{"id":782,"date":"2013-01-22T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/?p=782"},"modified":"2020-01-24T21:32:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T21:32:59","slug":"the-silver-scorpion-in-lebanon-increasing-disability-awareness-tolerance-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/the-silver-scorpion-in-lebanon-increasing-disability-awareness-tolerance-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"The Silver Scorpion in Lebanon: Increasing Disability Awareness &#038; Tolerance in Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You may remember how the Silver Scorpion was <a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/the-silver-scorpion-extends-a-hand-to-egyptian-youth\/\">distributed to schools across Egypt last year<\/a> through the help of the Egyptian Association for Educational Resources (E-Era). Now, with the cooperation and partnership of the <a href=\"http:\/\/iea.org.lb\/\">International Education Association of Lebanon<\/a> (IEA), the comic book is making its way into the hands of teachers and students in Beirut in order to promote education, cross-cultural understanding, and disability rights and awareness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Silver-Scorpion-Cover-Arabic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-783\" title=\"Silver Scorpion Cover Arabic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Silver-Scorpion-Cover-Arabic-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"Arabic Cover of the Silver Scorpion Comic Book\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>The Silver Scorpion in Arabic<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To date, the <a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/programs\/inclusion.html\">Silver Scorpion comic book<\/a> has been the centerpiece of two teaching workshops in Lebanon, made possible through IEA. The first meeting took place as part of the November 13 SchoolNet Workshop at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education of Lebanon, and the second at the Radisson on December 1, 2012. Through these half-day workshops, teachers gathered to learn about the comic book\u2019s core messages, like tolerance, inclusion, and what it means to overcome the challenges of living with a disability.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Lebanon-photo-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-787 aligncenter\" title=\"Lebanon photo (6)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Lebanon-photo-6-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"More teachers at workshop\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Teachers discuss the comic book at the workshop.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Along with discussing themes of equality and overcoming bias, the teachers brainstormed ideas on how best to apply the message of the comic book in their own classrooms. One of the ways to relate the concept of inclusion and open-mindedness is to use the comic as an impetus to stimulate creativity through writing and art. With the comic book as a starting point, students will have the chance to explore the book\u2019s ideas, but also to springboard into their own stories of what it means to be a superhero, to have a disability, or to accept those who may be different than them.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Lebanon-photo-20.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-788 aligncenter\" title=\"Lebanon photo (20)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Lebanon-photo-20-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Sharing the comic book \" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Getting to know the Silver Scorpion.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Open Hands Initiative has printed and distributed more than 15,000 copies of the comic book in Arabic. A portion of these will be distributed to select schools in Beirut and throughout Lebanon, where the story of the Silver Scorpion will be shared with students in middle and high school.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Lebanon-photo-23.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-793\" title=\"Lebanon photo (23)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Lebanon-photo-23-300x235.jpg\" alt=\"Teachers observing the workshop\" width=\"300\" height=\"235\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Teachers observe the workshop.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lastly, pursuant to IEA\u2019s emphasis on digital learning and technology, a wiki devoted to the Silver Scorpion was created as a means for the teachers to continue to interact with the story and its content, as well as to create a space for new student stories, original drawings, and ideas related to the Silver Scorpion. Through this digital story writing endeavor, the Silver Scorpion will have the opportunity to continue sharing its message of inclusion, tolerance, and cross-cultural understanding with the people of the world.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-789 aligncenter\" title=\"Lebanon photo (22)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Lebanon-photo-22-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Deepening understanding of the themes\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Understanding the comic book&#8217;s themes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>About IEA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The International Education Association, home of iEARN Lebanon, is dedicated to <span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">engaging educators and youth in collaborative learning and active educational projects. Its mission is to <\/span><em>\u201cenhance the learning and teaching process through the effective use of communication technologies so that educators and youth acquire the 21st century skills necessary to excel in a globally competitive world; for youth, critical analysis, language, technology, leadership and life skills; for educators, transformative, active and inclusive education.\u201d <\/em><span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">To learn more about IEA\u2019s projects and methodology, please visit <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\" href=\"http:\/\/iea.org.lb\">www.iea.org.lb<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-784\" title=\"IEA Logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IEA-Logo.bmp\" alt=\"IEA Logo\" width=\"197\" height=\"103\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You may remember how the Silver Scorpion was distributed to schools across Egypt last year through the help of the Egyptian Association for Educational Resources (E-Era). Now, with the cooperation and partnership of the International Education Association of Lebanon (IEA), the comic book is making its way into the hands of teachers and students in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,34],"tags":[73,72,71],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability-and-accessibility","category-silver-scorpion","tag-iea","tag-iearn","tag-lebanon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1583,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions\/1583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openhandsinitiative.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}