I presented a new workshop yesterday. When I got home, I was truly wiped and went to bed at 9. I started to feel sick again, which seems to happen after every workshop.
This workshop was a milestone - a Zambian teacher mentor took a part in presenting for the first time; Mr. Siatontola presented for about 40 minutes on the importance of evaluation. He also contributed to the discussion and had a few ideas on sharing questions that were poorly written.
The workshop went from 9 to 4 covering 3 topics. The first was Phonics. I am quite uncertain about this topic, as I have not taught phonics in a classroom for many years (I actually did teach Gr. 1 phonics with Mr. Lenihan's class about 12 years ago and that was a small part of his overall program). I only presented 2 phonics methods in less than an hour. I used one of these methods with our children during holidays (yes, I know, poor teacher’s children don’t even get a break from schooling during a holiday). My hope is that the presentation was adequate for the teachers to proceed on their own.
The second topic is Assessment practices, especially focusing on developing good multiple choice tests. The last part is on teaching students good study skills, and practicing them with the class in school. The teacher takes responsibility for student recall of important facts. This part was very short as well, more of a challenge issued and a handout given. A large part of my budget is spent on handouts, and I believe it is well spent, as the teachers really appreciate any resource given.
At the end of the workshop, the headmaster issued some very encouraging words - “I want to believe that this workshop has not been a total waste of time.” Taken out of context, as I am doing now, this would seem like he was saying that it probably was. Actually, in this culture, I have found that they almost always say things like this to try to spur each other on to apply what was discussed or to improve. So I did not take it personally.
Another example of this was when I was visiting a school, I overheard a visiting teacher talking to 2 girls. He was saying that in the past, the school had always been at the top in many things, sports, academics and more. But now it was at the bottom. I thought he was insulting or discouraging the girls, so asked why he was saying these things. The girl new by tone of voice that I didn’t like what he was saying and came to his defense. “No he is just trying to encourage us to do better, to change so that we do our best.”
Even in the class teachers post student marks, emphasizing the lowest scores. This is meant to encourage them to do better. Shame is a great weapon in Zambia, meant to encourage. I can’t testify to it actually working in this way, but I am sure it spurs the top to continue working to stay at the top. Some teachers have told me that when they were pupils, their teachers did this as well, and it made them work hard.
We have 5 weeks left. All workshops have been moved to Fridays by the Government authority, so that means I have only 3 Fridays left to do this workshop. This is disappointing since I can’t reach all the schools that I wanted to. I am hoping that it will continue with Mr. Siatontola and the other two mentors that are talking up the work as we leave.
