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News & Events
JET Fellowship
Beyond Expectations: Jordan Education Trust Program 2008
Content:
The Jordanian Education Trust (JET) was established to use education as a vehicle to build understanding between the people of Jordan and those of other countries. JET believes that nothing is more important to a country’s economic and social well being than education. Education provides the basis for a growing, creative, 
knowledge-based economy vital for success in the global economy. In addition, education provides a bridge to understanding between cultures. JET believes that the most critical element in education is the teacher. Without great teachers, great education is not possible.
The second annual UW and the Jordan Education Trust exchange was a huge success. The American and Jordanian teachers who are participating in the cross-cultural exchange couldn’t believe how quickly the time flew or how much they learned from one another already.
“The program has been beyond my expectations,” Cynthia MacIsaac, a second grade
teacher at Seattle’s Dearborn Park Elementary, stated. “It has surprised me, so far, what deep connections we have made with our Jordanian colleagues. We were able to have many discussions which have led to new insights into not only the educational system in Jordan, but the everyday lives of the people there.”
The Jordan Education Trust, which was established by Boeing executive Phil Condit and his wife, Geda Maso Condit (’77), strengthens cross-cultural awareness and learning. In the second year of the program, five American teachers and five Jordanian teachers, met in Seattle, where they bunked, ate, and learned together for three weeks. The second half of the program took place in Amman, Jordan where they also lived side-by-side.
While in the US, the students visited the Pacific Science Center, Islandwood, the Museum of Flight, and other locations, where they learned about different types of learning. Navigating both traditional and untraditional learning spaces, they engaged in hands-on learning about teaching. They forged unforgettable bonds in the course of these lessons.
As Maysoun Rasim Racheid Kamal, a secondary biology teacher at Ein-Jalout Alshamila 
school in Amman, said, “I am surprised about USA teachers, how they were so kind, generous and also about most activities depend on inquiry way and simulation in teaching at the Pacific Center (space craft) and teaching techniques in Islandwood.”
After two weeks together in the United States, the group split apart for a short break, before meeting up again in Jordan. And, after such an intense journey together, they missed one another.
As MacIsaac summed up during the break, “Our group project followed the theme of the lens of perspective we each have in looking at education, religion, family, place and language and, of course, we could only begin those conversations. I am excited to work with our colleagues again so we can continue those conversations, meet their families and see their schools. They had the chance to see us in our home environments and now it will add a new angle of perspective to see them in theirs.
Several students reported that their most valuable lesson, thus far, had been the gift of kindness and empathy from their fellow teachers.
“An unforgettable trip that benefited us both personally as well as professionally,” wrote secondary English language teacher Hiyam Khader Yousef Abu-Areada. “What I have learnt is that cooperation as well as collaboration is essential to the success of any mission, one can't achieve anything alone, you need support from and interaction with others.”
As Mustafa Saleh Mustafa Mansour, a broadcast media teacher in Wafi Al-Tall vocational school in Jordan stated, “I hope that we can send a message to the people in Jordan and USA (to) never judge people according to the media.”
Learn more: http://education.washington.edu/alumni/JET
