Blog — Mali Rising Foundation

teacher peer meetings

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Video Chat with Adama: Health, Teachers, & More!

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Join us via video link for a chat with our wonderful Teachers’ Project Coordinator, Adama Kone. Adama coordinates our Health Project (as well as the Teachers’ Project) so he will share the latest on what we’re doing in Mali about COVID-19. This will be an interactive talk about the work and how your support makes a difference in Mali. We will talk about our work with teachers, but also the creative ways Adama is working on COVID-19 in this fast-changing situation. We will also feature a few ways you can get more involved as a volunteer. We’ll devote plenty of time to answering your questions too — feel free to ask about Mali culture, programming, or anything you are curious about.

When We Talk About School, We Talk About Teachers!

When we talk about school, we talk about teachers! And when we talk about teachers, we are also talking about students! This is because a well-trained, dedicated teacher makes good students. Mr Mama Diallo is one of our brave teachers. He is a French teacher at Lareen Mellor Middle School in the village of Kassela. He is very devoted to his job.

Travelogue...Days 1 & 2: Teachers & Termite Bites

The US- and Mali-based staff spent two weeks in January together in the field in Mali. Our incredibly limited access to the internet did not allow us to post our blog updates from the field, so we are sharing them now from the zippy wi-fi of the U.S. Join us on the blog for the next few weeks for a daily update on the trip!

By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Day 1-2, January 11-12: The first full day of our expedition was a memorable one, including a lively peer meeting with 10 of our teachers and a termite bit for me.

I arrived in Bamako early on Saturday evening, having met up with Mali Rising supporter and volunteer extraordinaire Tim Gibson at the Paris airport. The Mali staff welcomed us at the airport in sunny Bamako, but then left us to recover under our hotel’s beautiful, big trees. After more than 24 hours of travel, we were happy to head to our rooms, only to find our rooms basically abutted the all-night dance party next door – hurrah for ear plugs!

Sunday morning all that was forgotten as we headed out – me to Mali Rising’s teacher peer meeting several hours’ drive away and Tim to the wedding of a friend’s daughter in Bamako. I was excited to finally see a teacher peer meeting in action. We launched the peer support idea two years ago, with the help of our generous teacher sponsors. The idea was to find ways all year long for our teachers to help each other implement what they learn at our annual training.

At each peer meeting 8 to 10 teachers from 4 or 5 Mali Rising schools gather together. Two teachers agree to present a lesson to their peers as if their fellow teachers were the students. After presenting, the teachers gather feedback – good and bad – from their peers. It takes a strong teacher to volunteer to present for criticism!

At this meeting, we hosted 10 teachers – 5 French teachers and 5 science teachers. They came from our schools in Kafara, Fadioubougou, Beneko, Tamala, and Sequessona. Both of our volunteer presenters were from Fadioubougou’s EO Learn for Life Academy.

It was so heartening to watch our teachers in action. Despite their limited tools and support (many teachers are facing classes of 100 students with few textbooks and other materials), they were professional and passionate.

The French teacher, Amadou Traore presented first. As someone who was never great with grammar, I can say with certainty that Mr. Traore did an amazing job of making complex sentences and participles understandable! He had us working in groups, diagramming sentences, and making up our own sentences to prove we understood the concepts.  Feedback from his peers was supportive, but also quite critical. He took the tough feedback with great grace.

I have to admit though that for me the science teacher – Souleymane Kone – stole the day. His lesson was about social insect communities, and specifically termites. He got our attention immediately because he brought part of a termite nest with him! Mr. Kone had us exploring their anatomy, experimenting to see if they bite (well, yes, if you poke them), and more. Although Mr. Kone received some tough feedback about the organization of his lesson, everyone agreed that his passion for the subject was infectious and that students would be hooked to the lesson.

The meeting ended with time for the teachers to share other issues or challenges they face and to discuss possible solutions.  Although there are many challenges at rural schools in Mali, the teachers made it clear they would love more chances to learn together at peer meetings and additional teacher training. We also added the teachers to a WhatsApp group we are using to keep the teachers in contact with each other over the school year. Thank you to all the Mali Rising supporters who made this peer gathering possible!

Learn more about our Teacher Project.

 

Teacher Peer Meetings Help Teachers Help Each Other

The school year in Mali is now in full swing, so the work of our Mali staff is also geared up! This is particularly true for our Teacher Project Coordinator, Adama, who is hard at work helping our teachers. Last week, he hosted his first ever Teacher Peer Meeting, designed to help our teachers help each other.

Boulaye Benefits From Teacher Peer Meetings

I am Boulaye Diawara, I have been teaching French in the middle school of Seguesona since 2016, but I started teaching in 2008. I am 34 and I really like my teaching job. What makes me like it even more is because I am always in contact with kids and enjoy helping them when it comes to studying….

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Welcome to Adama, Teacher Project Coordinator!

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We are excited to welcome our new Teacher Project Coordinator, Adama, to Mali Rising’s Mali-based staff. Although we are sad to see our previous Coordinator, Francois, move on, we know Adama will do a great job in the role. We asked Adama a few questions to help everyone get to know him.

Making it Real: Concretization in the Classroom

In Mali classrooms, all too often lessons are taught by lecture and repetition and enforced through memorization. By contrast, active teaching and learning requires a set of methodologies that can make the learner more self-sufficient in their learning. One of these didactic techniques is the technique of concretization. What does the technique of concretization in teaching mean? Is it difficult to apply? What is it used for?

When our teachers are united for the same cause.....

We saw a great example of how our hard-working teachers come together to help each other do the best job they can when teachers from four Mali Rising schools joined forces at a Mali Rising Teacher Peer Meeting in the remote Sikasso region.

Teachers Helping Teachers Teach

At Mali Rising Foundation, we know that building schools is amazing, but not sufficient when it comes to ensuring real learning for our students. Providing good training to our teachers is one of the most valuable things we can do to keep kids learning. One of the ways Mali Rising Foundation helps our teacher is to host teacher peer meetings. Education experts tell us these meetings are unique in the whole country and makes our village schools different from the others

This Month in the Field: Teacher Peer Meetings

This month we hosted one of our favorite small gatherings -- a teacher peer-to-peer meeting. Mali Rising Foundation invests in our teachers because they are investing in our students. Without good teachers, a school is just a building. Our most recent peer-to-peer meeting included 8 teachers from three of our schools. Learn more about how it went and check out some pictures of our teachers in action...