Deepen a sister-school relationship in Deschapelles, Haiti, while researching the educational and cultural aspects of the community to create inclusive instruction that honors the wide range of human perspectives present in classrooms in both countries.
I became fascinated with Haitian history and read books, viewed videos and studied French and Haitian Creole to prepare for this trip. Going to Haiti complemented all the book-learning. One example was seeing runaway slave traps at the Museum Oiger-Fombrun. I read about slavery in Haiti, but seeing rusty iron traps made it real and heartbreaking. With my new knowledge, I have shared Haiti’s story and my photos with friends, colleagues and family, improving my presentation skills along the way.
I am awed by Haiti’s slave-initiated revolution and I will passionately share the history. For my fifth graders, I will connect Haiti’s revolution to their study of American history. I think this will help them to broaden their perspective and tap higher level thinking skills as they compare, contrast and evaluate the two histories. I plan to use my photos of Haiti to illustrate and supplement fourth grade classroom geography materials. Haiti will be integrated into other grade levels too!
In planning this trip, our team of four teachers learned to talk through differences and support each other during unpredictable international travel. I am proud of and grateful for our very close bonds. Our team also developed friendships with our Haitian translators and other teachers. This was a large group who quickly learned how to work supportively together. I am proud that I was a member of a very effective team who planned and executed a summer camp experience for 80 Haitian students.
I will share photos and information about Haiti with my students. Having new Haitian friends helped me understand more deeply what it means to live with few resources. I would like to help my students learn (age-appropriately) more about income and resource disparities, about the relationships among countries on our planet, and about the histories of their own countries of origin. I hope that my students can broaden their understanding by communicating directly with some of my Haitian friends.
Nine teachers at my school have visited Haiti and we have an annual “Haiti Day” to highlight our students’ learning about Haiti and our sister school there. I would like to work with this teacher group to center our studies around Haitian Independence Day, January 1. This will give more focus to the 5th grade students’ study, since it will make connections between the Haitian and American revolutions. I would also like to support another group of teachers to make the trip to Haiti.
Our school’s Haiti Day will be an important way to highlight student learning. We hope to make it a whole-school event, with Haitian food in the cafeteria, history lessons, art projects and more. Before, during and after our trip, we helped our West Hartford students and our Haitian summer camp students create several collaborative pieces, including two large maps (of Deschapelles and of West Hartford), a picture book, and some paintings, all of which will be incorporated into Haiti Day.
Haitian educators I spoke with told me they need chalk. American chalkboards have been converted to white boards, and many teachers have unused supplies of chalk. I would like to involve my students in a chalk collection so that we can send chalk to our friends in Haiti. This is a simple need but it would be a great way to help American children and families understand the very basic needs and challenges in Haiti while at the same time making a difference for Haitian educators and students.
In learning about Haiti and in Haiti I was reminded so many times of the resilience of human beings and their power to implement positive change. I met many children and young adults who had lost their parents or who were hungry yet still kept focused on caring for their families and getting as much education as they could. Witnessing this resilience and creativity reminds me to appreciate the life that I have, and makes me feel optimistic about our power to care for each other and our planet.
FUND FOR TEACHERS ©