[Educators] [Localization] Empowering teachers

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi...

I am coming late to this discussion, but I can't resist chiming in a bit as a retired teacher, counselor, and teacher trainer.

I have been following the discussions on the OLPC-sur list and some of their blogs and I am very impressed with the collaboration that is going on among the teachers using the XO in Latin America.  The insights and ideas they have been coming up with as a group are truly impressive. 

But now...let's look at what, IMHO, we really need to have happen.

First we need to ask...who are the stakeholders?  Obviously they are the children and, secondarily, their families.  We should be going to them and asking what they want their education to include?  What sort of life  do they want to prepare for?  What will they need to learn to have a reasonable chance of being successful and happy as adults in their world? For families in remote areas there may be a need to raise their conciousness of some of the possiblilties beyond their narrow life experiences.  

Then, the teachers need to become involved as facilitators of learning for the children.  They need to help identify  a curriculum that will teach and prepare the children for the world they will face as adults, including those things the stakeholders value most.  We know this will undoubtedly include learning to collaborate, so the XO is an ideal educational tool to help in this respect.

Teachers should be given an opportunity to see what the XO can do and how it can be used to teach the curriculum the stakeholders have chosen as appropriate.  They should be encouraged to experiment and create ways for the children to use the XO activities in their learning. They should be encouraged to design activities that do not yet exist for programmers to develop. Here, trainers as facilitators are essential and they should help the teachers become facilitators of learning for the children.

It may well be that the curriculum will vary much from place to place, but ongoing virtual discussions can help cross-pollinate the successes and tools from one area to another.

This is not, nor should it be, a one-size-fits-all project.  It should be individualized country by country, region by region, town by town, school by school, and child by child.  It should be a bottom up design, not in any way top down, except to provide assistance where requested by the teachers or stakeholders.

OK, so I'm an idealist.  Enough of this.  I should probably go work on the rt queue!

Caryl

Here's my "chart" (rough draft!)  from "bottom" (at the top) to "top" (at the bottom)

kids    kids   kids   kids  + parents
  |        |        |       |            |
  V       V       V       V           V

teachers   teachers    + trainers
    |              |                   |
    V             V                  V

Ministry of Education
             |
             V
          OLPC  + volunteer developers
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