Monday, September 13, 2010

Thinking Schools Ethiopia Building Schools from the Inside Out..29 September – 9 October 2010 • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


Thinking Schools Ethiopia
Building Schools from the Inside Out

Thinking Schools & Thinking NGO’s Professional Development
29 September – 9 October 2010 • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Location: Children’s Home Academy, Addis Ababa

Thinking Schools Workshops
Professional Development for Thinking Schools will be held in Addis Ababa from
the 29th September — 9th October 2010 at Children’s Home Academy.

The Model
The Thinking Schools approach uses visual tools (Thinking Maps); community
building techniques; inquiry mapping; collaborative learning; assessment and
documentation; collegial coaching and environmental mapping to build a
sustainable thinking and learning community. The participant-centered
workshops conducted for the Ethiopian educators mirrors the same
student-centered approach that Thinking Schools use.
www.thinkingfoundation.org

The Impact
The first phase of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia Project included three large
scale professional development sessions for hundreds of educators between
August 2009 and May 2010. Participants included pre-K through high school
teachers and principals as well as university professors and leaders from
UNESCO, NGO’s, the Ministry of Education, and government officials.

Who Should Attend
Teachers (pre-k; K-12, elementary, secondary), education leaders, school
administrators, university professors and local interest groups from government
schools, private schools and NGOs.

Thinking Schools Professional Development Workshops
at the 29 September – 9 October 2010 Sessions
—Introductory
Thinking Schools Introductory Workshops for educators, teachers, and school
leaders who wish to learn the Thinking Schools approach. Participants will
learn many practical teaching methods while developing an understanding of the
Thinking Schools child centered approach.
(1 or 2 day workshop)

—Trainer of Trainers
Thinking Schools Trainer of Trainers Professional Development for teachers,
university educators and school leaders in developing fluency with the Thinking
Schools approach. Participants become trainers for their colleagues, schools,
and other educators in the Thinking Schools approach.
(4 day workshop)

—Leadership
Leadership Workshops for NGO Leaders, School Leaders, and Education Leaders who
are interested in the Thinking Organization approach for their schools and
NGO’s. This provides effective methods of communication, problem solving,
understanding different perspectives (frames of reference), clear
communication, and planning through the use of visual tools, inquiry,
collaborative techniques and building community.
(2 day workshop)

Workshop Location
The professional development is held at Children’s Home Academy — a school
with excellent facilities for professional development, to provide
opportunities to demonstrate the Thinking Schools approach with children, and
see a whole school Thinking School model.

Certification
Participants will be awarded Thinking Schools certification through Thinking
Foundation <www.thinkingfoundation.org> at the different levels of
participation.

Contact Information
For more information and to confirm attending the professional development
please contact Robert Price and/or Bereket Aweke.

Ethiopia
Bereket Aweke, Vice Principal Children’s Home Academy
911-01-9768
bereketaweke@yahoo.com

USA
Robert Price
robert@eggplant.org
robertprice@thinkingfoundation.org
skype: robertsethprice
323.397.0630

Presenters at the 29th Sept—9 Oct workshops include Robert Price, Elizabeth
Kesling, and previous participants from Thinking Schools workshops.

More information on the Thinking Schools Ethiopia project and other Thinking
Schools projects is online at:
www.thinkingfoundation.org/ethiopia

Reflections from previous participants include:
(more online including video clips at <www.thinkingfoundation.org/ethiopia>)

“I would like to see this continue in some form. This was a complete success.
It would benefit to have this training on an ongoing basis for public school
teachers that would assist the whole education system in the country. This was
a workshop about changing minds and acquiring a new set of beliefs about what
education is all about.”
Awol Endris, Ph.D. ; Program Officer, Education and Training
UNESCO - International Institute for Capacity Building, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“This thinking process is a day to day activity with each individual [in all
classrooms]. When applied in a government school, the people that come from
different backgrounds will learn more. This training is very important to be
practiced at all levels in government schools across the grades and all
subjects. I suggest it is better to select a model school in different regions.
In time these techniques will duplicate to all schools in the country.”
Tilahun Teshome - Ministry of Education - Special Needs Programme in Ethiopia
Expert
Daniel Abebe - Ministry of Education - Curriculum Designer

“It goes without saying that in-service training plays the role of enhancing
teachers’ competence of effectively imparting lessons. The training, in my
view, did constitute an enlightening and capacitating workshop as far as
teachers’ roles in facilitating and suiting students’ learning is
concerned. It bore the idea that entitling students [children’s] brains to
learn of their physical and social environment by its own has in the long run
the advantage of shaping independent learning at one’s own pace, intellectual
capacity and other particular circumstances. It generally is a shift towards
making education students’ responsibility.”
Dagim Melese - Teacher
Children’s Home Academy, Adidas Ababa, Ethiopia

We look forward to your participation in the Thinking Schools professional
development.

Sincerely,

Robert Price


Thinking Schools Ethiopia: www.thinkingfoundation.org/ethiopia
Robert Price website: www.eggplant.org
email: robertprice@thinkingfoundation.org
email: robert@eggplant.org
skype: robertsethprice

The Thinking Schools Ethiopia initiative
focuses on developing foundational thinking skills in
Ethiopian government schools, private schools, and NGOs.

Learn more about the initiative at:
www.thinkingfoundation.org/ethiopia

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