A Lesson in Flexibility

Although the above title could well apply to this entire trip, this last week has tested my adaptability more than most, and taught me the importance of being able to adjust to whatever each day brings with a positive outlook.  Just as I thought we were settling into some kind of rhythm here, this week brought an unexpected twist: midterms!  Upon arrival at school on Monday, there was some miscommunication with the teachers so that I ended up teaching when I expected to observe Primary 4 to get a sense of what they were studying in Math and English.  The students did not have science for three days in a row as their teacher was busy with other commitments.  As the week progressed, the students were sitting one or two exams each day and it generally fell to me to fill in the gaps.  This meant that the schedule was more thrown off than ever as the students needed 2 to 2 ½ hours (depending on the exam) to complete their exams.  Yes, fourth graders sat 2 ½ hour exams…I was very impressed with how hard they worked and how seriously they took the tests. 

Now while at times it can be easy to become frustrated when I feel unprepared because I am given teaching time which I did not expect and have not planned for, it is teaching me in a very real and authentic way how to think on my feet.  I am learning to view these times as an opportunity to teach to areas I see students struggling, rather than a burden of time to fill.  It also helps now that I’ve learned to come with a few ideas in mind for activities if I end up with an extra period or two!

Midterms…
The exam process has been an interesting one, especially as I was able to help in grading the math exams (which I need to complete after this!) giving me a great deal of insight into where students are struggling.  The majority of my students in Primary 4 scored between 50 and 60%.  It was a bit frustrating as I noticed concept after concept that I would love to target in my lessons, at the same time realizing that I have only two weeks with P4 and only two months with the school as a whole.  As I talked it over with Bri, who was also grading math exams from her class (Primary 3), we determined that the most common issue is comprehension of language-intensive problems.  Students overwhelmingly misinterpreted word problems and written directions, contributing to poor performance.  As we considered how we could use this information to begin to make some changes at the school, we decided that we needed to narrow our focus to something specific with which to leave the teachers.  Helping students understand how to read questions and how to determine what the questions are asking is a skill students could benefit from immensely.  We are hoping to have some discussions with the teachers about this over the next few weeks.   

…and Observations
I also had my first observation this week.  Enoch said he was very happy with our teaching and I was very much encouraged by his comments about my lesson.  As I have noted in earlier posts, the lack of resources means I need to draw, cut out, or otherwise create any kind of visual I want to use in lessons.  I also try very hard to be creative about varying the kinds of activities I plan because the students get so much of the lecture-and-note-taking style of lessons, which I find difficult to attend to at times, much less the students.  It was good to hear that Enoch was happy with the way things are progressing, and I am feeling more confident in my teaching…even as I am realizing (particularly with exams) how much more there is to learn about my students and the Ugandan school system! 

Enoch also mentioned how important it is that the teachers at the school remain in the classrooms with us as we teach, in order to get ideas about various teaching methods.  It is difficult to find the balance between respecting the cultural norms and the expertise of the teachers here, while recognizing that their training is more limited than ours has been, and that they want to learn from us, as they realize that there are more effective methods of instruction than those they commonly use.  This can be difficult and a little intimidating, as these teachers have been teaching for at least a few years, and we are only just beginning.  I also appreciate having the teachers there with me to help explain when I fail to find a clear way to communicate concepts or directions.  I love when I have the sense of working together with the teachers, and the ensuing discussions about what they see in their students and what they think needs to change in their school system.

And to round off the randomness…
On Friday, afternoon classes were cancelled in favor of a sporting event!  The entire school walked about two miles up the road to a nearby government school to take part in a combination netball (imagine a cross between basketball and ultimate Frisbee and, in spite of the name, you should know that there are no nets involved) and soccer competition.  Although the girls lost the netball game, it was a lot of fun seeing the students get so involved, both the players and those on the sidelines.  We also saw a little more of the area around the school, and I realized for the first time just what some students go through to make it to school each day.  Many walk that stretch of two miles or more every day, and some do not wear shoes.  There are dorms for the students who can afford it, but most walk.  The more time I spend here the more I begin to see just how special the students at Rwentutu are.  They are incredibly hard-working, motivated, and joyful individuals and are truly amazing to work with.

The girls line up to begin play.

It was an intense game and the girls played hard to the end!

Beyond School
I recently came to the realization that as of Tuesday we will have spent a full month here in Uganda, and Friday will be the halfway point of our teaching at Rwentutu (and actually, I can’t take credit as Jessica pointed both of these facts out to me).  I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by!  I am particularly enjoying becoming more comfortable with the students and teachers at school, and the improving communication between us and the Ugandans as we have learned how to speak so that they can understand us through our very American accents.  I am also loving the Ugandaisms of communication, such as raised eyebrows to mean “yes” (I am going to pre-apologise for creeping anyone out if I come home doing that…and by the way, that is the Ugandan/British spelling of apologise), pointing with one’s lips, and a high-pitched “eh” to show surprise or dismay.  Although the trip is stretching me in many ways, the joys of working here in Uganda, with such joy-filled and caring individuals, more than makes up for any inconveniences I experience.

I am also loving making friends in the Kasese community.  We have had friends over for dinner and spent yesterday at the pool with a couple of Peace Corps volunteers.  It makes Kasese feel very homey and like there is always something to do or someone to see.  Things I am looking forward to over the next few weeks include the following: next weekend there is a live music show in Kasese (which apparently attracts thousands of people each year), a teacher-student football game next Friday, and a potential trip to Rwanda during the second week of July!  Oh, and Canadians will also be arriving this week to help work on constructing a health care building on the school grounds.  It’s shaping up to be another busy week here-no wonder time is flying! As always, thanks for reading and any updates from home are very welcome!

Settling In

We have just completed our first full week of teaching!  This week the theme has been settling into the rhythm of life here in Kasese.  I have heard (or maybe it is just from a movie) that life has a different rhythm in Africa.  Absolutely true, yet I still feel as though the days fill up quickly with things to do.  Here is a our typical weekday schedule:

7:00am (or 6:30 when I can’t sleep in until 7, which happens frequently-wish it could have been like that back in the States!) – Wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for the day.
7:45am – Leave for school
8:15-8:30am – Arrive at school and prepare to teach
9:30-1030am – Teach (usually) Math
10:30-11am – Break/follow up with students
11:00-12:00am – Observe, usually Social Studies or Science
12:00-1:00pm – Teach (usually) English
1:00-2:00pm – Lunch
2:00-3:00pm – Teach/Observe, depending on the day and whether the teacher shows up J
3:00-4:00pm – Games
Some time after 4:00pm – Head home.  We usually arrive around 4:45-5.  Catch up online, make dinner, and plan lessons.  Dark sets in around 7 so we try to work out or make it into town for the market before it gets too dark, and eat dinner between 7 and 8:30.

Now, what follows is a bit of a lengthy section on teaching, so feel free to move onto the “Non-Education-Related Highlights” section below.

Finishing Up in Primary 5

My Primary 5 class with the letter we composed as a group
to Evan, one of the UW students who taught last summer.  

I have completed my time in P 5, and though I will miss the (roughly) 5^th graders (and finally knowing everyone’s name) I am looking forward to starting to work with Primary 4 next week.  This week’s challenge has been fitting everything I want to teach into the hour-long periods allotted for lessons.  I have attempted to mix some of my own ideas and western education techniques into the curriculum while still getting through the book work which specifically targets concepts they will be tested on in their exams.  Interestingly, there is an updated curriculum manual dated 2010, which is much more similar to curriculum guides in the United States in that it focuses more on standards students must meet rather than being so exam-centered.  However, the school does not have updated textbooks.  This means that the curriculum and the resources do not align, adding another variable to the mix and resulting in my creating lessons with an odd conglomeration of objectives and too many activities to complete in the time given. 

That said, I have enjoyed bringing some creativity to the book work.  For example, while the entire unit for the past two weeks has centered on letter-writing, the students are never actually asked to write a letter, except for in a diminutive section of suggested extra activities in the text book where it recommends that students write a brief letter to a friend.  Otherwise, they are directed to read and answer questions on letters and invitations, and to rearrange given sentences into a letter format.  I decided to try to give the students a more authentic experience.  On Monday, I read the students a picture book called We Dream of a World, written by elementary school students in Missouri about issues they see in the world and what we can do about them.   I then asked the student s to consider what kinds of problems they faced and who they might write to about them.  The response was interesting. 

At first I was hesitant to ask the students to spend a week writing these letters, because I was unsure whether they would have enough information or ideas to write such letters.  However, they blew me away with their ideas.  Subjects they wrote about included poor roads, drought due to deforestation, animals from national parks destroying crops, and expensive education.   The students have some experience in developing arguments from debate, a class they hold every Friday, about issues they come up with as a class and vote on.  The most difficult part of the process was revision.  In a discussion with the teachers, we found that they do not really teach the writing process, including prewriting (brainstorming and organizing ideas) and revising.  The students are used to checking their work for spelling and grammar, but even after emphasizing that I wanted them to spend time in pairs looking at what they could add to their letters or change, and giving them my suggestions, it was difficult for them to make meaningful changes to their writing aside from editing for grammatical errors. 

I think this goes hand in hand with the curricular de-emphasis on comprehension and critical thinking.  Generally, writing seems to be done for writing’s sake, with the stress on grammar rules, spelling, and neat handwriting.   I was asking them to think in a way they were not used to thinking, and while I am not sure just how successful it was, I saw several students attempt to make some additions to their pieces, adding details and changing sentence structures for effect.  However, I also saw students making changes which I think were meant to placate me.  My hope is that students and/or teachers can take something away from the process I asked them to go through in writing the letters, which they may put into practice in the future.  I certainly learned something about how carefully I need to explain my expectations when I am asking students to do something so different from their norm, and that I need to schedule enough time to do so adequately! 

Teaching the kids a simple dancing game I learned in
Guatemala.

I also saw the effects of authenticity in teaching.  When I mentioned that I hoped to find addresses to send some of the letters, there was a tangible change in the feeling of the classroom.  The students sat down to their work with an intensity I had not yet seen in the classroom, a testament to the power of meaningful, relevant experiences in the classroom.  It was pretty cool!

So, all in all, it was a week of mixed success and learning opportunities, and I am looking forward to using what I have learned as I plan lessons for Primary 4. 

Other Non-Education Related Highlights from the Week:

Komodo John "The Beast" Mugabe

This week Brianna was intent on catching a lizard to keep as a pet in our house, which I was completely on board with, having desperately wanted salamanders as a kid.  We were also hoping it might help with the cockroaches.  Our friend John (a University student on break for the summer and connected with Rwentutu through the convoluted ties of familial relationship so common here, where “brother” can mean brother, cousin, or just close friend) caught Komodo John “The Beast” Mugabe (named after John, Komodo Dragons, and a famous Ugandan boxer) at school, using a trap he fashioned using a stick and a piece of string!  Wow, that is a long sentence.  We kept KJ for the better part of the week before deciding that he was not eating due to depression.  We also decided that we were not really into cleaning his cage which was actually a grill that I had been hoping to use at some point…not so sure about that anymore. 

On Wednesday, we met another muzungu (white person) in a supermarket in town!  Our new friend Cormac, a Peace Corps volunteer, introduced us to a few other volunteers living in and around Kasese.  By Friday we had made friends with four Americans, a Belgian, and two Germans, whom we went dancing with on Friday night, along with our Ugandan friend Afan, who somehow manages to meet every muzungu that comes to Kasese! 

We spent Saturday hiking in the Rwenzoris, the tallest mountain range in Africa!  I should be honest, however, and tell you that what we climbed was a bit more like a large hill than a mountain.  Nevertheless, I felt a strong sense of accomplishment, as we crossed what I would certainly term a rushing river of snowmelt, traversed rocky embankments, practiced tight rope walking on the cables of a hanging bridge, braved rain, tried sugar cane and guava from the local farms, and hiked for close to four hours.  We also walked through groves of coffee plants (!) and saw coffee beans drying in the sun.  the mountains provided a nice break from the heat of Kasese and the constant call of muzungu! by, well, pretty much everyone.  For some reason, none of the locals we passed by used the catch-all word for white person, yet they still greeted us with typical Ugandan warmth and friendliness.  It was probably my favorite adventure in Uganda so far.  The scenery was spectacular, from rainforest, to farm, to almost desert-like in the dry river bed from which, as John explained to us, the river shifted to its new position just over the past year. 

John and I celebrating after successfully
fording the river!

The view

Guava on the left and passion fruit on the right

Crossing the river again, but this time by bridge.

 In the interest of keeping it (relatively) short I will stop here for today.  However, I should mention another victory from last week: we made banana bread!  Although oven-less, we managed to create our own convection oven by placing the grate from one of our burners inside a large pot, placing the small pot with banana bread dough on top of the grate in the large pot, and covering it with a sauce pan.  (If that is confusing don’t worry, I took pictures!)  I was pretty proud of our ingenuity, and it worked!  Even the Ugandans approved (although that may have just been due to their unwavering politeness J).  As always, thanks for reading and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

School Days and Safaris

Jessica and I combined classes to do some buddy
reading between my 5th graders and her 2nd graders.
The older students practiced reading aloud and talking
about what they read, explaining it to the 2nd graders
and helping them with comprehension of the text.  

Teaching has finally begun!  This week in Primary 5, we are studying fractions in Math, and letter-writing in English.  I am responsible for these two classes, as well as any additional periods the teachers end up being busy  for or just want me to teach…posing some interesting dilemmas!  Although I had only planned for my regular Math and English classes on Friday, I ended up teaching for an extra hour: “whatever you have prepared…or if not, play games!”  That is a direct quote from the teacher that was meant to be teaching that hour.   I then taught debate, which, thankfully, the kids walked me through and pretty much ran themselves.  I knew this might happen-teaching unexpectedly more periods than we were told to prepare for.  The teachers at the school certainly have a great deal of confidence in us…the truth is, we have more education than them, but they have much more practical experience.  The key will be to find the balance of working together because that is what will best meet the needs of the students. 

Along these lines, one challenge the Ugandan school system faces is that teachers are taught to teach (wow, try saying that five times fast) “middle of the road” students, according to Dr. Gillian (the professor we met at Makerere University in Kampala).  This means that they do not have many strategies to either challenge students who are performing at a high level, or help students who are below grade level to get to where they need to be.   In short, differentiation of instruction really does not exist. 

I am finding that my chief struggle is trying to get to know this group of students well enough in the course of a day or two in order to plan effective lessons.  This is difficult when my own philosophy of education states that knowing each student well is essential for effective teaching.  I firmly believe that a teacher who has a deep understanding of each student’s abilities, background, and interests can better prepare lessons that will engage, challenge, and motivate students to learn.  So with that in mind, I am spending two weeks at a time in each of four different classrooms, fighting a language barrier and a curriculum I am not familiar with…but what a fabulous and exciting challenge! 

And the students themselves are so worth it.  Below you will find examples of some of the introductory letters I asked them to write to me as part of our letter-writing unit.  Most centered on themes of netball, soccer, and school fees, but all were extremely polite and expressed such excitement for having us as teachers.  

I think at least half of the students told me they loved me-

pretty good for only two days!  I think that might just

be the Ugandan hospitality talking though.

The letters made for interesting reading.  Most
centered around netball, school fees, and excitement
about having us as teachers.  

Aaaaand this weekend:

On Saturday Jessica, Bri, and I braved the Ugandan road system for the first time on our own to drive down to Queen Elizabeth National Park!  We picked up Enoch along the way, and proceeded to our first Safari experience (after making a quick stop at the equator)!  Upon entering the park, we were informed that lions had recently had a kill near the road.  Unfortunately, we must have just missed them, as we saw the fresh kill (a wild pig), but no lions.  However, it more than made up for missing the lions when we were set upon by a herd of elephants crossing the road directly in front of our car! 

Waiting for the elephants to clear the rode so we could carry on!

We spend most of the day “getting lost” (upon Enoch’s instructions) in the bush with our car.  We saw bush bucks, buffalo, pelicans, warthogs, impala, and hippos, although these were mostly from a distance.  Except the warthogs, which did not seem to even register our presence, and the pelicans, which kind of looked like creepy old men.  We did have another interesting elephant encounter, however.  While driving out of the park, we came upon a large, solitary elephant walking directly down the road at our car.  As he drew nearer, he began to pick up the pace, at which point we began to panic just a bit.  At the last minute he swerved to the side and melted back into the bush…needless to say that got our hearts pumping!  We ended our day out at a salt lake crater called Katwe, the main source of salt locally until Europeans brought “muzungu” salt into the region.   Oh, and muzungu is our new name, by the way, the word used for any white person and one you will hear repeated constantly should you travel to Uganada and walk, well, anywhere. J   

Standing with a foot in each hemisphere!

It was a busy and fulfilling day, and we spent much of Sunday relaxing, and catching up on communication with home, and planning for our first full week of teaching! 

Learning the Lingo

As some of my very astute readers may have already realized, I made a bit of a mistake on my second post.  In fact, Mata Day is neither Mother’s Day nor Mata Day, but rather Martyr Day, which, of course, makes perfect sense now that I sat through a fifth grade Ugandan Social Studies lesson on the subject…Now upon learning this you can imagine I felt rather mortified.  After about 20 seconds of profound introspection however, during which I considered pretending it never happened, I realized two things:

1)      Do not publish mistakes on your blog.

2)    (And all facetiousness aside, I really believe this) I probably had something to learn from the experience.   

The language barrier here could be extremely isolating, if not for the encompassing friendliness of Ugandans.  However, as I sat and observed lessons on our second day at Rwentutu Christian Community School, I began to realize that this experience might be a little bit of what it is like to be an English Language Learner.  I had the wonderful opportunity to work with several ELL’s during my student teaching in Madison.  I learned a great deal from the experience about how to help them really comprehend subject matter through the use of visuals and examples which reinforced the language I used to teach.  However, sitting in the back of the classroom in Rwentutu, I realized just how much I have to focus to understand what the teachers and students are saying, and that it is extremely easy to simply zone out, and instead daydream about what I am going to teach tomorrow or what I am going to make for dinner tonight. 

Language is difficult.  A Parent Teacher Committee member we met at school put it this way: “When you know the language, then you will know the people.”  I could not agree more.  As much as we laugh and enjoy our time with Joy and Edson and all of our friends here, there are subtle humor differences and nuances that are wrapped up in the language-culture divide.  And so much of culture really is defined by language (my Anthropology 104 teacher would be proud).  So when it comes to teaching, I am realizing that good communication is challenging, and requires foresight and creativity to accomplish well.  More on this to come as I get into teaching…

But I am getting ahead of myself a bit.  Let me tell you about our first day!

FINALLY!  We arrived at the school around 8 in the morning.  Upon exiting the car, we were promptly the center of attention of every child in the yard.  Scratch that.  Upon driving into the general vicinity of the school all eyes were on us.  We had the opportunity to meet a few of the teachers as the students stared shyly, pushing each other forward then running away.  All reservations were dropped, however, once the cameras came out…I asked King James if I could take a picture of the school and when the children saw the camera, they ran to whichever direction the camera was pointing, smiling and waving.  I met a few of the children and gave lots of high fives before being shuffled into the office to discuss logistics. 

Teaching started right away with high-fives-quickly becoming a favorite with the kids!

Both Jessica and I will spend two weeks in each of four grades (I will probably spend my time in grades 3-6), and Bri, a special education teacher, will have a more variable schedule based on the needs of the school.  There are no provisions for student s with special needs in Ugandan schools, except for the occasional school set aside for students with special needs.  I am so excited to have Bri around to do some team-teaching and get feedback and strategies for working with struggling students.  She will be a great resource, as will Jessica, who specializes in working with younger students. 

After spending the morning at school, we spent the afternoon meeting important Ugandan leadership officials such as the District Education Officer, and the Head of Security for Kasese.  We also visited a pool with a spectacular view of Kasese, where I expect to be spending some quality time in the coming weeks!

Notice Edson's fine form in the back left-he was a quick study!

In other news, to date, Jessica, Bri and I have caused four children to cry due to being white.  It would be completely hilarious if I didn’t feel so bad about frightening them so much!  I am looking forward to spending more time with Afan, a friend of the students who came to Kasese last summer, and continuing becoming “physically fit” with the girls and Edson, who has joined us in our yoga, pilates, and jump rope work-out sessions.  In fact, he called us out for not waiting for him for our run one evening-whoops!  Tomorrow is a public holiday, which I expect to spend planning for my time in Primary 5 (5^th grade and my assigned class for the next two weeks) and, perhaps, swimming!   

Kasese!  Nestled in a rift valley at the foot of the Rwenzori Mountains.

Learning the Ropes

This weekend was spent getting to know the ins and outs of living in Uganda.  I have come to realize that without a washing machine, oven, and microwave, one could easily spend all day doing household tasks like laundry and cooking…which is what we spent our Saturday doing!  The morning passed quickly as we browsed the market in town, stocking our kitchen for our first few days.  I was particularly excited about the avocados (twice the size of those we have at home and the taste…heavenly!) and mangos, although I am looking forward to making my own peanut butter as well in the next few days.  I am also determined to find a way to make banana bread on the stove since we have two giant bunches of them currently …

For lunch we learned to make chapatti-a delicious East African version of flatbread which I had been dreaming about since leaving Uganda two years ago!  It was fantastic (you can see I was a bit excited), rolled up with avocados, tomatoes, and a little bit of fresh garlic.  Top this off with freshly-made passion fruit juice and I was in Heaven!  Hmmm, I’m afraid this may turn into a bit of a food blog from time to time, so bear with me! 

After lunch we learned to do laundry!  It is a bit of a process, involving three bins of water, lots of soap and splashing, and our unmentionables drying glaringly on a line in our front yard (at least this last part goes quickly in the hot, equatorial sun!)  These tasks could seem menial or mundane, but here they have a social function which has allowed us to bond with Joy, our live-in teacher of all things Ugandan, in a way which is genuine and fun.   I might even venture to say that doing laundry and cooking this way is therapeutic…although I might not feel that way once our schedules fill up a bit with teaching!  For now, however, I am learning to live on African time, realizing that there really is nothing to rush off to; so take the time to socialize over household chores, attend three-hour church services, and eat dinner by candle light when the power goes out.  And don’t move too quickly, because it is far too hot for that. J

Happy Mata Day!

Today is Mata Day, not to be confused (by dint of the Ugandan accent) with Mother’s Day, which is what I initially thought!  Mata Day is a holiday to remember the martyrs killed when Christianity was first introduced into Uganda .  Many Ugandans make a pilgrimage to a church in Kampala which serves as a memorial for the martyrs.  Often they walk vast distances from their home cities to celebrate the holiday.  We passed many of these travelers throughout our few days in Kampala.  Today, we took the holiday to make our own trek across the country to Kasese.  

Two of us (Bri is taking the picture) with our drivers (L-R) Ben
and Edson, and our supervisor Enoch (and our car!).  Don't let
their faces fool you, these men are the sweetest, most caring
guides we could ask for-and we couldn't ask for better entertainment!

 We arrived in Kasese after six hours of driving plus two flat tires and several close calls with cows crossing over the road-when the road was drivable, by the way, which was about 75% of the time.  But we have made it and have begun to settle into our new home for summer!  The guest house is a spacious, airy, cement-floored structure with a walled-in yard-I will take you on a tour in just a bit.  We feel very safe, if a little unsettled after spending our last four days getting to know Kampala.  And get to know it we did, although, as Enoch said, we still have much to learn about Uganda. 

Kampala-Wednesday

In Kampala we were swept from one place to another to meet people and view important landmarks.  On Wednesday, we met Dr. Gillian of Makerere University.  A professor of education, Gillian was able to fill us in on the education system of Uganda-more on this to come…  We then visited the Uganda Museum to learn about the history and culture.  After a quick lunch back at the hostel, we toured a few of the important sites of Kampala.  We stopped at two beautiful churches, built on opposite hills from one another when tensions were high between the Catholic and Anglican churches.   In fact, the Anglican church we visited is the very one the pilgrims met at today to celebrate Mata Day!  We then had the opportunity to watch Ben use his not inconsiderable driving skills as he brought us through the center of Kampala to get to a market.  As we drove around looking for parking, we spent around 25 minutes trying to go two blocks-the traffic congestion is terrible, combined with pedestrians moving through in every direction and motorcycles weaving their way between and around the cars and people.  In Uganda, intersections are almost never controlled and speed limits are a suggestion at best.   We were thankful for our experienced and collected driver.  We ended our day by attending a performance of Ugandan dances at a nearby outdoor theatre.  It was really fantastic, and the charismatic host kept us laughing and even got us out of our seats to practice our own dance moves at the end! 

This is the Church!

Kampala-Thursday

After such a full day, we slept well and were ready to visit our first school on Thursday.  We arrived at Kampala Quality Primary School on Thursday morning.  After meeting the director and visiting several classes, we each went to a different class to spend some time observing.  I went to a grade three class in which the students were learning about weather.  Here comes the school discussion, so if you are in this for the events, you may wish to skip ahead. 

School Stuff

Uganda’s school system is reminiscent of what ours was a few decades ago.  The students are expected to sit and pass exams at the end of each year to determine whether they may pass to the next grade.  The packed curriculum is nation-wide, and the exams are based on exact definitions and details laid out in the curriculum.  For example, in the grade three (P 3 as it is known here, for “primary”) classroom which I visited, the students were learning about weather, specifically, the water cycle.  The teacher explained that they would be learning about the two processes of the water cycle: evaporation, and transpiration.  Throughout the next 20 minutes, he explained what each of these terms meant, finally finishing with two definitions which the students were expected to memorize.  Correct memorization is important because this will allow students to be most successful when sitting their exams at the end of the term. 

Now, while the system of Ugandan education does not sit well with me because, as Dr. Gillian said, it develops students who “need to be told” what to do, and not students who are skilled at transferring information and thinking critically, I was quite impressed with the teacher I was observing.  In a class with something like 60 students (I only counted the boys, but there were 32 of them, and the class had a close to even number of girls as well) he maintained an atmosphere of student involvement, calling on the excited students to share what they learned.  He also took the students outside to demonstrate the process of transpiration by tying a plastic bag around the branch of a tree.  He designated one student to check on the branch and tell the class what had happened later that day (water would condense on the inside of the bag, showing that plants expel water –transpiration).  When I spoke with him during break time I asked him about this, and he said he felt it was easier for students to remember what they learn when they see it.  We talked about the difference between understanding and memorizing, and he believed it was important for students to understand as it would help them to remember when they are sitting their exams. 

The teachers at KQPS are clearly skilled at managing overcrowded classrooms and curriculum.  After visiting the school and talking with Gillian, it seems that the education system in Uganda is struggling because of the high pressure of exams which test on so much material that it makes it difficult to take the time to teach a subject so that all students can really grasp it.  While many teachers are fighting valiantly with the resources they have, teachers are also paid poorly, and are required to have little education.  This is a combination which, as one teacher at the school put it to me, turns out “unmotivated” and undereducated teachers.  Our challenge, I think, will be in working with the teachers at Rwentutu Community School to develop lessons which engage students in active learning, finding ways to help students make meaningful connections and build a deep understanding of the topics they are to be tested on, while providing them with all of the necessary terms and definitions they will need to know for the exams.  This will be difficult as the curriculum is incredibly rigid and specific, and incredibly full, and exams determine whether a student will fail or be able to move on in school.  Whoo, no pressure! 

The teachers we have spoken with are so excited to have us here and learn from us.  It is incredibly humbling to be a new college graduate and know that I have something to offer these seasoned teachers-and also that they have plenty to offer back to me.  I am looking forward to starting work at Rwentutu Christian Community School on Monday!!

Back to the Schedule...

After school, we had lunch on the university campus.  As we munched our rice and beans, we noticed a man wearing a red shirt, and, sure enough, it had the Wisconsin W on it!  After hovering creepily for a bit, trying to decide whether we ought to say hello, I ventured to ask him whether he was actually from UW Madison.  Next thing we knew, we were invited to a party with a group of UW Madison Public Health and Physical Therapy students, just finishing up their work in Uganda!  We joined them for the evening and spent our last night in Kampala with our new friends, a wonderful reminder of home.  

Now, if you have made it this far, I will take you on a quick tour of our home!

A view of the house from our front yard.

A view of the front yard from our house-I like the porch J

Some views of our kitchen, including the stovetop on which we will boil water each evening for consumption the next day-much better than buying plastic water bottles like we did in Kampala.

  

The living room-there is Jessica and our new friend and guide to all things Kasese, Joy. 

There is Bri at the table also situated in the living area.  

This is our room!  My bed is all the way to the left.  There are few things in
this world more comforting to me than sleeping in mosquito netting. J