Samire and Getet Elementary Schools

Samire elementary 12 - 1

Thinking Schools Tigrai, Ethiopia
By Dagim Melese & Atsede Teshayou
Samire elementary 20 - 1

The site visit today was paid to Samire and Getet Elementary Schools. Both of these elementary schools are located farther away from the secondary school we visited yesterday. These schools are remote and isolated. And the message here is that frequent follow up of these schools is very difficult given their location away from Mekele and the nature of the road that leads to them.

Samire elementary 19 - 1

There are 31 teachers teaching in Samire elementary school of whom 12 took the two days Samire elementary 9 - 1training on thinking maps in Wukiro last October. There is 1 ToT trainer who is at the same time the schools director whose name is Yisak. Robert easily remembers Yisak who was very active leading community building exercises in Wukiro. [Robert – ‘Yisak was very active with his team as a ToT and equally at ease working with the whole group of 400 teachers in the training. He is an example of the talent amongst the ToT’s that can become the leaders of expanding to schools throughout the region, and country.’]. His school is one of the leading schools in terms of implementing Thinking Maps and actually using Thinking Maps.

Samire elementary 13 - 1

The other school was Getet Primary School. Getet Primary School had its director took part in the two day thinking maps training in Wukiro. But later was transferred to a different school. Currently there is an acting director. Her name is Etsayi. There are 38 teachers in the school of whom 13 were trained in Wukiro.


Samire elementary 2 - 1Samire elementary 7 - 1Samire elementary 8 - 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Samire school Atsede did:

  • Samire elementary 10 - 1community building;
  • modeled the use of Circle Maps with a content being environmental problems;
  • modeled the use of Multi-Flow map to examine cause – effect relationships of the environmental problems;
  • Students were asked intermittently to work in pairs and groups on both Circle Map and Multi-Flow maps and share their works to whole group in which information was enriched;
  • concepts were clarified, thoughts were supported with citations of examples;
  • Then students were given homework.

Samire elementary 4 - 1 Samire elementary 5 - 1
Samire elementary 16 - 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We began the training with a mini professional development as usual in which reviewed the thinking schools model and discussed the research basis of use of visual tools, followed by the collegial coaching model to do the demonstration lessons. During the Debriefing session teachers reported that they have seen how they could actually use the maps with content in their class rooms.

getet elementary 5 - 1

getet elementary 4 - 1At Getet site, Atsede modeled the use of bridge map for seeing analogical relationships of different lines in geometry. The lesson is about a circle and its dimensions (chord, diameter, tangent, radius). The model of Bridge Maps Atsede used with a student is such that a chord is drawn on the upper side of the bridge and its name and definition put in the lower side, as diameter is pictorially represented with its definition in the lower side as radius above and its definition below (see photo of this analogy).

She modeled the use of Double Bubble Maps to compare and contrast a chord and a diameter which the students were later asked to work on their own in pairs and groups. Final students were given chances to present their works before the class. Information and concepts were consolidated.

getet elementary 7 - 1getet elementary 9 - 1getet elementary 11 - 1

 

 

 

 

 

Ataede then introduced each of the eight thinking maps to all students in both cases modeling for the teachers how they could introduce the maps for their students .

getet elementary 2 - 1

  • One important note is that trained teachers at Samire Elementary School have transferred their trainings or Thinking Maps to other teachers and have prepared handouts of Thinking Maps which they have shown.
  • The school director of Getet primary school was assigned to other school he was one of the ToT trainers. We would like to emphasis the fact that the remoteness and isolated locations of the school coupled with road quality may hamper frequent follow up and support for the schools.

getet elementary 13 - 1

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.

getet elementary 1 - 1

Ethiopia Style Classroom in USA

I wish I could go to the Ethiopian schools and learn what they learn and see their beautiful country. Qiana

It was great we learned everything we know now from you. The shiro was delicious. Thumbs up for you dude. Idris

school 27 12 - 1
Third Grade • Indianapolis, Indiana, USA • Indianapolis Public Schools • School CFI 27

My son Ashenafi’s 3rd grade class is studying about classrooms and schools
in other places globally. His school is The Center for Inquiry—School 27 which is in the Indianapolis Public School system in Indiana, United States. school 27 4 - 1My son’s teacher invited me to come into his classroom  and share about Ethiopia and Ethiopian schools since I’ve traveled to Ethiopia often to collaborate with schools, and my children were born in Ethiopia. The neighboring 3rd grade classroom also joined us. I decided the best manner of having a sense of schools in Ethiopia was conducting a class, Ethiopian styled. It was my goal for the students to appreciate  children everywhere are curious learners with as much to learn and share as all childrenglobally. And about teachers in Ethiopia who are professional educators in one of the world’s oldest countries. And some history for  students to better know about Ethiopia on their journey of learning and discovery. The one hour classroom included:

  • school 27 7 - 1having the students in small groups with one student leading each group;
  • wearing a white lab coat as I,  the teacher, was facilitating a math lesson with each group having a 100 Birr note (Ethiopian money) and having to determine its’ value in US Dollars knowing the
    conversion rate of 20-1;
  • learning about (briefly) Aksum and the Kingdom of Aksumite with students posing questions and copying information into their exercise books;
  • making a soccer ball (futbol) out of paper and tape to model being resourceful which they used during recess later in the day;
  • sharing photos from Ethiopian schools from my trips to Ethiopia collaborating with my Ethiopian colleagues Atsede and Dagim in schools there, including a photo of historic Aksum.

school 27 1 - 1

Thank you for the wonderful experience. I liked the injera a lot. Xavier (3rd grade student)

school 27 17 - 1I think Ethiopia is so cool! I want to go their myself. Eleanor (3rd grade student)

The food was awesome. Lucy (3rd grade student)

Thank you for letting us make those newspaper and tape soccer [futbol] balls. Brianna (3rd grade student)

Thank you for the shiro and did you know I loved the food you gave me and my friends. Not all my friends liked it, but mostly they did. You are a great teacher. Tania (3rd grade student)

school 27 20 - 1I loved the shiro and injera. Thank you for spending your time to make it for us. Jalen (3rd grade student)

Please come back to share with the next 3rd grade. Devah (3rd grade student)

Thank you for showing me how people in Ethiopia are and thank you for the food. It was hot and it was interesting. Israel (3rd grade student)

school 27 19 - 1

I think your cooking is awesome and I LOVED the shiro and injera. I ate ‘til Ashu (my son) and Angel ate the rest up. Karis (3rd grade student)
Thank you for the food. Thank you for teaching us how to do stuff in Ethiopia. Jada (3rd grade student)

school 27 16 - 1Thank you for Dad for bringing in shiro and injera from Ethiopia for the class. Ashenafi (3rd grade student)
Thank you Mr. Price for the shiro and injera and the math problem. Devin (3rd grade student)

Thank you so much for teaching the class about Ethiopia. You went so far above and they loved it. Thank you! Cindi Hamlow (3rd grade teacher)

I wish I could go to the Ethiopian schools and learn what they learn and see their beautiful country. Qiana (3rd grade student)

It was great we learned everything we know now from you. The shiro was delicious. Thumbs up for you dude. Idris (3rd grade student)

school 27 5 - 1

Hayikmesay Elementary School

Hayikmesay Elementary School17

Hayikmesay Elementary School
Tigray, Ethiopia
By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
Hayikmesay Elementary School8 - 1
We continued our site visits today with an elementary school called Hayikmesay. There are 35 teachers teaching in the school of whom 14 were trained in Thinking Schools Ethiopia methodologies with a focus on Thinking Maps. There is a ToT trainer from the school. The ToT trainer in this case is a teacher himself. We had a meeting with the schools deputy director in which we explained why we were at the school, sharing the flow map (sequence map) of what the day is going to look like.

Hayikmesay Elementary School3 - 1

Hayikmesay Elementary School10 - 1We did mini Professional Development training with the teachers. Then class room demonstration of lesson . The class room demonstration followed the pattern: community building, modeling use of circle map, then modeling use of multi-flow map, intermittently having students work in pairs then in groups and while group discussion and finally giving students home work. In the end Atsede introduced the students to all 8 maps, their hand symbols and the cognitive processes they represent modeling for teachers including how they could introduce their students all the eight maps.

Hayikmesay Elementary School9 - 1

Hayikmesay Elementary School5 - 1One challenge we have seen of teachers relates to what data with respect to outcomes are we in the demonstration lesson class to attend to, observe and reflect on? The outcomes of use of thinking maps are directly accessible to the observer, we believe, if the observer knows what to look for. Students generate information, surface their thoughts, clarify and exemplify then in the frame of references, explain how they are seeing the content they are interacting with… The fact of students engaging with a content not easily seen by most teachers in demo-lessons.

Hayikmesay Elementary School14 - 1

Something we learned today which we will use next time for refinement of upcoming trainings /site visits:

  1. Hayikmesay Elementary School16 - 1We do community building exercises and teachers feel relaxed, attain more energies for attending to discussions, energies for participation in the form of sharing thoughts but this often not thought as being explained in terms of the community exercises we do. We believe this is extremely important for physically supporting the learning brain. So we will consolidate upon observations about the values of community building exercises.
  1. Emphasis on modeling the use of frames of references we believe will support adequate understanding of thinking maps and how they are used in upcoming site visits. A fundamental challenge we believe still exists with regard to what to look for as outcomes of the intervention include the presumptive certainty, as part of the mental models of most teachers, I observed that an intervention (thinking schools model) should address and bring about the desired changes with respect to intelligences, competencies, skills and attitudes of a learner in all academic disciplines here and now.

Hayikmesay Elementary School4 - 1

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.

Almaz Alemu Elementary School
Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3 • School Site Visits

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Students using a Bridge Map for showing relationships as part of a classroom lesson at Almaz Alemu Elementary School.

Almaz Alemu Elementary School
Tigray, Ethiopia
By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
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One of site visits in Maychew was paid to a school called Almaz Alemu (after a heroine in Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front’s (TPLF) fight against the Derg regime). The school is presently led by a young woman named  Atsede.  We have seen girls parliament at the school . The parliament works for girls needs, rights, support, and acquiring of leadership skills.

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Students and educators showing the hand symbol for a Tree Map which is for categorizing.

We did a mini professional development in which we reviewed the TSE model, briefly explained the research basis of use of visual tools and did collegial coaching and demonstration lessons .

The demo lesson was about electric current and resistance. Atsede (a TSE trainer worked with a physics teacher to do the demo lesson).

Atsede first modeled the use of circle map with a student to generate a wide range of information about electric current, conductors, and resistance. Then asked students to work pairs sharing information and ideas about electricity which was followed by groups sharing about their circle map on the content.

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Tree Map for categorizing.

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Subsequently Atsede drew a Bridge Map for thinking about relationships with types of circuits and resistance levels. The bridge map was incomplete it was meant to be completed by students. Then students tried completing it by taking turns writing on the black board.

Students were then given assignment to complete the bridge map in their exercise books. Teachers were observing what was happening taking notes, and writing questions as part of the Collegial Coaching model.

During the debriefing session teachers shared that the demo lesson has shown the potential use of the Thinking Maps for content areas which would otherwise have been seen simply unfit for mapping .

Teachers reported that they are now encouraged to start using the maps in their classes. They said they have seen high levels of students engagement, collaboration, motivation to learn, and also recognize that students have much prior knowledge to contribute to learning.

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Atsede modeling a community building exercise with students at Almaz Alemu Elementary School, which is a key part of the TSE model.

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 maychewfunding 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.

Maychew
, also Maichew (Ge’ez: ማይጨው), is a town and woreda in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. It is located at 665 km north of Addis Ababaalong Ethiopian Highway 1 which runs to Mekelle (the capital city of Tigray region) with an altitude of 2479 m. According to Ethiopia’s agro-ecological setting, Maychew and its environs are classified under the Weinadega (semi-temperate zone).

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Almaz Alemu educators modeling the hand symbol for the Double Bubble Thinking Map used for comparing and contrasting.

 

Millennium Secondary School
Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3
School Site Visits
Professional Development

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Millennium Secondary School in Korem, Tigray, Ethiopia. Tigray is in Northern Ethiopia.

korem-mapMillennium Secondary School 
By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
Millennium Secondary School is remote and isolated from the town (Korem is the name of the town – see photos below including of Lake Ashenga in Korem). We travelled to the school driving a road twisting now and then (a very high detour) down a very high relief (an extremely rugged terrain along a steep side of a mountain and valley zig-zagging uplands and lowlands. In the end we reached the very isolated and remote school in a very small village (easily counting the number of households).

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Students and teachers at Millennium Secondary School.

The total number of teachers working at the school are 22 of whom 11 of them were trained previously. We were told that 3 of the trained teachers were transferred . So the number of teachers who are trained remains 8.

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.

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Students using Thinking Maps at Millennium Secondary School.

The day began with a mini professional development training including a review of the Thinking Schools Ethiopia (TSE) model, thinking maps, research basis of use of visual tools and principles of TSE model.

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Students using Thinking Maps at Millennium Secondary School.

Collegial Coaching – Demonstration Lesson with Students

Atsede Tsehayou, Thinking Schools Ethiopia co-lead trainer at Lake Ashenga in Korem.
Atsede Tsehayou, Thinking Schools Ethiopia co-lead trainer at Lake Ashenga in Korem.

We modeled the collegial coaching model, where teachers observe a teacher doing a demonstration lesson. For the modeling the TSE trainers did a demonstration lesson. It begins with a briefing of the lesson, then doing the demonstration lesson, followed by a debriefing with the teachers.

Collegial Coaching:  Briefing
At the briefing we shared a lesson about microorganisms (Biology for Grade 9 lesson in the week), shared how to introduce the Circle Map, Double Bubble Maps with the content and how I would model think-pair-share (teacher-student; student-student; whole class), brief sharing of two examples of group works, proceeded with modeling using a Double Bubble Map to compare and contrast (useful verses harmful micro organisms).

Collegial Coaching:  Demonstration Lesson

Dagim Melese, Thinking Schools Ethiopia co-lead trainer.
Dagim Melese, Thinking Schools Ethiopia co-lead trainer at Lake Ashenga in Korem.

We then did a demonstration lesson with the students with the teachers observing. The teachers take notes on positive observations and questions they have from their observations of the demonstration lesson.

Collegial Coaching:  Debriefing
After the lesson everyone observing and participating was part of the the debriefing. At the debriefing:

  • It was agreed about the need to introduce the Thinking Maps to students .
  • Teachers were ready to start using Thinking Maps flexibly first then more regularly.
  • Questions: How do we manage time?
    “once thinking maps become language among all the students. The degree of automaticity with which they construct maps gets higher lessening the time it takes to facilitate group work.”We asked what time does it take you to tie your shoelaces? how difficult is driving for an experienced driver? Once we learn how to use them, we do it fast.So the key is to experiment using them in our class room. In time we will develop expertise in using the maps .
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Students using Thinking Maps at Millennium Secondary School.

Comments from the Millennium Secondary School educators:

  • 12825357_1025801730827263_1944083183_n“We will appreciate your on going support. Please come visit us often.”
  • “We would welcome more demo lessons.”
  • What did we see today? What is something we learned today which we will use to refine site visits to come?

 

Students of grade 9 enter secondary schools after having spent 8 years of their academic life learning subjects in Tigirigna and English as a subject on which they usefully perform poorly. This is true of other schools in other regions too.

 

Now, the biology lesson on Microorganisms is written on English and teachers are supposed to teach in English. I started teaching it in English but it prevented students from actively taking part in the discussions and participation. A student writing in a circle maps with me clearly exhibited this problem.

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The question is:
How do all the educators understand prior knowledge that the knowledge she/he has about microorganism is still a stock of knowledge – prior knowledge – even when it is communicated in Tigirigna? This is where the Thinking Maps need to be seen as a thinking and language bridge.

Students have the knowledge, but simply because they are not able to share in a different languages or communicate with other languages they fail to precisely respond to exam questions written in English hence, score less on exam, and assessed as low achievers. This needs to be internalized and understood by educators to then best support the students.

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Korem, Tigray, Ethiopia.

Zelalem Desta Elementary School
Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3
School Site Visits

Students modeling the hand symbol representing the cognitive process of compare and contrast for a Double Bubble Map.
Students modeling the hand symbol representing the cognitive process of compare and contrast for a Double Bubble Map.
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Teachers participating in the school site professional development actively involved with students on their learning and implementation of Thinking Maps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 .

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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.

student-exercise-book

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.

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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
Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3
School Site Visits
Professional Development

menkere-zata5

 

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

menkere-zata2Our 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.

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Key Points and Outcomes 
menkere-zata16Key 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 .

menkere-zata3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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Reflections 
menkere-zata10From 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.

 

Hayelom Elementary School
Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3
School Site Visits
Professional Development

hayelom_testimonial“…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

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By Dagim Melese and Atsede Teshayou
Photos and Video by Atsede Tsehayou and Dagim Melese
12782483_1022238947850208_1998311973_nHayelom 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).

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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.

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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;

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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.

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Thinking Schools Ethiopia – Tigray
Phase 3
School Site Visits
Professional Development
Kalamino Special High School
Andishumdihun Elementary School

andishduhun elenmetary school33 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 school19

Kalamino Special High School
Kalamino special high school13The 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.

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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.Kalamino special high school18

Andishumdihun Elementary School 
andishduhun elenmetary school4Site 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.

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Meri Primary School
Students Sharing and Organizing
Collaboratively with Thinking Maps

Article and Photos by Dagim Melese and Atsede TsehayouP1110825

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 3rd 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).

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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.

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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.

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Thinking Schools Ethiopia: Tigray
37 Model Laboratory Schools
Video of Professional Development
Teacher Reflections

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.

P1130807A 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:

P1130770The 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.

P1130763From 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

P1130970From 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

P1130767First 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

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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

P1130765First 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

P1130796From 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.

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Whole Staff Thinking Schools Ethiopia Training
Addis Ababa Government Schools

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

IMG_1537Initially 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 .

Ediget-Training-Report

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.

IMG_1532

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).

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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.

IMG_1547

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.

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Meri Primary School Training
Addis Ababa Education Bureau
Government School

by Dagim Melese and Atsede Tsehayou
TSE Country Lead Professional Development Facilitators
970

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.

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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.

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Thinkabout Blog
Building from the Ground …Down

a-david-k-children

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.

church-lilabela

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

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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 Tigray
Reports from the Field
Wolkayt Woreda Primary and Secondary Schools

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
wolkayt-all-maps
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.

wolkayt negash primary school3

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.

wolkayt group meeting


Getachew Azenaw Secondary School
wolkayt getachew 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.

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Teachers of Getachew Azenaw Secondary school community building exercise.
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Teachers of Getachew Azenaw Secondary school community building exercise.

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.

wolkayt getachew secondary school4

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.

wolkayt getachew secondary school5
Personal Frames of Reference.

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.

wolkayt negash primary school1

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.

wolkayt negash primary school2

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.

wolkayt teshome primary school3

Tesfa Birihan Secondary School
Whole Staff Professional Development
Addis Ababa Government School

12308881_968501049890665_1772976399_nThe 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.

12305573_969500083124095_1251699250_nThe 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 12283006_968497566557680_1349611696_nSchool 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. 12319604_968516576555779_1109016025_nTeachers 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.

 

 

Black Minds Matter

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

P1140296More 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.

 

 

Tigray Ethiopia: Thinking Schools
Aksum: Seka School

tigray-axum-seka-school2by 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 tigray-axum-seka-school6English 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.

tigray-axum-seka-school5 tigray-axum-seka-school4
tigray-axum-seka-school2 tigray-axum-seka-school1

 

 

 

 

Thinking Schools Tigray Ethiopia Professional Development
Trainer of Trainers
12-15 October 2015

By Robert Seth Price and Dagim Melese

By Dagim Melese
P1130208Thinking 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.

P1120977The 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.

P1120848Four (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 P1130023ToT 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.

P1130117Subsequently 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 P1130313auditorium 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 P1120924as 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.

P1130129The 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.

ethiopia-tigray-visual3
Visual overview of the Growing Thinking Schools Project in Tigray Ethiopia. What began with a social media connection is now 37 laboratory model schools representing 12 Woredas in all seven Zonal Administrations. Each Woreda has 2 primary and 1 secondary model laboratory schools. In addition to the 36 schools, there is one additional model laboratory school in Mekelle: Kallamino Special High School for a total of 37 model laboratory schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_6796The 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.

IMG_6798Using 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.

Thinking Schools Shire Tigray Ethiopia Professional Development
Whole Schools Training
22-23 October 2015

P1140176By 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 P1140076Frames 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.

P1140293A 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 P1140164and 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 .