Week 6

Week 6 (Week 4 Mulandi)

This week got off to a rough start and got even rougher as it went on.

Monday started out pretty normal, I went for a nice long run in the morning and took my motorbike to school. Right away, the kids were not behaving. And by not behaving I don’t mean not listening, I mean stealing each others books and pencils, and hitting one another. I tried to do my lessons as planned, but they had no desire to listen to me, and they sure didn’t. I had no idea what to do so eventually I would just write on the board and they would copy. That at least kept them busy and most of them would do the work instead of beat each other. I thought I had gotten sick of hearing “Miss Schaap” all the time, but that’s nothing compared to how many times I have heard “TEE-cha TEE-cha (fill in the blank) is beating me, is taking my things, or stole my pencil.” Yikes. I need to pray for more patience.

Tuesday was not a whole lot better. I was thinking that maybe yesterday was because I did not have very exciting lessons planned, so I tried to do better today and make them more exciting and interactive. Now, this is not doing a whole lot, but a couple flashcards here and there do spice up what we normally do. The kids wanted nothing to do with it. I was pretty down today after two not very good days.

Wednesday was just a bad day also. I woke up all night and my stomach was in pretty bad pain. We ate out last night at the little chicken place across the street. Myself and three other Americans are really sick and I’m pretty sure we got food poisoning. The chickens here are cut into quarters so it would make sense that four of us are sick. It was not fun, but being completely honest it was really nice to have a day off school, aside from the other unpleasant side effects of food poisoning…

Thursday I felt a little better and decided to go to school. The kids have a new toy, which is actually pretty clever. They smash a Fanta or Coke lid down with a rock so it is a flat circle of metal. Then they punch two holes in it using a nail and rip a piece of their sweater (the school uniform) off and thread that string through the holes in the lid. Then they hold each side of the string and spin it around and when they pull it tight the lid spins. It’s actually pretty cool. What is not cool is when they try to cut each other with them, or slice up all the pages in their book. I felt one that I had confiscated and there is no way it is sharp enough to cut skin, but it definitely cuts paper. Today could be defined as Hannah vs. The Spinners. The Spinners definitely won and I picked up scraps of paper off the dirt floor for about 20 minutes. I tried to take them from the students, but I literally had eight, and they just kept pulling out more and more. I am pretty sure that they have figured out the worst I will do to them is give them a stern talking to and make them say sorry. That is nothing compared to getting whipped on the tush three times. They certainly don’t take me seriously this week.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to go visit Rosslyn Academy. This is one thing that I am extremely grateful for. God knows what I need, and it was reassurance that I want to be a teacher and that I want to be a good one. Rosslyn is an amazing place. It is an international school, and I went there to observe six different teachers. Each teacher I saw was executing a teaching strategy that I have learned about in class. They all did it extremely well, and it was just phenomenal to see it actually being done and done well. It reminded me that I love teaching, and I want to be a teacher like this and help students. The teachers have a heart for students who never know where they’re going to be next year. A lot of the students are missionary kids or diplomat’s kids. The school and teachers were all so incredible. I hope to be able to teach at a school like this at some point in my life. There are so many things I could say about today, but I don’t think a 18 page blog post would be appropriate – perhaps next week.

Even though this week was pretty bad, I was truly reminded of what I want to do with my life and what my passion is. It gave me hope that what I want to do is out there. The mission that God has put before me is going to be tough and challenging, but if I can do the placement that I am in now, I know that I can teach in a school almost anywhere. I am so thankful for my placement, even though it is not always fun. I have thought about education and what my true views are on it. I have thought about what is happening with the government, how it affects Kenyan Schools and what is happening across the country. I have considered what it would be like to be stuck in a place where education is the only way out. There are so many things that I would never have even crossed my mind if I was not teaching at Mulandi. It is hard, the kids are a handful, and sometimes I want to be back in America where my hands are not constantly covered in chalk, kid boogers, and a thick layer of dirt. But I am thankful that God has put me somewhere that I am not always comfortable. I am grateful for this challenge and I pray for the strength to keep going and the reminders from God that this is my calling.

Week 5 (Week 3 Mulandi)

Week 5 (Week 3 Mulandi)

What an interesting week we had over here in Kenya!

Monday: Today I realized that Daystar and Mulandi School are starting to feel like home. We came back from a long weekend and it was nice to be able to feel like I was coming home to where I am comfortable. I am really thankful for that feeling because it has definitely been an adjustment living here. There are so many things that I love, and so many things that I miss about Trinity. A lot of the students here want to learn. They want to be in school because they understand that this is their only shot. If they can’t go to University, they probably won’t have jobs. It is crazy how early they can recognize that, my kids are only 8 and they know that. Some of the students don’t care already. They know that they won’t make it to high school and they seem to be ok with that as well. It is so interesting the different attitudes towards school.

Tuesday: Today was not such a good day. There are still moments when I feel really out of place and wondering what the heck I am doing. Everything I tried to teach seemed to miss and they were just confused and not getting it. Honestly, it was a tad discouraging.

Wednesday: Anything that happened yesterday I have forgotten about because today was a great day. I thought about yesterday and where I went wrong and why it was so bad. I decided to reteach most of the stuff in a different way and it was way better. For example, I taught them fractions again and it was ridiculous how much better they understood it. I was pretty proud of myself for that one! Another interesting thing about today was the head teacher gave us sheets we had to fill out about the student’s illnesses in the last two weeks. Some of the diseases on the sheet the teachers didn’t even know what they were. So I called up all the children and asked and marked down their responses. I had to ask what age they were and a lot of them didn’t know. Some said twelve! I doubt that any are twelve, but there are definitely some bigger kids who might be ten or eleven. Most of them were eight. Then the head teacher left, and I was told to make a copy of the sheet. Well, the head teacher had already left with the sheets, so I had to do it all again. This is not that big of a deal, but all the kids answered completely differently. The whole thing was very interesting and I am not sure why it was required. Probably for the government.

Thursday: Today was Valentines Day! I was not quite sure if Valentines Day was a big deal in Kenya or not, but people at Daystar seemed to be making a big deal of it. I figured that must be how it is everywhere. Not so much. I got to school and said Happy Valentines to the teachers and some of them didn’t even know it was today. The kids didn’t know what was celebrated on Valentines day. I decided to go ahead with my plans anyways, and we made Valentines for their parents at the end of the day. For English we have been talking about writing letters. I had them write a letter to their parents or someone they loved and tell them the reasons why they loved them. It was pretty cool. They had to write a draft in their English books, then show it to me and get a notecard. They copied it onto the notecard and then got a heart sticker and then drew on the back. It was pretty cool and good practice of writing for them. Most of the writing they do is copying books or copying off the board, so it’s really good to make them think a little bit while they are writing.

Friday: Today was a very interesting day. Yesterday we also got a new teacher, so now there are four who go between fourth and eighth grade teaching different subjects. His name is Tom and he is quite, um, friendly. He was talking to me about how they might go on strike next Tuesday. That would be really bad for the students, the teachers, and for me. I was a little worried, because he said that they happen often and that they just had one at the end of last year. They also said they won’t know for sure until Tuesday. All of this made me just a tad nervous. After school I had to stay pretty late to watch the soccer game that our older kids were playing. When that was over I saw a white person come up and a bunch of kids go running to her. I thought that she might be from Red Rhino, the Children’s Home that is just down the street. I went to talk to Mama Joy, who just came in from Ireland for three weeks. She is great. The first thing she asked is if I wanted to come over for the evening. This may sound lame, but I had absolutely no plans for my Friday night so I walked on over with her and the kids. I helped them do their homework, and then she gave me a little tour of the place. Right now there are 17 kids, and some of them just started going to Mulandi Primary. She said she was really pushing for that over boarding school. Some of the older girls got to pick if they wanted to go to boarding school, so the oldest three were home from school for the weekend because there were two birthdays this weekend. I ate there, and helped her sort out some clothes that she brought over and then Gilbert (a man who works there) drove her and I back to Daystar. She stays at a place really close to Daystar. There is so much more to tell about Red Rhino, but I can save that for a later time.

Basically this week I have learned that God is really good. As soon as I heard about the strike, he put another opportunity in my lap to be the homeschool teacher at Red Rhino. All of those kids would be out of school and they need a teacher. On Sunday, I went over for lunch and the birthday party, and met David who runs Red Rhino. He is from California, and he has a real heart for kids and this home. It is amazing. He was talking about how if there was a strike, I could come and teach his kids. It is an official NGO and everything would be legit. I was just so thankful that there are always opportunities and that God never leaves me.

On Sunday night we heard good news! There is no strike! The strike was going to be mainly over pay. From what I understand, the political candidates were urging teachers not to strike, but that the Teachers Union had a unanimous decision to strike. The elections are coming up in Kenya and it is a really big deal. Things are really tense and everyone is just praying that there is no fighting like there was last time. I don’t really understand very much of it, but I know that most people are really passionate about this election and care a lot about the outcome. They are switching their government, so this is the first time that there will be only a President. There is so much more that goes into it all and I am sure that I only understand a small percent of what is really happening.

This week has had its ups and downs, but overall it has been good. I have been challenged a lot, thinking differently, and learning more about how much need there is not only in Kenya, but all over the world. I come home after school everyday exhausted because I think so much about all the issues and troubles that are happening. It is good to be able to come back and talk about these schools with Jessica and Becca. They came and observed a couple times and I am really thankful for them.

I hope that next week goes even better than this one and please keep praying for peace in Kenya!

__________________

** I apologize for no pictures. My computer and the internet here seem to be incompatable.

Week 4 - Week 2 Mulandi

Week 4 (Week 2 Mulandi)

Things continue to be interesting over here at Athi River, Kenya.

Monday: Monday was an challenge because it was the first time I really had to teach all day. Last week, there was always something going on, an exam or something that did not require me to be teaching 100% of the time. I think I did ok, but I am still confused on what I am supposed to be doing. I felt pretty out of it, and just like I was not in the right place all day.

Tuesday: Today I made the decision to just teach what I want and see what happens. I taught math and that went ok. I tried to teach subtraction with borrowing and that seemed to stick a little bit better than yesterday. It is crazy the need for differentiation, because about 6 of them got it on the first day, and were bored of it. Although I don’t really think the students here get bored, they just get done early and then get into trouble or read  one of the 5 text books… I will have to see what I can do about that. Then I decided to teach them how to write letters. I will admit, this is somewhat selfish, because I want to do pen pals with Jessica VanDyk’s second grade class at Daystar Elementary in Chicago. They learn about Kenya at the end of the year and I think it could be really cool if they can have letters from some Kenyan students. I have no idea what would happen if I told them to write whatever they wanted, but I will have to try it sometime and see. They only copy from the board.

Wednesday: Today was even better than yesterday. I feel like I have a bit of a routine, running in the morning, going to school, then coming home and doing work or sitting outside and reading for a bit till dinner. I go to bed pretty early, because its so tiring, but I wish I could stay up and make better friends. My roomates are really really great, but I think they think I am a little strange for going to bed so early and getting up to run everyday J School started like any other day, and then in the middle of it all, the kids got called outside. They had already did their morning flag routine and prayer stuff, so I was a little confused. They were called out because they needed to pay their school fees. They were sent home to get their parents so they could have the money, and not allowed to come back till they had gotten it. I waited for this to be over, went back into my room, and had four students. Only four out of twenty two had paid what they owe. By lunch time it had made it up to 13, but it was crazy to me that they couldn’t come back to school till they paid. I understand, because I was talking to the head teacher, and she had been paying for them for a long time, but it is really hard with so many students and she has to buy a lot of the stuff for school herself. The morning was pretty laid back, and was actually nice I got to work with some of the students one on one with their math. The rest of the day I decided to just teach normally, but a lot of students missed out.

Thursday: Today I was told that I have to have lesson plans. I told her that I did, but I couldn’t print them. She gave me a book, so now I have them written. It is so interesting what the government requires. They want the date, grade, how many students, topic, subtopic, objective, learning sequence, references, and blackboard summary. It is pretty similar to America, only there was no real goals that need to be achieved. It is actually really nice to write them out instead of have them on the computer, because then I can just teach right from the booklet. The blackboard summary is what ends up on the board. Since I plan it all out the night before, I can plan what I want to teach and then just go off that. 

Friday: Today Jessica Bordenaro  came with me to observe! I felt bad that she had do observe me, but I am the only one who can really understand that she is not a teacher, just coming to watch. The other teachers don’t teach a whole lot, so she just chilled with me, which was really fun. I started out by giving an assessment. Last night I wrote out little index cards with different subtraction problems, borrowing an not borrowing. There were 9 problems and I considered 6/9 a pass. (67%) Out of 18 kids, 16 passed! It was so exciting to see that they learned what I had taught them! If there was ever a time I needed that encouragement, it was today. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly and then they let me leave early because I was wearing a skirt and Friday apparently is games. They told me that I can play games with them next week when I dress more sporty.

I guess that this is as good a time as any to talk about the discipline in the school. They beat the children, but not too badly. I was shocked the first time I saw a teacher smack a kid on the head. I was shocked when they called everyone in the school in from recess and hit each of their hands with a stick for speaking in Swahili not English. I was shocked the first time I saw the head teacher make a third grader lay down in her office and spank her with her cane. All of this being said, I believe that most of the time, the beatings are because the teachers want the students to learn. I talked to Jeff about this, and he said that is how it is in Africa. He thinks it has been made illegal, but for the most part it still happens. He said if it ever makes me uncomfortable or I think it is inappropriate to tell him and he will do something about it. I really do think that it is usually ok, and from what I have seen it isn’t anything that the kids can’t handle or don’t expect.

As well as the kids know they will get a beating if they don’t behave, they also know that I will not hit them. This makes classroom management just a tad difficult. There is no way to offer rewards, because anything I give my students, I have to give to the whole school. There is no way that they will care about flipping cards, because that has no effect on them. There is no way of contacting their parents, because most parents try not to be in contact with the school because they owe their children’s fees. I think the students understand that I just want to love them, but they still like to cause trouble. One time, I said I was going to get the head teacher, and that sure shaped them up. I don’t want to always be making threats, and I think that once they see that I am pretty laid back they will behave better. Their bad behavior is mostly just talking when they are finished, which I am really ok with, as long as they are not distracting other students. If they had something else to be doing, I truly believe that they would want to read, or draw, or do anything, but since they are so limited in the supplies, they talk and push each other around. I will definitely have to keep praying about how to handle this, and I hope they will see that I want them to learn without punishing them.

Well, it was an exhausting week, but a good one. I feel like I am more in the swing of things, and feel much more confident that my students may even be learning something. This weekend we are headed up to a tribe in Northern Kenya on a 13 seater plane. I am so excited, and only a little nervous. One thing I have definitely learned, is to make enough time to rest. Weekends are good for catching up on sleep, but when in Kenya, there is simply too many adventures to be had! I hope to be able to hang out more with college students next week, but we shall see what happens!

Week 3

Week 3 (Week 1 Mulandi)

Well this week has been quite the experience.

Monday: On Monday Jeff DeKock (professor at Trinity and at Daystar) and I went into Daystar Mulandi Primary School. There were a couple people there to greet us and show us around. Basically it is a school built of tin and they are working on building concrete buildings. The only part of the school that is in the concrete part is the preschool or “baby class”.

After Jeff left I pretty much sat in the third grade classroom and watched them do their work. I didn’t know what to do and the kids seemed terrified of me. The teacher that was supposed to be my cooperating teacher left and taught the other classes and I just sat there and watched the third graders work. I felt bad, because I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I went home for lunch (12:45 till 2:00) and felt like I was completely lost and had no right to be at that school trying to teach. In the afternoon I went back to do the afternoon and pretty much the same thing. Jeff came and picked me up, and the only thing I could think is, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Tuesday: I rode a motorbike to school, and I was quite scared. Don’t ask me why, those kind of things usually don’t freak me out, but they were just zipping right along. Yikes. Thankfully I made it to school, and it is only about a five-minute ride. It was a bit of a better day because in the morning my teacher was teaching, and then when the kids turned in their work, I would grade it. Here is an example of what they would do.

The teacher would teach for maybe 10 minutes then leave them for an hour to gather around one book and finish the work. When I came home for lunch I was still feeling a little bit overwhelmed because the kids hadn’t really talked to me and all of the teachers there didn’t know what to think of me. Thankfully, Kyle made me a much needed (and first) cup of American coffee and made the afternoon much better. As I was leaving school, my “cooperating” teacher told me that she was probably not coming to school tomorrow and that I could teach. I said, “Ok, what do you want me to teach?” and she laughed. I told her that I was serious, I did not know what to teach so she gave me the books and page numbers. Oh boy!

Wednesday: I took the bodaboda (motorbike) to school and sure enough my teacher was not there. The Head Teacher (principal) was there and said they decided to do exams. This is when the whole school takes tests and then they look to see who is struggling and what classes need help. It was shockingly like AIMSWEB testing. I had been doing this in my fifth grade classroom right before I left. On Wednesday, they did the Math, English, and Social Studies test. I pretty much just explained what they were going to be doing and to not cheat, but I am sure they knew what they were doing better than I did. This was good because they got to hear my voice more and seemed less scared of this Muzungu (white person). I graded while they took their tests. Not a bad day! I felt needed and like I was actually doing something. I kind of made a friend too, Kimanthi. He is a teacher at the school and he is really great. I can tell that he loves his job and loves the kids. He really helped me out and explained so many things to me. I also met with the seventh graders in the afternoon and they asked me a bunch of questions about America. It was interesting, they asked about things like the drought, elections and who was the richest man. Also during the afternoon it poured rain, so I stayed at school for an extra hour, then walked home through the mud, because the bodaboda could not make it through the mud. I left right after the kids and they had a good time making fun of me while my shoes got sucked off and I slid around barefooted for the whole walk home.

p.s. When I got home I washed my shoes and left them outside to dry. It seemed like a good idea until I went to get them and it appears that a monkey had taken one. Looks like I won’t be wearing those shoes anymore…

Thursday: More exams! A good day, and the students seem to be warming up to me. I talked with some of the other teachers today and I am thankful for them. They seem like they will be much more helpful than my “assigned” teacher and they have a lot of questions about America too. Today made me feel much better about the whole situation and I am really really thankful for that. I think that everyday will be better and I will figure out what the heck I am supposed to be doing. I taught them sign language in the down time, because there sure seems to be a lot of that.

Friday: We took the last exam, and I am still the only teacher in that classroom. I think they have kind of decided to let me do what I want with the third graders. Of course, I have twenty two kids and two of them are certain to be a handful. I think the grade with the second most kids is grade four, and they have twelve. I hope I can do this! I think that these third graders are the most difficult group, and they just want to see what I can do with them. Then, for the rest of the morning we practiced songs and poems because they radio station was coming in the afternoon. Daystar University has a radio station, Shine FM, and Sam came out and recorded each grade saying a poem or song. The Head Teacher told me to teach a poem to the fourth graders and I could think of nothing. I taught them “Our God is an Awesome God” and the signs to go along with it. I don’t know if that’s what they wanted but they didn’t seem to care too much. The kids loved it and so did Sam. I listened on Saturday and heard them singing Awesome God on the radio. It was really really cool. For the rest of the afternoon I talked to Jos, one of the teachers, while the kids played and Kimanthi organized a soccer game. It was a really good afternoon, because Jos made me feel really truly welcome and like they wanted me to be there. She said that I was different from other westerners, by the way I dressed and the way I acted and she said she could tell I was doing God’s work. If there is ever a time I needed confirmation it was at that exact moment. We quickly became facebook friends and I feel much more confident that I am doing the right thing.

As a general conclusion, this week was extremely hard, I felt extremely lost, but also I found myself to learn amazing things. I have learned that maybe this school isn’t as different from American schools, and that kids are still kids. They still shove each other and pick their noses. Most kids want to learn, and yet there are still those kids in each class that just want to test the teachers. There is so much more I could say, but I can save that for next week. I hope and pray for all of my students and for this school that is only two years and one month old. They are transitioning into a public school and have four teachers that are paid for by the government. The other teachers are paid by the parents, but they are paid hardly anything. I think that they are doing extremely well for what little they have to work with and what little funding they get. The students have to pay 450 Schillings a month which is a little more than five dollars, but some cannot pay. The Head Teacher has been covering for them but she said that she will have to start chasing them away eventually. There are so many things that are really good about this school and I hope that all of the students can find the money. God is working in this school and I pray that I can help the students and teachers, and also learn as much as I can from this whole experience! I have learned so much already!

_______

** I apologize for the lack of pictures, I have been trying all weekend but I can't get them to work!