First class

We finally had our first class today and it was very successful. I loved it and my heart filled with happiness when I shared with them my ways and ideas on teaching. They were open and had a lot of questions. Let me explain.

So there are five teachers, and one substitute teacher, three males, three females. The teachers here do not get paid so they not only teach out of the kindness of their heart, they have to find other ways to make money to support themselves and their family. It is quiet humbling. We had a meeting on Sunday about the details and they were complaining that this is their vacation and they were not getting paid to do this. Marquise then made a valid point that her and I are also not getting paid and that this is all volunteer work.

During our meeting we decided on a time to meet every day. For the first class meeting, four of the team members were over a half an hour late. Later I learned that it takes about an hour to an hour and a half each day to walk to the school, so they had to leave by 6:30 some days. Our classes were suppose to start at 8:00 am each day, but that usually was never the case, so our classes were cut short every day. 

Anyways, so we got started and at the meeting the day before I asked them to come to the first class with their academic concerns. Their concerns are mostly about making lesson plans, classroom management, student engagement and preparation. This is perfect because I brought those specific resources with me to share, and more.

It is such a patient process because Marquise is the translator and she has to listen to their ideas, and then explain to me. Then she asks me a question about what I think and tells them, then they ask questions about “how would this work?” etc., etc. For example, for attendance they call out each students name and the student says ‘present’. I suggested to them that the students should take attendance when they first arrive to the school. It was a concept that never even thought of. 

Each student would have their name written on a clothes line clip, which would be attached to a string on a hanger by grade level. The students would find their name on the hanger that says Absent and clip it to the string on the hanger that says Present. I personally would make a fun visual, but I am trying to work with the resources they have here, and plus there are 150 students. We did this as a class so they could practice this strategy and hopefully apply it to the new school year.  When I first introduce the idea, they said it would take up too much time, but I explained that it would actually save them time because students could do it right when they get to school, and all the teachers have to do is look at the clips instead of calling 40 names out while each student waits. After I drew them a picture and they understood the concept, they liked it.

The students go to school from 8:00-1:00 and they don’t have time for extra activities in the morning. This is unfortunate because I believe students need to create a community in the classroom. We talked about what kind of consequences there should be when students are absent and/or late, and the difficulties of keeping students engaged when they are in a one room building with no walls. The students get distracted easily so it is more difficult to teach lessons.

We have A LOT of work to do and I am excited because they seem pretty open minded, and this is also helping me prepare for my own classroom setup, and what my ways are.

Marquise and I left smiling and we were pretty proud of ourselves. We were saying, “You da shit… No, you da shit…”

Finally, I get to do what I came here to do. I have high expectations.