November 25, 2008

November 25, 2008 – The First Report on School

School has now been in session for well over a month. I am really enjoying it so far. I am teaching seventh and ninth grade math and it looks like I’m going to be teaching English after Christmas. The school schedule is such that the students are in school from 8 until noon each day; one class is from 8 to 10 and the second is from 10 to noon. I teach Monday through Wednesday from 8 to noon. I have 30 ninth graders and most are between the ages of 15 and 18; my seventh graders are anywhere between 12 and 18 and right now I have 75 of them! 75 students in one room. We’re currently studying similar things as we do in the States – my ninth graders are solving equations after some revision of positive and negative numbers (“Keep Change Change” is now an international phenomenon – although I call it “Same Change Change” in French.) My seventh graders just finished comparing decimal numbers. I like how I get to do similar lessons and activities as I do at home, although I’m finding that it takes a long time to get them going in an activity since it is unheard of in other classes. They seem to really get a lot out of it and are having a good time…because after all, math is fun, right?

I spend the other days in classes of other teachers to understand Guinean school system and to help my French. Disciplining in French is tough so I’m trying to learn some new vocabulary for such occasions. The other teachers work hard and I look forward to exchanging ideas about teaching. The students take French, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, and Civics. All courses are during 1, two-hour period each week, except French and Math are for 3, two-hour periods each week. I sat in on a Physics class where the teacher spent 20 minutes drawing a diagram which took the kids then another 20 minutes to copy. That’s almost half of their Physics time for the week for one diagram. I see a lot of this.

What is really encouraging to me is that the students are eager to learn. Many of them come by my house for tutoring or stay after class for help. I gave them a bonus problem on their last exam and they wouldn’t leave school until they got it. (Draw a three-by-three grid, place the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 such that each row, column, and diagonal adds up to 18. I know at least one of you were wondering.) That is the sort of stuff that makes my day and what I love about teaching. I am constantly reassessing my goals here since the more I learn, the more I realize what I can and cannot do. I have to have faith in the “make a difference to one student” because some of the other changes needed here are two big for two years. Small changes; get students thinking creatively and thinking deeply about math. Getting them to learn, really learn, not just memorize. This is what I’m working on now. I have a couple of projects for the summer that are starting to get in the works – mostly working with teachers – and I am excited about their prospects.

I will continue to share more about school in the days to come!