Educators Art Training Seminar April 2017

This past weekend 70 Hand in Hand early childhood educators and teachers participated in a special training seminar at the Umm el-Fahem Art gallery. Educators came from all over the country for a day filled with art exhibitions and creative workshops aimed at enriching their work in classrooms.

During the first half of the day, the participants met with a local artist, Farid Abu Shakra, who gave them a tour of his work and facilitated a workshop for small groups. Teachers made clay figures inspired by Abu Shakra’s cats, plaster patterns of other teachers’ palms, and drew self portraits. A highlight of the day was following lunch, when the educators danced the Dabka

Badria, a second grade teacher from Jaffa described the importance of the day “Art connects between societies and reminds us that we are all human beings. My participation in the conference strengthens me from year to year. When we listen to the experiences of other teachers who are dealing with the same issues, I see that I am not alone.”

Karen, a first grade teacher from Jerusalem elaborated “Art is an excellent tool for storytelling, through which we can give the children a chance to express themselves in a different way. Now that we, as teachers experienced this, we have the privilege to pass it on to our students.”

What an incredible and important day. Congratulations to the organizers of the conference and all the teachers who we know will bring the power of art to their classrooms!