Observations: Grade 1 and Life.

So I have been trying to observe teachers this week, and having a hard time. Sometimes I am discouraged about how the educational system seems to be failing, but there are some great teachers out there who really do want to improve! But just to give ya an idea of what I am working with, here is my day so far (pretty typical):

Theoretical Schedule:

7:30am to Lower Primary

7:45am All school daily assembly

8am Observe 1st grade class, Mma A

9am To Higher Primary to observe 7th grade class, Mma B (the lesson I helped plan on Monday).

10am Lunch break

11am Observe 6th grade class, Mr. C

2pm Schools out

 

Actual Schedule:

7:30am Arrive at Lower Primary, 1/2 teachers already there

7:45am Teachers start staff meeting to update everyone on the meeting held at the circuit office yesterday (three teachers were gone all day yesterday). Learners entertain themselves in yard.

8:40am End of Staff meeting, all school assembly, send learners to class. I say “Hi Mma A, I am here to observe your class like we talked about yesterday. Oh, you are not ready? You have nothing prepared? Ok, well I have to be at the other school in 20mins, how about I come back later? Yeah, 12pm works great. See you then!”

9am Arrive at Higher Primary school, parent meeting in full swing with principal, one teacher, and 30 parents. The other two teachers are directing the learners in cleaning. Girls are sweeping, polishing the floor; boys are playing, watering the garden. Two classrooms have been emptied of all furniture to better accommodate the cleaning.

10:45am End of parent meeting (they were trying to get volunteers to help with the garden- good plan!) “Hi Mma B (suppose to observe at 9am) oh, its not going to work today? You have to go some where? Ok, I will come back on Friday. First thing in the morning. See you then.”

10:47am On my way out, I meet Mr. C in his car (whom I have scheduled to observe at 11am). “Hi Mr. C! How are you? Oh, you are “knocking off” just now (leaving/going home)? Ok, well I guess I will see you on Friday then.” Learners now are headed home for lunch… with maybe one teacher left for the afternoon.

11am Lunch (lentils and popcorn and coffee, yum!)

12am To lower primary to observe 1st grade, take two.

-Learners are coloring pictures of farm animals.

-Mma A reads the newspaper.

-The other 1st grade class comes in because their teacher has gone to town to “do 1,2,3…”

-Mma A instructs them to take a nap, the learners lay on the cement floor in a huge wiggling pile. Slams the yardstick on the desk a few times to get them to be quiet. I am a bit nervous for them….

-Mma A falls asleep sitting at her desk.

-Other 1st grade class sneaks out, past sleeping Mma. I have to laugh a little…

-Mma A has her class copy the words for each animal, while she tells me about her next lesson will be on a phonic sound. I think “great! Phonics is so important. I am glad she knows that!”

– Learners bring up their papers for “corrections”. Mma erases all the misplaced, misspelled words with complete disdain. She yells loudly if her first mumbled instructions are not immediately followed. I think to myself “we are ruining these kids. I would never put up with being treated to poorly by anyone, let alone a teacher! And these kids don’t even seem to notice!”

-Phonic lesson begins. Learners volunteer words that might begin with “th”. If they are wrong, Mma rolls her eyes and says “Aowa (No)!”

– A boy in the front offers a word without raising his hand, Mma A hits him several times over the head with the heavy wooden pointer she is holding. I want to cry….

– 10mins after the lesson begin, Mma A sits back down at her desk and begins reading the paper again. I decide I have seen enough, and get the hell out of there before I start crying.

2pm Home, bath time.

3:30pm Chat with Mma Pheladi when she stops by for a visit. Says I must be enjoying South Africa because I am getting fat. Super….

4pm Some one comes by to install energy efficient light bulbs.

4:30pm, emailing and waiting for the principal at higher primary to call if we are going to meet with the consultant for the community empowerment project.

 

Yeah, so…. basically not only is the whole education system not functioning well, but it may be inflicting more damage to kids than not. Its just so hard because teachers know in theory what is good practice, but have absolutely no motivation/intrest/know how to actually use it. And the product is kids to who have zero critical thinking skills and have been powertripped their whole lives, so its no wonder they continue the cycle. I am just trying to keep some perspective on the situation. I feel like my two years here is basically doing triache (emergency repair) and trying to remember that this will be happening whether I am here or not, so I might as well try to do as much as I can.

This week has been a turning point for me. Up until now, my experience here has mostly been about me- adjusting, learning, surviving, etc. Now, its like I know too much. There is no way I could go home and not feel for these students. Now I have to stay and try to do something, hopefully when I do go home I will feel like I have done my best to improve the situation. But I also realize that I need to be careful not to get too emotionally involved/invested because I won’t be effective if I am crying every time I go to class.

Wow. I sound smart sometimes. Let me tell you what, there are many moments during the day when I think to myself “what the heck am I doing here!? I am never going to make any kind of impact and I could go home and eat an Illegal Pete’s Big Fish Burrito, get a job/apartment/car, and just live like everyone else.” But for some reason I just can’t bring myself to make the “escape call”, I am starting to think that being a PCV is grounds for an insanity plea. Just kidding!