TWI for the Children
Training Workshops
  Kosovo  
Bonnie Miller

October 6-8, 2007

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 will be 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 seminars also 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  concentrated on children with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. The program  will discuss how to identify these problems in children and techniques to help them become successful learners and confident students.  

Sponsored in part by TWI for the Children, Inc., Bonnie Miller  returned to Kosovo for the second time in 2007 to present a two-day weekend Training Seminar to  teachers and school directors in Kosovo. 

Summary of Workshops in Kosovo

Over one hundred teachers, pedagogues and school directors traveled from Drenas to Prizren to participate in an educational seminar by Bonnie Miller.  The topics were similar to other seminars already presented in many cities in Kosovo during the last 3½ years:  understanding the child as a whole, new methods of teaching, identifying and helping children with learning and attention problems, and teamwork with parents.  The audience was extremely enthusiastic, and the evaluations were outstanding.  The Deputy Minister of Education for Drenas introduced the seminar, and the participants’ official certificates were signed by the Kosovo Ministry of Education in addition to QPEA and TWI.  A camera crew covered the beginning of the seminar and interviewed QPEA director, Ramush Lekaj.  The shows were broadcast several times local and national television.

At the University of Pristina’s Gjilan branch, 81 eager education students, ranging from incoming freshmen to experienced seniors, participated along with their professors in a four-hour workshop.  Topics were similar to those above, with a focus on active learning and innovative ways of helping students attain knowledge and skills.

All seminar participants received Bonnie Miller’s book, Communicating with Children, and guidebook on Learning Disabilities and Attention Deficit Disorder, I Can Learn.  In a few weeks, they will receive the newly published updated version of Connecting with Children in the Classroom, underwritten by a grant from USAID.

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Updated: 10/17/2007