Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Learning Support Program in Naryn

Learning Support Program in Naryn
This is the third year when Aga Khan Education Service in Kyrgyzstan closely works from 2014 to the present time with Naryn Oblast and Regional Educational Departments. We collaborate with 15 pilot schools of Naryn Oblast in Learning Support Program. Our goal is to support teachers and students in professional development and in organizing Courses in English language, in Math, and IT in order to get better quality of knowledge and skills in these subjects.
The participants of the program activities are administration of the school, teachers, and students. In this year we work with 31 teachers and 580 students from the villages of Naryn Oblast.  We promote collaboration and a team work which help them to adapt to new situations, strategies of work, and opportunities to share teachers’ ideas. There are several steps which will help us to realize our goal.
                First of all, this is a professional Development for our teachers. We organize for them methodological trainings to improve the strategy and methods of teaching, to develop and enrich critical thinking skills, computer skills, and proficiency in subject area. Certified 12 teachers have passed 72 hours of PD and enriched their knowledge and skills by participating in two years’ program activities. After the training, teachers conduct classes three times a week with the pilot groups of students. A professional Development trainer from AKS observes their lessons, provides feedback to teachers in order to improve their approaches in teaching and learning. This is a kind of opportunity that teachers can’t get in their villages or on the Regional Level. It motivates them to participate actively and to share their ideas on the Oblast’ Level. At the same time we organize annual Methodological conference on the International Level where teachers and administration of our groups and other experienced teachers and experts from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan join our group and present their ideas. This practice is to enrich knowledge and skills in the subject area and to expand the Level of Professionalism of our teachers in Learning Support Program.
In addition, we organize for teachers and students activities from which they improve their writing skills, presentations skills, research skills, and critical thinking skills. For example, there were organized presentations of the research work, essay contests, photo-essay contest, Math Olympiads, creative work presentations and poster presentations. In three years we consider the students’ progress and their transmission from one Level to another in English course or in Math/IT. We observe and monitor the teachers’ and the students’ work and can see the real results in good achievement of our students and their motivation to study well. We certify the best students who achieve the high result in their studying. One of the students from the pilot group of At-Bashi region has completed the course last year and he is studying at the UCA, Naryn. We try to organize Tours and activities in UCA and to inspire our students to study there. These activities motivate students to learn English and Math better, to demonstrate their skills and talents.

Moreover, we organize several activities where teachers have opportunity to analyze the progress, to think about the challenges and to propose a strategic plan for our program. They give us suggestions and write analytical reports.  We are opened to new and innovative ideas which will empower our Work and influence on the sustainability of the project in Naryn Oblast. 

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Photo-story contest March, 2017


According to the plan of Learning Support Program it was organized Photo-story contest in  March, 2017 for   Naryn villages’ teachers and students from 16 schools. As the result, 11 teachers and 30 students submitted their work.  This strategy provides students with an opportunity to take a photo and create their own story.  All chosen photos are fantastic. Photos generated ideas, inspired them, and participants wrote stories. Participants presented their ideas about the importance of learning in their life, the role of LSP for them, or some other things that are very important for them.  
All of the posts with photos and stories are published on site:  https://cluster.co/ which allows members to make comments, and to see and read all posted work. It was amazing to see comments of coordinators and our teachers on this site who share their ideas about the written essays. At the same time,  It was very difficult to choose the best work, because all photos and stories to them are exemplary of the excellent work. We used descriptive essay rubric and assessed all work. It helped us to understand better where the problems are and in which aspects we have to concentrate our attention at the training with teachers at the next time. We are going to provide to all participants the descriptive essay rubric with all criteria and the scores that they got. This is also a part of Professional Development  to teach teachers on essay writing. Some of the best work from teachers represented by Zhumakerimova Dinara Tokonovna from Kyzyl-Dobo school, Sharshenbek kyzy Asel, Murzakulova Anara from Beishenalieva  school, Ak-Taala,Manazarova Gulnara from Ak-Ychyk village, Osmonalieva Anargul from At-Baashi, Karibek  uulu Akmaatali school. They wrote about the Learning Support Program and the influence of it on them and on their students. In many stories students wrote that they are dreaming to study at UCA in Naryn and to get the best access to education. In this activity, teachers and students improved their writing and critical thinking skills, ability to use technology and to share their work on distance.


All of participants were very happy that there is such chance for them to be active, to write their own thoughts and ideas, to take part in the contest. This is also a new experience for us- coordinators and we had to learn a lot about organization of this activity on distance and publication of the best work. We are planning to continue such work "on distance" and "face-to-face" to improve writing skills of our participants in LSP.