Week 11

This week is the last week before spring break!! I am happy about this but mostly for the students.

In our weekly meeting with the other 5th grade teachers and the principal we were talking about how the whole school is just tired of being inside and doing the same thing. I think it is really important for kids to be outside and able to get their energy out, but they have had indoor recess and arrival since about October. We had outdoor recess on Thursday this week and that was good to get them some fresh air.

This week was pretty normal, but we had Friday off. All of the teachers and students are super ready for a break from school. When I taught this week they seemed to pay attention but I think that was because it was something new and different from what they expected.

I taught a little unit on Kenya and my experiences there. On Monday, I did a little introduction to Kenya and to Africa in general. Then we did a project called "Me on the Map." This is where students draw a circle map of themselves. They start with a circle and it says "This is Me." Then the next circle is a little bigger and its about their school. Then it goes to neighborhood, city, state, country and world. I did this because it really helped them connect to other people in the world. They can kind of see how they are just a small part of a very big world and there are other kids just like them in other countries.

On Tuesday afternoon we had career day, so all my activities got pushed back a day. This assembly was interesting. There were four speakers and their jobs were a teacher, a nurse, a financial specialist for McDonalds, and a Union member. After the first two, the kids had kind of tuned out, but then the McDonalds lady gave out gift cards to McDonalds for answering questions correctly. It was chaos. there were probably 300 3rd-5th graders screaming out the answers and jumping everywhere. In contrast, the Union speaker was not interesting at all and actually quite boring. After the assembly, the boys stayed downstairs and the girls went upstairs. I had no idea what either group was going to do. I took our girls up and all fifth grade girls were having a meeting. They were getting "the talk." This talk was about everything from periods to boys to taking shower every day. It was interesting the way it was handled and I think it went pretty well actually. They didn't seem too grossed out and they all listened to the teacher who was talking. She kept asking me if I wanted to add anything, and I just kept saying no. I was taken a little bit by surprise, but then when we went back to our individual classrooms I talked a little bit with my seven girls and answered some of their questions.

Wednesday came around and for the afternoon I did the Kenya lessons again. I passed out cards on which the students could write any questions they have during my talk. I hoped that this would eliminate some of the talking, and I think it might have a little, but not very much. If anything this made them think about the questions they really wanted to ask and which ones were questions that had already been asked so that was good. I talked about the different animals I saw, the school I taught in, where I lived, the seasons, and the food I ate. These were all things that they had asked about yesterday so I changed around my lesson to what they seemed to be interested in. After that I had them go on google earth and look up 5 different places. They had to write the place (for example: Willis Tower) the city (Chicago) the state (Illinois) and the continent (North America). This was really good for them to see the whole world and at least the United States. I think these kids have a really hard time seeing anything outside of their city or outisde of Chicago area. I hope that they realized that the whole world is full of people and diversity and cool places to explore.

Thursday was the last day of school this week. We have a double special in the mornings, so the afternoon was full of projects and fun. We did a project where I cut out the letters K, E, N, Y, and A out of posterboard. I split the class into 5 groups and each group had a topic. The topics were transportation, housing, food, schools, and animals. Each group had to decorate the letter with drawings of their topic. I did not give them too many directions on purpose because I wanted them to think of things on their own. They worked on their netbooks researching the different topics related to Kenya. Three groups did an excellent job, and two of them were ok. They all understood what they were supposed to do, but it was just a matter of doing it that was the problem. I need to find a way to get them to understand that doing something (anything) is better than sitting there and staring.

When we finished that project, we watched The Lion King because it was the last day before break and it related to our Kenya studies. Two of out students wrote out of the dictionary instead of watching the movie because they had gotten in trouble in specials earlier this week. I think they ended up watching most of it, but I guess it was worth a try. It is also one of the students birthday's on Saturday so he brought in cupcakes and ice cream. We also gave out chips for turning in all the homework packets. It was a feast!

This was a long week even though it was a short one. I also had two interviews and got offered a job!! It is a first grade position at Lakeside Christian in Clearwater Florida. That also made my week wonderful! I was super busy trying to make plans to go visit the school next week on spring break. Even though I have only been here for two weeks, it was a tiring two weeks! I am ready to sleep for a while, then continue getting ready to teach for the rest of the school year! It has been a great semester thus far :)

Week 10

Well I am back in America!!

What an experience. I got home safely on Saturday night, slept for a while on Sunday, and got to Hoover Elementary early on Monday morning. It was quite the weekend of goodbye's and hello's and I am excited to get back into the swing of things in 5th grade!

This week was actually a lot easier than I expected. I was planning on being really jet lagged, and having a little bit of reverse culture shock. I was really surprised that I was pretty ok with both things. I was definitely tired, and my sleep was not normal, but I think all things considered it was good. I also found out that we only had three school days this week and on Thursday was parent teacher conferences and Friday was a teacher convention.

Monday was a good day until about 1:00. I was doing really well and the kids were happy to see me. In the morning I pretty much aided all day and helped out Mrs. Wiora. At about 1:00, I hit a wall and was just plain exhausted.

Tuesday was a rough day in 5th grade. We had 2 students suspended within the first 30 minutes of the day for bringing a plastic shock gum stick and shocking other students. That afternoon we worked on projects for a long time because they needed to get their career day posters done. Some students had them finished, but more than half had not started. They were all working, and most of them at least accomplished something.

Wednesday was another big work day. It is also nice to tell students that we want to show their parents the work they have done at parent teacher conferences. This is good motivation. Thursday we had parent teacher conferences from 1 till 8. I was really nervous for this even though I would be mostly observing. I was really intimidated by the thought of parents coming in and talking about their child. It was so good to see how Mrs. Wiora handled it. She really knows her students and she knows how they preform. It was good to hear a good mix of talking abut academics and behavior. She had a sheet with all of the data from tests that she showed the parents.

Mrs. Wiora said that even though she doesn't put too much into the test scores, since the school does them she wants to show the parents what the school is doing. It is nice to have something solid to talk about. She also did a really good job of starting with the good, moving into the not-so-good and then finishing with the good again.

Friday we had a conference in Tinley Park with 1,500 other teachers from the area. It was about diversity and it was really good. I just stuck with Mrs. Wiora and we went to two workshops and had  a nice lunch. It is funny to realize that teachers are sometimes just as bad as students with the chattiness!

Overall it was a good week and a nice week to come back to get adjusted. I look forward to next week with 4 days and then spring break!

Week 9

Week 9 (Week 7 Mulandi)

I cannot believe that this is the last week of Kenya!!!

It has been a crazy experience, and sometimes really difficult, but amazing. I think it hit me on Monday when I got a note from one of my students saying she loved me like a sister and that she wants to be my number one student. She is one of the brightest students in the class and to see her be so thankful for what I have done made it all worth it. I told the class that I would be leaving after this week and some of them looked like they could care less, but a lot of them were really sad and kept asking why I had to go home. It was crazy because I didn’t even think some of them liked me at all.

Tuesday was a pretty normal day, we did some fun sign language and I did the usual teaching thing. It has been kind of hard to plan for this week because we were supposed to have exams all week, but they don’t have enough money to buy the exams. I had 5 students to start the day, because they hadn’t paid their school fees. It is also really difficult to teach something when there are only 5 out of 18 students (4 kids aren’t in my class anymore because of money).  When you try to teach something in smaller groups, they might understand it quicker, but then it is necessary to explain it again and again as each child came in. That was actually kind of nice, because they got a good understanding of the material and individual time with me, but it was really difficult and tiring to explain the same thing 13 times. I guess that is what being a teacher is about! I need more patience J

Towards the end of the week, I had some more interesting experiences. On Thursday, my supervisor from Daystar came to my school. She was going to observe me, but the teachers decided to do exams on Thursday and Friday and wanted to get them done before the weekend. This means that there was no time for teaching, even if it was just one lesson. Since I wasn’t teaching, I just talked to her for an hour and a half about Daystar’s University of Education. It was very interesting and I learned a lot. She said she was so sorry for not coming earlier, but there was some miscommunication. She just became the Head of the department this week. The other lady left Daystar in January and is just now being replaced. This seems to be a common trend in Kenya!

I talked to her a lot about what Kenyan education students have to do. They do 12 weeks of teaching in their third year. Other than that they pretty much just take classes. They get observed a minimum of six times but usually it’s around ten. She also said that they are observed on their marking (how they grade), cleaning, disciplining, arrival time and many more things. The student teachers do not know when they are going to get observed, and the observer stays from 7:00 till 4:30 or 5:00. It seemed like it was pretty intense!

On the last day, it was really sad. I was reading them some books that I had taken with me from home. I had a couple, and when they were good (which was rare) I would read them a book at the end of the day. Since I still had 4 books to read, I decided that I would just stay a little extra and read them the books. I have never seen them so engaged in anything. They absolutely loved it. It was a really good way to end, because they were paying attention and then when I said bye I hugged each one and shook their hands. The teachers were crying and the head teacher called the students in and I told them all goodbye. I was so sad to have to leave those kids. They really are nice and a lot of them really want to learn. The teachers kept saying how good it is for them to have a Muzungu (white) teacher. For a lot of them I am the only white person they have interacted with. I hope I left them with a good impression and that they know I love each one of them.

This experience was a lot of ups and downs. As I sit in the airport in Istanbul thinking about it all, I cannot believe I actually did it. My teachers said I did a great job and I feel like I might have even taught them some things. I am so thankful that God put me in Mulandi school and I will continue to pray for the students and teachers. 

Week 8

Week 8 (Week 6 Mulandi)

So instead of writing about each day this week, I am going to write about what I have learned thus far in my Kenyan adventure.

The first big thing that I have learned is how thankful I am that I don’t have an easy placement. After the visit to Rosslyn Academy, it looked so nice and clean and American, I was feeling like I wanted to be doing my work there. They use strategies that I have heard of, books that were familiar, and almost everyone I met was from Ohio, Texas or Wisconsin. Those are my people right there. It would have been an incredible experience to student teach there, with some of the best teachers I have ever seen.

However, I would not have thought of half the things I have thought of being at my placement. I have different views on education. I know the kind of teacher that I want to be. I know what I think about student learning. And most importantly, I know how I view the children of God as learners and as students.

Firstly, my views on education have changed. In Kenya, education is one of the only ways to get out of the circle. I only say circle because I don’t know what else to call it. Basically the circle is not having a job, and living in poverty. Having an education can change your life. Learning English and doing well in primary school can get students in the Kenyan School System into high school. Doing well in high school can get them into a University. There is one test to take to get into high school. If you pass, then you can go. There is one test to take to get into a University. If you pass, then you can go. Kenyan students can tell you their high school grade with one letter.

This right here is hard for me to conceive. One test determining your future? Telling you if you can go to College and get an education and have a chance at a job? That is something that I almost cannot fathom. I know there are tests like this in the states, but its different. There are options in the states, such as community colleges, online Universities, and other training options for specific jobs. Here, if you don’t go to a University, then most will continue to live where they are farming cattle or sheep or have a motorbike and drive people. This is not a bad thing, and I have met some people here who love their role. The thing that is still hard to wrap my mind around than the one test, is the fact that I can see the effects of this in third grade. Eight year olds know that they need to work hard in school because it is their future. If they fall behind, teachers won’t help them catch up, they will just take the students who are more gifted and work harder to get them into high school and universities.

This leads me to what the teachers actually teach. In Kenya, teachers teach students how to repeat things. They teach rote memorization and that is pretty much it. Obviously, in any school students are also learning social skills and life skills, but in classes they are taught straight out of the book with not a whole lot of extra thinking involved. It is interesting to see, and it is fascinating to see what the students pick up. The ones who can speak English really well speak the same diction the books are written in. This language is sometimes incorrect and not very common talk. I think that it is interesting to think about how we teach students – if we are teaching them how to repeat what we tell them, or if we are teaching them to be independent thinkers who can develop their own ideas.

This leads me to what my calling is on earth, and the kind of teacher God has called me to be. I believe that every child can learn if they are given the chance. It makes me want to give each child a chance. They are all created by God and I think that it is heartbreaking to see some of them not get the chance to be loved and taught in an environment that is safe. Being there first hand and seeing all of this happen, I can understand that the school simply cannot serve the need. There is so much need, and the students who aren’t going to make it through high school get less attention than those with potential. I have a lot more thinking to do on this topic, but for right now I am just praying for these kids.

All this being said, I know that no education system is perfect. I understand that there are flaws in probably every system in the world because we are not perfect people. I can only pray for my students. Seven weeks is not enough time to change anything. If all they remember is the crazy Muzungu who taught us how to do the alphabet in sign language, then that is all they remember. I hope that they know that I care about them. I hope they know that I believe they can do it. I hope they know that I want to teach them how to think, and have opinions, and believe in themselves as individuals, not as just part of the system.

All in all, I am thankful for this school. The teachers do their best working with what they have. The students (usually) try their hardest. God is in that place, just as he is in Hoover Elementary back in Calumet City, Illinois. The systems are what they are, in America and in Kenya. I have grown by expanding my thoughts, and trying to figure out what I believe about God’s world and all the diverse people living in it. I was put in this placement for a reason, and I am only just starting to see all the good that can come from it.