Blog
Teachers face many challenges while doing their teaching job. These include a lack of teaching materials, textbooks, trainings and peer meetings. To help teachers in our partner schools improve their work and help students succeed in school Mali Rising Foundation provides teacher training, peer meetings, materials, and more. Of all the support we offer, one teacher told us peer meetings are his favorite. Why?
Earlier this month, Mali Rising hosted one of our Teacher Peer Meetings – gatherings of 7 or 8 teachers from different schools who learn from each other for the day. Teachers volunteer to present a sample lesson and their peers critique their work – providing both positive and constructively negative feedback. After this most recent Peer Meeting, I talked with one of the participating teachers, and recorded his thoughts on the peer meeting and his work…
In the remote areas where Mali Rising’s schools are located, teachers often get together to chat and gather to drink tea. Teaching requires a deeply dedicated person, so it makes sense that teachers always try to improve themselves through reading textbooks, travelling, and discussing techniques with their peers. Building on this cultural idea, Mali Rising regularly hosts Teacher Peer Meetings where we gather 5 to 6 teachers from different Mali Rising schools. The goals are to help our teachers improve their teaching skills and to connect them with peers who can help support them throughout the tough school year.
Mr. Luck Kamaté has been teaching at Sue Taylor middle school of Diorila for seven years. He teaches French, history, geography and English. In addition to all of these subjects, he also serves as the school principal. Because of a teacher shortage in Mali, all too often our hard-working teachers also have to serve the administrative role of principal – that makes for a lot of work!
For the last several years, Mali Rising has hosted teacher peer meetings with many schools. These peer meetings have been very well received by our teachers, so we wanted to get our newest teachers involved as soon as possible. As a result, Christiana Norris Middle School recently joined their first peer meeting. All four of the new school’s teachers participated in the peer meeting, and they were joined by all the teachers from our Trujillo Family Middle School. One of Banko’s participating teachers was Mr. Moumoune Koné
Teachers in Mali come together, have long tea-drinking sessions, and go to visit other villages as a group, but it is rare that they come together to learn from each other. Because we believe teachers are key to success for our students AND that teachers can really help each other, Mali Rising Foundation hosts Teacher Peer Meetings where we bring teacher together to learn from each other. In late March, we hosted a teacher peer meeting in the big town of Ouelessebougou. This meeting brought together five science teachers who were all thrilled to participate. Mr. Souleymane Koné was one of the participants. Mr. Koné is a science teacher in the village of Fadiobougou, which is home to the Entrepreneur Organization Learn for life Academy.
Our staff in Mali do all the hard and interesting work that our supporters make possible. They work hard — traveling rough roads, dealing with the heat, and breathing in the dust of Mali’s countryside. But they do it with grace and with a sense of purpose that comes from knowing they are helping kids just like themselves have a chance at an education. We want you to get to know these great people a bit better, so we took a recent chance to interview Adama Kone, our Teacher Project Coordinator. Please enjoy this video blog to learn more about his work with our teachers, what he's doing to fight COVID-19, and how popular Frisbee is in Mali (hint: not very).
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