This past week has been pretty good. I've found things to fill my time, so I'll give you a sample of a weekday: Up at 5:45, work out for a little bit, take a shower, eat bread and peanut butter (called groundnut paste here), then its off to school by 7:15. School days vary, but I average about two hours a day actually teaching, and the rest of the time I am either preparing lesson plans, talking with teachers, reading, or zoning out. School ends at 2pm, so amidst little kids from the kindergarten yelling "Yevu!" (White man) I walk to our small little market. There are only about 3 people actually selling things at any given time, so I do mean small. I pick up some fresh eggs, onions, spaghetti, or whatever else I need to make dinner. But, I must be finished cooking and cleaning by 6:15 because it gets dark and we don't have a light in our kitchen area. Usually some students come around for an hour or two and I let them use my computer to practice typing or teach some ICT in addition to school. One student, however, is about 16 and is really good with computers, so I monitor his usage but don't need to tell him what to do. Then, its off to bed by 9pm to wake up early for the next day.
I gave my first quiz Thursday, and it was less than stellar. Since students have always copied off each other for tests since a very early age, about half will do even more work to cheat while I am looking instead of looking back into their notes. I just don't get it. I have strict rules if they cheat, but a select few still try their darndest.
So our school has/had a problem. Some students can't read. At all. This is a problem because all tests are in English. How can a student be expected to answer a question when they can't even read the words? Well, all standardized tests are multiple choice with 4 answers, so guessing on the entire test you will get on average a 25%. BUT, to pass you only need to get a 40%! So we have pulled about 30 of our 90 students out of class for a month or two to teach them to read English, and maybe speak it too. They may repeat the grade, but its better in the long term that they know English, and my classes are now comprised of only the 'smart' students, or even those who can understand what I am saying.
I am really starting to love my site, my community, and everything related to it. I'm quite happy with how things are turning out currently, so I hope this will continue.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010
School Starts!!
YES!! School has started and I've been really excited to have something to do finally in my community. We have six teachers and a headmaster at our JHS, but so far there has yet to be one day when every teacher shows up. The school is run on a prefect system, and the only other experience I've had with prefects has been reading Harry Potter. Also, we have different sections (Red, Gold, and Green - the colors of the Ghanaian Flag) that compete for points depending on how well they behave and how well they do on test... the only time I've known of such a system is once again Harry Potter and their Houses. Prefects are students that have been given responsibilities like sweep the library every morning, make sure the school grounds are clean, or lead the school during Assembly, so its like halfway between a student and teacher because if other students misbehave, the prefects report them and even sometimes take discipline into their own hands (discouraged).
For a school with around 110 students and 6 teachers, it makes sense to hand off responsibility to students as much as possible. In fact, I (including being in charge of Red section) hardly need to do any real work. Walking to school, students come to carry my backpack for me. If I'm hungry, students go and fetch me lunch. If a teacher leaves something at my house way across town, its far too much work for the teacher to walk there: he or she tells a student where it is and to go and bring it. Also, if a teacher's yard need to be mowed (called weeding), students are rallied up, and instead of going to school they go and weed!
We had a staff meeting this week. Was it held after school or before school? No, it took up half the day and all the teachers were required to attend in full. When classes are supposed to be taught but the teacher doesn't show up or is otherwise unable to teach, there is no substitute teacher. The students sit for the entire period in the classroom. I've tried to address this waste of time with my headmaster and how to change it, and he said yes to my ideas but means no to implementation.
Every Wednesday morning is Worship time, so all the students gather in a classroom to sing and dance and pray. This was Wednesday, we had a guest motivational speaker come in to inspire them to try in school. I didn't participate in worship so I was in the teachers lounge doing lesson plans, and my colleague, Clement, comes to get me to come be to motivational speaker. Me, taken totally unawares, thought it was a joke. Surely, I could at least have a few minutes to prepare. Nope, he said, I must come now and they expected me to talk for at least 15 minutes in front of our whole school and I could not get out of it. So I gave a talk for 15 minutes on the fly about why they should try in school.
I do not mean to paint my school in a bad light, there are just a lot of things that an American can come in and think "This should change, that should change and things would be better", but we have limited resources here and motivation. Students have many chores when they get home, and parents take education as something only done at school. It will also take students a long time to earn any money, possibly 7 years from now. Or, if they stop school, they can immediately go out and earn some cash. Even though we are supposed to teach in English all the time, some students can barely read and others can barely speak, and this is by 7th grade! I am however, happy that there are some students who have a desire to excel, and I am teaching them ICT (information communication technology) two days a week in addition to school to some students.
Favorite line in grading papers so far: "sources of data provide facts bitch not create them"
Number of canings witnessed: 10+
Random names of students in my classes: Redeemer, Saviour, Peace, Divine, Grace, Blessing
For a school with around 110 students and 6 teachers, it makes sense to hand off responsibility to students as much as possible. In fact, I (including being in charge of Red section) hardly need to do any real work. Walking to school, students come to carry my backpack for me. If I'm hungry, students go and fetch me lunch. If a teacher leaves something at my house way across town, its far too much work for the teacher to walk there: he or she tells a student where it is and to go and bring it. Also, if a teacher's yard need to be mowed (called weeding), students are rallied up, and instead of going to school they go and weed!
We had a staff meeting this week. Was it held after school or before school? No, it took up half the day and all the teachers were required to attend in full. When classes are supposed to be taught but the teacher doesn't show up or is otherwise unable to teach, there is no substitute teacher. The students sit for the entire period in the classroom. I've tried to address this waste of time with my headmaster and how to change it, and he said yes to my ideas but means no to implementation.
Every Wednesday morning is Worship time, so all the students gather in a classroom to sing and dance and pray. This was Wednesday, we had a guest motivational speaker come in to inspire them to try in school. I didn't participate in worship so I was in the teachers lounge doing lesson plans, and my colleague, Clement, comes to get me to come be to motivational speaker. Me, taken totally unawares, thought it was a joke. Surely, I could at least have a few minutes to prepare. Nope, he said, I must come now and they expected me to talk for at least 15 minutes in front of our whole school and I could not get out of it. So I gave a talk for 15 minutes on the fly about why they should try in school.
I do not mean to paint my school in a bad light, there are just a lot of things that an American can come in and think "This should change, that should change and things would be better", but we have limited resources here and motivation. Students have many chores when they get home, and parents take education as something only done at school. It will also take students a long time to earn any money, possibly 7 years from now. Or, if they stop school, they can immediately go out and earn some cash. Even though we are supposed to teach in English all the time, some students can barely read and others can barely speak, and this is by 7th grade! I am however, happy that there are some students who have a desire to excel, and I am teaching them ICT (information communication technology) two days a week in addition to school to some students.
Favorite line in grading papers so far: "sources of data provide facts bitch not create them"
Number of canings witnessed: 10+
Random names of students in my classes: Redeemer, Saviour, Peace, Divine, Grace, Blessing
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