Just another week in Uganda

Made a Word Wall for the Class!

Well contrary to my title, it was not just an ordinary week here in Uganda… it was my first week of Student Teaching! As my last post announced I was in primary 6, I have now taught each day of the week English and Math. The material that they are learning is actually quite different than anything I have seen in a upper elementary or middle school curriculum. For English, they are learning about Restaurants and Hotels. This topic basically revolves around me teaching them about 50 vocabulary words and being able to understand how to be a customer in both locations. I am struggling on how to make this topic really visual for my students. I have been trying my best to get some hands on items to show them. For example, when I had to teach them the word fruit on Wednesday I had heard them talking about the word fruit in the past two days, but I knew I still had to instruct them on the meaning of the word. So I decided to bring in a tomato, why a tomato? Well I decided that it is not very sweet and is at times not considered a fruit. So a definition of fruit is a seed container that grows on a tree or plant. So we discussed that this fruit grew on a plant and I cut it open and passed a piece to each student so they could examine the seeds within. They loved this! And on a whim I decided to change much of my lesson plan… I had this hands on material that they rarely get and

P6 hard at work! 

knew that upcoming was learning about adjectives, so why not develop a list of adjectives for this fruit. The students then could use both their senses and previous knowledge to add to the discussion. Originally my CT said I should wait and teach grammar after the vocabulary is taught, but I could not pass up on this opportunity. Turns out that a few of the students are quite confused about the use of adjectives and now that I have introduced it I will try to tie it in each lesson to make a well rounded curriculum. I also did this with when the students were learning about toothpicks, I explained most people in America use floss instead and let them all have some…. They all tried it out and it was so amazing to see their eyes light up when trying to stick this white string between their teeth. Unfortunately I am now out of floss…. I guess I’ll use toothpicks. On the other hand, I am going to start talking about hotels and I have no visuals to use… how do you make students understand what a sauna is when you can’t show it or experience it? I had an idea of getting pamphlets from hotels around Kasese, but as I have looked I cannot find much. So any ideas I would greatly appreciate it!

As for math, they were learning about finite systems…. If you don’t know what it is, look it up! So it was pretty common sense for me, however, I had never learned about this topic explicitly before. It has been actually really smooth and fun to teach. I have been introducing many word problems during my teaching to have the students apply more mathematics to critically thinking. For instance, my latest question was “My sister started school in September 2011, she will graduate in 56 months. What month will she graduate?” This problem was given to them in a comprehension check that I had them do on Friday and not one student got it. They all used only the 56 months to figure out the month on a table, however they did not account for the month she started school in. I was a bit disappointed with my teaching when I have stressed many of similar word problems to the students. I decided that tomorrow I will write out step to step how to examine a word problem and spend the whole lesson examining word problems. I will end the lesson with having the students write their own. I am hoping that by doing this the students can develop skills about how word problems work and do a reverse thinking on what I have been teaching them! On Tuesday, I begin teaching them Geometry… I can’t believe I have taught a whole unit already…. Granted it was very short. The geometry that they are learning is how to construct parallel lines, triangles, hexagons, and perpendicular lines using only a compass and ruler. I did not learn this until college in a 400 level course! So I am really nervous yet excited to see how they do. I’ll keep you updated.

Number 5 was a question that I developed for
the more advanced students in the class to differentiate. 

With teaching, I have been trying to figure out how to make the curriculum culturally relevant. I feel like I have been able to develop rigor in the classroom, however I am struggling to find topics that I feel develop critical consciousness in both subjects. I finding out that it takes much time to understand culture and that you truly have to start with the basics and must research to do this in a classroom. I have also been attempting to look at my students abilities within the last week. I have been starting math with having one students write a practice problem and another student explain that student’s work, and noticed the students knowledge of the topic varied. So as I developed the comprehension check I put basic to difficult problems on the assignment. The picture  here shows a problem that I had not taught the students but they have the tools to solve. I put this problem in to provide challenge for students who were more advanced. The entire check was set up as do as many as you know how to do and explained to them as a check to see if we can move to the next topic or review some of the things that were not clear during the week. This is the reason why I am spending tomorrow as a lesson on word problems, because it was the most consistent misinterpreted question of the check. I have found one or two students who I have decided to sit down with during breaks and review some more of the basic concepts and will be sure to check on more during class. I think it is so important to differentiate the curriculum for both students who learn at a slower pace and a more advanced pace to keep all students engaged in the classroom, so I will strive to do this here.

As for life outside of school, on Friday we went to a local church in the Rwentutu area. Doreen invited us in when we came to pick her up at the church to go home. We entered the church and notice two Bzungu and our assistant head master, King James, helping translate the service. We entered at a time in the service when they had just received new Bibles in their regional area language and they were going to distribute them. These Bibles were a gift from the Bzungu. As they were handing them out, one Bible was given to our school! All of a sudden about 12 students from the school came up to receive the Bible… included two of my students. As I sat there watching them take a picture with the Bible they were to bring back to school, I felt a sense of pride in my students and the school. I am not sure what brought on this feeling, but it made time feel slow and all I could do is smile. It is amazing how after only two weeks of being at the school and only one week with my students that I am already complete attached to the school community. With only 5 ½ weeks of teaching left, I am going to make the best of it. Even visiting the church for 20 minutes, the people sitting around us began to greet us or talk to us after the service. The community in the Rwentutu area is so generous and grateful for our work at the school and showing interest in what they are doing.

Walking up to the Waterfalls 

On Saturday, we traveled to Fort Portal (it is really difficult not to say Port Fortal!) to visit the waterfall and

Caves... A site where they found a human skeleton

caves. Some pictures are below. During this guided tour of the area, we saw a natural waterfall that comes from the mountains and travels to the mountains, which is a bit confusing because it is the same mountain range. We also were told a local folklore of the caves. This story was about a princess whose father did not want her to marry and have a son, because the son would take his spot as king. With this selfishness, the king cut off his daughter’s breast and left it in the caves. The stalagmites and stalactites are then memories of the daughter’s breast. However story did not end there, the daughter’s servants snuck in a prince to impregnate her and she birthed a son. This son was taken into the wilderness to be killed, according to the king’s order… however instead was left to be found by the local people. The son grew up and came back to kill the king. It is then believed that the son survived because he could suck the breast of the mother in the caves, or the stalagmites and stalactites. It is fascinating to hear these myths of the region because they are so lively and exciting and something that is so spiritual to the people of the area. We also learned that explorers of the caves found pieces of pottery and skeletons there, showing that the area was used as a shelter many years ago. Learning about this history, I wish I knew more about the Rwentutu area, because I would love to bring that type of cultural history or folklore into my classroom. I have pondered about what the students learn about folklore and if it is part of their literacy curriculum. Many of the books I have seen in the library look like books that are more pop cultured instead of recreations of myths. As a child I would have loved folklore if it was about the community I was living in… which it never was because much of the Native American culture had disappeared in Sheboygan…

We also visited the crater lakes from the area's old volcanoes!

Hope all is well with you tonight…. Feel free to comment on my blog J