Blog Journal May 16- A Visit to the Citadelle

May 16


Today our group travelled to the Citadelle Fortress outside of Cap Haitien.  This fort was built by the forces of an independent Haiti in 1804.  It was purposefully built away from the shoreline on top of a mountain and was impenetrable by any European invasion force.  King Henri Christophe has extremely large and well fortified structuret built over three years.  In 1982 it was declared by UNESCO as a world heritage site and is a powerful symbol to Haitians.

Sunrise at the Cap 5:30 AM

A view of the Citadelle on top of the Mountain

Looking at the drill square of the Citadelle

Blog Journal May 15 -A trip to La Clé

May 15 Blog Journal a trip to La Clé

Today the group in Cap Haitien travelled to Thélus Wilson’s school in the countryside.  It is located about a 45 minute drive south east of Cap Haitien.  Thélus Wilson’s story is one of inspiration to all educators.  A Vice Principal in the City he resigned his post, re-mortgaged his home and bought land to build a school where children cannot afford to pay the school fees or travel to get an education.  There are 112 students from JK to grade 8 that attend the school.  The money raised from the WRDSB ($600 US from Westvale’s used book sale and $80 US from the Waterloo Region Administrators)  along with money from Laurier University will help pay for a roof to secure the donated Laurier laptops in his computer lab.  Currently, he has to take all 14 of the laptops home with him at night because he does not want someone scaling the walls of the school to climb into the opening in the roof and steal his supplies.  We visited each class, engaged in developing an understanding of the students needs, played a soccer game (the students won) and sang songs to say goodbye. 

Elementary School at La Clé

Kindergarten Students at La Cle

Students say Merci from La Cle to Westvale

Students sing the Haitan national anthemn

Blog Journal May 14 Training at Regina Assumpta

May 14

Today, Gabriel Dumont (Education officer from la Ministere d'Education d'Ontario) and I hosted a PD Session for the teachers of this school.  Today is a holiday for teachers as they prepare for their annual Independence Day parade, mass and celebrations.  Teachers took their own time to attend our session and we were fortunate to have 36 teachers show up for the session.  At our session we reviewed the goals each teacher set last October for their classes and discussed their Special Education students.  They reviewed how each class performed in a non-evaluative manner.  We divided the teachers into 6 multi-grade groupings.  Each group wrote reflections on successes and challenges they have faced throughout the year.  After sharing, Soeur Vierginat provided us with a juice and biscuit break and then we returned to our discussions.

Gabriel and I asked each teacher to reflect on her own personal needs in the classroom and write us a list of items and programs of interest for them.  Soeur Vierginat also shared her vision for the school and her dreams for the next school year.  On her top 5 list of things to accomplish were:

1.  Do a book study on students with special needs and differentiation in the classroom.
2.  Acquire more laptop resources for the school.
3.  Acquire more tools for students with special needs in the classroom (pencil grips, etc).
4.  French software for special education resources.
5.  Early Literacy Intervention training for targeted teachers to assist students learning to read.

Teacher anchor chart on successes and challenges

Teacher anchor chart on successes and challenges

Teacher anchor chart on successes and challenges

Teachers collaborating about special needs students

Teacher anchor chart on successes and challenges

Teacher anchor chart on successes and challenges

Blog Journal May 13 Mulitple Updates at Multiple sites

Today our team returned to the Regina Assumpta and the Nutrition Centre and another part of our team to Trou du nord.  At the latter the team was visiting a school and doing some teacher training on science and math at the secondary level.  At the Nutrition Centre the team was discussing the micro-credit program in further detail and exploring program options.  At Regina part of the team was teaching ESL to secondary students and I was auditing a number of elementary classes to see how teachers were progressing with classroom management and reaching their identified students at risk.

Students in grade 2 working on math

Using Positive Reinforcement in Class

Grade 2 student working on units and tens in math 

Blog Journal May 12 Setting Up Sound Fields and visiting special needs students

May 12

Site Visits to Many Locations


Today after breakfast we headed out to three different sites:  The Nutrition Centre, Regina Assumpta School, Notre Dame School and the Susan Shaunke School.  At the Nutrition Centre our team was looking at the whole program and learning more about how the micro-credit program operates.  At Notre Dame, Susan Shaunke and Regina Assumpta our team was running ESL lessons for students. At Regina Assumpta I took more time to set up the remaining sound fields and attended 7 different classes to observe instruction and observe identified students from the Principal and the teachers.  Regina Assumpa now has four functional sound field systems that will project the teacher's voice in the classroom.

Grade 1 student learning to read

Assessing Fine Motor Skills at lunch in the Pre-School

Sound Field Unit

Blog Journal May 11 Checking in with the staff and students at Regina Assumpta

May 11

We had a great breakfast at the Stella Maris, Catholic Convent at 7 AM and were on the road by 8:30 AM.  We stopped at the first School named Regina Assumpta.

At this stop Soeur Vierginat gave the group a tour of the school.  There are three schools located at this campus.  The first school is Elementary and has 700 students.  There is a secondary school of 700 students on site and a Faculty of Education (Ecole Normale) as well which hosts about 100 students for evening classes.  I stayed on site and visited with the Principal and discussed how the project was developing for her teachers based on the PD Gabriel and I delivered in October 2014 on Differentiated Instruction.  Soeur Vierginat gave me a copy of the goals each teacher had and how they were working with their identified students at risk.  Soeur Vierginat also asked me to observe a child in Kindergarten who has significant physical disabilities.  After this, I worked on their sound system equipment and visited 5-7 other classrooms to gauge the level of use of anchor charts in French.  

Our team meets the Principal

View of Courtyard looking North

Main Entrance to Regina Assumpta

A view of the Assembly Hall at Regina Assumpta

Pre-school Class

Teacher created Anchor Chart

Anchor Chart

Teacher Made Anchor Chart

Teacher Made Anchor Chart

Classroom Agreement Anchor Chart

Blog Journal May 10- Arrival in the Cap and some History

May 10

We arrived in Cap Haitien today with a dynamic group of talented individuals. All of us have connections with education and we each possess a genuine desire to assist Haitians in rebuilding and empowering themselves.   

For more links to history of the work we have done in Haiti you can check out my wiki at:

https://haitianmobilementoringproject.wikispaces.com

and Professor Steve Sider's blog at:

http://glocalperspectivebuilding.blogspot.com/


Today we flew out of Toronto to Miami. We then took a connecting flight to Cap Haitien and arrived at our residence for the next week, the Stella Maris in good order. We were even early! The group was introduced to pastor Henoc and Andre who runs the local Nutrition Centre. Both men shared with us their history is helping Haitians. Both men were educated in Haiti and in the US. The Pastor spent 17 years studying in Marlyland and Dallas and returned to Haiti in 2002. He founded a Church in Cap Haitien, a school and supports children and families in early learning right up to high school. He is currently working on setting up a University in the Cap as well. Andre has worked with the Nutrition Centre for 4 years. This is a local group, funded by a Canadian foundation called RayJohn. The centre provides support to mothers who are unable to provide enough nutrition for their babies. They take care of the babies and feed them over a period of time. The Centre also provides training for mothers in life skills (cooking, cleaning, etc). They also provide support for women to start their own businesses with a micro-credit program. The Centre has also now started a pre-school for the mothers that are supported in this program. Finally, they have started an 'adopt a grandmother' program. The idea is to support grandmothers who do not have any family or support locally. Andre also noted that there is a group from Fergus, Ontario is one of the key financial supports of this group.

View from the Stella Maris in Cap Haitien