Training Seminars
 Kosovo

March 16 – 19, 2007

The purpose of this page is to provide a record of the  Training Seminars to be held in Kosovo during the period March 16 - 19, 2007.  The Seminars are taught by Mrs. Bonnie Miller and sponsored by TWI for the Children, Inc.

Date

Activity

March 16, 20067

(Friday)

Arrival in Kosovo            

March 17, 2007

(Saturday)

• Seminar at Peja, Kosovo for teachers  Albanian, Bosniac, Serb and Albanians from Montenegro.

On March 17, Bonnie Miller held a full-day training seminar for 141 teachers and directors in Peja, Kosovo.  Besides the Kosovar Albanian educators from Peja district, thirty teachers (Albanian-speaking and Bosnians) drove four hours from Montenegro (Rozhaje, Plave, Guci), and another group of Bosnian speakers from Kosovo also attended the seminar.  As in the past, the main topics discussed were:  new methods of teaching, active learning, symptoms of Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder and their impact on the child’s education and life outside of school, and how teachers can help children with learning and attention problems.  This seminar received positive publicity in “Zeri”, one of the major newspapers of Kosovo.

The morning session  presented material on accommodating children with different needs and learning styles and using active learning methods to make education interesting and relevant to children’s present and future lives.  Ways of designing classroom climates and school environments that foster children’s self-esteem, creativity, adaptability, and motivation were also presented and were topics of discussion. The section on "Emotional Intelligence"  discussed how teachers can help children acquire crucial “people skills” such as: self-awareness, self-confidence, resiliency, coping with stress and emotions, communication, empathy, social skills, responsibility, and conflict resolution.

The afternoon session  focused on learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder.  Symptoms of these syndromes and their effects on academic, family and social lives of children were discussed.  Hands-on activities to simulate learning problems, videos demonstrating symptoms and teaching methods, and power point presentations were used to enhance the written materials provided  participants.  

In addition, all participants will receive the following materials, especially translated  for these seminars:

·   “Connecting with Children in the Classroom:  Manual for Teachers”  

• “Communicating with Children: Manual for Parents”
  
• “I Can Learn” – DVD on learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder  -- one per school
  
• “I Can Learn” – accompanying guidebook for teachers

At the end of the seminar, teachers were given time to discuss their plans to enhance their teaching methods and relations with their students in accordance with what they  learned at the seminar.  In addition, they will be asked to write down ways that they would share the material and knowledge from the seminar with their school colleagues.  

March 18, 2007

(Sunday)

• Day Free                                

Monday 

On March 19, Bonnie presented a four-hour seminar for ninety third year students in Education and seven of their professors at the University of Pristina .  The students participated enthusiastically in the interactive seminar, which included the  topics discussed in the March 17th Seminar.