With just weeks until school starts and our new program season is underway, I’m reflecting on some of the highlights of the summer.  The one that stands out most is my trip to Ghana, a country I first visited 30 years ago on a US Fulbright-Hays Scholarship.  Then, I was a relatively new teacher traveling with Louisiana-based veteran educators as part of a Cultural Exchange Program through which we visited schools and a university teacher prep program, and met with and exchanged ideas with Ghanaian teachers.  Three decades later – having now been a teacher, an education consultant, a school leader, and a nonprofit executive director – I traveled to Ghana again to meet, be inspired by, and learn with and from educators from across the country and beyond. I was joined by BDL Board member, gifted teacher, and former Debate Coach Mary Dibinga. Mary and I were selected to co-present at the ASCD Ghana Educators’ Summit, “Re-imagining Education for the ​Future we Seek: AFRICA & THE WORLD IN DIALOGUE.” ASCD Ghana is the first African affiliate of the global education organization formerly known as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, which is dedicated to empowering educators to advance and elevate learning to meet the needs of all students—equitably and wholly.  

ASCD Ghana’s inaugural summit, held at the International Community School in the capital of Accra, brought together educators – classroom teachers, instructional leaders, principals, regional directors, and superintendents – to learn with and from each other about new instructional strategies, grow as individuals, and thrive as professionals. Boasting attendance of nearly 700 public and private school and university-level educators mostly from Ghana but also other parts of the world, the Summit featured nearly 100 Keynote, Plenary, Bright Idea, and Deep Dive sessions led by practitioners and researchers from seven countries.  Sessions were focused around five learning strands: Student & Educator Wellness; Students as Powerful Learners & Leaders; Technology in Education; Leadership for the Future; and Education for the World of Work.  The Summit planners (and hearty congrats to one of them, the visionary Boston-based Dr. Jill Harrison-Berg) were intentional in their design of the professional learning experience, mindful of everything including the diverse cultural, linguistic, racial, historical, and political perspectives that we were collectively bringing into the conference. Presenters from around the globe joined pre-summit webinars to learn about Ghana’s rich history, the education system, and the legacy of colonialism and its impact on that system. 

Mary and I led a Deep Dive session, framed by the question: How do we create student-centered learning communities that increase engagement, cultivate and amplify student voice, and prepare students for the world beyond the classroom?  We introduced the BDL’s Debate-Inspired (DI) Classrooms™ instructional approach, and explained the skills we teach (building, evaluating, questioning, and responding to arguments) and how to integrate them into content-specific instruction. We provided attendees an opportunity to practice DI Classrooms™ activities as learners and then consider the implications for their teaching practice.  

Our session was amazing, exceeding my expectations.  Just as we observe in classrooms full of students and professional development sessions for teachers here in Boston, participants were actively engaged in spirited debate.  When our timers went off at the end of each activity, there were objections and uproarious laughter as those speaking wanted to make just one more point.  As we debriefed the experience, educators in the room shared ideas on how they might foster academic discourse and integrate debate-inspired activities within their classrooms and curriculum.  They saw firsthand how the DI approach can shift classrooms from being teacher- to learner-centered vibrant, buzzing, and joyful communities in which students and teachers, together, shape learning.  To see the work that we do with Boston-area teachers resonate with and inspire Ghanaian educators (along with some from California, Boston, and Paraguay) was truly heartwarming and affirming. We know the value of this work and its impact on students (critical thinking, deepened content knowledge, evidence-based discourse, peer collaboration, self-efficacy, and more), but witnessing a room full of educators engaged, considering implications for their own teaching practice, and hearing from them afterward how powerful a session it was made me incredibly proud of the work we’re leading at the Boston Debate League. 

I was also energized by the sessions that I attended.  Two in particular that really resonated with our work at BDL were focused on teacher professional development, and student leadership.  The first session, Scaling a Teacher Professional Learning Model in Ghana, was led by Kwabena Amporful with the Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED) and highlighted the organization’s work to improve teaching and leadership practices in schools.  Just as we’ve wrestled with how to both broaden and deepen our work with educators through our Debate-Inspired Classrooms™ program, INTED is grappling with facilitating high-quality professional learning on a large scale and the financial and logistical challenges such efforts pose. Their experience offers us valuable lessons. For instance, rather than thinking about scale merely through the lens of expanding numbers reached, they are exploring a concept of scale that has four interrelated dimensions: depth, sustainability, spread, and shift in reform ownership. One way that they are building capacity is through a peer support and train-the-trainer model for educators.  They’re also exploring what it would mean to become a membership-based organization and how doing so might lead to sustainability.  Additionally, they’re piloting a targeted online continuing learning platform that will be accessible to teachers and youth and provide opportunities for them to gain new skills and learn about the world of work. I’m excited about remaining in touch with them and continuing to learn from them as we continue to think about how to sustainably support the teachers with whom we work.  

The other session in which I saw direct alignment with our work was Community Engagement and Leadership: Service Learning Programs facilitated by Enoch Oye and Kdadwo Konadu Yeboah, leaders at the International Community School (ICS).  Across their two campuses, service is baked into learning and viewed as a tool to build leadership and better citizens.  One thing that I especially appreciated learning is that ICS students have ownership over the types of projects they undertake.  They range from raising money for causes to collecting essentials for families during the holidays to even more creative and labor-intensive projects like building mobile libraries for school children in more rural and remote areas. It is through projects like these that ICS students are learning to think outside the box.  They are encouraged to reflect on the projects – the planning, the implementation, and also how their experiences translate to other tasks like problem solving whether in a math class or in their day-to-day lives.  As the presenters spoke, I immediately thought of our Resolved program and ways that we might integrate service learning into the curriculum. I also imagined how transformative an experience it would be to have Resolved students visit with students at ICS and engage in projects together.    

Throughout the conference, there was great enthusiasm, a sense of hopefulness, and joy in learning.  And that joy wasn’t contained to just the conference sessions.  We were welcomed into the Summit each morning with traditional Ghanaian dance, drumming, and song.  Each day, by auditorium seating sections, we belted out the Summit theme in a wave: “WE ARE. RE-IMAGINING. EDUCATION. FOR THE FUTURE. ​WE SEEK!” All of us, educators from different parts of the world, made meaningful connections with others. We broke bread together, danced the night away at a gala – many of us in newly-tailored Ghanaian attire, and we exchanged ideas and contact information.  

On my last day in Accra, I had the pleasure of visiting the Wonder World International School, founded by Jalia Dekyi, a leader I met at the Summit.  Her teaching team, most of whom are early in their careers, were warm and full of energy, and the care and compassion they have for their students was palpable.  We gathered together for what started as a Q&A period but quickly evolved into an impromptu professional development session in which they took copious notes and asked thoughtful questions before I launched them into a Mini Debate, because that is, after all, the BDL way – experiential learning.  I then visited every classroom and met inquisitive, bright elementary-aged students who asked me questions about everything from where I live to the state of US politics.  Older students shared with me their career aspirations and pitch ideas for their entrepreneurship class, and from the younger students I learned about different types of fish found in the ocean and their favorite insects, and one class even taught me a dance.  I couldn’t have asked for a better way to close out my time in Ghana than witnessing what we promote in Debate-Inspired Classrooms™ – students meaningfully engaged as their voices, ideas, and intellect are at the center of instruction, giving them power and agency over their own education.  This is what all young people deserve, learning environments in which they experience both rigor and joy and that prepare them for college, career, and engagement with the world.