On Friday, August 20th and Saturday, August 21st, Reliance College founder, Marsha Familaro Enright travelled to the Universidad Francisco Marroquin (UFM), a premiere libertarian university in Guatemala. Here, she was invited by her former student, Carmen Rodriguez, the head of Continuing Education to hold two workshops.
On the first day, Marsha engaged with twenty UFM faculty members and other interested participants in a two-hour dialogue about The Art of Feedback. This workshop highlighted Marsha’s approach to providing constructive feedback and how that feedback can be crucial to an student’s success. Marsha focused on targeting specific attendees problems with providing and utilizing feedback and used them as examples to share with the rest of the group. Participants were able to learn from both Marsha and the fruitful discussion contributed to by each colleague’s unique perspective in the educational realm.
The second workshop focused on Montessori Parenting and Marsha’s wisdom regarding the education of young people. She led twelve parents and teachers in a discussion about the concerns of raising children. Marsha remarked about Maria Montessori’s life and astounding work through the education system. She referred to two works specifically to highlight Maria’s encounter in Catalonia with the Anarchists during the Spanish Civil War, Maria Montessori: The Liberator of Children, and Respect This House. Marsha enlightened the group with a set of Montessori principles and how liberating these can be for both a child and their parent.
Marsha’s insight regarding these topics allowed participants to learn more about the topics themselves and network with similar people. The connections that were formed at the workshops and the knowledge that they had gained will continue to inspire them throughout their various endeavors.
