It is officially the half-way mark! I got together with our lovely director Kelly Jo and the rest of the World Teach crew and we spent the weekend in Kibuye on Lake Kivu.
The point of the weekend was to assess how we are doing and what we can do moving forward. Many interesting discussions resulted (including the whole critical thinking issue) but I won’t bore you with all of them.
Critical Thinking: Many people thought to start small, give them 2 view points and ask to decide which one they agree with. Others (moi) suggested having them write on topics close to home as that is how I have gotten my best answers. Another view was that if you grow up in this culture, critical thinking isn’t a skill that is totally necessary. You can copy notes in Secondary and University and then go on to do menial work where you copy what comes from the top.
Work in class: One big problem that plagues almost everyone is students (esp. senior 6 who have national exams coming up) doing other work during English class. Most of our English classes are not the standard “Chalk and talk” format, and so students are not used to the different and more open structures. 2 schools of thought emerged.
1. Students do English in English Class or leave. Teachers take other books away and/or inflict punishments (bad grades, standing at the blackboard, sitting next to the teacher) to enforce.
2. Let them make their own choices. If you don’t pay attention then you fail the test. Personally, I belong to a middle school of the divisions. If senior 6 kids do chemistry in my class, fine, but if they talk about it and disrupt others, then I take away books. They must always participate if we are doing group work (“Don’t be a bad group member”) My friend Joco shared an interesting anecdote about her own upbringing that I think plays into the second school of thought. Joco’s father told her that a bad teacher was no excuse not to get an A. No matter what happens in the classroom, it’s your job to learn and make the most of it. (but in a country with little critical thinking…. you can see why there are no easy answers).
This is what my small group (Loren, Emma, Chelsea and me) drew as a “Map or Representation” of our year. The good is supposed to be inside the heart, bad out. Rice and beans made it halfway in between.
This is what Evan, John and Joco’s group drew as their map.
The rest of the time was mostly fun and good ol’ dance party, DJ-ed by Kelly Jo’s fiancée Camble and group member Hewsan. We were also joined by Mitesh’s Dad who happened to be visiting during this time.
KJ dances with Mitesh’s Dad KJ, Inga and Kim
I did not go in the water! No shistosmiosis for me!
Swimmers play catch the rugby ball
Lake Kivu
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