

Cayo and Belmopan - Patrick Reilly (Edmonton, AB)

Orange Walk - Patsy Ho (Edmonton, AB)

                        Melissa McDonald (Edmonton, AB)

Corozal – Alvina Tsui (Edmonton, AB)

                Joanne Barwise (Edmonton, AB)

Stan Creek – John Toporowski (Edmonton, AB)

                        Nicole Lamoreaux, Rotarian (Edmonton, AB)

Toledo - Sandra Gluth (Edmonton, AB) TEAM LEADER for Learning with Technology workshops
               Laurie Tisberger (Edmonton, AB)

We look forward to the stories, photos, ideas, resources and experiences from summer workshops...and comments from readers.

On behalf of the Belize Literacy Program Committee in District 5370 and Belize, we thank you for your valued contributions.  The children in Belize will be the beneficiaries.

Jackie Hobal

District Governor 2010-2011

Rotary International District 5370

Chair: Belize Literacy Program

Belize Literacy Program

Rotary Club of Athabasca

Cell  780 910-0527

SKYPE jackie.hobal