Brunch V

I had the honor to be a part of the organizing committee of Brunch V that is arranged by the Lebanese International University--Faculty of Education.From the title of this brunch which is " Give your Share to Show you Care" it is obvious that the purpose of this brunch is to collect money or proceeds to serve a humanitarian needs. The purpose of this brunch is the establishment of audio - visual library at Dar Al Hanan.

In that day there was a lots of work,effort, organizing, decorating, selling and standing for a long time, but all those feelings disappeared when you know that the proceeds exceeded the 8 millions Lebanese Lira . At this point,  when they announced the number ,all the stress and illness you feel fades away , because you feel that you have attained what you want.

Thanks for every one who participated in this event whatever the participation was, whether in organizing , selling , decorating , donating and buying  because you all made this day.

   

Addiction and Education

The social and economical problems in society is why some of youths turn to drugs, and this same society can not find the solution to help them .

Many youths find drugs and alcohol a way to escape from their reality. They love to be in a fancy world where they can laugh ,escape from reality,  cry, try, dream and make anything they love without any concious and without a controller . This space of freedom they need  it is of course one of their rights,  but they seek it by the wrong ways. They should try to face the problems and try to find solutions. And here is our responsibilities and duties as a teachers. Teachers should educate students about the bad effects of these habits , and how could they face and find the solutions to their problems.

Teachers and schools  can collaborate with many organizations that work in this field to make awareness campaigns in schools and share the experience of addicted youths to convince students about the bad and harmful results of addiction on their lives.
Also, it is the responsibility of the society to adopt those youths , try to help them and to avoid treating them as criminals.

Treat People the Way they Treat You

The problem with me is that I swim oceans for people who would not even cross the bridge for me.

Every time I loose people in my life, I start to think about the causes,what i have done to them , by what I hurt them or underestimate them, but the problem is not me. I realized that there is no reason.

 The only mistake I have done is that I treated them in a way  more than they deserve. I have learned that  I should think of myself and my future.
 I should not take care of others anymore unless they prove that they are willing to do the same for me.
People did not notice the things we do for them until we stop doing them. And at this point they will realize the mistake the have done by ignoring you.

In life we never loose friends , we only learn who the true ones are. Friends or let us say true friends are willing to do everything that makes you happy.

Education and Refugees

Syrian refugees face a huge problems .They left their country with nothing in hands.They left behind them not only their home or country , they left their future. More than the half of refugees are of youths.Despite the misery they live in , what really makes me sad is the amount of youths that should be in schools and not in streets or homes.

 An education system is set by the Ministry of Education with the help and cooperation of many organizations such as UNICEF, UNHCR or CARE . They try to include all students in schools in order to educate them , and give them the opportunity to have a hope about their future. This is not sufficient because schools are unable to include this huge number of students.

I think the solution is to create a safe area or zone between the borders of the two countries. In this area organizations and the UN can build camps that include schools, houses, and medical centers, so all students will have the opportunity to learn.

Disappointments

The best way to avoid disappointments is to not expect anything from anyone.We should not blame people for disappointing us,because we gave them the opportunity for doing that.We should blame ourselves for expecting too much from others.Inside every person you know there is a person or face you do not know.
When you trust people you will get two results  a person for life or  a lesson for life.Life isn't about who is true or real to your face its about who is real behind your back.Who is willing to do everything to keeps the smile in your face, helps you before you ask him too , the person who is able to understand your bad mood, your anger and may be your  rudeness toward him because you are angry and not to take it as a way to left you behind.

What really matters is never to loose hope and keep trying and think that the only way to relaxation is to maintain a good relation with Allah and not with humans

Arab Feminist Conference _ A New Perspective

 Arab Feminist Conference is the first of its kind in the Middle East.This conference gave a look or preview  of how women were treated in previous times till nowadays .
 Also, It gives a view of the most prominent arab  women that influce and have a fingerprint in their socities and the Arab world.Those women are leaders,protesters,researchers, doctors, poets and writers.

This conference was of two days and includes a dialouge sessions that join Lebanese and Arab doctors and researchers.
What impressed me most from all the themes or ideas that have been discussed is the gender discrimination in many languages.

I was not only a listener but also a member of the organizing committee of this conference.
A hard work done by every one in this committee  to attain the success.
I am waiting for the booklet that will include every single information presented in the conference and that will  be published  by the Lebanese International University.

Webinar

I have  attended  a webinar about assessment by Dr. Francis (skip) Fennell.He is a professor of education and graduate and professional studies at McDaniel College in Maryland.
Dr.Fennell wrote many books the most famous one was the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.
He considers that the learning community is a relation between adult learning,navigating and coaching relationships.First,leaders and adult learners in which we should think about how to demonstrate respect for colleagues,  and be consistently mindful of their time, curriculum stressors , personal lives ,and so on, Second , navigating which means who should be involved in helping to plan and and implement a district - wide initiative designed to provide professional learning opportunities which will focus on formative assessment?.Third,coashing which means mentoring of targeted ( new , novice, challenged) teachers. Providing targeted one-on-one and professional learning efforts with grade based learning communities.

According to dr.Fennell , assessment of students learning is the responsibility of every school and every teacher. It is integral to instructional practice ( planning and teaching). Linking assessment to planning and instructions is used to inform teaching and learning.
Using the formative assessment which means observations , interviews and other informal kinds of formative assessment. would raise student achievement by 0.4 to 0.7 of a standard deviation.
So we need to emphasize and enhance the use of classroom -based formative assessment- to guide teaching and leraning.

Classroom Management

 I was observing a class of English Language in grade two.The students in this class are of mixed ages and abilities, and all of them are Syrian refugees.Syrian refugees , as we all know , have a very week English language , and use the Arabic language so much.

I will discuss some points related to classroom management. In terms of time, teacher did not allocate time for each instruction or task. Teacher did not design instructional time or students engaging time.There is a lot of time wasted in class.She repeats over and over till the end of the period without using time in an effective way.

In terms of classroom climate, teacher did not build any kind of personal comunication with students.
She is like a leader or boss that gives orders to follow without any sense of cooperation or realtionship with students.

This kind of class is not only bothering but also stressing. I think such faults in classroom management will ruin education , and the blame here is not on the students if they are unable to perform, but on the teacher because she is responsible of such faults.

Philosophy of Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning , but do the educators aware of their own philosophy of education?
Every teacher has her or his own philosophy of education , even if that teacher isn't aware of or doesn't admit it .So teachers must think and examine what they are doing in the process of learning.
My survey examine  eighteen teachers of different age,gender and years of experience.

Also, it is based on four philosophies they are idealism,realism,pragmatism and behaviorism.Results shows that it is important for teachers to know their own philosophy of education, and relates it to other philosophies ,because no teacher has one philosophy.

Every teacher's philosophy is a combination of philosophies . Teacher should choose from  all the philosophies what matches her students abilities and needs to be an educator.Teacher should not based her philosophy of education on one type or kind of philosophy because in this way she will be bordered with counted types of techniques and procedures ,and this will never attain success in learning and eduaction for  herself and her students.

Teacher should be able to update her information,grasp what is benefitial for the students ,and the learning outcomes and curricula.