TWI
for the Children
Training
Workshops in Tirana
,
Albania
2005
June
13-14, 2005
The
purpose of this page is provide a summary of the Training Workshops sponsored
by TWI for the Children in Tirana Albania and presented by Mrs. Bonnie
Miller during the Period June 13 -14, 2005
Bonnie
Miller presented two seminars for educators and professionals on June 13 and 14
at the Rogner Hotel in Tirana, sponsored by TWI for the Children, Inc. and Plan
Albania
. The
first seminar, introduced by Mr. Ilias Pakula, Director of Curriculum at the
Albanian Ministry of Education, consisted of seventy school directors from the
areas where Plan works (mostly in northern and border areas of
Albania). The
morning session discussed the challenges of educating children for the 21st
century and focused on how schools can address the needs of the whole
child--intellectual, social and emotional.
Mrs. Miller offered suggestions for using active methods to make learning
relevant and interesting to students and offered ideas for creating a positive
school atmosphere that encourages children to meet their full potential.
The afternoon concentrated on ways to identify and help children with
Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder.
The importance of parent-school cooperation was stressed, including
specific techniques to improve communication.
The seminar ended with an exercise in which the school administrators
discussed among themselves the next step:
how they will share what they have learned in the workshop with the
teachers and parents in their schools and how they will adapt their schools to
make them more responsive to the needs of children and families.
The
second day was introduced by Mr. Ramush Lekaj of the Ministry of Education in
Kosovo and Mr. Moacyr Bittencourt, director of Plan Albania
. The
audience consisted of representatives of NGOs, Ministry of Education personnel,
teachers, Plan employees, and others interested in helping children with special
needs. The
day focused on the learning, social, and emotional problems and needs of
children with Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorders and offered
suggestions for helping these children at home and at school. All materials had already
been translated into Albanian for Kosovo, so it was easy to give an interactive
power point presentation to this audience (in Albanian).
Seventy school principals attended the first session and all but a
handful were male. The second
audience was a mixed one and a lot of fun.
In
addition to teaching through power point format and a showing a video she
created, Miller demonstrated to the participants how interactive methods can
reinforce learning by leading hands-on exercises in the seminar and giving
participants the opportunity for productive small group discussions and
brainstorming. Materials
given to all attendees included a parent manual, Communicating with Children,
teacher manual, Connecting with Children in the Classroom, and teacher guide on
Learning Disabilities, I
Can Learn. The
power point presentations were made available (on CD-ROM and paper copies), and
a list of websites on Learning Disabilities was distributed.
Feedback from both groups was extremely positive, and Plan is discussing
strategies for future training on these topics and to scale up this effort to
reach more educators in Albania.
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Updated:
10/13/2005