034 Learning From Others
When we started designing what we now refer to as EEP, the Educator Empowerment Program, we knew the value of learning from others that we had to somehow find a way to integrate it into the EEP, if not make it the core of its design.
And so, we have. It’s there, not just in the training system itself and in the instructions we give schools on how to implement the program, but also in so many lessons we’ve included in our 100-lesson package.
Despite it being embedded in the training system and in our school implementation manual, we’ve reiterated it to school principals and coordinators, since we recognize the value of each teacher in training—that they have so much to contribute to the discussion and to the learning itself (I also believe in making learning iterative, so I often repeat and repeat this particular message wherever I go).
At Doña Rosario Elementary School, one of our recently adopted beneficiary schools, we’ve seen this in action. From the feedback we got from the teachers—via video interviews they made for their end-of-year event—we saw how they’re maximizing this particular feature of the EEP. They’re encouraging one another to participate during sessions and they’re more than willing to share their ideas—right or wrong—with their colleagues. That, to me, has a lot of value in ensuring training is effective, for sure. But it also creates a different atmosphere in the faculty, one of openness and acceptance, and one that teaches the value of collaboration among peers, which we hope leads to collaboration among their students as well.
It’s when students—in this case, teachers in training—feel that they’re safe and that it’s okay to make mistakes, that they’d have the confidence to explore new ways of thinking and subsequently find a way to better understand what is to be learned.
To me, teaching that does not include a back and forth, that healthy interaction among participants to decipher the topic at hand, is not the most effective way to impart knowledge. It’s what makes lectures nothing more than briefings. We’d want more interaction in the room. And that’s one critical attribute of EEP training.
I’m happy to see Doña Rosario take our training lessons seriously. They’ve taken on our call to make learning among teachers a habit, a habit that leads to true lifelong learning. And I’m amazed—and amused—that they call their regular weekly EEP training sessions their “Friday Habit”. What an excellent idea, I said to myself (Why didn’t I think of that?)!
Such an innovation (Good job, Principal Nancy Ebardaloza!). So simple, yet so effective in relaying to teachers that learning should be nothing less than a habit. So as much as I’m happy to be teaching their teachers a thing or two, I’m happy to learn a thing or two from them too. And I’m sure to share this innovation with our other beneficiary schools so that we’d all learn from the good people at Doña Rosario Elementary School.