As the saying goes; “nkyenkye wo n’afi” to wit every endeavor has its time. To me, this is the only appropriate way I can start this story. Hearing and getting to see videos and pictures of The Witness Tree Institute of Ghana, and what they do really got me fascinated and enthused to be part of the group and to see for myself what I had anticipated would be an amazing experience.
Through the recommendation of a friend, I followed the modalities and the requisite steps for the application of the program. Initially, I went through an interview with its founder with high hopes of being in a cohort, however things didn’t turn out the way I wanted, but I tried again, and the second time was given the opportunity to be among the privileged few to share ideas and learn as a prospective.
For the first time as a prospective teacher, I have had the opportunity to witness and share experiences from a more personal narrative point of view. I have always felt the need to have my own experience so that I can engage my deaf students in a very thoughtful and engaging way as a special needs educator. Experiential learning meant something a little different to me before this trip as I hadn’t been exposed to opportunities like this, and I feel I’m a better teacher now.
Meeting the founder and co-founder of this organization in person during our first orientation was something that will really stick with me. I was spellbound initially seeing the conveners of this program, but afterwards I was honored to receive a warm embrace from them which broke the ice for me to open a formal conversation with them. Later in the day, we engaged in an exercise where we, the Ghanaian cohort, made an education policy or draft from Prof. Asare Opoku’s interview he granted a while ago. This exercise gave me and my colleagues the chance to delve deeper into the shortfalls within our educational system and how to address them.
The second day, was a special day as a fellow cohort member, Ama Boatengmaa Acheampong expounded on the topic;”Social Emotional Learning (SEL).” This topic was really profound as it gave me a lot of education on the Social and Emotional well-being of we teachers and how relevant it is to the students’ development.
To end this, the long awaited moment with the Witness Tree Institute within my few days with the organization has been something worth discussing as each day provides each cohort member to own up to responsibilities, develop their public speaking abilities and foster collaboration and co-existence. Personally, I think this experience will enrich my knowledge to assist my learners in diverse ways as a prospective special education teacher.
By Ernest Ajyei - Final year student Presbyterian College of Education Akropong, Ghana
