Atsede Tsehayou – Thinking Schools Ethiopia Country Trainer
As part of the steps with the Thinking Schools Ethiopia model, On-Site School Visits are made to each school. A site visit to Cheffie Primary School, one of the ten Addis Ababa Education Bureau model Thinking Schools occurred on Thursday, December 17, 2014. Community building exercises were practiced by their physical education teacher and students as well during our visit.
community building
The objective of the site visit was to introduce both the verbal and hand symbols of thinking maps to all students of Cheffee on one hand and to give explanation of the use of each maps on the other hand.
Grade 8 students observed and examined that thinking maps show clarity and simplicity in terms of communicating and understanding conceptual contents.
Grade 7 and 8 Students were using and sketching Thinking Maps in their exercise books and tried to connect the hands symbol of Thinking Maps with their meaning and importance .
Pre k students were also able to use their thinking abilities and participate with their teacher on the use of the maps.
The overall observation and reflection of my visit to the school was exciting and surprising because of all the fabulous movements and discussions happened within three days after the whole staff (70+ teachers and school leaders) training of Cheffie Primary School. The whole staff training was the two day initial Growing Thinking Schools Inside Out training on Thinking Schools including using visual tools (Thinking Maps).