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لقراءة هذه النشرة باللغة العربية، يرجى النقر هنا
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Welcome to the November edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Teachers Network (RAKTN) newsletter! We are almost at the end of this term, and professional development courses will be finishing soon. A number of these courses represent new offerings in English, math, and technology, and December 10th will usher in a new kind of teacher awards ceremony at the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce. Also in this volume, consider taking part in a competition to identify the best teaching tips and read about the upcoming Ras Al Khaimah Teacher Exchange Program, which is partnering with the Ministry of Education in Malaysia. Also get to know one of our Foundation ambassadors and explore new resources available through the RAKTN. Finally, we would like to thank you all for being a part of the Foundation's professional development program and hope to see each of you at our awards ceremony next month.
Warm regards,
Luke Zimmermann, Program Manager for Teaching and Learning
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FEATURE ARTICLES 
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  Ras Al Khaimah Teacher Exchange Program Heads to Malaysia
The Al Qasimi Foundation team is pleased to report that a new chapter in the Ras Al Khaimah Teacher Exchange Program (also known as Teacher Exchange: Ras Al Khaimah/Malaysia or TERM) is scheduled to take place in February 2015. At this time, a group of Al Qasimi Foundation staff members and Ras Al Khaimah educators will travel to Kuala Lumpur as part of a collaboration with Malaysia's Ministry of Education. Full Story
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Teach, Laugh, & Learn: Engaging Students through Humor
Has teaching become too serious? Have teachers lost their senses of humor with the constant stream of new education theories, methodologies, and research? Do you need some laughter in your classroom? Consider some ways that teachers can engage their students through humor. Full Story
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NEWS & EVENTS
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Professional Development Courses Accredited by EdZone
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In an attempt to better meet the needs of the Ras Al Khaimah teaching community, Dr. Faisal Obaid Ahmad Al Tunaiji, Head of Educational Affairs, and Mr. Mohammad Ali Rashid Al Shehhi, Head of Training and Professional development at the Ministry of Education in Ras Al Khaimah, met with Al Qasimi Foundation staff to discuss accreditation of the Foundation's professional development courses.
As a result of this meeting, the Foundation's future course certificates will carry the official stamp of approval of the Ras Al Khaimah Education Zone as evidence of this accreditation.
Prior to this most recent meeting, Ms. Sumaya Abdullah bin Hareb, the Director of Ras Al Khaimah Educational Zone, had acknowledged the high quality of the Foundation's work with teachers and administrators in the community. The new course certificates reflect the EdZone's official recognition of the accomplishments of educators who are improving their skills through professional development opportunities with the Al Qasimi Foundation.
Mr. Luke Zimmermann, the Program Manager in charge of the Foundation's professional development program states, "Participants in our program have been asking if our courses are accredited by an outside organization, and so we are thrilled to now have the Ras Al Khaimah Education Zone officially approve of the quality of our professional development program. I think our participants will be pleased since the majority of them are employees of the Ministry of Education."
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RAKTN Congratulates 1,000th Member
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The Ras Al Khaimah Teachers Network (RAKTN) reached a milestone of 1,000 members on September 22, when Ms. Manal Mohammed Ahmed bin Nasir joined as part of her Creativity in the Classroom professional development course. Ms. Manal was happily surprised when Foundation staff members interrupted her workshop on Wednesday to congratulate her and present her with a certificate and gift.
Established in 2009, the RAKTN has reached this milestone after five years as part of this community. Taking into account the latest figures from the Ras Al Khaimah Education Zone, almost one third of all staff working in schools have now joined the RAKTN. Ras Al Khaimah's government school community consists of 2,632 teachers and 584 administrators, including principals, vice-principals, and administrators.
Although the majority of the RAKTN members are from the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, there are also a few hundred site visitors from other countries-including the United States, United Kingdom, Egypt, India, and Turkey-who have taken part in the network and contribute its community of professional growth and encouragement.
The Al Qasimi Foundation is pleased to note that the network continues to grow: Since Ms. Manal bin Nasir became a RAKTN member, another 55 individuals have joined as well. At the same time, the Al Qasimi Foundation team is always looking for ways that the RAKTN can develop to best meet the needs of the education community in Ras Al Khaimah.
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COMMUNITY CORNER
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Teacher Feature: Ahmed Al Zakareya
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In this newsletter, we would like to introduce one of our Foundation ambassadors,
Mr. Ahmed Zakareya, a special needs teacher in Balat Al Shuhada'a School.
View Video
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Professional Development: Be a Master Screencaster
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The RAKTN team is developing a YouTube channel with a collection of short videos to enhance lesson plans, and we need teachers' help to add video resources to our YouTube library.
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Resources: New Interactive English Tools Available
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Take a look at some new, interactive English resources, available online to students and teachers.
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Teaching Tips: A Competition for All Teachers
If you would like to share your favorite teaching tips, please email them to [email protected] to be entered in this year's competition. Results for the best teaching tips will be announced in June 2015. For example, read about tips for teaching phonics below:
"Phonics is a method of teaching people to read and write by correlating sounds with symbols in an alphabetic writing system. Teaching phonics is also useful for correcting common mistakes, particularly those made with the short vowel sounds.
When teaching phonics in the classroom, teachers can use many different games that can enhance the phonics learning process. Some of these games actually equip one student to teach the rest of the group, with the result that parts of a lesson can, at times, be totally run by students, which helps them invest in the learning process.
If you're interested in materials related to teaching phonics through games, please contact [email protected]."
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SCHOOL NEWS
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Al Adhen school plays an active role in promoting values to guide students towards a healthy diet. Recently, educators and students participated in Health Food Week, which included nutritional advice and health food distribution.
On White Stick Day, October 15, Al Adhen hosted a program that included a speech highlighting the rights of the blind community as well as a workshop on the devices used by the visually impaired.
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This semester, Al Rams School celebrated "Teachers' Day." To honor educators, students distributed flowers to every teacher in the school while expressing their appreciation of Al Rams faculty.
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This October, students from Julphar Secondary School participated in a young entrepreneur competition sponsored by the Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation. Julphar students visited the Foundation on October 22 as part of the competition, in which only 300 out of 2,000 participants will be selected. These students took part in the competition under the direction of English teacher Maryam Al Tenaiji.
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Ras Al Khaimah American Academy for Girls
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Ras Al Khaimah Academy for Girls took part in an October 12 Breast Cancer walk and by raised money to help fight the disease. After the walk, students sold desserts, donating their proceeds to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. With her students dressed in pink, the academy's principal, Ms. Gallie, observed that "collaboration and teamwork were evident from the beginning to the end" of this project. |
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Our Mission
The Ras Al Khaimah Teachers Network exists to enable community educators to collaborate, share knowledge, and support one another.
All teachers and education leaders in Ras Al Khaimah are welcome to join this network, share their experiences, ask questions, and support one another by making Ras Al Khaimah an inspiring and transformative teaching and learning environment.
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