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“she stepped in front of me and said "Don't worry. I'll watch out for you."” |
All children have the ability to learn. The more readily opportunities come to a student, the less likely they are to feel devoted to these opportunities, and thus I would wonder if such students are more or less engaged. I've been mulling all this over in my head- trying to sort out what parts of all this mental framework needs modifying, and what parts are kernels of an actual pattern between learning and a student's devotion and engagement. One thing I thought of today as we visited the Eendracht Elementary School in inner city Pretoria was: if high school discipline is similar to this, then how do high schoolers get exposed to techniques like experiential learning? In language, most students can practice being multilingual through daily encounters in school and with other people. But in terms of history, civics, literature, etc... it seems like most textbook examples of experiential learning I think of occur when students can leave a classroom and have the resources to be successful in the outside environment. What would it take to make that possible in an inner city high school? Or is it already going on? I saw action in the classrooms today, for example in the first classroom we visited, I saw some solid examples of group work. The groups were small, 4-6 in a group, talking quietly amongst themselves and visibly cooperating. Some of the students were so engrossed in their tasks that they ignored us as soon as it was polite to do so. The male teacher in charge boasted of his discipline skills, though the only disciplining we saw was him yelling at the kids and threatening them with the back of his hand.
Notes from brief discussion with first grade teacher: She divides her students into groups. Every week, all students get a workbook on that week's "theme" (colors, adding, doubling, halving, and water were some of the themes she mentioned). The themes were given to her at the start of the year and she chose how and when to break the themes down and teach them. She collects a different group's work each day to grade. She assesses them (as does the faculty? She implied that a neutral party also assesses their learning at the year's end). She kept referring to meetings that the faculty had the prior week to discuss the standards every student should meet, and expressed that she continues to make efforts to change her lessons so that her classes can meet every standard. Rochelle was the oldest girl I met at the school. She loves science, was REALLY friendly and smart, has a cousin being brought to America (by People to People?) and thought we were there representing the organization bringing him over. She kept saying that someday she will go to America as well. But she also said she wouldn't want to stay in America because "My cousin says some people there hate black people." That blew me away. All day I've thought back to the racism in America and why I felt surprised and ashamed that Rochelle knew about it. I wanted her to not know about it, and it was more than me wanting to protect her from feeling anxious about America, a lot of it was my own pride. I've somehow managed to push back a lot of the skeletons in my own closet in order to feel like my country and family and community have "risen above" race issues. Rochelle totally called me out! Rochelle was delighted to know that I'd met an American girl with her name, because she said it made her more famous. She got angry when another student threw a pencil our way, and in a very protective gesture she stepped in front of me and said "Don't worry. I'll watch out for you." A simple but very sweet moment.
previous travel blog entry
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