Hi ho hi ho, its off to work we go
I am now officially Project Design Management Certified! Wahoo! So now that I have my PDM certificate I am able to start writing and working on grants and projects outside of my work within the classroom.
The other PCVs, counterparts, and myself have just spent the last two days learning how to design and implement feasible and sustainable community development projects. When I initially thought the so-called “Peace Corps” projects, I thought of the infrastructure building that many of our volunteers will attempt. For instance, one volunteer will be trying to build new toilets for his school due to the fact that the current ones are overused and overflowing. Another volunteer has the idea to create a solar water distiller that any home in her city can easily make, so that the number of poor water related illnesses within the community would decrease. In each of these cases there are very apparent and much needed infrastructure developments that are vitally needed within the community.
However, at my site, the city has a well-established infrastructure of services that the population uses. Instead of trying to seek out and find a vital infrastructure that HAS to be developed, I have decided to focus my efforts and projects on developing a natural resource that will serve Turkmenistan well for years to come creativity and critical thinking from the students.
Turkmenistan's education system is still based on the former Soviet model, which is primarily reading, transcribing, and dictation. While this gives students a work ethic that many teachers in the US would envy, it doesn’t exactly promote out-of-the-box thinking from the students. Instilling critical thinking and creativity in both teachers and students is the primary tenet of ever project and class that I will be doing here in Turkmenistan.
The major project that I will be working on outside of my normal site duties will be to write, publish and distribute a book on how to teach English in the classroom by using journalism. The vision of the book is to advance students critical thinking skills by attempting to instill in them a journalists' curiosity and examination of the world around them by giving them exercises and real life examples. The secondary goal of this project is to give teachers and students of English an instruction on how to develop newsletters and publications without materials (e.g. computers, printers etc.) After the book is developed and printed, I plan to do a train the trainers program that will give teachers and other PCVs an explanation of how to utilize the book in their classrooms and English centers.
The second project that I will be working on is an acting project. I have already started an acting club at the American Corner and almost on a weekly basis I am amazed at how much my students progress in becoming actors. At the beginning of the class, the students were pretty much doing what they thought was acting. They were making mushy faces and kisses when they thought they were in love, they were play hitting each other when they were supposed to be mad; while at the same time laughing their heads off. The first part of the project is simply to get materials and resources here that are designed for young actors and non-English speakers since there is a serious lack of scripts that can be utilized by my students. Once these resources are gathered, I plan on developing a traveling theater show that gives kids a chance to express their acting abilities to the community and country around them. The show has yet to be decided, but most likely the play will revolve around either youth development in a harsh world or human rights brought into question.
The final project that I will be working on is developing and implementing an Odyssey of the Mind (OM) competition here in Turkmenistan. If you have not heard of OM before please check out their website at www.odysseyofthemind.com Basically, it is a creative problem solving competition that rewards teams for the most out-of-the-box thinking rather than discouraging it. This project is designed to give students an opportunity to develop and advance their creative problem solving skills that we as Americans so often take for granted.
In addition to these projects, another male volunteer and myself in Mary are starting a young men's club. This club will be designed to give young male students a forum to discuss issues that affect them as young men. The club will be focused on issues on men's health, family and community development, leadership and life skills that they will need to become active and productive young men in their community.
Let me know what you all think
The other PCVs, counterparts, and myself have just spent the last two days learning how to design and implement feasible and sustainable community development projects. When I initially thought the so-called “Peace Corps” projects, I thought of the infrastructure building that many of our volunteers will attempt. For instance, one volunteer will be trying to build new toilets for his school due to the fact that the current ones are overused and overflowing. Another volunteer has the idea to create a solar water distiller that any home in her city can easily make, so that the number of poor water related illnesses within the community would decrease. In each of these cases there are very apparent and much needed infrastructure developments that are vitally needed within the community.
However, at my site, the city has a well-established infrastructure of services that the population uses. Instead of trying to seek out and find a vital infrastructure that HAS to be developed, I have decided to focus my efforts and projects on developing a natural resource that will serve Turkmenistan well for years to come creativity and critical thinking from the students.
Turkmenistan's education system is still based on the former Soviet model, which is primarily reading, transcribing, and dictation. While this gives students a work ethic that many teachers in the US would envy, it doesn’t exactly promote out-of-the-box thinking from the students. Instilling critical thinking and creativity in both teachers and students is the primary tenet of ever project and class that I will be doing here in Turkmenistan.
The major project that I will be working on outside of my normal site duties will be to write, publish and distribute a book on how to teach English in the classroom by using journalism. The vision of the book is to advance students critical thinking skills by attempting to instill in them a journalists' curiosity and examination of the world around them by giving them exercises and real life examples. The secondary goal of this project is to give teachers and students of English an instruction on how to develop newsletters and publications without materials (e.g. computers, printers etc.) After the book is developed and printed, I plan to do a train the trainers program that will give teachers and other PCVs an explanation of how to utilize the book in their classrooms and English centers.
The second project that I will be working on is an acting project. I have already started an acting club at the American Corner and almost on a weekly basis I am amazed at how much my students progress in becoming actors. At the beginning of the class, the students were pretty much doing what they thought was acting. They were making mushy faces and kisses when they thought they were in love, they were play hitting each other when they were supposed to be mad; while at the same time laughing their heads off. The first part of the project is simply to get materials and resources here that are designed for young actors and non-English speakers since there is a serious lack of scripts that can be utilized by my students. Once these resources are gathered, I plan on developing a traveling theater show that gives kids a chance to express their acting abilities to the community and country around them. The show has yet to be decided, but most likely the play will revolve around either youth development in a harsh world or human rights brought into question.
The final project that I will be working on is developing and implementing an Odyssey of the Mind (OM) competition here in Turkmenistan. If you have not heard of OM before please check out their website at www.odysseyofthemind.com Basically, it is a creative problem solving competition that rewards teams for the most out-of-the-box thinking rather than discouraging it. This project is designed to give students an opportunity to develop and advance their creative problem solving skills that we as Americans so often take for granted.
In addition to these projects, another male volunteer and myself in Mary are starting a young men's club. This club will be designed to give young male students a forum to discuss issues that affect them as young men. The club will be focused on issues on men's health, family and community development, leadership and life skills that they will need to become active and productive young men in their community.
Let me know what you all think
posted by Schirm 2605 | 5:53 PM
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