Upgrade Teacher Blogger

My Initiatives are for the Refugee Children in Lebanon and Globally
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The e-Space, the Personal Learning Space and the Collaborative, Co-operative and Group Learning Spaces in challenging environments:

•The e-Space and the Personal Learning Space are meaningful and effective learning environments that are universal. They are not limited to the English script or keyboard. The Arabic keyboard and script can be used for the Syrian refugees in Lebanon for example. Teachers can bring about social change and hope for refugees worldwide by empowering students through these tools in their native tongue. Up to date knowledge and education can be provided via the e-Space. Google translator is a very handy tool to use when you need something translated for example from English to Arabic or visa versa.

•The Personal Learning Space is personal to each individual and vital for everyone to develop and even more so for students of trauma. Students can be guided to recognize their own self-efficacy, self-reflection and self-direction to help them move forward with a positive mindset of self worth in order to meet the challenges ahead. This can be achieved when given the right encouragement and support by the adults around them. 

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The Syrian Refugees:

•“In 2016, the United Nations identified 13.5 million Syrian refugees requiring humanitarian assistance” (Wikipedia, 2017). That is more than half of the total Syrian population of 22 million (Wikipedia, 2017). The displaced people are mostly Sunni Muslim and some are Christian Syrian refugees around the world and inside Syria. More  than half of them are children, since the civil war broke out in 2011 (Wikipedia, 2017). Some of them have lost their parents and are hoping one day to be reunited with them if their parents are still alive somewhere.

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There are 1.2 million Syrian Refugees in Lebanon and 4.3 million Lebanese living in Lebanon (Wikipedia, 2017):

•The refugees in Lebanon are everywhere. The majority are in crowded camps. Some of the children attend local schools around the camp with the Lebanese nationals. These schools are also over crowded and the resources are stretched to the limit. Other young children and students attend the schools inside the camp. Yet others choose not to attend school as they are waiting to go back to Syria when the war ends. The teenage boys play computer games, at computer cafes, all day to pass the time.  Others roam or play around the camp. Children like Sitra, go to school because "there is nothing better to do anyway"(Sitra, ) in the camp and the boys tell her that "computers are only for boys" (Sitra, ).

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Our role as educators in the e-Space:

•As educators, we can provide Syrian students with educational games via cyber space to "pass the time." Games that teach them skills such as coding; Kodable, Scratch, ScratchJr, Scratch, Cargo-bot etc. are free apps on Google. These games and others like them provide students with multiple skills; such as geometry, mathematics, science, storyboards, music, reading and writing skills. They can do most of these activities on iPads, iPhones, laptops or computers. Students can work in collaboration, co-operation and or group work with their peers to solve problems or create their own games. They can form clubs and interact with clubs globally. They can enter global competitions.

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Some of the benefits to learning new e-Space skills would be to:

•stop them from going "brain dead" by forgetting what they already know from their previous schooling.

•also give them something more useful to focus on that would benefit them in the future.

•build skills that they could use to benefit the society they are living in or for when they return to their homeland or if they move on to another host country.

•allow them to Google search whatever they want to know.

•help them keep up with the trends in computer science and programming

as well as how to use the e-Space safely and wisely.

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The Personal Learning Space and the e-Space:

•Their Personal Learning Space skills would also be utilized as their interest, motivation and engagement in the e-Space would be "enmeshed and intertwined like knots in a rope" (Staples, 2017) as they collaborate to solve problems in groups of four or five around a device ie. a computer, laptop , iPhone or iPad.

•The younger children could start off doing the unplugged activities. Teachers can get them to pretend they are robots and get them to follow instructions similar to computer coding from the computer science program. Such as:

•Move forward three steps. Turn left. Move forward three steps. Turn left. Move forward three steps. Turn left. Move forward three steps This would make a square.

•Another example is to make a Lebanese zatar roll by following/giving precise instructions like a computer to understand how computers work. The older children can work with the younger children. The older ones are the helpers and the robots following the younger ones instructions.

•They can do Network number sorting in groups of six. They can use a timer to find out the fastest group and they can sort any six numbers, even three digit ones.

•The next step would then be to move onto the robotics such as  BeeBot as a whole class or in small groups. They can then  progress from there to Kodable, Lightbot Hour and then to ScratchJr and so on.

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Social Media, the Personal Learning Space and the e-Space.

•Social media is also another avenue children and teenagers and adults are stimulated and captivated by. There is also material for those who want to gain more  knowledge in any subject area including religious studies.

•The activities and level of interest and stimulation for children, teenagers and adults in the e-Space is endless once people are e-Space literate.

•They can "use what they know to find out what they don't know." All they have to do is Google it once they have access to the e-Space tools and software.

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My initiatives for the Refugee: To Generate Funds for the e-Space and to Re-use Global Pre-loved Hardware and Software.

•A global fund can be set up via e-Space by students for refugee students. This can be done in schools through the Teachers' Without  Boarders (TWB), to raise awareness and money to purchase e-Space supplies such as: iPads, computers, laptops and software for Syrian refugee children. It can be called "Save the Syrian Refugee Children e-Space Drive." This can be replicated for other refugees not just Syrian.

•The funds raised could be sent directly to school principals to purchase these items.

•Students could use the hardware and software during  and or after school. 

•They can create an e-Space library where girls would also have access to computers via this system. so they can learn computer science and programming too. 

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Re-use/ Recycle/Reduce Global Pre-loved Hardware and Software.

Containers can be purchased or donated by the container company to collect pre-loved Hardware and Software. They can be set up on the school grounds for one week which can be filled up by the school community and the community at large. Advertising for this drive would be in local newspapers and the schools newsletter/ website. The drive can be called “Save the Syrian Refugee Children e-Space Drive- recycle your devices and software."

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Resources and games to build safe skills in children for parents and teachers.

•CommonSense Media has:

parent concerns and resources.

app, book and movie recommendations

family media contract

k-12 scope and sequence, high-quality lesson plans and videos to use in the classroom.

Also, they have cool games–for all ages! 

Digital Passport (elementary), Digital Compass (middle school) and Digital Bytes (high school)

•Google’s Be Internet Awesome: build digital literacy skills in the game, Interland.  

•Family Online Safety Institute: Here’s a checklist to Clean Up Your Digital Footprint.

•Eduro Learning’s ebook, Parenting in the Digital Age: with free resources! (Roth, E. 2017).

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