2023-12-06 13:01:38
Ortal Shamir, a resident of the settlement of Givaot Bar in the northern Negev, established at the beginning of the war a learning center for middle school and high school students in the settlement, where resident parents teach the core subjects and other subjects. About 1,300 residents live in the settlement located between Rehat and Ofakim, who were not evacuated at the beginning of the war.
“The inactivity of the youth in the settlement worried me,” from Shamir village, which routinely runs resilience programs for youth. She is a member of other parents from the settlement who joined the project, but emphasized that “parents who volunteer at the learning center do not necessarily have children of this age.”
Initially, the center responded to the lack of face-to-face studies in the schools, and later, when students returned to school, it continued to operate in the afternoons and helps the youth fill in educational gaps.
Shamir actually has children who help out at the center. Her daughter, Noa, a 10th grade student, is persistent in coming to the center and is very helpful. “At the beginning of the war there were zooms, but they were for fifteen minutes, and that’s all,” she says, “I knew that my attention and concentration disorders would not allow me to complete the material of five units of mathematics, and my major in software engineering. Now, thanks to the center, I studied for the exam, which I already I know I passed it.”
Ortal Shamir. “Creating the place with the small groups, the volunteers who are interested in teaching and providing a specific response to the needs of the youth equals success” (Photo: private album)
Mother Ortel says that the activity helped the youth to get back into a framework that they needed. “The first lesson was physics, and it took place at 11:00 in the morning and the teenagers were late. In the last lesson, at 2:20 p.m., they were already waiting in the classroom.”
The center continued to operate even after the return to frontal studies. The activity moved to the afternoon, and Shamir led cooperation with the regional school. “We made an agreement with the school, that tests that will be done with us will be taken into account in the school’s final grade,” she says, “Another agreement with the school is that students in the seventh grade will learn to write, read and review texts in the learning center.”
“We are five friends who study as a group and help each other”
Learning at the center is conducted in small groups and is focused on practice and less on face-to-face learning. Participation is voluntary. Noa positively notes learning as a group. “We are five friends who study together as a group, and we all study in the same majors. We help each other.”
The small groups also help. “Because the English teacher is serving in the reserves now, they united two English groups and we have 50 children in the class. You can’t learn like that. The center really helps.”
Although the center operates after the school day, Noa says that participating in it saves her time. “I finish every school day at four, and go to the learning center at seven in the evening for a half-hour meeting. If I didn’t do that, I would sit for three hours on the material.” According to her, the participation does not contradict other activities: “I guide the scouts, go to the gym and of course to the activities of our youth club.”
“This center proves that when teenagers are treated with the necessary seriousness, they behave like adults,” says Ortel, “Creating the place with the small groups, the volunteers who are interested in teaching and providing a one-on-one response to the needs of the youth equals success.”
Talk today every morning with your email
#small #settlement #northern #Negev #parents #childrens #teachers #war