Finally a week where I did the things AVI think they're paying me to do! No egg and spoon races and no hobnobbing with High Comms and riding in bullet proof cars. The only excitement was the sighting of a domestic turkey in the yard across from the centre.
This week I observed classes and gave feedback, assisted volunteers in their teaching, researched, wrote and rewrote curriculum documents and ran a workshop. It wasn't very exciting but it was as close to a 'normal' week as I can get!
Umoja currently has three local teachers and two international volunteers teaching timetabled classes. I have been attempting to institute a program of weekly observation, feedback and reflection with the local teachers. So many interruptions and distractions mean I have not been able to establish a pattern that isn't a distraction in itself. I want it to seem unremarkable for me to be in the classrooms so everyone acts 'normally'. When I am in the classrooms I usually see effective teaching and learning happening and I'd be surprised if that wasn't the norm.
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| Beginner maths learning algebra. |
The volunteers are a mixed bag - in the three months I have been at Umoja we've had Canadian, British, Polish, Belgian, US and Danish volunteers teaching Life Skills, Global Studies, Spoken English and Library. Some are qualified teachers, some are university graduates in various fields and some are virtually straight out of high school - younger than some of our students. Oftentimes they teach what they know - usually something they're passionate about (which is good) but sometimes not relevant to the students or a repeat (which is not!). It has been a big job consulting and getting feedback on what constitutes a "balanced curriculum" but now it is only being "tweaked" as I look for helpful resources to teach what has been decided on. Future volunteers will have a better structure to help them with what to teach in the classroom, and hopefully there are resources I have found, too, to help the local teachers in their work.
The workshop was on planning - schemes of work written in January for the whole year also need some tweaking when you've unexpectedly lost a week of teaching time to sport and leadership training. The teachers have now reassessed their programs and are looking towards end of year exams. They also enjoyed banana and passionfruit muffins and mango yoghurt pikelets - half at the beginning of the workshop and the remainder at 4 o'clock when they showed me what they had achieved!
I have been working on a collection of stories and poems to expand the students' store of reading materials.The English teacher, I know, has enjoyed reading the Roald Dahl works I have found. I also found a cache of Hans Christian Andersen stories that have universal appeal despite being from different continent and century. And the Danish volunteer pointed me in the direction of some wonderful international poetry - works from Zimbabwe in English language that should resonate with our students.
This week I also felt a long way from home when our daughter unexpectedly and without warning married her partner Jeremy in Hobart and I also missed our grand-daughter Sophie Jean's first birthday party. I'll catch up with them all in Australia in December I hope - Skype is great but not a substitute for a proper cuddle.
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| A photo of the elopement in their living room! |
