On November 24, 2024, Teach For Liberia, a leadership development NGO, partnered with an Alumni of Teach For India to complete an engaging math training session for seven of its active Fellows. The two-session training taught the Teach For Liberia Fellows new ways to teach their students basic math skills. Curiosity Hooks was the name of the lesson, and it focused on pedagogical innovations, technology integration and real-world connections. Through these sessions the Fellows gained insights into transforming their classrooms into hubs of creativity and exploration.
In an interview with Mr. Satyam Mishra, the facilitator of the training, Mr. Mishra said, “Mathematics is at the heart of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education for me; it’s a critical driver of technology and economic advancement.” Additionally, he said, “As the world embraces Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other groundbreaking innovations, preparing the student to meet these demands is critical and important for their growth. AI and its transformative potential are shaping the world and redefining possibilities and educators need to know how to utilize it.”
Mr. Mishra is a Fulbright Scholar who is currently an Ed.M. candidate at Harvard University. The development, facilitation and annotation of the lesson is part of a final project. The math training with the Teach For Liberia Fellows aimed to bridge the gap between traditional teaching methods and the skills needed for the future. Its focus was to equip the Fellows with innovative strategies, active tools, and real-world applications to help spark ideas and an era of enthusiasm in the education arena of Liberia and the world at large.
Moreover, Mr. Mishra said, “The training was meant to inspire critical thinking, foster problem-solving abilities, and create a generation of teachers and ultimately students who will lead Liberia once they build the skills required for success in the modern world.” Additionally, he applauded Teach for Liberia for the opportunity provided to him as he is to visit Liberia in July 2025 upon his graduation from Harvard. Mr. Mishra will train during Teach For Liberia’s annual Summer Institute for new Fellows. He further told journalists about his excitement around the trip as it will allow him to interact and work directly with Teach for Liberia’s network of educators and positively support the students throughout Liberia. He concluded by saying that he believes that the enthusiasm, focus and engagement he saw in Teach For Liberia’s Fellows during the training is a testament to the transformative power of developing leaders through the classroom.
Cohort 4 Fellow, Mr. Roger Patten, took part in the training and said, “The lesson plan gave us new ways to teach basic mathematical skills while providing a means to engage students actively in real-world communication.” For example, the Fellows were taught ways to teach basic concepts such as mean, median, and mode using values, historical data, as well as real-life applications. Mr. Patten stressed that he would find ways to include the training concepts into all of his lessons, “Finding new ways to communicate the importance of math and getting our students to process the basics is important to the future of Liberian education.” With his background in Science, Mr. Patten who is in the second year of the fellowship, ended the interview by saying, “I really hope we get more trainings in how to teach math and the sciences as Fellows. I plan to share what I learned with the other teachers at my school placement. I believe we should all be focusing on properly teaching the Liberian students STEM.”
Teach For Liberia’s Chief Executive Officer, Madam Alicia-Ann Caesar applauded Mr. Mishra for his time and thought his request to partner with the organization was perfect timing. Currently, there is an open dialogue in all strata of Liberia about the quality of our country’s education. Ms. Caesar said, “Teach For Liberia is always looking for opportunities to develop our Fellows and Alumni Fellows. Our organization asks the young leaders of Liberia to join us to ensure that our children get the best quality education possible. So, we are open to and seek out opportunities to equip the youth in our fellowship to reach that vision. I think having an Alumni like Mr. Mishra share with current Fellows innovative ideas and offer his mentorship is important. Also, the cross-border engagement benefits everyone.”
Teach for Liberia has impacted 7,399 students and 4,384 community teachers across 40 partner schools and 8 counties since becoming a Teach for All Network partner. This year, Teach for Liberia has re-signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Education and has received its two-year Private Teacher Training Institute accreditation. The accreditation and MOU allow its Fellows to complete their two years in the classroom with an opportunity to become qualified teachers. Currently, 81% of the Teach For Liberia Alumni hold C-Certificates through this process. 85% of Teach For Liberia Alumni overall are qualified to teach in Liberia. Teach for Liberia is a resolute partner in developing the quality of education in our country.
