Reflections on our first year

• December 20, 2008
  Reflections on our first year
  Work and play has been a whirlwind since September. We are told by the volunteers who have just completed their 2 years of service that the 2nd and final year will go even faster.
  For this BLOG entry, I am telling you the things we have been working on with all the different kinds of support from people at home and here.
  SCIENCE TEACHING STRATIGIES
  (many of these came from Saint Paul Public School Teachers!)
  · The use of notebook organizational strategies in Form I. When we started revision for the annual exam, the students could see for themselves the topics covered and the pages in their notes that were helpful.
  · Lots of designing little experiments together to develop problem solving skills. Once students got the idea of guessing and forming a hypothesis, they were more willing to talk in class, saying, “madame, I will try. I think...” It has been a revelation to students that the facts they must memorize for National Exams were discovered by the investigative process they were doing.
  · Scavenger hunts to discover things in their environment pertaining to topics.
  · With all the colored pencils donated by many of you folks, students were highly motivated to draw biology diagrams required in the notebooks.
  · Teaching students how to write an essay on biology topics, then small group practice on writing different essays together.
  · Form I prepared short lessons and short notes (by lab group) on Form I Biology topics and taught these to Form II for their revision of Form I topics before the regional exam.
  · Preparing study guides for each new topic was very helpful to keep students working between classes, copying short notes, looking up and defining new vocabulary, drawing diagrams, and answering g summary questions. Also, sharing vocabulary words with the English teacher.
  · Giving a pre-test before each topic which students completed in small groups in class proved to be highly motivating and useful to me and the students to know what they needed to learn and what they knew.
  · Getting live or fresh specimens from the community for dissection was of high interest and allowed the school community to get involved with the teaching of students. The school cook got the fish, the night watchman went to the village to get the cow heart, lungs and trachea on the day we needed it so it would not spoil. The sisters got to eat it after! Eggs for osmosis were gotten from the school hens and many food supplies from the cook. The school tailor hemmed the rice bags to use for instructional posters.
  · Having students work in small groups to take practice NECTA EXAMS allowed me to correct only 12 exams per class and let them pool their knowledge.
  · Having small groups prepare lessons with requirements of visual aids and participation then rotate the small groups to teach another small group really facilitated more questions and discussions because they were small little classes with in a class. This also really helped the students struggling with English. They could talk in Kiswahili when needed for deeper understanding.
  · Small groups constructing models of different kinds of cells out of play dough and scraps of material and things I saved from my house (foil from Nido cans, bottle caps, rope, cardboard, etc.). The challenge of seeing cells as 3-D is huge and this really helped.
  · Doing a little Yoga and singing songs with students as a way to re-energize before class starts.
  Some outcomes:
  · Students at Kongei Secondary School have said to me, “I will always be able to say that I know these things because I was able to build the human body model, dissect the cow heart and see the anatomy movies. I can tell my family and my future children.” “Nobody has ever shown us these ways to protect ourselves from HIV.” “We have tried, really tried.”
  · The Form II Biology students performed 57% higher on their regional exam than the last Form II class. Kongei students told me that one of my students earned the highest score in the district on the Biology Mock Exam.
  · Form I Biology students all were able to write a good essay question answer on their annual exam and many were able to correctly answer questions about a scientific experiment and then analyze experimental data on their annual exam. The Form I overall exam scores demonstrated very good results.
  · With the help of John Olson, St.Paul Public Schools, I have completed an inventory of the chemicals at Kongei and prepared a folder with Chemical Safety Data Sheets for every chemical after a science department meeting generated interest in having this safety resource.
  · A science teacher from Gare Secondary School and I have been able to share lesson plans and teaching aids to teach biology and chemistry. We have agreed to work together again next year.
  · The teacher from Gare and met with the headmaster at Gare and together wrote a proposal for a basic science lab.
  · Katy Lee, PCV at Ubiri Secondary School and I worked together to teach 15 of her students how to conduct the experiments to test for food nutrients. These lab experiments are part of the Form II Biology syllabus and are part of the Form IV NECTA Exam. I met a student last week on the road and she asked if I could return next term to teach them more of the practical exam skills they will need.
  
  SCIENCE CLUB
  · The eight students that constructed a display for the library including a 3-D torso model and accompanying instructional poster received recognition at graduation. We had five groups of 15 students watch and discuss the collection of human anatomy DVD’s produced through the Body Worlds exhibit author.
  
  MUSIC CLUB
  With the help of my cousin, Dianna, donating Instruction books and music, the music club students have learned how to read music and performed the national anthem at graduation. Since graduation and the purchase of additional flutes, the club grew from 7 to 16 students. Form III drummers have started teaching Form I students how to play to replace them when they leave at the end of next year.
  
  COMPUTER SKILLS
  · A biology teacher at Kongei worked with me to enter his grades on an excel spread sheet to calculate the final grades for the year.
  · A physics teacher used my computer to type his own annual exams. Next term he plans to use the new computers that have arrived at the school.
  
  Permaculture/ Life Skills
  · Student Peer leadership group had 5 Sunday seminars to learn about HIV/AIDS and develop life skills to have more choices and strategies to use in daily living. Next term they will be teaching their peers.
  · Kongei Primary School garden is growing well. and they have added another 6 matutas of carrots and kunde. They have sold mchicha from their garden to the community. After completing the garden,
  · The Kongei Primary second master reported that parents were coming to see the garden because their child had encouraged them to build a garden like it at their home. Also, he has a garden near the road going to the school that he and his son have constructed using the bio-intensive methods learned from the school garden.
  · Our neighborhood shamba worker and night watchman participated in the two workshops with Peter and asked to go together to bring the composting methods, perma-culture and bio-intensive garden methods to two other primary schools in the area (Chumbageni and Mchizi). We have gone twice to Chumbageni primary school. The head teacher instructed the students to start a compost pile at home. We have been asked to return in January and help them construct a demonstration garden.
  · When I returned to Chumbageni Primary to take the HIV/AIDS and Life Skills books, three teachers told me they needed a teacher seminar to learn more about HIV/AIDS and how to teach their students. The teachers came from Mchizi and Chumbageni Primary Schools. Kongei Primary and their teachers are also interested in a HIV/AIDS Teacher Seminar. We discussed the possibility to have a seminar in February hosted by Kongei Primary.
  · I was invited by a primary student to help her and her friends to construct a garden next to her grandparents’ home where she lives. We completed one bed together with her friends and the second will be constructed with her uncle.
  · I have started nursery beds at my site for “guild” plants that are hard to find here and seeds for popular vegetables (papaya, aloe, lemon grass, avocado, mchicha, Brandywine tomatoes, vitungu kitamu rangi ya carroti).
  · My counterpart has expanded the garden by my house, adding beds of cabbage that he has transplanted to another area to raise for profit. He has requested to add more beds of his favorite vegetables. This has brought more local people into my garden to help, learning the techniques of bio-intensive gardening.
  · In Lushoto two women’s groups developed a gardens at homes. In January, they have asked for help to develop a garden at the primary school in Lushoto where one is a teacher.
  
  PCPP Funding for Teacher Housing at Kongei Primary School
  Kongei Primary School has successfully written a Partnership Grant proposal for teacher housing. With ALL your donations and support, the funds have been raised and on December 3, 2008 we had a meeting with the leadership team to start the process to build teacher housing and septic tank. The school committee met on December 5th and has planned for the site preparation to begin in January.
  
  Mathematics and Technology
  John has been teaching Form III and IV Mathematics. Here is a brief summary of his work. Go to his BLOG for more details: johntanzania.blogspot.com
  · The math students have made huge gains in their exam scores through his teaching (77% improvement). The Math scores in Tanzania in general are extremely low and so it is difficult to convince students that it is possible to succeed in math.
  · Some of the strategies he is using are: spiraling homework assignments so students would have constant review, building math skills and confidence; approach new material from a problem-solving perspective; and having students’ working in groups to discover solutions and strategies.
  · He has designed a one week Math Camp the week before January term begins for Form VI students that are struggling with Math.
  · With 10 rebuilt computers that arrived from Demark, John hopes to make more progress in teaching computer skills to teachers and students. His efforts so far have been limited to one computer and one afternoon a week available to show teachers tools for calculating grades. He has also used his own computer as a visual aid in the classroom. The new computer resource can significantly change his ability to facilitate learning and enthusiasm for technology tools.
  LANGUAGE
  · John works diligently every night to practice Kiswahili. His vocabulary is huge, often impressing teachers because he knows words they have never heard before.
  · He has been teaching English to different village folks that ask him.
  
  Sharing English Story Books and other things with Neighborhood Children
  · With all the different children’s’ books you have donated, neighborhood children, 3 years to 12 years old come weekly to “check out” a new book to read.
  · The Banana Word tiles are very popular. Children come to our house and spend an hour or more making words and practice their English.
  · The calendars you have sent are great, too. We have neighbors stop by to use our calendar! The MN scenes give us a chance to talk about home and comparisons to Tanzania weather and landscapes.
  · Family pictures, especially of the grandchildren doing things in America are special to people here. The children love to see the school work that Kelsey and Kole have done!