Conduct a school visit in Haiti to learn more about its program and needs, and establish a collaborative learning environment that benefits students in both countries.
Interacting with students in Haiti challenged me to find quick ways to form rapport. Unlike in my own classroom, I didn’t have the luxury of time to establish relationships. We had to just jump in and squeeze as much fun and learning as we could into the moment. With rusty French and knowing nothing of the children’s individual circumstances, I tried to gain trust. This challenge also applied to my work with Haitian teachers. (Luckily, everyone was friendly!)
My practice is informed by having seen, first hand, the huge inequity of resources between Deschapelles and my school district in Connecticut. Sometimes it’s tempting to focus on the instructional materials that we don’t have, rather than on what’s available to us. Knowing that teachers in Haiti make due with so little has changed my attitude towards instructional practice. Yes, we need resources, but in the end it’s the relationship between people that creates learning.
My greatest accomplishment was making the most of the experience. With only six days in Haiti, every hour was important. We visited multiple schools, engaged in a half-day professional development with Haitian teachers, visited markets and local artists, read English books with adult learners, and much more. Even our “down time” at night involved playing cards with new Haitian friends, which helped us learn the language and get a sense of the character (warm and funny!) of the people.
This visit widened my lens of the world. I can better see my mission as a teacher in the context of educators everywhere trying to meet the needs of their students with a widely varied cache of resources. This perspective will positively impact student learning in that my point of view is broader, which translates to a more compassionate, patient, and big-picture approach to my students.
I’m thankful to have taken this trip with four colleagues, both for the experiences we shared in Haiti but also for the ease of collaboration in our school upon return. We’ve started a whole-school focus on Haiti that includes cultural learning, fundraising to support Haitian students through scholarships, and cross-curricular lessons. Having a Haiti cohort of teachers will make collaboration a natural extension of the trip.
Our school started Haiti Day last year as a celebration of our learning. I will use my new understanding of this country to contribute to this event and am excited to see the artifacts and art we purchased featured for all grades to see.
When in Haiti, you can’t help but think about ways you might positively impact life there, given the state of infrastructure, the poverty, the environmental issues, and so on. Our group targeted scholarships as one way to make a difference. It costs $200-500 per year to go to school in Haiti (depending on the grade) and many families can’t afford this. We committed sponsoring four children from K-high school. Our classes can fundraise in creative ways to meet this goal.
This trip made me appreciate what I have, both personally and as an educator. To have spent a week in a country where many can’t access the basics renewed my gratitude for the resources we have in the States. But it also re-energized my focus on helping those who live without, both in Haiti and elsewhere, and recalibrated my attention to what is truly important.
FUND FOR TEACHERS ©