Enjoying Jamaica: "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

One of the important experiences provided by the trip to Jamaica was being able to connect and collaborate with Harvard alumni over dinner in Kingston. The alumni were able to share how their own career experiences and academic skill sets enable them to pursue long-term projects — thereby igniting innumerable ideas for the future among our team members.  

Dawn, Jingjing, and our lovely Julia — a teaching fellow who joined our trip in order to document and evaluate the IEP experiential project in comparative education, provide much needed commonsense to the team, and answer questions about statistical analysis at 2am in the morning. 

The Three Musketeers and D'artagnan. Which one is D'artagnan? 

Days 4 & 5: Leaders in Education, "Get up! Stand up! Don't give up the fight!"

Meeting with Jamaica's national hero, and Harvard alumni, Hon. Edward Seager, former Prime Minister of Jamaica.  

The Hon. Edward Seaga served as Jamaica's prime minister from 1980 to 1989. Seaga's prolific career spans across numerous roles including Minister of Finance and Planning, Minister of Development and Welfare, President of Caribbean Democratic Union (CDU) and 43 consecutive years serving as a Member of Parliament.  

Seaga's most famed accomplishment is the pivotal role he played in the return of Marcus Garvey's body to Jamaica for burial. Moreover, Seaga spearheaded the transition of the country's financial institutions from foreign to Jamaican ownership, established the Jamaican Festival, designed the Cultural Training Center, and created multiple social programs focusing on education and employment. 

Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, Minister of Education. During our meeting with the Minister, we discussed our observations on activity-based learning strategies from two days of classroom visits throughout seven schools in Kingston. The Minister commented on the need for leaders in education to actively draw upon the perspectives of students, teachers and administrators in order to successfully improve the national education system.   

Dr. Franklin Johnston, advisor to the Minister, comments that while he appreciates Harvard students highlighting the bright spots in Jamaica's education system, he  would also like for us to share a critical perspective on what is not working, what needs improvement and what our recommendations would be in order to make such changes possible in Jamaica. 

Addy draws upon her previous experience of living and working in Jamaica as she presents to the Minister of education.

Monitoring & Evaluation Unit, Ministry of Education. 

Team Jamaica in the News, "Sayin', 'Ths is my message to you - ou - ou."

Team Morocco, Can You Handle the Heat?

You may not be able to hear anything, and the image quality is quite shabby, but it's still something. 

Addy and Josephine present the goals of our project.

Josephine wins nominations for best dressed and most glamorous smile.

Team Jamaica watches with intense fixation, except for Chris,  Robert and Paul who are disappointed about missing the news reporting the scores from yesterday's cricket match. 

Addy is officially famous! She'll even give you her autograph. 

Team Colombia: Part One

Team Colombia's Schedule...Who knew the Colombian work-day started at 7am!?

Arriving at the airport in Bogota, Colombia....

 Ali, Heela, and Jasmine doing a little shopping in the market...

 Kristin posing with  two of the students from Cakike. Cakike promotes and provides arts education for students in Bogata.

 Kanupriya enjoying a deep conversation with her "Mi Casa, Mi Casa" friend...

                                                  Ali and friend enjoying a snack at Cakike...

                                             Manal is all smiles with the students from Cakike...

                                                           Paula and her two new friends...

                                                       Vidur and his Cakike merchandise...

 Unaiza loving on the "baby". Cakike also promotes a loving and tolerant community by having students engage in life skills activites.

                          Having dinner with former Colombia Secretary of Education Cecilia Maria Velez.

 Paula, Anna, and the Dean of Students at Gimnasio Monseñor Manuel Maria Camargo, a private school located on the outskirts of Bogota. GMMMC is a beneficiary of the Colombia Progressa program. Colombia Progresa provides resources (i.e. textbooks, uniforms, etc.) to schools in need.

               Manal and Heela enjoying the atmosphere on our way to the rural school visits in Cajica.

                                                                  The City of Bogota...

                                           One of the many memorials in the City of Bogota...

                                                                Colombian countryside...

                                     Kanupriya and Jasmine with "Mi Casa, Mi Casa" at Cakike...

 Unaiza, Vidur, and Anna talking to students in the after school program sponsored by Colombia Progresa...

                                                             Manal and friend at Cakike...

 One of the random signs in the hostel...

                                                    Street performers in Bogota, Colombia...

                                                                      More of Bogota...

                                                              Home for Team Colombia...

                                               Pictures of the missing...in Plaza de Bolivar...

Team Colombia loves the kids...and they love us back!

Inspirational Teaching Models Using Game-based Learning, "Some people got hopes and dreams. Some people got ways and means."

Conversations on game-based learning in Junior Achievement

What skills are relevant to Jamaican students in a 21st century context? Some teachers and students expressed the need to develop financial literacy in order to make wise investments, participate in the global market and aid in Jamaica's economic growth. 

Students in Junior Achievement work in teams, learning through hands-on, experimental learning, to develop their own businesses.

Chris discusses game-based learning activities in this student's financial literacy class.

One student expressed to Josephine that her class in financial literacy was fun and engaging while her other classes were just classes.  

Even when students succeed in school, there are not always jobs available for graduates and they often must look for employment outside of Jamaica. If students have education that encourages them to be active agents in creating businesses, and collaborate in small company teams, their education becomes a tool to construct employment options for the future. 

Robert and Paul listen to students' experiences with Junior Achievement  

Shua explores what makes school engaging for students.  

Day 3 & 4: Schools, "None but ourselves can free our minds."

For two days, our team of 14 broke into pairs and visited seven schools throughout Kingston. The Ministry of Education assisted us by arranging the site visits and granting us access to classrooms and the opportunity to interview students, teachers and school administrators. We found that the seven schools all had strong principals and that our small sample may not be an accurate representation of most school in Jamaica. At each campus, we gained insight into existing pedagogical practices that utilized sports and game-based learning as means to improve student outcomes. 


Guest Blog: Christopher Kajander

        Jamaica College is an all-boys high school founded in 1789. Addy and I spent two days on the beautiful campus talking with students, teachers, and administrators. The culture is steeped in sports, competition, and excellence. When you drive up to the campus one of the first things you see is a sign reading “School of Champions,” and both the students and faculty are proud of their accomplishments: 15 Rhode Scholar recipients to date, numerous track and field championships, soccer championships, the list goes on and on.

        The most interesting conversation in my view was the one we had with the principal, Mr. Reed.  Jamaica College had been in decline for a number of years and their reputation had suffered. Mr. Reed was brought in 7 years ago and he turned the school around. This sentiment was voiced by both teachers and students.  We spoke at length about his approach to teachers, his approach to the community, his many methods of assessment, and how he builds culture. The thing I found most interesting was his use of student and parent opinions to create a comprehensive assessment of teachers, administrators and the school. He wants to know if the community feels like the school is doing a good job.  It isn’t the only assessment he uses to evaluate teachers and staff, but it helps paint the bigger picture. 

Queen's School in Kingston, Jamaica

At the Queens School, we found that the girls took pride in their sports activities and academic pursuits.  

The girls grilled us on how to get into Harvard and shared their ambitious career goals. 

Education for girls in safe spaces can be one way to promote gender equity in the broader society. 

Teachers commented that they would like to incorporate Jamaica's national athletes into the classroom to serve as role models to students. Unfortunately, this aspiration is constrained by the reality that many of the athletes are exported overseas to train and study in U.S. universities.

Teaching the value of team work, participation, communication and effort through sports.  

Colleen was not kidding when she said she wanted to learn more about Reggae as a teaching tool in Jamaican schools. This is no laughing matter. 

Shamayne, graduate student in the Education Policy and Management program at HGSE, interviews students, teachers and administrators about education in Jamaica while drawing comparisons with the U.S. education system.

Sports in education.