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Zelalem Desta Elementary School
By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
Zelalem Desta Elementary School is a long established school that was built in the Ethiopian Calendar year of 1947 (1954 Gregorian Calendar). There are 27 teachers teaching in the school . We were informed that due to lack of trained teachers the school had to call back retired teachers to work in the vacant capacities .

Of the 27 educators of the school approximately half of them took part in the two days Thinking Maps training held in October. There is only 1 Trainer of Trainer from the school who is at the same time the schools director. In October the Trainer of Trainers received an additional 4 days of Thinking Schools Ethiopia training including Thinking Maps, Community Building, Inquiry and Leadership skills.

We followed site visit procedures which includes mini professional development sessions, collegial coaching, classroom demonstration lessons which include teacher briefing and debriefing .

Play the video above of a student and Thinking Schools Ethiopia co-lead Country Trainer modeling the Circle Map (Thinking Maps) to students and many observing teachers.

The site visit included:

• Lessons with the subject teachers while other teachers observing what is happening
• introducing students with all eight Thinking Maps with their hand symbols and the cognitive processes they represent
• Lessons were done with a content from a subject teachers would think difficult to use thinking maps to explore, analyze, compute, and discuss on and about.
• We also were convinced that doing demo lessons with subject teachers collaborating with us is helpful to encourage them use maps in real classrooms .
• A key observation was seeing Thinking Maps posted on walls of all classrooms which models the interest in whole school implementation by the Trainer of Trainer and school leader.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

 

Menkere and Zata Primary Schools
By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese

Our site visits continued with Menkere and Zata primary schools along with my co-country Thinking Schools Ethiopia trainer Atsede Tsehayou. A total number of 28 teachers teach at Menkere Primary School with a focus on the continual training of the use of Thinking Maps in the classrooms. We saw the need to do a brief professional development training for the educators. Brief review of the principles of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE) model was followed by discussion on research basis of Visual Tools (Thinking Maps). Atsede modelled collegial coaching with the teachers. This model has teachers observing a short lesson by a peer teacher. They observe positive aspects of the lesson and also write down questions to share at the debriefing. Atsede shared the plan of her demo lesson (sequence of the lesson). She followed the briefing by doing her demo lesson before all the educators. She then facilitated a debriefing after the demo lesson where teachers shared their positive observations and questions.

Key Points and Outcomes 
Key points that constituted shared understanding we all reached at the end of the day were:

• The urgency with which Thinking Maps need to be transferred to students.
  —post them on walls
  —model using them in the class room
• Facilitate conditions  for students so as to support them using Thinking Maps creatively in their classroom assignments, home works, and with projects.
• Share best practices amongst one another
• learn from each other experimenting demo lessons and refining practices .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thinking Schools Ethiopia project in Tigray is a collaboration with Tigray Development Association (TDA) and Thinking Foundation supported by funding administered by Initiative Africa and granted by Sida (Swedish Development Agency). Read more at the Tigray Development Association website, Initiative Africa website and Thinking Foundation website.

Reflections 
From this training I was able to gain knowledge on how to enhance student participation, how to encourage critical thinking. I am inspired to make more effort after I went to my school. However I beg you to continue such trainings.
Haftom Zenebe – primary school teacher

It was very helpful training where I have been able to gain new perspective of what thinking is and how to encourage it. I believe this should continually happen.
Meresiet –  primary school teacher

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

 

“…before the refreshment school site visit training and class demonstration lesson we did in two of the real classrooms of our school, I thought that Thinking Maps were only selectively used with some contents but now I realize the fact that thinking maps can be used with all kinds of contents…”
Hayelom Elementary School Teacher at the most recent school site professional development

By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
Hayelom Elementary School was paid a site visit by Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE) trainers. The site visits was aimed to support whole school implantation of thinking maps for facilitating students thinking and learning in all the subjects taught . The site visit began with professional development (morning session in which the TSE model was reviewed and a refreshment training on thinking maps was conducted).

TSE trainers appreciated and were encouraged by the collaborative spirits, the level of seriousness and purposefulness with which the teachers were engaged, and their reflectiveness and feedback on the training.

Hayelom Elementary School is one of the 37 laboratory schools TSE is providing support for. The teachers have been using the maps and now intensifying its use in class rooms with flexibility and creativity for sharing experience of model of excellence with the other schools in the project.

Below are the pictures taken during the site visit at the school;

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese

Thinking Schools Ethiopia—Thinking Schools Tigray began a third phase with ongoing scaffolding support for whole school systematic implementation of Thinking Schools pedagogy including Thinking Maps across all disciplines and at all grade levels. Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

Kalamino Special High School
The scaffolding support began being provided to Kalamino Special High school located in the regional capital – Mekelle.  On site school support includes collegial coaching, brief  refreshment / reinforcement training and class room demonstration of lessons modeling the actual use of Thinking Maps in real class rooms with students employing other interrelated pedagogical techniques and tools. Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE) trainers (Atsede and Dagim) began on Feb. 22, 2016 working with the educators of Kalamino High School for strengthening the whole school implementation of the maps and documentation of impacts on such dependent variables as student engagement, levels of independent learning skills, literacy and communication skills and others.

The on site schools support is believed to motivate and encourage intensive class room use of Thinking Maps and support better practices of student centred techniques / methods . Following are photos taken of the site supports.

Andishumdihun Elementary School 
Site visit at Andishumdihun elementary school encouraged the school leader to employ a more systematic implementation of thinking maps by having them posted on walls of all class rooms for students to learn and get to know them . Some vibrant teachers at the school were part of the demonstration lesson done in a physics class room . Taking a lead in terms of modelling the actual use of the maps in class rooms for supporting student centred learning . Below are some of the still pictures taken of the site visit.

Article and Photos by Dagim Melese and Atsede Tsehayou

The photos and video show students of Meri Primary School using  Thinking Maps to explore different topics (generating, discussing, clarifying, sharing perspectives on and organizing information and ideas) in a project that is aimed at summarizing contents (General Science) taught in a semester for 3^rd Graders.

 

This happened after a daylong refreshment training facilitated on class room use of Thinking Maps as tools for supporting collaborative groups’ learning in actual class rooms of the Addis Ababa Education Bureau school system (300+ large schools).

The work on the Thinking Maps were led by lead students showing how effective
earning could be when it happens with lead students playing active roles facilitating the generation, discussion, elaboration, and organization of information and ideas.

Such a model of collaborative learning groups is in accordance with the bureaus’ model of students centered 1:5 collaborative learning groups model in which a lead student facilitates, directs and takes care of the management of the groups work. With all students playing active role surfacing information and knowledge from their respective backgrounds /perspectives equally, the model, implemented regularly, progressively and creatively, could bring about all the desired students’ outcomes.

video clip of Thinking Schools Ethiopia trainers Atsede Tsehayou, Dagim Melese and Robert Seth Price facilitating the Trainer of Trainers (ToT) who are facilitating their whole schools.

A two days whole staff training was undertaken for over 400 teacher educators under the leadership role of the Trainer of Trainers (ToT). The ToT trainers played key role in effectively transferring via modeling the essential components of the training to ALL educators from Wukro. After the two days training teachers from 2 primary and 1 secondary schools from each Wereda came up with their plan (in a Flow Map) of whole school implementation of Thinking Maps in their respective schools. Worth mentioning it is, here, that the training hall chosen at Wukro site contributed a lot to the success of the overall training. The training was in the auditorium within a Catholic School located in Wukro. It was superb in space, excellent in sound, and sufficient quality chairs and tables for the large group.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

Reflections from participants:

The training have gave me deep understanding on active learning, how to encourage thinking skills of students and that it improves students interest to participate actively. I belie this should be organized in regular basis. The training was very supportive as we are able to gain skills to facilitate more participatory sessions, built on students backgrounds, encourage thinking and engagement in learning. I would like to thank TDA and thinking school international for this opportunity.
Birhane – Geography teacher from Enticho secondary school.

From this training I was able to gain knowledge on how to enhance student participation, how to encourage critical thinking. I am inspired to make more effort after I went to my school. However I beg you to continue such trainings.
Haftom zenebe from seharti smre primary school.

It was very helpful training where I have been able to gain new perspective of what thinking is and how to encourage it. I believe this should continually happen.
Meresiet from Ahizera primary school

From this training I have learned

• Types of maps
• Use of maps
• The visibility of expression using maps
• How to control trainers
• How to motivate trainers to be effective in their work.
• How to encourage participation in every activity.

Zenebu Kahisa from Millennium OFLA secondary school

First of all, I would like to thank Mr Robert and all his coworkers. I have gained very much knowledge on thinking maps. I have also got different experiences from many directions in just two days. I am very satisfied with the program.
Adane Legesse, from Zata primary school

I have learned much about thinking maps to mention some:

• Deep understanding of thinking mean
• How to guide student of different backgrounds and with different perspectives.
• Developed good relationship with each trainee
• How to interpret ideas and believes visually.
• How to encourage students to think critically

I really thank the trainers and people who coordinated and sponsored the training.
Mulu dagnewu Menkere primary school.

I am happy of the methodologies , motivation mechanisms, and various skills to let students participate.
Meseret Birhanu from Zelalem desta primary school.

I was able to gain skills of encouraging students learn in simple and entertaining way. And let students think freely.
Negash Tesfay from Almaz alemu primary school

First of all I would like to thank Robert, Dagim and Atsede for their unreserved commitment they showed during the two day training and their all concern to help us. I was able to learn from you:

• How to apply thinking maps to all courses
• Effective presentation
• How to motivate refresh and support students to think and learn.

Daniel from Tilahun Yigzaw secondary school

From this training I was able to gain knowledge on how to enhance student participation, how to encourage critical thinking. I am inspired to make more effort after I went to my school. However I beg you to continue such trainings.
Haftom zenebe from seharti smre primary school.

It was very helpful training where I have been able to gain new perspective of what thinking is and how to encourage it. I believe this should continually happen.
Meresiet from Ahizera primary school

What I liked from this training is:

• The preparation that have been made to train trainers and organize whole school
• Skills to apply the 8 thinking maps to various fields
• How to encourage students learn independently to enhance their thinking.
• It was more practical but with concise theoretical basis

What I think need improvement:

• Two days is very short

I recommend that more such trainings be organized.
Hagos Abadi- grade 7 geography teacher from Seka primary school.

The Thinking Schools Ethiopia project funding is administered by Initiative Africa with funding from Sida for Whole School Change with a focus on Empowering Young Girls. Read more at the Initiative Africa website.

Whole Staff Thinking Schools Ethiopia Training
Focus on Visual Tools:  Thinking Maps
for Ediget Primary School Teachers
Addis Ababa Education Bureau Government School
Atsede Tsehayou & Dagim Melese
January 1, 2016

Initially the training was intended to be facilitated at Ediget school site: in the Staff Room. But after having observed that the chairs are not flexible (long sofa chairs which one can’t easily move here and there), we changed the training hall . We went to a library of a nearby primary school called Hibret Beliginet Primary School. The training began with a speech from the Wereda supervisor as regards what the training is about and the goal of the training

The flow map below presents what proceeded from the introductory speech by the instructional leaders .

Participants were asked to share their observations and reflections on each of the sequenced activities above. The observations asked were on there relevance, adaptability to the concrete realities of their class rooms, there instrumental value  and use value for facilitating students learning and thinking and of course what they saw happening during their works on each of the tasks.

Participants were deeply engaged (this was specifically shown when sharing their own personal frames of reference –there was actually observed deep emotional engagement as they were sharing from their personal real life experiences and surfacing memories from the distant past in their lives in the cases of those who were senior educators).

There were also concerns aired with regard to portion coverage and time management for which we tried to respond to satisfactorily. One event we encountered and that we feel worthy of mentioning, here, during the day was the collapse of a senior female educator who we were told was diabetic. The teacher got well after having taken sugar and candy which she kept in her bag. Deeply touching it was. This was, by and large, how the training went. The supervisor shared that an evaluative questionnaire will be distributed for assessing the value of the training and we will embark on implementing the next steps.

Ediget primary school is located in Addis Ketema Sub City. There are about 850 students in the school, 47 teachers and 3 principals. A large proportion of the student population of the school do not have parents (these students live their lives under the guardian of a government run institution and they are locally called “Yegibi Lijoch” ) , some other (111 of the students ) are provided meals by the school at the school site since these students could not afford to provide themselves with the basic necessities of subsistence and most of them come from low income families.

by Dagim Melese and Atsede Tsehayou
TSE Country Lead Professional Development Facilitators

Thinking Schools Ethiopia facilitated a half day refreshment training for whole staff of Meri Primary School. Meri Primary School is part of the 300+ government schools in the Addis Ababa Education Bureau.

The purpose of the training is to support class room use of Thinking Maps for educators which were previously were introduced to the school staff and also included new educators of the school. Forty eight (48) educators partcipated in the training with the majority of them being female educators. Brief introduction of the Thinking Schools Model and description of three broad principles of the model was followed by a round table modelling of introduction and use of all eight thinking processes for the eight Thinking Maps. Educators were then asked to work in collaborative groups exercsing the use of the maps using first general topics and later in departments with subject specific topics . Examples were shared, discussed and reflected upon.

The group was observed being purposeful, actively engaged , with educators exhibiting competence in the use of the maps – coming up with great examples .

The training continues with on going school site visits by TSE Trainers. Above and below are some of the still pictures taken of the training.

 

by David Hyerle
Founder of Thinking Foundation, Developer of Thinking Maps
www.thinkingfoundation.org
Last month I travelled for two reasons. One reason was to work with educational leaders in Ethiopia and the other was to travel across northern Ethiopia. Little did I know that the real reason was waiting far beneath the ground.

After flying into Addis Ababa and then north, our Thinking Foundation team began working in the city of Mekele in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia. We are collaborating with a dozen university professors and lecturers, lead by the Tigray Development Association, to initiate the Thinking Schools Accreditation Process (TSAP). This means that the 37 public schools (that have begun professional development in the TSI approach some months ago) will begin documenting their own evolution as a Thinking School with direct support from highly qualified university researchers. The two day, highly collaborative, seminar was ground breaking for all of us. I wanted to make sure that these leaders evaluated, challenged, and adapted our design to fit the culture, language, values and goals set by Ethiopian educators. The vision is to build quality model sites from which an educational movement supporting high quality teacher professional development in Ethiopia can grow – indigenously.

After the work it was time to explore: we went on several very bumpy road trips in northern Ethiopia to historic Aksum and surroundings (now a international travel destination). Three eight hour journeys took my breath away: crossing high mountains laced with terraced farming, broad river valleys, Grand Canyons one after another, and 15 mile long high plateaus graced by small villages. This trip was beyond my imagination, and ultimately, brought me to sit on the barren floor of an unlit kindergarten classroom surrounded by smiling, eager faces in a town called Lalibela. I had only heard about and looked at a few pictures of the UNESCO site at Lalibela. They call the town the 8th wonder of the world. Like sculpture through which an artist releases a form from solid, cold stone, what I witnessed in this dry, mountain top village transformed my vision of what is possible. There are wonders of the natural world, and then there are the natural miracles of imagination and human potential that transcend our notions of the possible. As this is a season of miracles for many, if you visit here you may come to believe that the human mind can envision most anything … and build it. I certainly see transformative, secular education as such an endeavor.

A sculptor emancipates a vision from stone, slowly bringing it into light, into sight that then often sits untouched upon a pedestal. But what happened in the late 12th and early 13th centuries in Lalibela was the sculpting of 11 churches carved out of stone – literally from the ground…. down. Like building an intricate sandcastle on the beach downward rather than up. Give your mind a moment to consider this: imagine being up high on a mountainside in a village and at that turn of a dusty road, you take a tight, curved steep pathway down into a courtyard nearly two hundred feet to the base of a church. Look up and you see a multistory church … and then above it the ground level from which it was carved. The church was NOT BUILT. It was carved. Completely from the level ground, down. From the outside in. Walk into the church center, a scared crossing of rooms, that could hold a hundred people, and see in the darkness men, women and children dressed in pure white, glistening, sitting or standing while leaning their hands and chins on prayer sticks. Chanting scripture by candlelight. Become transformed as I did by the strange feeling that you were standing INSIDE a sacred sculpture seeking light from the underground darkness.

After stepping out into the full light and heat from the churches (many connected by underground passage ways) up the road we visited a Lalibela kindergarten school owned by a single teacher. She is a mother who started the school in her small home, on her own, to serve the community and the memory of her son who passed away in early childhood. I was sitting on the floor amongst 20 or so 4-5 year old children. I began playfully showing them the hand signs for each of the eight Thinking Maps– each for learning how to visually pattern ideas from a blank page. I looked up at the teacher and beheld the smile of a mother. Outside in the courtyard, I asked her what she needed. And then I immediately asked myself within… as I listened to her: “What doesn’t she and these children and this school and this community need?”

She said she needed $400 for a computer as she needs to create and transmit reports of attendance and other key information to the government so that she can receive funding. And toys – simple toys as she explained – to bring the kinesthetic development required for growth. She needs the basic tools of the trade for the 21st century. I told her I would reach out to my friends for help.
You are those friends.

I have always considered education in its hightest form to be the release of the unlimiting thinking capacities of students into the open, rippling across generations, centuries, human kind – yet all projected forward from thousands of years ago. In Ethiopia you can visit the the bones of our ancestors: the archeologists’ remnants of Lucy under glass at the National Museum. This in a country dominantly Christian in the true cradle of civilization. Many Ethiopians hold, quite naturally in mind, a belief in God and the science of Darwinian evolution.

I was reminded on my visit to a Lalibela church that one of the three wise men, Balthazar, came from Ethiopia and, from a kindergarten classroom in Lalibela, that every child should have the opportunity to grow wise with age.We are seeking funds for one computer in Lalibela, resources for Thinking Schools teachers and students across Ethiopia, and for supporting an evolution in thinking.

For donations to the Lalibela kindergarten and the Thinking Schools Ethiopia projects, please contact David through www.thinkingfoundation.org

Short History of Lalibela from Wikipedia:
During the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (a member of the Zagwe Dynasty, who ruled Ethiopia in the late 12th century and early 13th century), the current town of Lalibela was known as Roha. The saintly king was named so, because a swarm of bees is said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. The names of several places in the modern town and the general layout of the rock-cut churches themselves are said to mimic names and patterns observed by Lalibela during the time he spent as a youth in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.Lalibela, revered as a saint, is said to have seen Jerusalem, and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. Each church was carved from a single piece of rock to symbolize spirituality and humility. Christian faith inspires many features with Biblical names – even Lalibela’s river is known as the River Jordan. Lalibela remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th into the 13th century.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia, Thinking Foundation, Initiative Africa
Year 1 • 2015-2016/2007-2008 • Monthly Report
Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out:  Empowering Young Girls: Building Communities
Westwrn Zone, Wolkayt Woreda
Report written by Berihu Alay (COC) • November, 2015 • Humera

The objectives and strategies for the quality improvement of general education during the forthcoming years have been clearly spelled out by the MoE in the General Education Quality Improvement Package (GEQIP). The package is composed of a number of components and sub-components which are complementary to each other and form part of an integrated school effectiveness model.

The strategy have made devised system of assessing, upgrading and certifying quality of education delivery of schools as well as professional capacity of all staff in the education system. However challenges are threatening the successful practice of these policy intentions. The Tigrai regional Bureau of education and TDA believe the introduction and effective and efficient implementation of the project “Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out –Empowering Girls Building Communities” , Educational ideology, which is currently being proven within the international school communities around the world, to have a significant accelerating effect in transforming the quality of provision of education in Tigrai Schools.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

The approach of Thinking Schools is a systems approach that uses lifelong thinking and problem solving methods that support deeper understanding and methods of sharing understanding including students, teachers, leadership and parents. This includes secondary, elementary, across all disciplines and supports special needs. The Thinking Schools approach provides an equal opportunity for all students regarding of gender to develop their thinking skills equally for mutual understanding and success. Additionally, the methods are skills that parallel tools an entrepreneur would use to develop and succeed with all students’ professional development.

In wereda Wolkayt, three schools are targeted under this project. These are Getachew Azenaw Secondary School, Negash Primary School and Teshome Primary School.

After the TOT training given for top performing teachers, schools have been accomplished different activities to implement the objectives by accepting the rational of the project. It is believed that the rational for implementation of Thinking Schools Ethiopia is that lifelong skills for use with problem solving in school, life and work for students, educators, school leaders and parents which is vital for growing school community in particular and the whole school system in general.

Hence, target schools have accomplished different activities in the last three weeks. In Nov, 05, 06 and 08, 2015 all the target schools (Getachew Azenaw Secondary School, Negash Primary School and Teshome Primary School respectively) have given trainings for teachers. (See photos if necessary)

Wereda Education Leaders
The role of the wereda education head and management experts has taken a lions position in leading the target schools to give trainings for their teachers in their schools. A meeting with management committee has been held on 03/11/2015 and we gave directions for target schools to plan action plans and give trainings.

Getachew Azenaw Secondary School

In this secondary school, all the trained teachers and the TOT trainers together have made an open discussion on how to give training for all teachers of the school. Based on this, they have assigned different committees. (See their minutes). Besides, they have discussed on the action plan prepared by the school director. Then they have all agreed to give the training based on the scheduled time.

During the training session, all the responsible trainer teachers have been led the training and all teachers in the school have been participated. The eight different thinking maps have been posted at any angle of the school and discussed in detail.

Participants were satisfied and they reflected that they are committed to implement these maps in their class rooms to ensure quality education with clear understanding of the rational of the project.

Negash Primary School
Similarly in Negash primary school, TOT trainers with other trained teachers have prepared an action plan and assigned committees to implement the training. Besides, this school has prepared a budget.

Hence, they have accomplished the training with a much needed manner and all trainees have decided to implement the project in their school in general and the THINKING MAPS in their class rooms in particular.

Teshome Primary School
In this school similarly with other target schools, have planned an action plan assigned committees based on the direction given by the top leaders of the wereda education office and me (IEGRS project COC). Therefore, they have given the training for all concerned teachers.

The training descriptive that follows is part of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia Addis Ababa government schools project that includes 6 city model laboratory schools and 6 rural model laboratory schools near Addis Ababa.

by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
co-country lead facilitators
The training with Tesfa Birihan Secondary School on the 27 November 2015, was a one day training on Thinking Maps . It involved 115 participants constituting the whole staff of the school.  The participants included teachers, teacher professional development experts, deputy directors, and the support staff  including accounts, store keepers, cashiers, people of the pedagogical centre. The goal of the training was to introduce whole staff with Thinking Maps and initiate whole school use with implementation of the maps in the classrooms for students and with the staff for leadership.

The training began with community building exercises (e.g. commonalities) which was followed by work on personal frames of references (which was modeled by Atsede Tsehayou, the country co-lead facilitator).  Atsede collaborated with participants in the training including the vibrant educator Marta. They modeled Think – Pair – Share:

• first Teacher with Student,
• then Student with Student,
• then the whole group in pairs.

Participants were then asked to read and reflect on page 25 of the Growing Thinking School guide (a page on Comparison between Thinking and Traditional Students), and asked to share observations on the validity of the comparison given their experiences. This was later followed by a brief introduction of the Thinking School Model and communication on the emphasis of the days training:  Thinking Maps .

Thinking Maps were introduced with their hand symbols. We modeled the use of one of the Thinking Maps. Subsequently participants were first asked to use general topics to be explored by all 8 maps and next organised into departments and worked on subject relevant topics .

Observations during the training include:

1. Vibrant school leader – Ato Yohannes Asefa sees the value of the work and is excited to regularly collaborate with Thinking Schools Ethiopia.
2. Teachers shared that one day is not enough. They said they need to master the use of the maps if they are to transfer the maps to their students. So more training in the maps for mastery was requested.
3. The sub-city supervisor was accidentally there at the school where witnessed and was appreciative to see the teacher attending training on Thinking Maps as shared by the school leader Yohannes.
4. The educators were serious and purposeful. They were seriously engaged and really trying to exercise using Thinking Maps.

 

 

Published on The Huffington Post
Co-written by Eric Cooper and Robert Seth Price
30 November 2-15 • article online at the Huffington Post
download pdf copy of article

More than 200 years ago, the English historian Edward Gibbon wrote about a people who ignored the world and nearly lost their society.

“Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world, by whom they were forgotten,” Gibbon wrote in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: “Only after the ancient Portuguese gave them modern weapons and materials did the Ethiopians take steps toward prosperity and independence.”

Today, Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in the world, and at 94 million people, it has the second-highest population of any African country.

By ignoring what was happening in the rest of their world, the ancient Ethiopians made a dangerous mistake. But theirs is more than a history lesson. The “sleep” Gibbon wrote about centuries ago has implications for modern societies — not only Ethiopia, but also here in the United States and elsewhere. It is a different type of “sleep” — a lack of appreciation for historic struggles for human rights and racial and gender equality that bind people throughout the world — yet it, too, threatens the future and prosperity of young Blacks and people of color in the United States, Ethiopia and across the globe.

Young people need the tools and skills to connect past, present and future. They need educational approaches that teach them to understand and respect different perspectives — and to harvest those perspectives for mutual benefit, in a way that allows them to solve problems collaboratively, whether they are battling City Hall or consulting as an adult with a multi-national business halfway around the world.
Without this level of awareness and engagement, it is Blacks, people of color and those struggling with poverty who are endangered.

It’s not enough to say Black Lives Matter. We must believe Black Minds Matter. We must teach every young person not only content, but also the processing and evaluation skills — or the pedagogy — needed to give subject matter context, and employ it to solve society’s problems. Skills to be taught and learned for 21st century success include: global awareness; international collaboration; critical thinking; synthesis; creativity and computing. This is how we create confident, inquisitive, lifelong learners who will build a better world by protecting the environment, addressing poverty, managing unprecedented human migration and deepening the support for human rights.

Time and again, we have seen what happens in the United States when people from different backgrounds fail to acknowledge each other’s reality. This continues to split people of color and many Whites — causing fear of change and strident calls for retrenchment and changes in governance. In Ethiopia, where gender inequality is a top social issue, the divide often occurs between men and women.
We must continually mediate these and other issues before they become entrenched and pervasive misunderstandings. We must accept that “frame of reference” is an important part of the “prior knowledge” necessary for bridging academic gaps. Not all knowledge comes from a book, lecture or classroom teacher. Knowledge also can be witnessed, felt, perceived, experienced. And that “frame of reference” can enable us to relate to events we do not personally experience.

Education models of change are well underway. For example, in the United States, the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education provides professional development so educators can harness a student’s culture or “frame of reference” and use it to help every student, regardless of race or cultural or economic background, to reach his or her potential. In Eastern Africa, the Thinking Schools Ethiopia project uses a pedagogy that includes frame of reference, inquiry and collaboration. The pedagogy explores subjects such as relationships between historic oppression and the subjugation of the Black experience in Ethiopia today. By so doing, commitment to learning and effort is expanded and lives are improved.

The classroom can and should be the incubator for change — the great equalizer for children and communities across the globe. In an age of global strife, to lose sight of the role of progressive education in the lives of children is to admit defeat in a war of ideas we cannot afford to lose. What do we tell the children when the lives of so many remain in turmoil? Is it not the responsibility of adults and children to defend the values of social and human justice in a diverse world? The children deserve answers in an increasingly scary global community.

Robert Seth Price is director of Thinking Schools Ethiopia www.thinkingschoolsethiopia.com. He can be reached at robert@eggplant.org.

Eric J. Cooper is the founder and president of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, a nonprofit professional development organization that provides student-focused professional development, advocacy and organizational guidance to accelerate student achievement. He can be reached at e_cooper@nuatc.org. He tweets as @ECooper4556.

 

 

by Tsehaye Hagos
Tigray Seka Elementary School
Thinking Schools Ethiopia Trainer of Trainer
The photos above and below are from Seka Elementary School in the Aksum region in Tigray Ethiopia. Seka Elementary School is one of 37 model laboratory schools part of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia Tigray project.

First we are given some training about the Thinking Schools Ethiopia training. After that these photos of students are when the teacher teaches for the students about the topic in the English subject. The students are learning one topic about TENSE using the map of Circle Map in English subject. The teachers use Circle Maps and Flow Maps and other Thinking Maps in Seka Full Elementary School. The other Thinking Maps are being regularly used in our whole school. We have been starting grades 1-8 especially with math & English subjects.

The school recently participated in both the Trainer of Trainers professional development and the whole school training with the Trainer of Trainers under the guidance of Thinking Schools International Global Trainer Robert Seth Price and the Thinking Schools Ethiopia County Trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

 

 

 

 

By Robert Seth Price and Dagim Melese

By Dagim Melese
Thinking Schools Ethiopia Lead Country Trainer
Professional Development conducted in Wukro, Tigray, Ethiopia on the 12-15 October 2015
Whole School Staff Training for developing models of Thinking Schools in Tigray region.
Thinking Schools International (TSI) and Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE) facilitated whole staff trainings for educators of 37 laboratory schools in Tigray region. The schools involved two primary schools and a high school from each of the 12 Weredas of the Zonal Administrations in Tigray and one additional school in the Mekelle area. The TSI Global Trainer Robert Seth Price, and the TSE Global Trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese collaborated on facilitating the professional development.

The training had begun with the leadership team of schools and experts from Tigray Education Bureau, the  Teacher Education Colleges and Mekelle University. Deciding upon the model’s importance to the government school systems in
the region TDA (Tigray Development Association) planned the development of   37 Thinking Schools in 12 Weredas of the region. Following from the principle of whole school transformational change processes the training then was facilitated to most of educators at Wukiro , Aksum and Shira training sites.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray is a collaboration of Tigray Development Association and Thinking Foundation for 37 model schools in 12 Woredas located in all  7 zonal administrations with funding administered by Initiative Africa for a Girl’s Empowerment Whole School Change grant from Sida (Swedish Development Agency) that began as a grass roots project by Robert Seth Price along with lead country trainers Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese. Read the chapter on Ethiopia in the Corwin Press book Pathways to Thinking Schools.

Four (4) Days Trainers of Trainers (TOT) Leadership Professional Development Training
A strategic plan by TSI global trainer, Robert Seth Price, had it that a successful trainings of about 850 educators was forethought to be facilitated involving ToT trainers assuming leadership roles. Accordingly , a four days hands on, highly interactive and participatory training was conducted for about 74 ToT trainees. The training involved a demonstration lesson with students conducted by a TSE trainer Atsede Tsehayou while the ToT trainers were observing, recording their questions and observations. This was followed by discussions on the questions raised and observations aired. The demonstration lesson enabled ToT trainees to see the practical aspects of the pedagogical strategies, and tools the thinking schools model provides. Mastery of use of Thinking Maps with frame of reference, exercising elements of collaborative networking of ideas, and planning the steps/events of whole school implementation of Thinking Maps, and other pedagogical strategies were the key elements of the TOT training. Other pedagogical methods included question for inquiry, community building exercises, and collaborative learning methods.

Subsequently a two days whole staff training was undertaken for over 320 teacher educators under the leadership role of the ToT trainers . The ToT trainers played key role in effectively transferring via modeling the essential components of the training to ALL educators from Wukro. After the two days training teachers from 2 primary and 1 secondary schools from each Wereda came up with their plan (in a Flow Map) of whole school implementation of Thinking Maps in their respective schools. Worth mentioning it is, here,  that the training hall chosen at Wukro site contributed a lot to the success of the overall training. The training was in the auditorium within a Catholic School located in Wukro. It was superb in space, excellent in sound, and sufficient quality chairs and tables for the large group.

by Robert Seth Price
TSI Global Trainer
Professional Development conducted in Wukro, Tigray, Ethiopia on the 12-15 October 2015
www.eggplant.org
The Trainer of Trainer model implemented with the Thinking Schools Ethiopia: Tigray project is equal parts ToT and Leadership professional development. The first four days were training for the ToT educators with two from each of the 37 school. The goal is to have equal gender representation as role models in respect to the Sida support with ‘girl empowerment’. The second ‘step’ of the ToT training has the ToT trainers leading their schools while ‘apprenticing’ under the leadership the the TSI Global Trainer and TSE Trainers. The ToT trainers clearly took the roles as leaders in facilitating what was modeled within their respective school contexts. In addition to the leadership with their schools, the ToT were very supportive of coaching one another. This is reflective of Ethiopia being a collaborative society as a much as the professionalism of the educators.

The Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out handbook guide was translated to Tigrinya which was welcomed by all the participants, especially the ones who had been in the initial school leadership trainings when the guide was in English. From this training, we will further refine the translation. Additionally a Student Practice Guide was developed and shared with all participants to comment on prior to translating the final guides for primary and secondary implementation. The trainings are conducted with the TSE trainers whom speak both Tigrinya and Amharic. The ToT facilitators also took leadership roles in regards to translating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out Professional Development Guide / Handbook
The Growing Thinking Schools has been translated by Mekelle University into Tigrinya for training educators throughout the Tigray region. Growing Thinking Schools is a guide, much like a travel guide that you have closely looked through before visiting a new place, or visiting a website with information about different pathways for investigating a new concept.  This guidebook is only used with support of a certified Thinking Schools International and Thinking Schools Ethiopia trainer who will guide you and your colleagues through a process of:

• envisioning what a “Thinking School” might look like in your culture and environment;
• considering the different possible approaches you may take; and
• beginning the planning stage for the short and long term process of explicitly and systematically integrating “thinking” processes into the existing “learning” processes within your school.

This guide does not provide an answer, but offers starting points for the journey toward becoming a “Thinking School” of the 21st century.

Using the Working Field Guide
At the back of this guide is a pullout document called the Working Field Guide. This is like a journal that you might take along on trip for writing down your ideas. In this case, you will be collaboratively mapping out your ideas and reflecting on uses of thinking tools, techniques and strategies with your colleagues.  It is a place for you to be creative, to capture ideas, and for reference as you move forward.

By Dagim Melese
Thinking Schools Ethiopia Lead Country Trainer
Professional Development conducted in Wukro, Tigray, Ethiopia on the 12-15 October 2015

Whole staff training for schools in Shira began with community building exercises guided by the ToT trainers of Shire. The 250 educators were effectively lead and coordinated by the ToT trainers throughout the two days training that focused on introduction and expert use of Thinking Maps with frame of reference.  The trainees worked on Personal Frames of reference which spoke powerfully on the need for assessment of students’ prior knowledge and teachers being informed about background information of each and every single student they teach. Use of context circle with a frame of reference helped the trainees realize the importance of knowing the school context they come from. The use of Thinking Maps for general contents and subject specific themes was exercised under the leadership of the TOT trainers.

A very important component of Shire’s two days training was a demonstration lesson conducted by a TSI Global trainer, Robert Seth Price. All educators were required to observe the lesson as it takes place and record their questions and observations about it. Fifth graders were brought in from a Catholic Primary School Called Donboxo where the training was conducted. The students studied about water with Robert Seth Price using a Circle Map with a Frame of Reference, community building methods and collaborative learning strategies. Questions and Comments about the different aspects of the lesson led to deep discussions and reflections. Similarly , the two days training have had all the educators with their plan of whole school implementation of Thinking Schools and Thinking Maps along with collaborative learning methods in their schools .

In all the trainings a remarkable feature has been female educators with their young children in the training halls while exhibiting strong commitment and active and competent participation in group works .

By Dagim Melese
Thinking Schools Ethiopia Lead Country Trainer
Professional Development conducted in Wukro, Tigray, Ethiopia on the 12-15 October 2015

The training in Aksum was also successfully carried out with the ToT Trainers playing leading roles. About 250 participants took part in the training . The ToT Trainers led community building exercises, modeled each of the activities to their groups, and enabled effective communication between TSI and TSE trainers and all the teachers. Reflective discussions on the meaning of Personal Frames of Reference, Context Circles, and exercising the use of Thinking Maps were important elements of the training. Collaborative Learning strategies were being used with questioning techniques along with exercising the use of thinking maps for general contents and academic relevant themes. Planning steps of whole school implementation of thinking maps and teachers’ comments on Student guides (guides meant for exercising use of Thinking Maps for students in all the schools )took place at the ends of the training in Aksum.

A two days whole staff training was undertaken for over 320 teacher educators under the leadership role of the Trainer of Trainers (ToT). The ToT trainers played key role in effectively transferring via modeling the essential components of the training to ALL educators from Wukro. After the two days training teachers from 2 primary and 1 secondary schools from each Wereda came up with their plan (in a Flow Map) of whole school implementation of Thinking Maps in their respective schools. Worth mentioning it is, here,  that the training hall chosen at Wukro site contributed a lot to the success of the overall training. The training was in the auditorium within a Catholic School located in Wukro. It was superb in space, excellent in sound, and sufficient quality chairs and tables for the large group.

Thinking Design:
Models and Methods for Patient Centered & Student Centered Practices
For Healthcare Professionals, Educators & Students
10 October 2015 • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Introductory Training for St Paul’s Hospital &  St. Pauls Millennium Medical College
Attendees included provost, vice provost and all key heads of departments
The St. Paul’s Medical College and Hospital professional development was a full day participant centered training with a focus on implementing Thinking Design throughout the hospital and medical college with a goal of a patient centered approach (hospital) and student centered learning (medical college).

Introduction and Background
Thinking Design is a systems approach that uses practical research based methods to assure a healthy organization that supports and grows effective communication with and between leadership and the whole organization. It uses tools that smartly communicate ideas within and outside organization to create collaborations. It honors and understands the abilities and gifts of all members of an organization.

Thinking Design training uses the Thinking Design research based methods that include:

• Visual Tools (Thinking Maps) – the use of visual tools to map out ideas;
• Questioning for Inquiry – high quality use of questions and shared inquiry;
• Collaborative Networking – collaborative thinking; collegial coaching & community building methods;
• Developing Dispositions – characteristics, dispositions, habits of mind;
• Designing a Thinking Environment — how the physical space is organized & resources are used.

Thinking Design methods are lifelong skills used for problem solving individually and collaboratively in the whole organization including leaders, professional and staff members.

To live fulfilling lives, people will need to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions required to shape the lives they can imagine for themselves and their families. The thinking tools are instrumental in knowing oneself, connecting with others, and exploring pathways of successful collaborations supporting a healthy and success organization.

Thinking Designs Guide
The Thinking Design training is participant-centered learning with hands-on application using content that is relevant to the participants. The key pathway of the training is “Thinking Maps” which is a cognitive visual mapping language providing a concrete foundation to organize one’s thinking, understand each other’s thinking and each other’s perspectives (frame of reference). This maximizes an organization’s capacity to think, understand, and perform effectively to succeed individually as well as collaboratively.

Training Methodology: Thinking Maps® (Visual Tools)
Thinking Maps are consistent visual patterns linked directly to eight specific thought processes. By visualizing our thinking, we create concrete images of abstract thoughts. These patterns help the whole organization reach higher levels of critical and creative thinking individually and collaboratively. Thinking Maps establish a consistent language for thinking and problem solving.
Download the Thinking Designs Guide

October 2015 Thinking Schools Ethiopia:  Tigray Trainings
Thinking Schools stage 2 professional development will continue this month with Growing Thinking Schools. The trainers include Robert Seth Price (Thinking Schools International Global Trainer), Atsede Tsehayou & Dagim Melese (Thinking Schools Ethiopia – TSE) and coordinated by Tesfay Nassr Mohammed (Tigray Development Association – TDA):

• 12-15 October 2015: there will be professional development with 72 Trainer of Trainers for the 36 model laboratory schools. The schools represent 12 Woredas with 2 primary and 1 secondary school from each Woreda. Previously 8 teachers and schools leaders from the 36 model laboratory schools (288 educators) received 2 days of Growing Thinking Schools training. The Trainer of Trainers coming from this group will include one woman and one man teacher from each school. The funding from Sida administered by Initiative Africa is for whole school change with a focus on empowerment and equality for girls. This training and others listed here will be in Wukro, Tigray. The Training will be facilitated by Robert Seth Price (Thinking Schools International – TSI), Atsede Tsehayou & Dagim Melese (Thinking Schools Ethiopia – TSE) and coordinated by Tesfay Nassr Mohammed (Tigray Development Association – TDA).

• 

  16-17 October 2015:   professional development with ALL teachers from ALL model laboratory schools in the Wukro region. The Trainer of Trainers will collaborate with the global TSI trainer, the TSE trainers, and the TDA project coordinator. There will be 450 teachers participating with the 2 day training.

• 19-20 October 2015:  professional development with ALL teachers from ALL model laboratory schools in the Shire region. The Trainer of Trainers will collaborate with the global TSI trainer, the TSE trainers, and the TDA project coordinator. There will be 250 teachers participating with the 2 day training.
• 22-23 October 2015:  professional development with ALL teachers from ALL model laboratory schools in the Aksum region. The Trainer of Trainers will collaborate with the global TSI trainer, the TSE trainers, and the TDA project coordinator. There will be 250 teachers participating with the 2 day training.

Thinking Schools Ethiopia:  Tigray is a collaboration of:

• Tigray Education Bureau (TEB) and Tigray Development Association (TDA)
  &
• Thinking Schools International (TSI) and Thinking Foundation (TF)
  &
• Swedish International Cooperation Agency funding with Initiative Africa administering

The Thinking Schools whole school, whole system change model focuses on foundational pedagogical teaching practices that are life long thinking and problem solving methods (see below in this posting and throughout earlier postings).

The Thinking Schools Ethiopia project in Tigray continues with Stage 2 Trainings this month, October 2015, in three Tigray locations in Ethiopia.

The Thinking Schools Ethiopia: Tigray project:

• Connecting through social media
  social media brings key people together (TDA communications director Weldeslasie Reta
  and TSI global trainer Robert Seth Price  which then connected TDA executive director Dr. Taddele Hagos with Robert). Three weeks after the initial contact a training took place in Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia.
• Introduction to Growing Thinking Schools Training

  

  In 2014 the Tigray Education Bureau team is trained by TSI Global Trainer Robert Seth Price and his TSE colleagues Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese in a 2 day Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out training held in Mekelle. Robert, Atsede and Dagim have collaborated for 5 years including trainings with thousands of educators in SNNPRS, Addis Ababa and Tigray.

• Stage 1
  In April 2015 thirty six (36) model laboratory schools are selected from 12 Woredas with 2 primary and 1 secondary schools from each Woreda. Each school selects eight key educators to participate in a 2 day Growing Thinking Schools trainings held in Shire, Aksum and Wukro. Aksum and Mekelle university professors also participated.
• Stage 2
  October 2015:  two Trainer of Trainers from each of the 36

  

  model laboratory schools (one woman teacher and one man teacher to be consistent with the focus of whole school change including girl/woman empowerment for a total of 72 Trainer of Trainers) will receive 4 days of intensive training to build on their initial 2 days of training in April. Then they will collaborate with the TSI and TSE trainers to train ALL the teachers from all 36 model laboratory schools in three trainings which are two days each in Wukro, Aksum and Shire.

• Stage 3, Stage 4, Sustaining
  Future stages include:
  —regular site visits from TSE lead trainers to support the school site Trainer of Trainers;
  —use of video to create a library of ‘models of excellence’ to share locally and regionally;
  —collaboration with Mekelle and Aksum Universities for accreditation and action research (see www.thinkingfoundation.org);
  —scaling the model to all schools in each Woreda and throughout the region

Quality change in education benefits from:

• a quality education model that focuses on foundational pedagogical processes
• understanding the brain seeks patterns and the importance of collaborating with models of excellence
• focusing on building the ‘foundations’ first
• knowing and understanding change is a movement. A movement of change fast enough for the whole to see and implement.
• a movement is the whole village collaborating, together in the best interests of the children, of family, the health care of the whole community.

Key acronyms:

• TDA – Tigray Development Association
• TEB – Tigray Education Bureau
• TSI – Thinking Schools International
• TSE – Thinking Schools Ethiopia
• TF – Thinking Foundation

The Tigray model:

• social media brings key people together (TDA communications director and TSI global trainer -> TDA executive director and TSI global trainer)
• training for the whole team of 80+ Tigray education experts from the regions education bureau. The training is facilitated by the TSI trainer and 2 lead TSE trainers.
• selecting 36 laboratory model schools representing 12 Woredas which are typically collected together into zones, which form a region. Each Woreda will have 2 primary and 1 secondary laboratory schools. The regions key universities, Mekelle and Aksum will be active participants. The trainings of the schools is divided into 3 cluster areas:  Shire, Aksum, Wukro.
• training for the leadership teams comprised of 8 people from each school including principals and key teacher leaders
• training of 2 trainer of trainers from each school. The funding (from SIDA and administered through Initiative Africa) from this project focuses on whole school change and girl empowerment as a focus of the change. There will be one woman and one man teacher from each school as the trainer of trainers. The complete teaching and leadership staffs will be trained together in collaboration with the ‘trainer of trainers’.

The Thinking Schools approach is a whole school transformational design that requires minimal materials for implementation and use. What is needed are school leaders, teachers, students and parents immersed in understanding the methods of Thinking Schools Ethiopia pathways for thinking. Thinking Schools Ethiopia focuses on key methods and pathways that aim at the professional development of teachers to improve the quality of their pedagogy and decision-making. This mindset and practice successfully brings a student centered quality thinking education with the whole school environment through the use of:

• Thinking Maps
  use of visual tools to organize ones thinking (students, teachers, leaders) with visual tools that are a visual verbal collaborative process of seeing each other’s thinking
• Reflective Questioning
  high quality questioning, listening and discussion skills
• Collaborative Learning
  collaborative learning for students; collegial coaching for teachers; community building for the whole school
• Thinking Environments
  how are space (structure and the educators presence) and materials (local and recycled) used with intentionality
• Dispositions
  a mind that is reflective about internal dispositions and actions, while remaining open to other ways in which people are thinking and acting

Thinking Schools Ethiopia is a whole school systems approach based on building capacity inside out with the aim of developing a foundation that is reflective, sustainable, collaborative and replicable. TSE is part of a greater global collaboration that supports multi-directional development. Multi-directional development is a belief system and model where all participants recognize their own capacity for aiding the others globally: ideas and innovation originate within and across ALL places globally. The Thinking Schools Ethiopia training uses research based thinking methods that are lifelong skills for use with problem solving in school, life and work.

If you would like to know more or are interested in attending a training please contact:

• Robert Seth Price (TSI Global Trainer)
  website:  www.eggplant.org
  email:  robert@eggplant.org
  Viber:  +1 323.397.0630
  Skype:  robertsethprice
• Atsede Tsehyou (TSE Country Trainer)
  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 0912192667
• Dagim Melese (TSE Country Trainer)
  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 0912102276

Thinking Design Training on the 10 October 2015:

Models and Methods for Patient Centered & Student Centered Practices 

For Healthcare Professionals, Medical Educators and Medical Students

St Paul’s Hospital and St. Paul’s Millennium Medical College
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
October 10, 2015 • Saturday:  Training for Key Decision Makers and Leaders including key hospital administrators, hospital doctors, hospital professional staff, hospital support staff, medical college faculty and students.

Robert Seth Price and Seble Hailu (more information below) will be co-facilitating the training.

Connecting Healthcare and Education:
Thinking Schools and Thinking Design = Life Long Problem Solving Skills
The connection is simple. Life long thinking skills support problem solving all areas of life including with the key areas of health, education, shelter and community. Thinking Design and Thinking Schools Ethiopia methodologies are life long practical problem solving skills. As important with a child’s mindful development as with making thoughtful decisions in healthcare.

“No one is born fully-formed: it is through self-experience
in the world that we become what we are.” 
― Paulo Freire

Introduction and Background
Thinking Design is a systems approach that uses practical research based methods to assure a healthy organization that supports and grows effective communication with and between leadership and the whole organization.  It uses tools that thoughtfully and effectively communicate ideas within and outside organization to create collaborations. It honors and understands the abilities and gifts of all members of an organization.

Thinking Design training uses the Thinking Design research based methods that include:

• Visual Tools (Thinking Maps):  the use of visual tools to map out ideas;
• Questioning for Inquiry:  high quality use of questions and shared inquiry;
• Collaborative Networking:  collaborative thinking; collegial coaching and
  community building methods;
• Developing Dispositions:  characteristics, dispositions, habits of mind;
• Designing a Thinking Environment:  how the physical space, human interaction
  and resources are organized, integrated and used.

To live fulfilling lives, people will need to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions required to shape the lives they can imagine for themselves and their families. The thinking tools are instrumental in knowing oneself, connecting with others, and exploring pathways of successful collaborations supporting a healthy and success organization. Thinking Design methods are lifelong thinking and learning skills used for problem solving individually and collaboratively in the whole organization including leaders, professional and staff members.

Thinking: The Most Important Human Resource
for Life Long Visioning, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

The training has multiple sequential stages:
Hands-on training for learning, practice for mastery, and   mastery.

Learning Outcomes
The Thinking Design approach is recommended for the whole organization including the organizations leadership, teaching faculty, professional staff, support staff, students, and volunteers. The Thinking Design model are life long tools and skills for communication, understanding each other’s perspecitve, problem solving and a quality collaborative learning environment. The Thinking Design approach is concurrently student centered (medical college) and patient centered (hospital professional and support staff) that promotes active thinkers and problem solvers.

Training Outcomes
The Thinking Designs trainers will build understanding, mastery and capacity within the hospital and medical college with the methods of thinking. This will include:

• personal mastery
• building a shared vision
• team learning
• developing mental models
• creating a systems thinking organization

The outcomes will be assessed by The Five Areas for Reflection and Fifteen Criteria Thinking Organizations Assessment Process.

To learn more about the training please contact either of the co-trainers below and/or read the training guide. Download the training guide PDF.

Consultants

Robert Seth Price has extensive experience with whole organization (NGOs, universities, foundations) and school change through a transformational design process. Simply, how can we collaboratively and thoughtfully affect learning outcomes as a process for our whole community, our vision, and individually. His work with a participant learner centered systems approach includes collaborations in the USA and globally, including with Thinking Foundation, Thinking Schools International and Thinking Schools Ethiopia. Further information on Robert can be found at his website www.eggplant.org
email:  robert@eggplant.org
Skype:  robertsethprice
Viber: +1 323.397.0630
USA Mobile:  323.397.0630

Seble Hailu has worked in government, private, non –government and UN organizations in different managerial positions leading project and program management for nearly twenty years throughout Ethiopia. In addition, she has extensive experiences in training and consultancy, in management, HIV/AIDS, psychology, counseling, education and community mobilization related fields.
More about Seble Hailu
email:  seble.hailu@gmail.com
Ethiopia Phone:  0911-6060055