QRAE Ambassadors Lead Fruitful Discussions at Newthink Festival

AMMAN, Jordan - Sept. 22, 2014 - PRLog -- The Association of Queen Rania Al Abdullah Award for Excellence in Education’s (QRAE) participation at the Newthink Festival as a content partner at the “Education Neighbourhood” was met with great public interaction, with festival audiences showing interest in the topics discussed by the distinguished educators who were representing the Association as ambassadors of excellence.

QRAE’s participation in the festival gave the distinguished educators who have previously won excellence awards the chance to develop themselves, and spread their success stories and the culture of excellence among the wider Jordanian community.

The educators presented success stories underlining the importance of partnering with the local community. They also discussed issues related to the role of morals in nurturing future generations, and highlighted the importance of vocational education, citing the experiences of several students who chose this line of education and have now reached prestigious positions in society.

In a segment titled “She gave me the confidence to discover my potential”, the distinguished educators spoke about how they worked to improve students’ behaviour, within their role as leaders of change inside and outside the school. The teachers and principals also gave examples of programmes and initiatives implemented in partnership with their local communities that produced income-generating projects for a number of families.

From an educational perspective, the educators also participated in various segments, along with representatives of several institutions, sharing success stories on how teachers can diversify their teaching methods to transform the classroom into an interactive platform making the learning experience an enjoyable one for the students.

Distinguished teacher Khetam Saleh, who works at a school in the northern region, was among the participants, and spoke about partnership with the community and how it raised the bar of excellence at her school.

“I spearheaded several projects at my school, such as ‘My Beautiful Environment’, which is aimed at improving the teaching environment for students and is one of the distinguished educators’ activities as ambassadors of the Award. The,” she said.

“At our school, we focus on four pillars — health, cleanliness, order and beauty,” the teacher added, noting that her presentation at the “Education Neighbourhood” received good feedback and inspired in-depth discussions.

“A video showing our school before and after I won the Award was screened at the festival, followed by a Q&A session with parents and students,” she said, stressing the important mission of educators. “We are committed to reforming students’ behaviour at our school, because we have a mission to raise responsible future generations and improve the educational process.”

Teacher Zeina Abdullat, of the central region, shared many success stories that built her self-confidence and that of her students.

“Diversifying curricular activities is the key to benefiting students,” she said, stressing on the need to take into account individual differences..

Her presentation received good feedback from teachers and students in the audience.

Former principal of Ibn Rushd Secondary School for Vocational Education at Bani Kinanah Directorate, Mr. Omar Adili, also participated.

“I outlined the most important means to enhance and promote vocational training, which—at my school—increased the number of accepted students from 47% to 120% within three years,” Mr. Adili said.

The distinguished educators also answered audience questions and gave more details about their experiences and shared their advice on various educational matters, while the audience commended the teachers and principals for their achievements and initiatives.

The discussions were spontaneous and lively, especially when several teachers met some of their students in a pleasant coincidence. The students thanked and praised their teachers before the audience.

Journalist Muhannad Nawafleh moderated the discussions, in which educators such as Dr. Suhailah Banat participated. A group of distinguished educators and their students also took part, in addition to representatives of the Madrasati Initiative, Queen Rania Teachers Academy, and other institutions such as Toastmasters and Maysalward, led by its CEO Nour Khreis.