• Teacher training courses on active learning methods: (1992 & 1993)
• Building the basic infrastructure of the center, developing its math and science Sections, and founding our science journal Teaching Science: (1992)
• Implementing Teaching Palestine: (1995)
• Testing booklets on democracy in the classroom with assistance from volunteer teachers: (1996)
• Implementing a project entitled Improving the Quality of Learning in Jerusalem Schools: (1996)
• Implementing Introducing the Local Environment into Palestinian Education: (1996-97)
• Implementing Removing the Classroom: (1996-97)
• Producing a month-long science fair in Ramallah in cooperation with the Israel National Museum of Science: (1998)
• Implementing Storytelling in Palestinian Education: (1998)
• Human Rights and Democracy in Palestine Education: (1998/1999)
• Building Innovative capacity and leadership: (1999/2000)
• Building Educational Change Units: (2001/2002)
• Daily Human Rights 2nd Training Course: (2003)
• Participant teachers and their schools
• Methods of Teaching Arabic Handwriting: (2004)
• Participant teachers and their schools

Local teachers introduced to student-centered learning methods in all curricular areas; our science and math sections publish the following booklets in Arabic: Worksheets in Mathematics for the Seventh Grade and Solid Waste Products: Activities for Students

Almawrid’s teaching resources, including library and videotape collection, expanded; math and science teaching materials produced; in 1996, thanks to their continuing financial support, our quarterly Arabic science journal, Teaching Science, begins publication.

Teachers trained and the following booklets produced: three English language texts, Stories of Bethlehem: A Narrative Approach to English-Language Learning, Video for English Language Teaching, and Role Play in English Language Teaching; and two Arabic texts, Teaching through Field Trips and Learn About Palestine. Recently we published a general report in English on the Teaching Palestine project, including interviews with leading Palestinian educationalists, under the title, Palestine and Education (1997).

Workshops on teaching democracy conducted and 9 Arabic booklets tested in the classroom: The Legislative Process, Pluralism and Tolerance, Accountability, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Expression, the Principle of Elections, the Rule of Law, the Separation of Powers, and Citizenship.

a series of teacher training workshops conducted for Jerusalem teachers in all curricular areas.

Two workshops conducted and two booklets produced: an English language text, Highlights of Hebron: Introducing the Local Environment into English Language Teaching, and an Arabic science text, Case Study and Role-Play: Teaching Science through the Local Environment.

Teaching materials and two Social Studies booklets produced in Arabic: Removing the Classroom in Bethlehem (An Educational Guide) and Removing the Classroom in Hebron (An Educational Guide).

Interactive science exhibits set up at a local exhibition hall for local teachers and students to learn about and explore subjects such as light, electricity, and heat.

Training workshops conducted and Palestinian stories collected for a storytelling textbook to enrich the social studies, English, and Arabic curricula.

The project that applied the problem-solving method to teaching about human rights and democracy. The project had students investigate social problems of relevance to their own lives, create scenarios about them, and pursue practical solutions to them through available democratic channels. In this way they learned concretely about democracy and human rights in their own society, and, in those crucial early days of nation-building, gained a badly needed sense that they have a constructive role to play in shaping their own society.

This project focused on building capacities for educational change in Palestinian schools, through inviting head schools and teachers to think deeply in and to design educational change programs for their schools. Training head schools and teachers on how to design and how to implement educational change programs is part of the project activities. In addition to support five schools in both finance and experience to be able to implement their educational change programs in their schools. Educational programs are emphasized integrating human rights, democracy, environment, and cultural heritage and gender equality in schools activities.

This project was the first phase of a long term strategic plan, for the sake of educational change in the Palestinian Region, in particular it focused on building educational change units (teams) after intensive training programs, then a networking and a connection with our Center in Ramallah has been established. The general aim of this project is drawing from our basic mission at Almawrid Center that is, to encourage decentralization act and decision making, encourage building collaborative environment at Palestinian schools, encourage integrating democracy, human rights, environment and cultural heritage in Palestinian education, promote the educational change in Palestinian schools, encourage building innovative capacity and school leadership, and to create a solid ground for professional self-development in education at both levels: administration and pedagogy. The main aim of this project is to empower teachers and principals, in order to enable them to establish their educational change units.

During 2003, Almawrid started to carry out its project “Daily Human Rights”, doing a seminar, and the first local training course. In 2004, Almawrid continued performing the activities of the project, and conducted the second training course. The course duration was 40 hours, and started on June 17th, 2004, continued for 5 weeks on a Thursday-Friday basis (a four hour meeting on both Thursday and Friday), where 6 teachers are from outside Ramallah and had to sleep a night in a hotel, and ended on July 16th, 2004.

• Jalal Mheisen:        The Catholic School, Ramallah.
• Hasan Ibrahim:        St. George School, Ramallah.
• Sabah Imara:         Al-Am’ari UNRWA School, Ramallah
• Randa Nazzal:         Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope, Ramallah
• Karam El-Obwa:        The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School, Ramallah
• Su’ad Derbashi:        Al-Fawwar UNRWA School, Al-Fawwar, Hebron
• Hanan Arqoub:         Al-Jalazon UNRWA School, Ramallah
• Ahmad Bashir:         Beit Ommar Boys Secondary School, Beit Ommar, Hebron
• Arwa Sa’id:        Child’s Club, Beit Ommar, Hebron

Since many students face difficulties and weaknesses in writing, Almawrid organized a course dedicated to Arabic Language teachers. The course aimed at improving the teachers skills in writing, and increasing their abilities to teach Arabic handwriting to their students to empower them.

“Methods of Teaching Arabic Handwriting” course started activities on the 7th of June, 2004, and continued until the 14th of July, 2004. There were two meetings a week, the first on Monday and the second on Wednesday (3 hours meeting: from 2:30 to 5:30).

The trainer used various methods in his work; explaining theoretical material through the overhead projector and transparencies, practical implementation for the needed skills, and merging between theory and application through creating competence among participants.

Within the course, participants discovered their weakness in handwriting, and so could know the right way to overcome their weakness. Their handwriting improved significantly, and they became more interested in the Arabic handwriting. Also, the teachers recognized how large the problem is of handwriting in Palestinian schools. At the end of the course, participants produced many posters with their writing and organized a small exhibition to present their work.

Then, Dr. Ghazi Abu-Sharkh, Director of the Directorate General for Training and Supervision, distributed certificates on the participants.

Participant teachers and their schools:

1. Fadl Yasin Hamad: Al-Tireh Secondary School
2. Khawla Mohammad Al-Taweel: Al-Bireh Girls Secondary School
3. Sivana Dawod: Deir-Alsoudan Girls School
4. Hamed Hsein: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
5. Mahmoud Ziad: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
6. No’man Khalil Mostafa: Kharabtha Al-Mesbah Girls School
7. Jebril MAhmoud Salameh: Al-Tireh Girls School
8. Hosni Fathi E’meireh: Ne’lin Secondary Girls School
9. Tamam Tayseer Thabet: Qebia Secondary Girls School
10. Ghada Mohammad Ahmad: Qasem Al-Rimawi Girls School
11. A’ysheh Yousef Sayes: kofr Ne’meh Girls School
12. Wafa’ Hamad Badawy Afaneh: Abu-Bakr Al-Seddiq Boys School
13. Layla Mohammad Mahmoud Bashir: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
14. Suha Abd El-Hameed Taha: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
15. Haneyyeh Ilyas Mohammad Nazzal: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
16. Nuha Mohammad Hamad Ghaban: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
17. Iman Hasan Yasin: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
18. Nesreen Dweikat: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
19. Kefah Sharbaty: Kofar Ne’meh Girls school
20. Mo’tasem Hassan Mohammad Atrash: Jelejlia School
21. Fa’eda Afaneh: Selwad Secondary Girls School
22. Yehya Mahmoud Ajrab: Almedia Primary School
23. Anwar Ali Deeb Hamad: Al-Tireh School
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    Teaching English to Young Learners: (2004)

    Within its many activities, Almawrid has convened a three hour workshop entitled “Teaching English to Young learners” on June 20, 2004, with the Canadian expert Sky McLaughlin.

    The workshop aimed generally at; identifying particular needs of young learners to teachers, identifying strategies for teachers to help in overcoming challenges that encounter them in the class with young learners, introducing skills that can help teachers to meet creative needs of young learners and finally introducing skills and methods that can supplement the English language course book for grades 1-4.

    Specifically, the workshop aimed at using songs, story telling and body movement activities in the classroom.

    Nineteen teachers participated in this workshop, 13 from public schools, and the other 6 belong to UNRWA schools.

    The Evaluation showed that teachers were pleased to participate in such a workshop, because they had the chance to share experiences and learn from others. Also, they possessed a number of additional resources to use in their classes. But, they complained from the short time of the workshop, and wished if it is longer, or if such workshops can be held in the future.

    Participant teachers and their schools:

    1. Abd Al-Naser Fadl Al-Sheikh Qasem: Ramallah Boys School
    2. Mousa Ali Ibrahim Batta: Aqabet Jabr School
    3. Jinan Mahmoud Al-Shalabi: Al-Jalazon Girls School
    4. Yousef Ali Roumieh: Al-Am’ari Boys School
    5. Mariam Mousa Salameh: Beitunia Girls School
    6. Ibtisam Ismail Kayed: Beitunia Girls School
    7. Randa Al-Salhi: Hawari Bo Median
    8. Jamil Ishtayeh: Ministry of Education and Higher Education
    9. Othman Diab Amer: Ministry of Education and Higher Education
    10. Abeer Mahfouth Safi: Birzeit Girls School
    11. Ra’eda Zeidan: Ein-Yabroud girls School
    12. Abd El-Motaleb Hamadneh: Al-Mazr’a Al-Sharqieh Boys School
    13. Iman Abu-Awwad: Kobar School
    14. Amneh Mahmoud Safi: Deir-Ammar Girls School
    15. Mariam Karakreh: Al-Isra’
    16. Ikhlas Tahboub: Beit-Oor School
    17. Nahil Hamed: Abu-Bakr Al-Seddiq Boys School
    18. Nariman Al-Sharawneh: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education
    19. Dergham Jamal Khalil: UNRWA

    The Committee of the Town Hall Meetings: (2004)

    A committee formed by the cooperation of various institutions in Palestine at the beginning of 2004. It was established with the hope to achieve different aims, summarized as follows:

    • Development of social leaders, and activating the role of citizens in public political life.
    • Activating the role of non-governmental institutions, and developing relations between them on the one hand. On the other hand, developing their relations with formal institutions.
    • Establishing a cooperative relationship between the organizations that form the committee of opened meetings.
    • Encouraging voluntary and public work in the Palestinian society.
    • Strengthening relations between the citizen and the decision maker.
    • Enhancing principles of accountability and transparency, and the role of citizens. The committee constitutes of the following institutions, besides Almawrid:
    • Civic forum institution.
    • Youth development institution.
    • Birzeit University.
    • Ramallah center for Human Rights studies
    • Red Crescent
    • Beit-Rima Cultural center.
    • Al-Quds University.
    • Agricultural relief
    • Social work
    • Woman affairs staff
    • Bethlehem University
    • Association of Cooperation
    • The media institution for developmental and healthy policies.
    • Teaching Democracy: A Case Based Approach

    In cooperation with the Master Program in democracy and Human Rights at Birzeit University, Almawrid had conducted a course in “Teaching Democracy: a case based approach”. The course was held at Almawrid in the period between June 12-16, 2004 with a total of 20 hours, allocated on five successive days.

    The course aimed at introducing methods of teaching through problem-solving approach, which enables teachers to acquire knowledge as a method to solve problems rising from students’ lives. Also the course aimed at enabling teachers to identify principles and ideas of democracy, and the most essential components of the political system, and at acquiring social culture suitable for democracy, so to be provided with knowledge, skills, values and trends needed for participation in democratic social life. Finally, the course aimed at demonstrating the comprehensiveness of democracy education, and showing that it is not limited to certain subjects, on the contrary it can be taught through various subjects; Arabic Language, social sciences, science and others.

    Nineteen teachers from different schools in Ramallah district participated in the course. Participants belonged to different educational sectors; UNRWA, private and public sectors. They confirmed that they benefited from the knowledge, skills and information they gained from the training course, and expressed their satisfaction about the content and method of the course. Participants also demanded to continue working with Almawrid during the coming year so as to implement the cases they have learned in the course with their students. Almawrid complied with their request, and decided to invite them to a meeting at the beginning of September.

1. Isabel Masis:        St. Joseph School
2. Mnawwar Shaltaf :        St. Joseph School
3. Ghada Hadiah:        Palestine American School
4. Bolus Qara’a:        Bridge Academy
5. Ghadir Abed:        Al-Majda Waseela Girls School
6. Nuha Abu-Ghazaleh:        The Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope
7. Samar Said:         Friends Boys School
8. Hasib Khdeir:         Friends Boys School
9. Ra’eda Ibrahim:         The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
10. Rana Ebeid:         The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
11. Nayef E’weidat:        The Catholic School of our Lady Annunciation
12. Taysir Fkheideh:        The Catholic School of our Lady Annunciation
13. Jalal Mheisen:         The Catholic School of our Lady Annunciation
14. Hanan Arqoub:        Al-Jalazon Girls School
15. Thabet Hamed:        The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
16. Najeh Abu-Shamsieh:        The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
17. Ilyas Rantisi:         St. Joseph School
18. Nataly Salameh:         The Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
19. Ghadir Awwad:         Friends Boys School