Sunday, February 20, 2005
Saturday, February 19, 2005
So, Classes. During the week without teaching, I talked with small groups of students, the Asst. Academic Master talked to the classes and small groups of students, and so did the 2nd MasterI also pulled in the Academic Director of the Peace Corps in Dar for consultation and suggestions. . The administration and other teachers were gracious and generous in offering ideas and help. The problems, as I see them after all the consultations and reflection, can be summarized as:
1. My blackboard notes last year were disorganized and very confusing. I certainly see that now. My teaching style would have been fine for students who had a textbook to use for reference, but not for instruction where the “textbook” is what the teacher writes on the board and there ARE no textbooks. I do learn. By contrast, my blackboard notes this year have been highly organized and methodical, but some students had already decided that they could not learn from me and consequently have refused even to try.
2. I tend to talk as I write on the blackboard, to amplify and give background to my notes. But English is my student’s second language – third language, for those whose communities still speak a tribal language. They just cannot write and at the same time listen in any meaningful way.
3. Although I write the concepts to be covered in each class on the board before starting to teach, I also need to do more review – to recap what was important at the end of every period, also.
4. Perhaps most importantly, my students think that I am teaching from American textbooks and that this is not the information they will need to pass the Tanzanian National Examinations. It is really unfortunate how the National Exams skew the system from learning to memorization, but it is a fact of life, here. (I only hope that the US trend to National Exams and Evaluations under the guise of No Child Left Behind can avoid this trap.)
The fault for our impasse is not all mine, of course. For their part, the students must also make an effort. They:
1. MUST copy the notes I write on the board, and they MUST review them the same day to be sure they understand them.
2. They must BE in class. And if they are absent from class, it is their responsibility to get the notes from a good student and copy them, on their own.
3. They really must supplement the classwork with other sources of information as well – books in the library, copies of old National Exams, notebooks from students who took the class before, whatever.
Overall, I really had lost control of the classes. Attendance had been low and dropping. Students wandered out of the room if they chose, didn’t take notes, etc. I talked to students individually about this – what to do. The uniform answer was “Whip them.” The whole system here is geared to punishment, negative reinforcement, hitting. I’m not QUITE ready to give in to that yet, but....
Another issue is that students are required to take chemistry, and some students just want nothing to do with it. Those are the really disruptive students. So the administration has agreed to let students drop chemistry if they understand the consequences (they will not be able to take any science curricula in the future).
Attendance in the first classes this week was about 1/3 higher than it had ever been before. I began by showing them how I start preparing a lesson, by looking at the Tz syllabus, then at the kind of questions on that topic asked in the National Examination, then I look at books both Tz and American to put together the best presentation I can. After that, we spent the period reviewing material from first classes I had given, and I gave them homework to review the material I had covered in other classes. They were generally attentive, and discipline wasn’t bad.
During the week, the school specifically invited students of several of the classes to opt out of the course if they chose.
The second set of classes were the more interesting ones (I teach each class 2x per week). I figure this was the critical time – if they didn’t do their homework, and got away with it, any discipline I might have earned would be lost. Soon after I began teaching, I looked at my class and there was a student sitting there – again – with no pen, no notebook, arms crossed. I confronted him. “Are you a student? Where is your notebook? Why don’t you have a pen?” Got only the familiar Blank Tanzanian Zombie Stare. Confrontation repeated, louder. Got a response this time, almost a sneer: “I am not taking chemistry, sir.” Aha! “Have you accepted the invitation to drop chemistry?” “Yes.” “Oh. And who else in the class is dropping chemistry.” About ten hands went up. I “invited” them to go to the library, as “this class is only for chemistry students.” I have never seen Tanzanian students move so fast – suddenly no more of the zombie resistance. They were OVERJOYED to get out of there!
It created the most amazing change. After that, the room was silent – no more jokes, fake coughing or side conversations - and the remaining students were literally soaking up everything I said. There was a participation, attention and energy level that had NEVER been there before. If this is a sign of the future, there are good things ahead!
Of course, it ain’t ALL hearts and roses. I gave a short quiz, and the kids did really quite well on the work that I presented in the previous period, but had almost NO knowledge of the work I asked them to find and study as homework. But still, we certainly do have a basis to begin learning chemistry, at long last.
So, Classes. During the week without teaching, I talked with small groups of students, the Asst. Academic Master talked to the classes and small groups of students, and so did the 2nd MasterI also pulled in the Academic Director of the Peace Corps in Dar for consultation and suggestions. . The administration and other teachers were gracious and generous in offering ideas and help. The problems, as I see them after all the consultations and reflection, can be summarized as:
1. My blackboard notes last year were disorganized and very confusing. I certainly see that now. My teaching style would have been fine for students who had a textbook to use for reference, but not for instruction where the “textbook” is what the teacher writes on the board and there ARE no textbooks. I do learn. By contrast, my blackboard notes this year have been highly organized and methodical, but some students had already decided that they could not learn from me and consequently have refused even to try.
2. I tend to talk as I write on the blackboard, to amplify and give background to my notes. But English is my student’s second language – third language, for those whose communities still speak a tribal language. They just cannot write and at the same time listen in any meaningful way.
3. Although I write the concepts to be covered in each class on the board before starting to teach, I also need to do more review – to recap what was important at the end of every period, also.
4. Perhaps most importantly, my students think that I am teaching from American textbooks and that this is not the information they will need to pass the Tanzanian National Examinations. It is really unfortunate how the National Exams skew the system from learning to memorization, but it is a fact of life, here. (I only hope that the US trend to National Exams and Evaluations under the guise of No Child Left Behind can avoid this trap.)
The fault for our impasse is not all mine, of course. For their part, the students must also make an effort. They:
1. MUST copy the notes I write on the board, and they MUST review them the same day to be sure they understand them.
2. They must BE in class. And if they are absent from class, it is their responsibility to get the notes from a good student and copy them, on their own.
3. They really must supplement the classwork with other sources of information as well – books in the library, copies of old National Exams, notebooks from students who took the class before, whatever.
Overall, I really had lost control of the classes. Attendance had been low and dropping. Students wandered out of the room if they chose, didn’t take notes, etc. I talked to students individually about this – what to do. The uniform answer was “Whip them.” The whole system here is geared to punishment, negative reinforcement, hitting. I’m not QUITE ready to give in to that yet, but....
Another issue is that students are required to take chemistry, and some students just want nothing to do with it. Those are the really disruptive students. So the administration has agreed to let students drop chemistry if they understand the consequences (they will not be able to take any science curricula in the future).
Attendance in the first classes this week was about 1/3 higher than it had ever been before. I began by showing them how I start preparing a lesson, by looking at the Tz syllabus, then at the kind of questions on that topic asked in the National Examination, then I look at books both Tz and American to put together the best presentation I can. After that, we spent the period reviewing material from first classes I had given, and I gave them homework to review the material I had covered in other classes. They were generally attentive, and discipline wasn’t bad.
During the week, the school specifically invited students of several of the classes to opt out of the course if they chose.
The second set of classes were the more interesting ones (I teach each class 2x per week). I figure this was the critical time – if they didn’t do their homework, and got away with it, any discipline I might have earned would be lost. Soon after I began teaching, I looked at my class and there was a student sitting there – again – with no pen, no notebook, arms crossed. I confronted him. “Are you a student? Where is your notebook? Why don’t you have a pen?” Got only the familiar Blank Tanzanian Zombie Stare. Confrontation repeated, louder. Got a response this time, almost a sneer: “I am not taking chemistry, sir.” Aha! “Have you accepted the invitation to drop chemistry?” “Yes.” “Oh. And who else in the class is dropping chemistry.” About ten hands went up. I “invited” them to go to the library, as “this class is only for chemistry students.” I have never seen Tanzanian students move so fast – suddenly no more of the zombie resistance. They were OVERJOYED to get out of there!
It created the most amazing change. After that, the room was silent – no more jokes, fake coughing or side conversations - and the remaining students were literally soaking up everything I said. There was a participation, attention and energy level that had NEVER been there before. If this is a sign of the future, there are good things ahead!
Of course, it ain’t ALL hearts and roses. I gave a short quiz, and the kids did really quite well on the work that I presented in the previous period, but had almost NO knowledge of the work I asked them to find and study as homework. But still, we certainly do have a basis to begin learning chemistry, at long last.
