Training Workshop
 Seminars in Prizren, Kosovo

September 23-25, 2006

The purpose of the Training workshops was to help young people be adaptable lifetime learners as the world situation and the demands of the marketplace change. In the two-day workshop,  various teaching methods were used to introduce educators to new teaching skills.  Instruction emphasized the importance of helping children learn through various modalities:  visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, including active learning methods. The instruction stressed taking into account the individual differences and needs of students. Participants discussed ways to make schools into stimulating and caring centers of learning by transforming classroom and school climates and encouraging teachers to develop nurturing relationships with their students.  The workshops stressed that schools can be also primary sources of teaching emotional intelligence by building competencies in communication, stress management, conflict resolution, and problem-solving, skills that students will need in their adult lives. Seminar activities also concentrated on children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. The program  discussed how to identify these problems in children and techniques to help them become successful learners and confident students.  Sessions focused on parent-teacher cooperation and how the family-school bond can be strengthened for the benefit of the student. 

Sponsored in part by TWI for the Children, Inc., Bonnie Miller returned to Kosovo for the second time in 2006 to present a two-day weekend Training Seminar to about 200 teachers and school directors from the Prizren region and 35 teachers from Albania. 

Education in today’s technological and globalized era involves not only teaching the basics and specific skills in a relevant manner, but also preparing young people to be adaptable lifetime learners as the world situation and the demands of the global marketplace change. In the two-day workshop, Mrs. Miller  used power point presentations, videos, simulations, hands-on activities, small and large group discussion, and role plays to introduce the educators to new teaching methods and skills.  

The second day’s activities concentrated on children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. The program discussed how to identify these problems in children and provided techniques to help them become successful learners and confident students.  The afternoon session focused on parent-teacher cooperation and how the family-school bond can be strengthened for the benefit of the student. 

Participant evaluations of the seminar were overwhelmingly positive.  Teachers and directors commented on the many ways they benefited from the new material and practical methods and from working together in groups to brainstorm ideas to improve the educational environment in their schools.  They took the materials (parent manual, teacher manual, teacher guidebook and video on learning and attention problems, and the power point instructional material) back to their schools to share with their colleagues and to conduct similar mini-workshops for school personnel.

On Monday, September 25, a holiday for university students, Bonnie presented a four-hour workshop on the above topics to 125 enthusiastic students at the Faculty of Education at the University of Prizren .

CLICK HERE to go to the TWI for the Children Web Albums and scroll down to the Kosovo 9/06 Workshop Album to see additional pictures from these workshops.

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Updated: 11/3/2006