Teacher Training

Last month, we had a very productive and interactive teacher training, which took place across our 4 districts where we operate.

We started our teacher training with a day-long Read Smart session, attended by our grade 1 and 2 teachers who implement this program. This training aimed to support teachers on how to use learner-centered activities when teaching read smart. We also went through some Read Smart lessons that will be taught in the remainder of term 2 and asked teachers to practice teaching lessons they felt to be “difficult” through lesson demonstrations. It was interesting to see teachers giving feedback to each other on the best teaching methods and activities for the lessons.

The next day, all teachers attended training. ECE (Early Childhood Education) teachers had a break-out session that covered how to improve the ECE attendance in their classes by engaging parents with various methods.

Time was allocated to preparing for the special day activities which will took place this week (see below!) with the theme Upcycling, where both learners and teachers will use upcycled materials in teaching and learning aides.

A session on differential support was focused on supporting learners through working towards equity. The goal is that all learners are able to achieve the learning outcomes of the lessons.

One of the favorite sessions of the day was the community of practice session where teachers shared successes and challenges they faced when teaching reading comprehension to primary school learners. Strategies were shared and teachers planned together for the upcoming lessons on reading comprehension in English and Cinyanja. What was so interesting about this teacher training was the high level of engagement, discussion, and knowledge transfer between teachers from different schools. We are very hopeful that our teachers will use the knowledge that they have gained to contribute to our mission of improving education in Zambian community schools!

-Promise