Uniqueness

When you neither feel superior nor inferior while meeting anyone, you are respecting your uniqueness. 

All families are different. We need to teach our students to feel good about the uniqueness of their family and to respect other families that may be different. 

All students are unique and so are their requirements. We must notice the uniqueness in each student. 

We call students to grow into their best selves and to treat others with the same degree of dignity. 

Teachers need to encourage young minds to learn to express their ideas, develop a positive self image, and develop skills in independence and self-direction. We need to teach and consistently reinforce to our students their uniqueness.  

It is important to be sensitive to the fact that differences do exist and that such differences must be respected.

We need to avoid segregating students by cultural groups and we shouldn't allow them to segregate themselves. We need to intervene immediately when a students ridicules a minority student's culture or language.

Holding high expectations for every child promotes the idea that each child's development has both universal features and features that are unique to each child and their context. High expectations for every child does not involve having the same expectation of every child. Each child will experience learning and development differently. Students have diverse culture, ability, learning styles, personalities and identities. 

Every student is special. Every student has different needs. Every child is a unique individual. Teachers can reach every child.

Teachers need to transform differentiation from buzzword to classroom reality. True differentiation involves constantly assessing students and tailoring instruction accordingly. It's a student-centered classroom, in which every teacher responds to where students are and provides choices and flexibility. 

As teachers we already know the importance of getting to know every one of our students individually. 

Howard Garner conceptualized the idea of multiple intelligences as, ""The extent to which students possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways." Indeed, there are many ways to be smart. 

Each student is unique and uniquely smart. Today's world no longer accepts one-size-fits-all. It is definitely time for a mindset change: a growth mindset.

Sin Ciencia No Hay Futuro

El covid-19 ha evidenciado que sin ciencia no hay futuro. 

La ciencia no vive de buenas intenciones, sino de personal altamente cualificado y con talento, y de instalaciones competitivas, reactivos, materiales y salarios que hay que pagar. 

Actualmente la ciencia està asfixiada; la mayorìa de las infraestructuras cientìficas en Africa estàn obsoletas. 

A los jovenes africanos con talento no les quedarà màs remedio que emigrar y otros paìses explotaràn sus hallazgos. 

La ventaja de la ciencia es que no hay que creer en ella, ni siquiera tenerla confianza ciega. La ciencia es comprobable, y se verifica de forma continua. Por eso permite avances y progreso social. 

El método cientifico ha demonstrado con creces ser el màs pràctico y el màs fiable, ya que se basa en planteamientos lògicos y procesos de evaluaciòn continuados. No es dogma de fe: se revisa continuamente y es capaz de corregirse a sì mismo y evolucionar, mejorando su capacidad predictiva. 

Cuando se realiza un descubrimiento cientìfico, habitualmente se da a conocer publicàndolo en una revista cientìfica. 

El trabajo cientifico es un trabajo de hormiguitas, en el que grano a grano se construye un hormiguero lleno de galerìas, o se mueven montañas de tierra.

La ciencia no es perfecta y nunca ha aspirado a ello. Tiene una enorme capacidad de superaciòn y una capacidad de autocrìtica quizà algo exagerada. 

Màs que nunca, ahora podemos afirmar, con mayùsculas, que sin ciencia no hay futuro. 

"La ciencia es el alma de la properidad de las naciones y la fuente de vida de todo progreso." Louis Pasteur

Sin ciencia no hay futuro. Y sin conciencia tampoco. Con-ciencia para cumplir dignamente nuestra labor, con-ciencia en como gastar los fondos pùblicos...

Gandhi dijo "Las raìces de la violencia son: la riqueza sin trabajar, el placer sin conciencia, el conocimiento sin caràcter, el comercio sin moralidad,

La medicina sin humanismo médico no merece ser ejercida. En cado acto médico debe estar presente el respeto por el paciente y los conceptos éticos y morales. Entonces la ciencia y la conciencia estaràn siempre del mismo lado, del lado de la humanidad. 

Rabelais dijo, "Ciencia sin conciencia, no es màs que la ruina del alma."

New Normal

Our daily lives have changed since the coronavirus outbreak started. We have had to change the daily routines we were used to, and this has led to a new expression that describes our new way of life. 

I was stopped at the door of the bank and the guard asked me, "Can I take your temperature?" How many of us have experienced something similar in the past few months?

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it. What will "the new normal" mean for us? Until a safe coronavirus vaccine is available, there will continue to be a risk of infection, even as people get back to work, school and a more normal life.

It is time for us to accept that this pandemic, and social isolation, are here for awhile! We are in a new normal! Please bear in mind that we may have to live in the new normal for a very long time.

We have to get used to a new normal due to this virus. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness and it is not known to be transmitted by exposure to food or food packaging. Nonetheless, an emphasis is given on increasing the frequency of hand washing and surface cleaning.

In school, we have to reduce the size of classes and we have to keep children in small groups. We have to wear a face mask all the time in school. 

Restaurants may no longer be able to seat the same number of people, due to social distancing requirements. There will be increased sanitation and cleaning everywhere. 

Droplets from sneezing, coughing or possibly even talking are considered the main way the coronavirus is transmitted, from landing either on another person or surface. Those who touch that surface may be at risk of infection if they then touch their face, especially the eyes or the mouth. 

By wearing a mask, we reduce the amount of particles we express out of our mouths. Since the virus can enter the body through the eyes, standing further apart also reduces the risk of infection. 

The situation is complex. There are many unknowns. We need to be humble, think critically, and be open-minded to different points of view. 

We need to change direction away from a new abnormal and to turn instead toward a healthier new normal.

Strengthening the health system as well as creating adaptive social protection, social solidarity and community resilience must be at the core of the new normal policy. 

The new normal is not the end phase, but rather a process for building resilience. 

This new normal is not made for humans! In difficult times, our deepest human impulse is to draw close to each other, the very thing we have been told NOT TO DO!

We have to be very compassionate and patient with ourselves lately. 

I hope that when reading this post you are beginning to see that you are not alone in the adjustment process. My wish for you is that you have found some peace in the chaos, and learned something about yourself and the world around you. 

Fun is Yours

If you want to enjoy your life, do not subscribe to other people's definition of "fun".

Fun does NOT mean drinking or partying. 

Fun can be a night in your house alone reading a book. Fun can be a deep conversation. Fun can be a walk. Fun can be creating art. Fun can be listening to music. 

Fun can be dancing in the rain. Bill Connolly said, "I hate all those weatherman, too, who tell you that rain is bad weather. There is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so get yourself a raincoat and live a little." :)

Meditation can also be Fun. Solitude is often nice, no endless conversations, just you and your thoughts. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience." 

Meditation is one of the single tools to help you stay focused. Contemplation can be Fun. Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. 

Meditation can help us understand how our emotions work. Most of the time, we are hesitant to acknowledge negative emotions. We are growing up thinking anxiety, anger, sadness are bad emotions. But naming and accepting these emotions is a foundation to problem-solving how to manage them. 

Yoga can be Fun. Yoga can be used in the classroom or at home to create a unique and fun learning experience for students. Meditation and yoga can give us a sense of calm, peace, and stress reduction, leading to improvement of our emotional well-being. 

Practicing meditation has been linked to decrease stress, greater mindfulness, and improved psychological health. 

Meditation leads to mindfulness. Mindfulness is paying attention to what is happening in the current moment, both within our thoughts and bodies and the world around us. Mindfulness helps us to turn our focus to experiences occurring in the present moment in order to create awareness and gratitude. Mindfulness can help us to notice our stresses or negative feelings early on in order to change the way we perceive them. 

Practicing mindfulness can be Fun. Practicing mindfulness regularly can ease anxiety and stress, improve self compassion. 

Inhale. Exhale. If you can do this fun exercise, you have everything you need at this moment. 

Rumi said, "There is a voice that does not use words. Listen." Breathe. Sometimes you just need to disconnect and enjoy your own company. 

Today is always the best day to listen to the birds, to notice nature's beauty, to smell the flowers. 

Find a quiet place and get into a comfortable sitting position. practice focusing on your breath, and the present moment. 

Start by centering yourself on you breath, noticing your inhales and exhales without you trying to change the natural rhythm of your breathing. Next, turn your focus to your body, beginning either from the top or the bottom. How is your head feeling today? How are you neck and shoulders? Continue moving down, lingering for several moments on each part of your body and noticing any stiffness, tension, soreness...

Once you have scanned your entire body, you can once return again to your breath, then slowly come out of your meditation. 

Mindful walking can be Fun. Walk more slowly than usual, making it a smooth and continuous movement, while being conscious of every step. This can have a huge calming effect because it forces your mind to slow down along with the rest your body. 

Hanh said, "Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects."

Meditation is a secular practice, not a religious practice. Meditation helps us to be aware of the thoughts we are thinking.To be mindful entails examining the path we are travelling and making choices that bring happiness to ourselves and those around us.

You made a mistake. That is okay! Meditation helps you see that mistake in context, while mindfulness helps you remove the stories you are telling yourself about it that are out of proportion to reality. 

We are not monks living in a monastery. We need to find the best time to practice meditation and mindfulness within the normal flow of our day. 

I use mindfulness as a way to help my students build self-regulation skills and learn to calm down when they become frustrated or angry. There are lots of informal ways to bring some of the benefits of focusing on the present in the classroom. It might become routine at the start of the day, or when class begins, to do a mindful check-in: each student takes a deep breath, and shares how they are feeling at the present moment. Indeed, it is a great way to embed a mindfulness practice in the DNA of the classroom. 

We need to explain to our students the relationship between their amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Students should know that an "amygdala hijack" is a physiological response to stress that makes it harder for them to think, learn, or remember. While it is not their fault, it is something that they can learn how to control through mindfulness practices. 

We can encourage our students to practice acts of gratitude by creating a gratitude tree. It can be a drawing or wire frame of the trunk, limbs, and branches of a tree. Each day, students write one thing they are grateful for on a paper "leaf" and attach it to the tree. The leaves can be anonymous.

Mandala coloring can be Fun. Mandala coloring pages are made up of repetitive shapes and patterns that students can take their time to color as they chose because there is no right or wrong way to complete the designs. Mandala coloring is very useful for students who prefer to process their thoughts silently. 

Mindful writing can be Fun. Whether through daily journal prompts or written reflections after discussions, the act of putting our thoughts on paper brings about a similar kind of metacognition and awareness as meditating. 

Meditation can slow down a lot of the buzzing thoughts we have in our mind, and deep breathing helps to increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, which helps release endorphins and calm our body.

Deep belly breathing, where you put one hand below your diaphragm and one on your chest, focusing on the body's sensations, also works to calm the brain and body. 

Remember Fun is yours. Fun can be knitting, coloring mandalas, exercising. Fun can be journaling, playing or listening to music. 

Fun is Yours.

Persian Poet: Sa'di

Sa'di's remarkable poetry is perpetually modern and full of benevolent wisdom on how to live. 

In the 13th Century AD, during one of the most turbulent periods in Iranian history, the poet Sa'di left his native Shiraz to study in Baghdad.

Unlike his great contemporary Rumi, the medieval Persian poet Sa'di is not much known in the West. Sa'di is no Rumi. Sa'di is a bit like the chameleon whose eyes can look in two separate directions at once: one eye is focused on this life and the other eye is cocked at the afterlife.

The "Rose Garden" appeared in 1258, when he was turning 50. That was the same year in which the Mongols under the dread Hulagu Khan overran the Islamic world, sacking Baghdad, murdering the last caliph, and bringing the 500-year-old Abbasid dynasty to an end. 

The poetic persona of Sa'di came across a friend who had lost so much weight. He asked him why was he so weak, as he was a wealthy man and could have weathered the famine much better. Then came the most memorable punchline of the poem:

"The wise man looked at me visibly hurt,

With the look of a wise man upon an ignoramus:

I am not weak because I don't have food to eat,

I am saddened because of the sufferings of the poor!"

Sa'di's poems are in reality sermons and moral discourses. He criticizes the sycophants and pleads with his patrons to practice justice, generosity, kindness and benevolence. He implores them to spare no effort in alleviating the misery of the poor and the destitute. 

Sa'di is a strong believer and proponent of the universal brotherhood of mankind and fervently propagates it. He denounces the indifference of man to the sufferings of his fellow human beings, and considers such indifferent people to be grossly inhuman.

"Human beings are like parts of a body, as they are created from the same substance. When the world causes pain to a single part, the other parts also cannot be at ease. You who are indifferent to the suffering of others, do not deserve to be called a human being."

The great Sa'di is a votary of peace and strongly advises the wisdom of pursuing peace in all spheres of life. 

He said, "Even if you have the strength of an elephant and the claws of a lion, in my opinion, peace is preferable to war."

The wise poet fearlessly advises the rulers to follow the path of justice. Sa'di detests oppressors and tyrants, and considers rebellion to tyrants as obedience to God.

Sa'di wrote, "The evil tyrant does not last long, but the curses of his victims last forever."

Sa'di attaches great importance to the subject of humility which is the root, mother, foundation and bond of all virtue.

He wrote, "A drop of rain trickled from the clouds, and on seeing the ocean, it was embarrassed by the ocean's vastness and said, "What am I in comparison to the vast ocean? Truly, I do not exist when compared to the ocean." Since it regarded itself with contempt, a pearl-oyster nurtured it within its bosom. The heavenly sphere elevated it to such a status, that it became an illustrious royal pearl. It attained greatness because it displayed humility. An honourable wise person will always be modest. A branch laden with fruits shall always touch the ground."

Sa'di impresses me with his open and friendly style and simple, though not simplistic, diction. He does not merely recount tales that support proverbs and morals. He makes the reader forget that he is being taught something. He wanted his writings to provide a "mirror for princes", practical and corrective moral and ethical guidance for his supporters.

Sa'di said that religion consists only in the service of the people. Religion does not lie only in the rosary or the prayer-rug. He did not support the recluse and the ascetic. 

Sa'di enlightenment and free thinking touched the core of Emerson's poetry and made Emerson compose a poem called "Saadi". This poem shows how Emerson is fascinated and enchanted by Sa'di and how he loves Sa'di.

Sa'di is the poet of friendship, love, self-devotion, and serenity. Emerson calls Sa'di a poet of the human race and knows the human being. Poetry is eternal, and poets are constantly living with their poems and never die. 

Indeed, the world needs more poets than politicians since the world needs peace! NOT WAR! Poetry and NOT POLITICS, Poets and NOT POLITICIANS! 

Only poets can bring about peace and friendship. 

An idiom/expression a Day Bang on About

Do you know someone who talks about something so much that it gets annoying? 

Bang on about something is used to say that someone is talking about something so much that it is annoying or irritating. 

That person on the bus was really annoying. He kept banging on about how the prices had gone up. 

Bang on about something means to talk about something for a long time, especially in a way that is boring to other people.

My parents are always banging on about how much better life was 20 years ago. 

Anti-Racist

I believe that societies should be free, fair, and informed. My ultimate goal is to help to shape a prosperous world where no one is left behind.

But is it possible in a world where systemic racism exists?

Racism is not an issue that can be solved overnight. But if we teachers recognize that there is always more to be done, that each and every one of us has a responsibility to do better, and that those first few steps start TODAY, is what really MATTERS NOW!

WE,Teachers and Educators must not waiver from our commitment to this fight, even when the noise dies down. 

Systems of oppression are built on a multiplicity of strategies, and it may take just as many to dismantle them. 

Empathy is not just a nice thing to do! It is an essential, active skill; it is foundational to embrace differences, building relationships, and communicating more effectively.

Empathy starts with putting yourself in someone else's shoes-a key step in understanding perspectives that differ from your own. Empathy is the most important back-to-school supply. 

We can find many websites with long anti-racist reading lists. Indeed the crafters of anti-racist reading lists are mostly making an earnest effort to educate people, but literature and dialogue cannot supplant restorative social policies and laws, organizational change, and structural redress. 

Anti-racism efforts are watered down by listening and learning as though it can be acquired through the awakening of people's hearts and minds, INSTEAD of through a clear-cut democratic process!

Nelson Mandela said that in the absence of concrete economic and legislative changes, consciousness raising through anti-racist reading is mere filibustering.

I believe that education is the most valuable tool to dismantle racism and create a more equitable society. 

Indeed, reading, watching movies, and listening to lectures is not enough. We need to animate workshops of active learning, growing, and reflecting that will help teachers and students to become anti-bias and anti-racist. 

Teachers need to take the opportunity to educate children and teens on social justice. We need to understand that the racism issue will be a conversation people are going to be having and learning about 100 years from now. Therefore, I think we all want to be on the right side of history and to create change.

Students need to take a course in ethnic studies or social justice because it will empower them and it will give them the knowledge, broad perspectives and skills needed to solve society's most pressing problems. 

The best teachers do not just teach. Instead, they use their pedagogy as a beacon of peace in order to create peacebuilders who will bring peace and harmony to the world.

My Peace classroom aims to inspire and equip students of all ages to take action for peace in all aspects of their lives, collectively creating a culture of peace in their schools, nationally, and globally. 

I share stories of peacemaking-past and present. I display thought-provoking permanent and temporary exhibitions that encourage actions towards peace as a way of life. 

Teaching is not about managing behavior, but it is about reaching students where they really are. As we process racial injustices, self-awareness is critical to identifying and processing our complex emotions when things are uncertain and socially turbulent. It is important to teach students to reflect on their strengths, to understand their cultural, racial, and social identities and to examine their implicit biases.

Self-management is also a very important skill that our students need to have in order to develop their resiliency, and express their agency through resisting injustices and practicing anti-racism. 

Transformation starts with small steps, short-term wins and a common goal. In the end, transformation is rarely a solo act. Teachers need to be a model for peace; a beacon of light for those who need guidance; so many students have troubled home lives. Teachers are their hope. 

Teachers, don't let people pull you into their storm! Pull them into your peace. 

Commitment recognizes commitment. Don't wait for others to commit to you. Decide to commit for them. You be the committed one to PEACE and watch how it impacts your team's commitment.

L' ARTEMISIA Paludisme/ Malaria

L'artemisia ne peut pas être utilisée en préventif chez des voyageurs qui n'ont jamais été en contact avec le paludisme, et n'ont donc pas développé d'immunité contre le parasite. 

On ne peut pas utiliser les tisanes d'Artemisia en prévention. Si on considère la molécule active que l'on connaît, l'artémisinine, elle, a une demi-vie plasmatique de quelques heures, c'est-à-dire qu'elle s'inactive dans le sang en quelques heures.

Par contre l'utilisation de la tisane d'Artemisia est une solution pour éviter les accès sévères de paludisme en réduisant le nombre de parasites dans le sang. Une tisane d'Artemisia annua aura pour effets de réduire le nombre de parasites dans le sang et donc déliminer la fièvre. 

Un voyageur prenant des tisanes d'Artemisia comme prévention ne sera pas protégé, et s'il en prend en cas de fièvre, il soignera la fièvre mais pas entièrement le paludisme. La France, par example, a interdit la vente d'Artemisia.

L'Artemisia annua est une plante originaire de Chine où elle est abondamment cultivée. Elle a été importé à Madagascar où la société Bionexx fait travailler un réseau de 15 000 petits producteurs afin de récolter environ 2 500 tonnes de feuilles d'Artemisia annua par an. 

Elle en extrait ensuite l'artémisininemisinine qu'elle revend aux laboratoires pharmaceutiques qui fabriquent des médicaments à base de cette molécule utilisés dans le traitement du paludisme. 

En Afrique pousse l'Artemisia afra qui ne contient pas d'artémisinine mais qui est aussi utilisée en infusion contre la fièvre. 

Artemisia afra ne contient pas de molécule d'artémisinine, mais aurait une activité antipaludique, au même titre qu'Artemisia annua, dont est extrait l'artémisinine servant à faire les médicaments. 

Trop de facteurs environnementaux, sociétaux, immunitaires, viraux entrent en jeu dans le contexte épidémique du Covid-19 pour pouvoir démontrer, à l'heure actuelle, le rôle de telle ou telle molécule pour expliquer le faible nombre de cas en Afrique. 

Pour organiser des essais cliniques il faut de l'argent, beaucoup d'argent. Et c'est en grande partie pour cela que la Maison de l'Artemisia n'est, jusqu'à présent, pas parvenue à réaliser des essais cliniques jugés aux standards des normes internationales. 

La crainte de l'OMS dans l'utilisation des tisanes est de créer des plasmodium résistants à l'artemisinine et de mettre en danger la stratégie des bithérapies. 

L'utilisation de l'Artemisia annua seule, en poudre ou en tisane, n'a aucune garantie d'efficacité et risque d'aggraver l'émergence de formes résistantes de la maladie. 

En 2016, 216 millions de personnes ont contracté le paludisme /malaria dans 91 pays, soit 5 millions de plus que l'année précédente.

La maladie, due à des parasites transmis à l'humain par des piqûres de moustiques, a entraîné 445 000 décès en 2016: 90% des cas sont survenus en Afrique.

Le paludisme, ça peut aller très vite! un accès non traité correctement peut en deux jours se transformer en accès grave et entraîner la mort. 

Pour le paludisme, la résistance est aussi génétique et naturelle, mais chez les sujets sensibles, il a été montré qu'une personne pouvait faire jusqu'à 100 épisodes de paludisme différents, sans être immunisée! 

L'essentiel reste de détecter les patients qui ont découvert comment devenir immuns et de les imiter. 

Hivernage rime avec paludisme du fait de la prolifération des moustiques en cette période. Aussi, ne cessera-t-on jamais de sensibiliser sur l'utilisation des moustiquaires imprégnées pour se protéger contre cet insecte. 

Toutes les deux minutes, un enfant meurt du paludisme sur le continent africain. La maladie fait partie de notre quotidien. C'est le combat de toute une vie. 

Le vaccin? On l'attend toujours. Pendant ce temps là, le parasite devient de plus en plus résistant aux traitements.

Back to School :) Back To The Future

I can't wait to hear :)

"I forgot my mask at home"

"My Mom said I don't have to wear a mask"

"He/she is less than 6 ft away from me"

"I'm not feeling very well"

Please remember, wearing a mask is the most basic step we can take to keep COVID-19 from spreading in our communities. Masks are a must if we want to protect our citizens, get our students back to school, and keep our economy open for business.

Many families with school-aged children are sick of living and hearing about: a miasma of sleeplessness, squabbling, incessant interruptions and multiple simultaneous glitching Zooms, step over a kid who is crying on the floor about algebra...

Even parents, who have broadband access and enough functional devices to do Zoom school and work at the same time, said that online schooling was a miserable experience and that they would give anything never to have to repeat. 

Indeed, despite the uncertainty created by the pandemic, parents want their children to go back to school. 

Teachers also want to have their students back to school. These are unprecendented times, but one thing is certain: teachers are always on the lookout for finding the best way to serve their students no matter the circumstances. Learning is always the goal and quality instruction is the path. To optimize learning, we must utilize evidence-based practices:

1. Bell-to-bell instruction
2. Clear lesson goals
3. Structured lessons with an introduction, body, and close
4. Opportunities to respond
5. Consistent monitoring of performance
6. Effective feedback
7. Judicious practice

It's back to school time again and this year looks nothing like we have ever seen before. If you are going back to school in-person, chances are you will still be doing some sort of remote learning in the future. I know that my instruction will be a hybrid of in-person teaching and distance learning.

I have read a lot about teachers who created a bitmoji classroom! Creating their own virtual classroom helped them feel a little bit more "at home" with distance learning. To get your Bitmoji Google Slides, download the Bitmoji Chrome extension. Then, click the Bitmoji icon on your browser bar, select the Bitmoji you want, and drag and drop it onto the slide. To get your Bitmoji in Power Point, click on the Chrome extension icon, right-click on the Bitmoji you want, and save it as an image-then you can insert that image into your PowerPoint slide.

Parents need to know that none of us have it all figured out. We are all learning every day. We are surrounding ourselves with positivity and we are always keeping an open mind and heart. 

There is always something new to know and some new ways to grow! Sometimes we need to take stock of what is happening in our classroom and change up the structure we thought was going to work. We keep the best parts and we keep tweaking the rest! Teaching is indeed built on continual growth, not final answers.

An Idiom/Expression a Day Bite The Bullet

Get your teeth into this English expression which describes doing something that's difficult but necessary. 

This is an English expression that involves bullets but is not dangerous :)

This phrase describes situations where you have to do something unpleasant but can't be avoided. When someone bites the bullet, they are forced to do, or accept that they have to do something difficult or unpleasant. 

For example: If I am going to get fit, I will have to bite the bullet and start going to the gym. 

The origin? The most well known is that before there were anesthetics and soldiers had to endure painful procedures during the war, they would bite a bullet to distract them from the pain and keep them from biting their tongue or screaming.

To bite the bullet means to face a hardship straight on, to bear something either physically or psychologically painful with bravery. 

The accused man bit the bullet as the judge handed down his sentence. 

The phrase is used to tell people to stop being weak and do what they are afraid to do.

If someone is nervous about going to the dentist but later acquires a terribly painful toothache, he/she is going to need to bite the bullet and visit the dentist. 

Another example: Come on, bite the bullet. You know you need to tell Kodjo how you feel. 

An Idiom/Expression A Day Throw Shade

An idiom is a word, group of words or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is not easily deduced form its literal meaning. 

Do you know anyone who keeps 'throwing shade'. Has anyone you know been 'throwing shade' recently? Throw shade means publicly criticize someone or express contempt for someone.

Hopefully my post didn't look like I was trying to throw shade or something.

Amina got really angry when she caught her friend throwing shade at her. 

To throw shade simply means you have said something shady to someone. To subtly issue insults or expressions of disapproval. Insults delivered when throwing shade should be subtle and not necessarily appear to be insulting at first. 

For example, if one of your friends has a new haircut you don't like you might say, "Look at your hair." This is not a direct appraisal of what you don't like about the haircut and is not even a negative comment, but it is not a positive comment, either. The idea it that it is a shady, or dishonest, comment.

Learn an Idiom/Expression a Day- A Slippery Slope

When things are destined to get worse, how can we describe it? 

Sometimes a situation or problem is just going to get worse; it might easily do downhill, which is why there is a perfect English expression to describe this. 

We describe a situation that is getting worse and will end in disaster unless it is stopped as a slippery slope. 

For example, James was on a slippery slope to getting the sack when he started missing important meeting with clients. 

You are on a slippery slope once you start lying about your age!

The company started down the slippery slope of believing that they knew better than the customer.

Slippery slope: a course or situation regarded as easily or inevitably leading to further decline or deterioration 

For example: When the mother found an empty bottle of whiskey in her teenager's bedroom, she warned him he was on a slippery slope toward a life of indigence and destitution. 

There is also the slippery slope argument. The slippery slope argument is used in discussing euthanasia and similar topics. This argument says that if we allow something relatively harmless today, we may start a trend that results in something currently unthinkable becoming accepted. For example, people worry that if voluntary euthanasia were to be made legal, it would not be long before involuntary euthanasia would start to happen. 

Sustainable Living

If we are looking to emphasize the importance of sustainable living, we should start by evaluating our own habits to see if they are areas we can improve in.

Today's students will be tomorrow's leaders in the battle against climate change, so it is vital that students understand the concept of sustainable living from an early age. 

Modeling and teaching by example have a greater effect on student's behavior than simply telling them what to do. Therefore, if we are looking to emphasize the importance of sustainable living, we must start by evaluating our own habits. And of course, there are always areas we can improve in :)

First of all, teachers and parents can read story books about climate change. Reading story books together is both a bonding parent-child activity and an excellent way to introduce the issue of climate change. There are some well-known classics which can create opportunities to discuss the importance of living sustainably, such as Where The Wild Things Are or Charlotte's Web. There are also books that address the issue more pointedly; from Michael Foreman's picture book Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish to Elizabeth Beresdord's series of children's novels The Wombles. 

Secondly, teachers can plan a field trip to the grocery store. Before we head out, we need to explain to the students the concept of eco-friendly products and we need to make sure they understand how to check whether something is locally produced and organic. Once in the store, we need to teach them how to look out for certain labels or stickers, and to look for products without unnecessary plastic packaging. 

In addition, we need to discuss and practise recycling at school. It is very important for students to understand the issues of waste and recycling. We can talk about how paper is made and why recycling can help protect the trees and forests. We need to explain to them how some materials, such as plastic, take hundreds of years to break down naturally and are harmful to wildlife and the environment. 

Another very interesting field trip would be to visit a local sustainable farm. Visiting a local sustainable farm is a great way to teach our students about where their food is coming from and why it is important to buy organic and locally grown fruits and vegetables. 

We need to allow our students to spend more time in nature. They need to learn very early about how their actions can impact nature. If they are enjoying nature trails, forests and parks, they need to carry an empty sack and make a game of collecting any rubbish they spot while they are hiking.

In our school, we have started a vegie garden. The vegetable garden is a fun way to show our students where their food comes from. In Science class, the teacher and students can start by getting together to research which vegetables grow in which seasons and deciding where they want to plant them. 

In the cafeteria menu, it is very important to implement meatless days. Implementing meat-free day is a great way to have an open conversation about the environmental impact of livestock farming and lowering our carbon footprint. Teachers and students can have some fun coming up with meat-free recipes.

Students can have a difficult time understanding that water is a limited resource or that electricity is usually generated from non-renewable natural resources. Teachers need to find some educational videos and infographics that will help them understand why conserving natural resources is a good thing. 

Furthermore, teachers can tackle an upcycling project with their students. For example, empty plastic bottles can be turned into bird feeders; a pizza box can make an excellent surface to paint on and tin cans can be turned into DIY lanterns.

Finally, we need to encourage our students to walk or to start cycling more often. Instead of taking the car everywhere they go, they should consider cycling or walking when time and weather conditions allow. They will save on fuel costs and minimize air pollution. Indeed, it is another teachable moment that will get our students thinking about how their everyday choices can impact the environment.

An astronaut said, "From a distance you can see how fragile and thin our atmosphere is. Only a thin layer covers our big planet. The atmosphere is absolutely not some kind of infinite rubbish dump. The ecosystem needs to be taken care of, and people must move to sustainable consumption."

Go Green must be our motto for sustainable living in school. It is all about spreading the message of eco-sustainability and making our Earth a better place. 

Our students love Instagram! Well, we need to encourage them to start an Instagram account about sustainable living and they can invite their friends to follow. They will inspire their friends to start composting, or use all-natural cleaning products. They may go beyond teaching their friends to more eco-friendly too.

They can start a book club on zoom dedicated to learning about sustainable living. It is a great way to socialize, at a distance, with friends and to learn more about being good to the environment. They are so many good books to read on the topic that can sustain their sustainability chats as long as they like. 

After reading good books, they can start a community garden with the local gardeners. A community garden is an excellent way to learn about sustainable farming. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is easy to stay socially distanced in a community garden by scheduling the work in shifts. 

They can also challenge their friends to sign up for community cleanups. Cotonou has come a long way in the last couples of decades, and a lot of that is due to volunteers, like Sandra Idossou, who have put in the work to make Cotonou thrive again.

We shouldn't forget to get the little ones involved in our sustainable living efforts. The young ones who learn to go car-free, or grow their own salads in a garden, are better prepared to guide our world into the future. 

One of the biggest thing we can do is to become changers of social behaviors in our communities. Research shows that teaching concepts to youth is more likely to create a lasting impact. It is never too early to teach sustainable living. In a world where mental health, obesity, and food related health issues are rife, such a simple veggie patch can have a life long impact in food choices and a healthy mind.

Every country must pass legislation prohibiting supermarkets from throwing away food based on its sell-by date. They must instead donate all food that is still edible to a charity or food bank. In addition, every country must phase out chemical pesticides like glyphosate by 2020. They will illustrate a commitment to healthy, sustainable food for all citizens. 

Remember, making the slightest change in your lifestyle can have a significant impact on the environment. Be a more vigilant citizen, the MOTHER EARTH needs preservation, not exploitation.

Sustainable living is a success on its own as it gives us the privilege to contribute our part to leaving a habitable planet for the coming generations. 

Have a great Saturday! 

Model and Empower

Rather than only displaying a growth mindset poster or quotation, teachers can empower their students to have a growth mindset by explicitly teaching specific feedback, questions, and self-talk.

Teachers can model and empower a growth mindset. Dr. Erik Youngman came up with very interesting ideas. 

FEEDBACK

• You are not successful YET, but you and I both know you will do it.
• I appreciate your effort.
• Great job taking a calculated risk.
• Your improvement and progress is amazing!
• Great curiosity, creativity, empathy, or resourcefullness!
• This will be challenging to learn, but I know you can do it.
• Reflect about the feedback to plan your next steps. 
• Awesome job embracing change, challenges, and uncertainty.

QUESTIONS

• What strategy will you try net?
• What questions should be asked or considered in this situation?
• What will you do to challenge yourself or improve?
• What growth goals can you set and monitor?
• What advice can you share to help or inspire others?
• What should you do when you make a mistake?
• What can you learn from others?
• How could you enhance efficiency, flexibility, performance, or growth?

SELF-TALK

• Mistakes are feedback that help me learn.
• I persevere as a problem solver when I am frustrated or challenged. 
• Confusion and productive struggle are part of the learning process.
• I need to courageously move out of my comfort zone. 
• I want to challenge myself and grow.
• My effort, actions, and attitude impact my success.
• I will make progress and succeed if I focus and work hard.
• I am going to make this even better.

Albert Einstein said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. We all progress through life at different speeds. Students should not feel the pressure to progress faster in school by comparing themselves to others. 

Natural talent only determines the limits of your potential. It is dedication and disciplining your life that makes you great! Remember, a genius is not born but is educated and trained. Don't settle for average. Bring your best to the moment. Then, whether it fails or succeeds, at least you know you gave all you had. 

Henry Ford said, "Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can't, you are right." Replacing "why is this happening to me" with "what is this trying to teach me" is a game changer!

Great students don't run away from challenging environments. They embrace them and use them to grow as a person. Too often students try to escape difficult or uncomfortable environments. Don't! Embrace competition! Curiously explore your courage zone, acquire new skills, embrace challenges, set new goals and passionately find purpose as you learn continuously with a growth mindset.

A Attitude and effort determine how much I learn

B I can be Brave and step out of my comfort zone

C Challenges help me grow

D I'll try a Different strategy

E Effort makes me stronger

F I can welcome Feedback

G Getting better takes time

I I can choose a growth mindset

J learning is a Journey

K I can Keep an open mind

L Learning is my goal...not perfection

M Mistakes help me improve

N New things are opportunities for me to learn

O it's Ok to not know something

P Plan B might work

Q when I ask Questions I learn

R it's okay to take Risks

S Success of others inspires me

T I can choose to Try again

U Unsuccessful attempts are all part of the process

V Valuable information can be found in every failure

W What can I learn from this?

X Xyz didn't work I'll try ABC

Y I don't know how to do this Yet!

Z any ideas can lead to amaZing things

Galileo said, "We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves."

Don't let your challenges overwhelm you. Think of them as stepping stones toward your goals! 

Samuel Beckett said, "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

Back to School

Many schools and universities have decided to bring students back to campus in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether that's actually a prudent or even ethical decision could take up a series of posts. But at this point the decision has been made, and I am going to do my best to live with it as long as it holds.

What it will mean to teach under these circumstances has been driving me crazy for weeks now. So I want to use my blog to think in public and clear out some of the concerns that are waking me up in the middle of the night.

I will be teaching in classrooms at scheduled times, albeit with some adjustments to alleviate hallway congestion during transitions. I will also need to make my classes accessible to students who may be taking it remotely for periods of time. All students must achieve course objectives.

Inside the classroom, the desks and chairs must be spaced six feet apart. Students are responsible for staying masked, cleaning their desks, and sitting according to a seating chart. Teachers need to have a face shield and stay in a limited area up front. I guess I will avoid passing out paper, including quizzes and exams, which I will move online.

Many students are very happy to be back to school. According to many students, remote learning meant: little to no interaction with classmates, little to no interaction with caring educators, no electives, extracurriculars, or athletics. 

Whether, we are face-to-face, blended, hybrid, hyflex, or fully online, we need to be thinking deeply about what our students will need from us this fall. I can imagine students sitting in a classroom, wearing a mask, separated from their friends, facing forward with their feet on the floor, perhaps behind a plexiglass divider...I think that some students are going to be nervous, scared, and feeling disconnected. The best way to combat these negative beliefs and behaviors is to use teaching strategies that engage learners. 

Blended learning is an educational approach that educators will be using a lot during this pandemic. While thinking about the implementation of blended learning, it is important to consider the different types of blended learning, how the learning is facilitated, and the developmental appropriateness for the age range we are instructing.

The elements of blended learning are composed of teacher-led examples, off-line examples, and online examples.

TEACHER-LED EXAMPLES

• small group direct instruction
• small group discussion
• providing real-time feedback on assignments, projects, writing
• Q & A session
• Lab/STEM experiment, teacher available to assist 
• modeling a practice/procedure
• small group scaffolding
• oral assessment
• individual tutoring
• differentiated/modified practices based on student need
• small group min-lessons
• mini socratic seminar
• SEL discussions
• relationships building activities
• RTI station
• formative assessment
• I do, we do, you do activity
• rubric assessment overview
• exemplar overview
• small group review activity
• present a problem/challenge

OFF-LINE EXAMPLES

• STEM activity
• paper/pencil assignment
• student-led discussion
• brainstorming activities
• cooperative learning activities (Kagan structures)
• makerspace activity
• genius hour work time (hands on)
• inquiry planning time
• independent reading
• independent writing
• paper formative assessments /exit tickets
• peer tutoring
• peer-to-peer collaboration activities
• team building activities
• student-led socratic seminar
• creating a model (hands-on)
• art/craft project
• sketchnote creation
• mind mapping
• project-based learning (brainstorming, planning, collaboration, creating)
• self-assessment
• choice board activities

ONLINE EXAMPLES

• teacher created video lecture
• Edpuzzle video lesson
• electronic formative assessments/exit tickets (google forms, GoFormative, Schoology)
• interactive quiz/review games (Kahoot, Gimkit, Quizizz)
• video creation (screencastify, flipgrid, wevideo)
• audio creation (wevideo, audio chrome extension)
• curation activity (wakelet/padlet)
• infographic creation (adobe spark/google drawings)
• student reflections using Google Apps (Docs, Slides)
• digital portfolio or notebook
• online assignments
• listening to a podcast

I consistently challenge the traditional and often ineffective delivery models to drive new processes and learning and developmental methodologies to meet student needs. 

We need to design a new choreography for schooling for a better decade. We need to implement blended learning models that integrate online learning with brick-and-mortar instruction to rethink time, space and staffing. 

The flipped classroom is a blended learning model that flips the traditional relationship between class time and homework. Students learn at home via online coursework or pre-recorded video lessons, and class time is focused on teacher-guided practice or projects. 

The flipped classroom is one of the answers to COVID-19. The blended learning principles and practices can help educators think through how to make the most of their circumstances.

Blended learning is more important than ever. We need to ensure that our students will get the best of both worlds, whether classroom teaching or remote learning, with our digital learning portfolio. 

Indeed, we are going back to school. Therefore, we have to use new tools and strategies for virtual teaching: blended learning, flipped classroom, virtual classroom. We cannot recreate a physical classroom online nor the experiences we share in it but we can create opportunities for us to create new experiences. 

Flexibility and an emphasis on relationships will be essential at the start of the new school year. It is naive to think that the return to school will be the same as any other year; a worldwide pandemic, students have been learning at home since March and teachers have been on a steep learning curve with blended and online strategies, so many new factors....

We need to take the time to share experience and progress, to address issues around adults' and children's wellbeing. We need to partner with our students to reimagine learning and reclaim our lives. 

Albert Einstein said, "The future is an unknown, but a somewhat predictable unknown. To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted." 

In August, we are going to help get you ready for the unknown. 

May you Enjoy a moment of Awe and Wonder

This morning while I was doing the dishes, I had an awe moment watching the bubbles flying in the air. 

Every day, I experience awe-moments! simple awe moments, but so important for me! I don't need to travel in order to experience awe-inspiring moments. 

I am an awe-person! And I have noticed that awe makes me feel happier, healthier, more humble, and more connected to the people around me!

One study found that when people were induced to feel awe, they were less persuaded by weak arguments. Moreover, awe may decrease materialism. 

Indeed, it is true! I am a person who is not materialistic. My experiences of awe elevate me from all the mundane concerns, which are bounded by daily experiences such as the desire for money. I am not concerned about the acquisitions of wealth and material possessions.

My awe moments allow me to transcend the ordinary; they give me the sense of being small in a grand universe, and they help me to truly be in the moment. 

It is so important to be an awe person during these uncertain times. As isolation continues, my awe moments allow me to feel less focused on my daily troubles. As cabin fever creeps in, my awe activities actually reduce my feeling of impatience. 

I am a person who can create her own awe-full experiences at home :) I have found myself chasing sunrises and sunsets; the sun rises and descends in waves of color, pastels of orange and pink and neon blue, the clouds meandering above the city projecting a kaleidoscope across the sky...

I experience every day awe-inspiring moments! 

I am in AWE of my life! I am an awe collector!

At night, I look up and see thousands, maybe millions, of pinprick stars. This awe moment makes me ponder, makes me feel overcome by an ineffable overwhelming feeling of wonder, feeling part of something much larger than ourselves, of being upended by the vastness of the night sky...

I am an awe collector. I always take the time to notice the beauty of small things in our school garden; exquisite wildflowers, delicately patterned insects, intricate lichen formations...

May you enjoy a moment of laughter

May you enjoy a moment of gratitude

May you enjoy a moment of connection

May you enjoy a moment of peace

May you enjoy a moment of love

May you enjoy a moment of reflection

May you enjoy a moment of excitement

May you enjoy a moment of presence

May you enjoy a moment of awe and wonder

I enjoy all of these moments through my awe-inspiring experiences.

Nos étudiants

Suite à la crise sanitaire, quelle école imaginer dans cette société devenue encore un peu plus numérique?

Il faut être innovant et oser avec nos élèves. Il nous faut adopter de nouvelles façons de coupler en synchrone comme en asynchrone, les cours en classe avec ceux en ligne.

Du jour au lendemain, nous nous sommes tous retrouvés confinés. On nous a demandé de basculer nos enseignements ou formations à distance pour assurer la continuité pédagogique.

Le rôle de l'enseignant ou l'enseignante reste le même à distance qu'en présentiel: il conçoit, déclenche et anime des activités qui assurent un engagement cognitif des apprenants conduisant à l'apprentissage souhaité.

La pandémie a fait ressortir les immenses inégalités des systèmes éducatifs. Avant même la pandémie, l'école n'était pas partout le facteur d'égalité des chances qu'elle est censée être.

Nous savions qu'un fossé numérique existait, mais la pandémie a révélé son ampleur. La technologie ne remplacera jamais l'enseignant, mais elle peut améliorer son efficacité.

Cette pandémie a exposé au grand jour une troisième source d'inégalité: l'éducation scolaire ne se fait pas seulement à l'école, mais aussi à la maison. Les étudiants n'ont pas tous un foyer stable, avec des parents instruits et, surtout, impliqués. 

Les étudiants n'ont pas tous chez eux une connexion internet, un ordinateur, ou un appareil à leur disposition. 

L'égalité des chances se joue là aussi.

Expliquer très tôt l'origine des inégalités aux élèves qui en souffrent peut les décourager. Le rôle de l'enseignant  est de passer de l'émotion à la raison.

Mais le travail sur l'empathie constitue le facteur protecteur le plus puissant. La disposition à se mettre à la place d'autrui tout en restant à distance, sans se confondre avec lui, c'est cela l'empathie. 

Le métier ne se résume plus à la transmission des savoirs. Le rôle de l'enseignant consiste largement à transmettre les compétences cléfs du 21 ème siècle: coopération, communication, critique constructive et empathie.

Les enseignants doivent apprendre à leurs élèves le fonctionnement des médias, de les amener à recouper les sources et à exercer leur esprit critique pour devenir des citoyens éclairés. Le rôle de l'enseignant est d'éduquer les jeunes à l'esprit critique, au décryptage des médias et des réseaux sociaux. 

Le rôle de l'enseignant est de créer un environement propice à la liberté de penser. Il faut changer le modèle traditionnel du rôle de l'enseignant, comme seul détenteur du savoir. 

Silver Lining

Humans are the most resilient people, always able to find the silver lining in every situation and turn it to a cause for communal celebration.

Stephen Hawking said," However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at." 

Always look for the silver lining! Every cloud has a silver lining.

What if instead of falling behind, the students are actually ahead?

What if they have more empathy, enjoy family connections, can be more creative and entertain themselves, love to read, love to express themselves in writing?

What if they enjoy the simple things, like their own garden and sitting near a window in the quiet? 

What if they notice the birds and the dates the different flowers emerge, and the calming renewal of a gentle rain shower?

What if this Covid-19 generation are the ones to learn to cook, organise their space, do their laundry and keep a well-run home?

What if they learn to ride a bike, play a board game, do simple crafts, learn to bake, climb a tree, play without a screen?

What if they learn to understand the value of money, what's important and how to live with less? 

What if they learn to plan shopping trips and meals at home?

What if they learn the value of eating together as a family and finding the good to share in the small delights of the everyday?

What if they learn to just be resilient, to be content?

What if they are the ones to place great value on teachers and educational professionals, librarians, public servants and the previously invisible essential support workers?

What if among these children, a great leader emerges who had the benefit of a slower pace and a simpler life to truly learn what really matters in life? 

WHAT IF THEY ARE AHEAD? 

...Always look for the silver lining.

It is not age but experiences that make us wise beyond our years. Struggles help us to grow and to learn. If we look at mishaps as opportunities to learn, we can find the silver lining. 

The pandemic has reshaped the way families interact. Fathers are spending more time with their children. The National Bureau of Economic Research in April compared the pandemic to World War II, which lead to significant changes in family dynamics and social norms. 

Since the lockdown was announced, the governments worldwide focused on agriculture. Agriculture seems to be the only sector with a silver lining right now! Despite rising economic pressure, agriculture startups have not just responded quickly to COVID-19 but found a silver lining set to accelerate innovation and future-proof business.

Albert Einstein said, "Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." 

Indeed, the pandemic is impacting almost every facet of our lives, usually for the worse. But the COVID-19 cloud does has one silver lining; we are becoming more resilient. 

Instead of Right / Wrong Questions

We need to teach our students how to improve their ways to check for understanding. 

Instead of right / wrong questions, they can try:

1. Open-ended questions; it requires students to reason beyond figuring out the answer by forming an opinion or taking a stance
2. Probe student responses; always ask 'why' even when the answer is right. Students will assume they are wrong when you do this, reassure them they are right but require an explanation
3. Rebuttal; students respond to statements, both valid and invalid, with evidence
4. Devil's advocate; push your students' thinking by forcing them to consider the other side

Why check for understanding?

Checking for understanding is the backbone of effective instruction. 

Teachers can ask students to:

• explain how they solved a problem
• describe the strategies they used to complete a task
• summarize the main ideas from a chapter in a textbook
• make predictions about what they expect to happen in a novel
• identify a new vocabulary word and explain it to their peers
• reflect on what they understand as well as what is confusing about a topic, text, or task

It is important to check for understanding. Teachers can deliver all the content they want, in any format, but if the students don't understand it and they can't recall it, then, teachers are wasting their students' time. 

Teachers need to constantly check for understanding: explain, show, reteach, ask them to explain, show again, ask a student to teach someone else that is struggling to learn the concept...

As frequently as a Chef needs to check a sauce for a taste, teachers should check for understanding.

Teachers need to use non-threatening formative assessment techniques:

• Index card Summaries/Questions: periodically, distribute index cards and ask students to write on both sides, with these instructions: Side 1, based on our study of unit topic, list a big idea that you understand and word it as a summary statement. Side 2, identify something about unit topic that you do not yet fully understand and word it as a statement or question.
• Hand Signals: ask students to display a designated hand signal to indicate their understanding of a specific concept, principal, or process; I understand= thumbs up, I do not understand=thumbs down, I am not completely sure about=wave hand
• One Minute essay: a one-minute essay question is a focused question with a specific goal that can, in fact, be answered within a minute or two
• Analogy prompt: present students with an analogy prompt: a designated concept, principle, or process is like.... because......
• Web or concept Map: any of several forms of graphical organizers which allow learners to perceive relationships between concepts through diagramming key words representing those concepts http://www.graphic.org/concept.html
• Misconception check: present students with common or predictable misconceptions about a designated concept, principle, or process. Ask them whether they agree or disagree and explain why. The misconception check can also be presented in the form of a multiple-choice or true-false quiz
• Student Conference: one on one conversation with students to check their level of understanding 

The hand signals is a great idea. Checking in non-verbally to gauge students' comfort levels allows all students to participate without being singled out or put on the spot. 

The checks for understanding are an essential part of the lesson to help the teachers and students adjust what is necessary to make the lesson and learning successful.

Clear learning objectives, step-by-step teaching, focused practice, checking for understanding, and adjusting instruction are the most important elements of effective lesson delivery. 

Checks for understanding allow teachers, and the students themselves, to better understand where their students are in the learning process.

Kahlouche signifie Noir

Au Maghreb, l'esclavage a été aboli légalement d'abord en Tunisie en 1846, puis en Algérie, colonisée par la France, partiellement en 1848, et enfin au Maroc, sous protectorat français en 1922.

Et pourtant, quand j'ai entendu pour la première fois le mot kahlouche (qui signifie noir en arabe), j'avais 7 ans. C'était dans les années 1960.

Mes parents sont Maghrébins qui ont grandis en Afrique de l'Ouest. Pour les Algériens blancs, nous, les gens de l'oasis, nous sommes considérés comme des gens de couleurs. Les mariages avec des personnes de couleurs sont encore mal vus en Algérie.

La premiére fois que j'ai entendu le mot kahloucha, je me promenais dans un quartier à Alger. Un groupe de jeunes adolescents me suivaient dans la rue et me pointaient du doigt en criant, "Kahloucha, kahloucha, Boney M...." Boney M is a Caribbean vocal group who used to sing disco-pop!

En Algérie, très peu de vedettes de la télévision, de hauts fonctionnaires ou de dirigeants politiques ont la peau foncée comme moi.

Suffit-il d'ôter le mot "race" de la Constitution pour éradiquer le racisme? Est-ce la race qui crée le racisme ou l'inverse? 

Adolescente, j'entendais toujours ce mot kahloucha quand j'étais à Alger. Des que je quittais mon oasis, j'entendais ce mot soit à l'aéroport, soit dans les rues d'Alger, soit dans certais cercles familiaux ou la dominance était de peaux blanches. 

Je me rappelle un jour, j'ai demandé à mon père pourquoi on m'appelait kahloucha et mon père me répondit, "n'écoute pas ses gens là! ils ne sont pas éduqués!".

Je suis née au Niger, j'ai vécu toute ma vie au Niger, mais on passait chaque été en Algérie pour rendre visite à nos grandparents paternelles et maternelles. 

Ce Maghreb qui tourne le dos à l'Afrique, moi, personellement, je ne l'ai jamais compris!

A l'aéroport, quand je voulais prendre l'avion pour revenir à Niamey, le policier me disait, "Ah, to pars en Afrique?", et j'ai toujours voulu répondre, "Mais nous sommes tout les deux sur le continent Africain..." mais quand on a 10 ans, on ne répond pas aux grandes personnes. On a été éduqué comme cela.

Comment le Maghreb de mes ancêtres en est-il venu à rejeter son africanité?

Qu'ils en soient natifs ou non, les Noirs au Maghreb font l'objet d'une déconsidération doublée de discrimination. 

En Algérie, le racisme n'est pas une question de valeur morale, mais d'exercise du pouvoir. Un pouvoir qui béneficie à ceux qui jouissent du privilège blanc, qui consiste à avoir des avantages dans la vie juste à cause de sa couleur et non pas par le mérite! Ceux qui en jouissent ne s'en rendent même pas compte car c'est la norme. 

J'ai entendu le mot kahloucha chaque été en Algérie! J'ai grandi avec ce racisme insidieux qui s'infiltre tel un gaz dans tout ce qui nous entoure. A la télévision, dans les livres, les personnages positifs étaient blancs. 

Il faut mener une lutte contre ces dérives du language: le mot kahloucha n'a pas sa place en Algérie. Certains Algériens oublient qu'ils sont eux-mêmes des Africains! 

Au Liban, les noirs sont appelés "abid", ce qui signifie littéralement, esclave. 

Nelson Mandéla avait déclaré, "C'est l'Algérie qui a fait de moi un homme libre," lors du premier voyage qui suivi sa libération. Il considérait l'Algérie comme son pays d'adoption. Il aimait à répéter que l'Algérie était sa seconde patrie. Nelson Mandela a été financé et formé par l'Algérie. 

Quasiment tous les mouvements indépendantiste Africains ont béneficié des aides financières et militaires de l'Algérie. 

Frantz Fanon, revolutionary and philosopher from Martinique who participated in the Algerian liberation struggle was born in 1925. Fanon is known for his work on race and colonialism.

Frantz Fanon said, "When we revolt, it's not for a particular culture, we revolt simply because for a variety of reasons, we can no longer breathe."

Effectivement, le mot kahloucha m'empêchait de respirer pendant les étés que je passait en Algérie! 

La définition fanonienne du racisme renouvelle de fond en comble notre perception de cette notion ancienne et ambiguë qui touche toutes les sociétés. 

Comment se fait-il que dans un pays, comme l'Algérie, qui a acceuilli Mandela, Fanon, Malcom X, on entend encore des mots racistes comme "kahloucha". ???

Comment peut-on lire en 2020, une campagne anti-migrants connue sous l'hashtag: "Non aux Africains en Algérie" a fait oublier aux Algériens et Algériennes qu'ils sont eux-mêmes africains! Comment se fait-il que les propos haineux de cette campagne ont été largement partagé?????

L'Algérie suit de près ce qui se passe aux Etats-Unis et le mouvement Black lives matter. Mais on est toujours rattrapé par sa propre histoire et on oublie souvent de balayer devant sa porte. Moi, j'ai entendu pendant toute mon enfance et mon adolescence le mot kahloucha. Je n'ai pas passé mes étés aux Etats-Unis; j'ai passé mes étés en Algérie: le pays de mes parents.

Lorsque le racisme est porté par l'Etat lui-même, il gagne en légitimité. C'est pour cela que le nouveau président Abdelmajid Tebboune a demandé à son Premier Ministre Djerad de préparer un projet de loi criminalisant toutes les formes de racisme, de régionalisme et du discours de la haine dans le pays. 

Miss Algérie 2019, Khadidja Benhamou, à la peau plus foncée que la plupart des autres candidates, a subi de nombreux commentaires discriminatoires depuis son élection.

Certains commentaires, qui suggéraient de mettre la Miss dans une machine à laver pour la blanchir, étaient révoltants. J'ai grandi avec le même genre de remarques: on m'a toujours dit pendant mon adolescence que le hammam me ferait du bien; après le bain au hammah, je pourais être un peu plus clair! ou bien "Souris! Il faut sourire! tu paraîtrais plus belle et moins foncé!" j'ai grandi avec ses commentaires racistes!

Il faut que l'on arrive à ce que les Algériens acceptent la différence! 

Comment l'Algérie qui a acceuilli Frantz Fanon, Nelson Mandela, Malxom X,.... en est-elle venue à rejeter son africanité?

Le racisme que j'ai vécu en Algérie est le plus souvent verbal mais les mots font plus mal que les coups. Avoir la peau mate n'est pas accepté dans Alger la Blanche. 

Les kahlouchs algériens sont perçus généralement par l'inconscient collectif comme des citoyens de seconde zone. 

Je suis née au Niger et ce qui est vraiment marrant, c'est que au Niger, on m'appelait nassara, ce qui veut dire 'blanche'. Au Niger, j'ai compris qu'il existait un racisme anti-blanc! Les Africains sont-ils des racistes anti-blancs?

Au Niger, on m'appelait nassara (blanche), en Algérie, on m'appelait kahloucha (noire), au Bénin, on m'appelle Yovo (blanche), bref, le racisme existe partout!

Dans un monde secoué par le racisme, ces mots de Muhammad Ali résonnent toujours aussi fort: "Je me suis toujours demandé pourquoi Miss America était toujours blanche. Toute ces belles femmes noires avec une belle peau bronzée, de belles formes, et pourtant...Par contre tout ce qu'il y avait de mauvais était noir. Le vilain petit canard, les chats noirs de mauvais augure, et quand on fait chanter quelqu'un, on le Blackmail."