"For the fortunate among us, the fourth danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us.
There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."
-Robert Kennedy
The first paragraph explains pretty much exactly why I decided to get on this crazy ride in the first place-- eight months ago. THe second paragraph describes how I feel about my service up to this point, a summation of my thoughts each and every day when I am in the village. Questioning it I am making any sort of difference... and a cocktail of fear, accomplishment, excitement, doubt, and lonliness.
Last week was Zambia's national election. For a young country of 47 years, the majority of Zambia was demanding "change" --- an all too familiar slogan from another election- in another country. THey wanted change from the current ruling party-MMD - who had run the country for the past 5 terms (20 years). For security purposes we were instructed to stay in our villages as the towns and BOMA areas had commotion and small rioting. Everything was fine in the end. The opposition won and the ruling party stepped down peacefully. Horay for a Christian, passive, friendly nation! But of coarse-- there was no learning and no school for the entire week.
Co-teaching is semi-successful. Although exhausting, it pays off when my teacher thanks me for all she has learned and discovered by working together. What I am ultimately woring into each lesson is trying to build up a concept of creativity and critical thinking- I think I have to break down these walls of rote memorization before I try any drastic jeapordy-type review games or colorful acrobatic learner-centered teachin methods--- its way too over thier heads. A success story: in comprehension I have been teaching pupils to try to break apart passages by simply asking the questions Who, What, Where, When, and How. After a few classes...when they realized they have to do a bit more in-depth thinking since Who, What, Where, When and How are not words that are actually spelled out in each passage.. I tried something new. I've got a lot of American newspapers sent from mom. I cut up some articles and brought them to class and had them work in groups and answer the four W's and How regarding the article along with what they learned, and what questions they have regarrding words they didnt understand (they are too embarrassed to ask out loud because the teacher may make fun of them, so by putting it on paper I was able to answer them when correcting). It was a surprisingly smooth lesson because they were genuinly interested, and it wasn't the same boring story from thier text books about "The different types of Teeth in your Mouth," which is actually one of the passages they had to read...twice.
Anyways. Thanks everyone for your continued support. I miss you all more than you know. ANd Owego keep your head up. I heard about all the flooding.... your a strong community with a good support system of families.
until next time... twalamonana!
...And here's my world map progress...
THe biggest spider I've ever seen. It had hair. And was about to crawl on me before my friend Jenny killed it
There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."
-Robert Kennedy
The first paragraph explains pretty much exactly why I decided to get on this crazy ride in the first place-- eight months ago. THe second paragraph describes how I feel about my service up to this point, a summation of my thoughts each and every day when I am in the village. Questioning it I am making any sort of difference... and a cocktail of fear, accomplishment, excitement, doubt, and lonliness.
Last week was Zambia's national election. For a young country of 47 years, the majority of Zambia was demanding "change" --- an all too familiar slogan from another election- in another country. THey wanted change from the current ruling party-MMD - who had run the country for the past 5 terms (20 years). For security purposes we were instructed to stay in our villages as the towns and BOMA areas had commotion and small rioting. Everything was fine in the end. The opposition won and the ruling party stepped down peacefully. Horay for a Christian, passive, friendly nation! But of coarse-- there was no learning and no school for the entire week.
Co-teaching is semi-successful. Although exhausting, it pays off when my teacher thanks me for all she has learned and discovered by working together. What I am ultimately woring into each lesson is trying to build up a concept of creativity and critical thinking- I think I have to break down these walls of rote memorization before I try any drastic jeapordy-type review games or colorful acrobatic learner-centered teachin methods--- its way too over thier heads. A success story: in comprehension I have been teaching pupils to try to break apart passages by simply asking the questions Who, What, Where, When, and How. After a few classes...when they realized they have to do a bit more in-depth thinking since Who, What, Where, When and How are not words that are actually spelled out in each passage.. I tried something new. I've got a lot of American newspapers sent from mom. I cut up some articles and brought them to class and had them work in groups and answer the four W's and How regarding the article along with what they learned, and what questions they have regarrding words they didnt understand (they are too embarrassed to ask out loud because the teacher may make fun of them, so by putting it on paper I was able to answer them when correcting). It was a surprisingly smooth lesson because they were genuinly interested, and it wasn't the same boring story from thier text books about "The different types of Teeth in your Mouth," which is actually one of the passages they had to read...twice.
Anyways. Thanks everyone for your continued support. I miss you all more than you know. ANd Owego keep your head up. I heard about all the flooding.... your a strong community with a good support system of families.
until next time... twalamonana!
...And here's my world map progress...
Painting during election week...since there were no classes
My grade nine's!
My senior teacher's wearing thier Patriot Front icitenge's on the day election results were announced. That's the new President Michael Sata that you see on there
Trust, Esther, and Oksillia
And Jessica pushin them around
THe biggest spider I've ever seen. It had hair. And was about to crawl on me before my friend Jenny killed it
A teacher and grade nine pupils painting the whole wide world!
haha soooooo serious
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