The Wall of Wonder - A celebration of Meyna School's Journey!

The Wall of Wonder (on the left) and the Practical Vision (on the right) blank.... empty.... waiting for the brainstorming to start!

Individual brainstorming of events in Meyna School's history.

The school began in 1947 as a community school... it would be nearly 40 years later before it became a government school.

From individual brainstorming of historical events, to groups sharing their lists.

Sometimes a little clarification was needed to keep things moving along.

The small groups really enjoyed this activity of reflecting on the history of the school.

Okay.... if you don't know much of the early years, just move to a time period from which you brainstorm your memory of the school's historical events.

Placing the information cards under the time period, was an informative adventure for everyone.

Hmmmm.... under which time period should this event be placed?

Look at that fist full of half sheets this group brainstormed!  Their sheets alone could fill the whole Walle of Wonder!

More and more workshop participants come forward to help fill the Wall of Wonder.

Mr. Hamad, the Deputy Principal (and local school historian!) upon my request, walked the group through the Wall of Wonder.

Mr. Hamad told stories of past events and people .... and had the participants laughing through his tales.

Once the participants had all their historical events on the wall, and we'd read through them all, I asked them to think of each section as a chapter in a book.  What would they name each chapter.

The first period form 1947 to 1980, the grouped named The Infancy. 
The middle period of Meyna School from 1981 - 2001 was given the title ... "Concrete Stage."

The arrows on the half sheets indicate shifts or transitions that took place at that time.  The sad face, indicated a low point.

The period from 2002 to 2011 was named the "Achievement Stage."

The participants named the whole book.... The Great Journey toward Excellence of Meyna School.

The white half sheets provided information on Meyna school during the time period, whereas the color half sheets provided information about Holhudhoo Island, the Maldives and the world.

Don't I look as though I'm saying something very profound?

Behold..... the Meyna School Wall of Wonder!

Room set up - the day before the strategic planning meeting

Okay... what's the plan? What section of the workshop goes on what wall?  Where do we start.... hmmmmmm

The Wall of Wonder can go over there on the left.... then the Practical Vision could take the right side of the back wall.

Then..... let's see......

Lots of headings for each part of the workshop need to be written and placed up on the walls.....

This tape better work!  The masking tape I just tried, kept the heading up on the wall all of about 3.5 minutes.... that just isn't going to cut it!





Just keep adding more and more rolls of tape to the backside of the header.  I know, I know.... it's taking forever.... but..... how else to keep the headers stuck to the wall?

Then in addition to all the rolls of tape on the back, tape the whole outer edges to the wall.

Never used so much tape in my life to get a piece of paper to stick to the wall!

Tape behind the header, tape around the header, tape and tape and tape and tape and tape..... this is a nightmare!

Anil, one of the expat English teachers, is helping me prepare the room for the workshop.  He's the one who is cutting all the stock paper for the headings.

Anil's writing is much better than mine, and so he's also making the header cards.

More tape!  More tape!  More tape needed!

So.... Mr. T..... since it looks like Anil is cutting the paper, writing the headings, and taping them to the wall..... what are you doing?

Supervising... can't you tell!  The Commitment and Strategic Directions can go right over on that wall.