Week 3 Photojournal

"Can You Please Read This"

After Ghana-born Ziggy Ansah was drafted 5^th overall in this year’s NFL draft, I joked that I was going to find a student who had potential and make a star out of them. I am not really going to do this, but if I were going to, I would choose this boy whose name is Nii. He towers over all of the other students, and looks like he is 18 and not 13. I could seriously see him starting at middle linebacker on

Nii was laughing before this, and was
trying to hold back.

some lucky football team somewhere in America. Fortunately, he has other talents in case football does not work out with him. Nii is pictured here holding up his exercise book, and the speech that he is so proud of.

            Nii does not speak a lot, but he does smile a lot. When he speaks, he has a surprisingly soft, high-pitched voice. I only taught two lessons this past week (I will be teaching every day this week), and when I do not teach, I sit in the back and observe and circulate around the classroom when necessary. I sit in a chair next to Nii, and he always makes sure it is in the right place and is cleaned off before I sit.

            Before class began, Nii handed me his exercise book and asked me if I could please read it. The students were taught how to write a speech the day before, and I did not really agree with how formulaic it was taught. I did not believe that students would be able to insert their own voices and put passion into what they were writing. Nii proved me wrong. The speech topic was: “If you were speaking in front of the PTA, what would you tell them your school needs?” The answers to this question were very interesting, and could be an entire story in itself.

            Nii wrote that the school could use better shutters on the classroom windows so that the rain did not ruin the books, Internet access so the students could pursue further research, and lockers so that nothing was ever stolen out of students’ bags. His points were all well supported and seemed to be valid, but what amazed me the most was the voice he used to discuss his points. It was very clear to see that this is a student who believes what he is writing, and believes that the school needs what he is writing about. When I read the end of the essay, I knew that was what he wanted to show me. This is how Nii ended his speech: “Elders say luck is like sand in hands. It sneaks through fingers no matter how gripped firmly or held loosely. Only hands in the prayer posture can save it. Parents, we are pleading with you to help us and also pray for us, and I think if you help us by helping provide these, I know God is going to repay you.” I was blown away. The guidelines for this assignment did not include an analogy or anything of this sort. I proved to me that despite the rote, often repetitive curriculum, students here are capable of that higher order thinking and creativity. It just needs to be unlocked.

            I told Nii how impressed I was and how good his work was. I commented on all of the points he made and I told him I loved the analogy. He told me that that is what his grandmother says to him sometimes. As class moved on, I nearly lost my cool. My teacher had the students copy the speeches from one notebook to another so that there were no mistakes. Nii was getting frustrated because he misspelled a word, and wrote something improperly. He knew that his teacher would be looking for mistakes like that, and would mark points off, despite writing a very good speech. Another student, one of the smartest in the class, was told the he writes his lowercase f poorly, and had to fix it. I am finding that I am growing more frustrated with things like this than the caning! The students could be doing such a great job, but that is never acknowledged, and looked over because of a few mistakes here and there. My teacher tells me that she will do nothing next week, and will only watch me. I’m hoping that I am able to praise the students when they have succeeded, and that she may be able to see their positive reaction and consider teaching in a similar fashion in the future. 

"An Uphill Battle"

          I’m teaching metaphor a little bit this week, so I think it is appropriate for me to be metaphorical here and now. We climbed and climbed when we were at the Tano Sacred Grove this past weekend, and although we did not stand up on the highest rock and stay there for hours, I felt like the world paused for a little and allowed me to think. I think too much probably, but I like to reflect and I feel like it is healthy. One thing I came up with while we were climbing was that education is always going to be an uphill battle that is not easy, and will never be easy.

            On Saturday, I did not know what I was getting into. It was hot, and I was sweating. I felt sweat in my eyes, down the small of my back, and running down my nose as I climbed. I grabbed whatever I could grip, and stepped on anything that resembled a foothold. After we reached the top of the first formation, I got a taste of success. Not only had I made it up this far, but also I received a reward – the beauty of the landscape in front of me. This felt good, and after, I was ready to continue and keep going. Although I felt good, it only got harder. The formations seemed a bit steeper and the formations a bit higher. Again, I felt the doubts and struggled a lot at times, but when I hit that top rock, I felt like the greatest climber in the world, and when I saw vast African landscape I wanted more. When I was there, I thought, and I thought about education and where I was and what I was doing.

            When I started with education, people told me I was crazy. There aren’t any jobs, education is going down the tubes, kids are getting worse, standardized testing is ruining everything, APPR, etc. I heard it all, and it was becoming a little intimidating. I started, and it still felt a bit crazy. However, once I started in classrooms and volunteering with certain education groups, everything clicked. I reached the top of the first rock. I saw everything out in front of me, how beautiful it was, and how much more there is. From then, I didn’t want to stop. Now that I’ve actually been into a classroom, created lessons, dealt with students that are real and unique and breathing, and are not just figments of my imagination and subjects for mock lessons, I know that it is a struggle and times and it is difficult. Nothing is ever perfect, despite the perfect planning. There aren’t always well-defined grips or footholds. The surface is slick sometimes, and some extra effort may be needed to just stay on course - not even to reach the top. It takes work and frustration and a lot of effort, but there is always a payoff. It could be an essay, an answer in class, a nod of understanding, a high five, a laugh. This is the beautiful landscape that I look forward to as a teacher.

            Education is a lot bigger than me. I know that I will end up in one school, with only a fraction of the students in the world. I have seen the landscape and I know that it is worth all of the work and the struggle. I cannot speak for every teacher in the world, but I know that I am with nine other teachers that have seen the landscape and understand. I am confident that there are more like us and I can’t wait for 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 years from now to see how we have made a difference. 

Monkeys and Sacred Grove

We did a lot of traveling this weekend, and my back did not love the long road trips, but every other part of my being did. The itinerary for the weekend was: leave for Techiman Friday afternoon, stay overnight in a hotel. On Saturday morning, drive to the Baobeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, then to the Tano Sacred Grove.

It took us about three hours to get to our hotel on Friday. The three hours seemed like ten hours because of the traffic and the bumpy, unpaved, dirt roads that a lot of the drive involved. I am very happy I didn't puke. I tried reading for a bit, but then wised up and just looked out of the front window. We stayed in a very nice hotel, and it was nice to have a change of scenery from our compound. We ate dinner together, and made our way to the hotel bar for a few drinks before getting our sleep for the night. Club Beer is becoming my favorite here, and we saw a truck on the ride over. I'm told that if you pass a beer truck, it will be a good weekend (it was).

#ClubGhana

In the morning, our first stop was the monkey sanctuary, which was so interesting, exciting and funny. There was a long story about the significance and story behind the monkey sanctuary, but there were monkeys everywhere so I wasn't really paying attention. Here's a little history based on what I got: hunters were settling an area and were going to hunt the monkeys that inhabited the area. A god/spirit appeared and told them that the monkeys were the sons of Gods sent down, and that they must coexist. Since then, the monkeys have never been touched, and are treated like humans. They are even given a proper burial when they are found dead. 

The Mona monkeys came right up to us when we walked onto the trail. They knew we had bananas and they were taking them right from our hands! They were jumping from tree to tree, hanging, eating and coming right up to us. They had great hands too. A lot of us threw bananas up into trees where the monkeys would hold on with their tails and feet and catch the bananas. I think we all could have stayed all day long.

There were also some cool trees. This is our whole group.

The monkeys were not shy at all. It took a few
bananas before we could get the picture.

Lil monkeys

This isn't photoshopped or anything...

None of us wanted to do anything the rest of the day that didn't involve monkeys, but we had our plan to head to the Tano Sacred Grove. There was more driving, and everyone was feeling a little drained. When we got to our destination, we were rejuvenated, and used every bit of our energy.

The Sacred Grove is a series of rock formations. While the explanation behind this was equally as cool as the monkey explanation, I was so overwhelmed by the vastness of everything I saw to fully pay attention. Here's what I got:  It is believed that he greatest of earthly Akan gods lives in this grove.  The area has been protected because of his presence.  He commanded that the settlers leave the area and no hunting could take place in the grove. In addition to this one place, there are other amazing sandstone formations that surround the area. They served as lookout points during war, and let me tell you, I saw EVERYTHING. 

We climbed. We climbed and climbed. Up rocks, down rocks, under rocks, over rocks. I don't climb, but I climbed. I felt feelings I have never felt in my life. I boosted myself on top of rocks and felt like I was on top of the world. This is one of the things I have experienced so far that I won't be able to explain fully or expect people to grasp. Standing on top of these massive rock formations with my friends and looking out over Ghana made me swell with happiness and wonder. Sometimes it felt like we were in The Lion King standing atop pride rock. AFRICA... what?! I'll let the pictures try to do some of the talking. We had an incredible weekend. 

Safari hat! 

The view was incredible.

This was after we climbed the first, and easiest rock.
I thought that would be the farthest I got.

The group heading up.

Creativity and KOTOKO

Not only does the lack of resources in the classroom change the way we teach, but it actually changes what we teach and how we plan. We know there are not any computers, smartboards, or projectors, but there is also one copy machine at the school that is used very sparingly (not by us). At my first placement, I sometimes felt like I spent the entire day at the copy machine. Here, I write notes on the whiteboard, and students must copy them. This takes time, and gives me less time to discuss and explain with the class. Rather than print out different visuals for class, primary school teachers are hand drawing all of their posters, and adolescent teachers never hand out dittos or worksheets.

There is one resource that we do have an abundance of... teachers. The student teachers that came on this trip are either Adolescent English and Social Studies or Elementary Ed. There is rarely a time where I don't ask the opinions of my other Adolescent English colleagues about my lessons and what they think would work and what would not. Last night, I did not have a lesson to prepare, and my friend Emmy did. She was teaching literary elements in fiction and non-fiction works, and was having difficulty finding a passage that encompassed all of the elements she intended on teaching. Our solution? Write the examples ourselves. She wrote a non-fiction piece about why she came to Ghana and why she wants to become a teacher, and I wrote a silly fiction story about a Gorilla named Michael. Every day we are adapting to what we have to work with, and we always work it out. Here is an excerpt from the example that I created to assist in her lesson:

"...Michael’s father is very hard on him. He rarely smiles, and whenever Michael entered local banana eating competition, his father would tell him he is wasting his time. His father is very serious, and if someone’s actions are not helping support his band, he does not approve of those actions. Michael is just the opposite. When he is around his father, he is like a soldier and obeys his every command, but when he is alone, he is creative, and likes to explore, read books, and especially eat bananas. There had to be a way that Michael could prove to his father that being a professional banana eater is an important job and is something that means a lot to him… but how?

Just as Michael was going to get up from his spot underneath the tree, a banana fell and hit him on the head. He was hungry, so he did not mind. He ate the banana, and when he was about to get up, another fell and hit him in the head. He looked up to see where the banana came from, and saw no bananas, but a poster that read: “Think you can eat bananas? Come test your skill with the best in the jungle, next Saturday at noon. First Prize is the MEGA BANANA SUPER TROPHY.” Michael looked up in awe. He knew he had to win that trophy. If he could bring that trophy home to his father, he would realize how important banana eating is and that it is not a waste of time. The trophy represents a whole new relationship between him and his father, and Michael could not let this opportunity pass him by..."

After school today, the group took a trip to Baba Yara Stadium (I posted a picture a few posts ago) to see our first Ghanaian Premier League game... ASANTE KOTOKO. I had classes until the end of the day, so I went late with a group to meet the students that were already at the game.

They're the porcupines. 

We tried entering the main gate, where scalpers told us they could give us a great deal on seats: 1000 Ghana Cedi for 5 tickets (about 500 dollars). I laughed, and we went to the actual gate and bought tickets for 6 Ghana Cedi, (under 3 dollars). As we entered, it began to absolutely pour. The rain did not affect us. We sat thirteen strong in the Kotoko stands, and cheered like we've lived in Kumasi our entire lives. The first half went by without a score. Instead of taking cover under an awning during halftime, I went and danced with the die hard Kotoko fans and their band (I was completely saturated already, so it didn't make a difference and no, I had not been drinking).

All of my friends were waiting on the edge of our seats for the first goal, and not long into the second half, it happened. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL. The stadium, which was by no means full, went absolutely insane. From a young age, my dad has shown me that it is totally acceptable to become friends with fellow fans around you at sporting events, and that certainly came out in me at this moment. There were people screaming and running back and forth in our aisle and I must have hugged 3 different strangers. I actually hugged one guy and jumped up and down in a circle with him. None of the other goals were quite as exciting, but overall, the 3-0 Kotoko victory was a blast. Unfortunately, Ghanaians don't believe in humans who wear anything sized Extra Large or 2X for that matter, so I couldn't get myself a jersey (I'm pretty sure they were only selling youth sizes).

My friend Sherry takes cool pictures:

Soaked with rain and Kotoko pride.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL.

KOTOKO

Some Excursions

This trip is especially cool because not only am I getting a student teaching experience, but as I have mentioned many times, every day is a new cultural experience. In addition to being immersed in Ghana every day when I step out of our front door, we go on planned excursions to neighboring villages that are culturally significant or practice culturally significant trades.

Two weekends ago, we traveled to a village called Asuofua, where they make beads. This particular family has been making the beads for over 200 years, and has passed the trade down from generation to generation. They make the beads from ground up bottles of glass and cook them for up to two days in an oven that they have made.

That blue machine in the back grounds up the
glass bottles, and the powder is transferred into a
mold.

The family built this oven, and David shows us
how the process works. He is holding one of the molds. 

Again, this is a village. Everything is a lot more
depressed and rundown, unlike the campus where I am staying.

This past weekend, we visited two villages similar to Asuofua. The villages were known for their Kente Cloth Weaving and their Adinkra Prints respectively. The Kente weaving is an incredibly involved process, and I was getting tired just watching the men weave. They sit in a contraption and move their arms and legs and end up with beautiful pieces of cloth. The people of this village were not as... polite and pleasant as other places we have seen (a whole other story), but the process was amazing. 

My friend Sherry took these cool pictures. Because
the patterns are so intricate, it could
take a day to make just one long piece of cloth. 

Not only do arms and hands move, but the weaver's feet are active also.

Adinkra symbols are symbols that were created by the Asante people to represents ideas, proverbs, or folklore that is important to their culture. These symbols are sometimes printed on different kinds of cloth and displayed or worn. The place we visited makes the ink themselves, and allowed us to print symbols that meant a lot to us on different pieces of fabric. I bought two symbols: the Adinkrahene and the Akoben. 

The first reminded me of football - if you're the greatest, there
is always a target on your back (blending cultures, but whatever).
I got the second one because it sounds badass.

The place makes its own ink from bark of a tree. They put it in a big bowlish thing, and then pound it out with a stick. I did a fair amount of bark pounding: 

I rule.

We are all hoping to make it to the cultural center eventually, which is apparently a haven for cool Ghanaian things (Christmas presents, anyone?). This Wednesday we are going to try to make it to a pro soccer game after school and this weekend we are taking an overnight trip to go to a monkey sanctuary. Excited is an understatement. I love monkeys.

Week 2 Photojournal

It is hard to believe I am already writing a photojournal for my second week of classes here. I am beginning to take over more classes, and I hope I can write more posts like the first one I wrote about one of my students.

"Unique Students"

Tried to take an artsy photo... I'm going to
stick with teaching. 

     While my friend Emmy and I were working on some lesson plans in the school library, she showed me a quotation that she really likes. It reads, “Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable.” I believe that students must be treated exactly the way this quote describes. Students may be smarter than others, students may act out more than others, or students may not care as much as others, but none are better or worse than any other. After I read this quote, it floated around in my brain for a few days, and finally, on Thursday, when I was teaching my first lesson, I saw the quote come to fruition.

            There is a boy who sits in the back of one of my classes named Joseph. When I went around and introduced myself to each student and asked their names, the teacher warned me in front of the class that Joseph is stubborn and does not listen. She said that I must keep an eye on him because he will not be good. I thought this was a fairly harsh introduction, especially because I did not know the student at all. He was immediately labeled as a “bad kid.” While I knew I could not jump to conclusions, I could not help seeing the boy and thinking “bad kid.” Throughout the week, I saw my teacher cane him for offenses that she allowed other students to get away with. After she did that, she would often ridicule him about how he is a bad kid, and how small his ears are. She always treated him like a bad kid. Looking back to the quote, she saw him as “inferior” to other students and treated him as so.

            I knew that Joseph could not be as bad as she frames him to be. Whenever I walk around campus and I see Joseph, he always shakes my hand, or gives me a respectful salute. I sometimes use his native language of Twi to ask him how he is doing, and he smiles and tells me he is fine. I was and am still finding out that Joseph is not a bad kid, but just is different from others. He needs to be shown that people care, and I have been showing him that I do, despite how my teacher treats him.

            Joseph proved himself to me on Thursday when I taught my first lesson. Sometimes, when the teacher does not want to hear from Joseph or other students, she tells them they are on “probation” and cannot talk. I made it a point to tell him and those other students that while I was teaching, they could raise their hands and participate as much as they want. When the lesson began, and I began asking for volunteers to answer questions and read, Joseph’s hand shot up in the air every single time. Not only was I impressed at how often he was participating, but I was also impressed at his answers and his reading ability, something that my teacher may not have seen because she does not give him the opportunity. It even got to the point in the lesson where I had to ask someone other than Joseph to answer a question. I was so proud of him that class, and I think he will continue to respond to me throughout the rest of the time I am in his classroom.

            Joseph is not a prefect, he does not sit in the front row of the class, and he is sometimes goofy in class, but that certainly does not make him a “bad kid.” I am slowly learning that while some students are similar, I will have as many different personalities as I have students, and I must treat them as not superior or inferior to one another, but as unique, incomparable human beings.

"Teacher Room"

My view of the "Teacher Room"

This picture was shot from the back of the “Teacher Room.” Every Wednesday at first break (from 9:20-9:50), we are invited to eat breakfast with the other teachers. The school provides fresh bread with jam or margarine, hardboiled eggs, and tea. As the picture shows, the room gets filled with teachers. From the looks of it, not one teacher misses this meal. Also take notice of the foreground of the picture, and the many exercise books stacked on the two teachers’ desks. Not only does this room serve as a giant, loud cafeteria, but as a workspace for every teacher at the school. This provides a very interesting dynamic that I think is beneficial for the overall success of the school.           

In my short experience with being the teacher in a high school and not the student, I have found teacher’s lounges and faculty rooms to be cliquey and separated, just as high school can be. At the KNUST Basic School, the “Teacher Room” serves as a combination of teacher’s cafeteria, main office, individual teachers’ offices, faculty room, and teacher’s lounge. While this may seem like an overwhelming combination, I believe a room like this is beneficial to the chemistry between teachers (within content area and outside) and can help to build an important camaraderie among the staff.

While I’m sure there is plenty of hanging out and fooling around among the teachers as there is in every school (I can’t understand a lot of what they say to each other), I have taken notice of a few instances that show the benefits of this gigantic, multi-purpose room. During the breakfast, while everyone was present and kind of quiet because they were eating, what seemed like the principal made a few important announcements. Instead of having teachers stay after school and go somewhere for faculty meetings, the “meeting” was held briefly and was convenient for all teachers present. When the meeting was over, all of the teachers laughed and joked together, and they walked around and caught up with each other.

The room is nice because I know that my teacher will usually be in there if we are not in class, and I can go there with any questions I have. I am not sure if it is a coincidence or if content area teachers sit together, but when she had a question about what was being taught that year, she only had to turn to her left and ask the English teacher next to her. When the teacher to her left could not answer her question, she turned around and asked the English teacher that was sitting behind her. It was as easy as this, and all of the teachers, including myself, were on the same page regarding curriculum. In an American school, there would have been an email exchange, a walk downstairs or a phone call. I think this system is more convenient. Yes, and email is quick and easy, but I feel like the human-to-human interaction can help in certain situations.

            As I have mentioned too many times, the schools here are different. Maybe this set up only works in this school because it is all they have, and what they are forced to endure. I know there are some teachers who prefer to stick to themselves and mind their own business who may be reading this and disagreeing with me, but as a pretty social being, I think I would enjoy this set up; specifically the quick, convenient responses and fun, close environment. 

The Traditional Dancing

Welp, your dream has come true. Click the following link to watch me shake my obruni butt to some African drumming:

Boogie Night in Kumasi

Some Exploration

The school we are teaching at had some sort of a midterm holiday, so we did not go to school today. Instead, we decided to explore Kumasi a bit.

We began the day at Tech Junction, which is an incredibly busy and overwhelming market. The closest thing I can compare it to is a street fair  that takes place in the middle of the street. Every step we took either brought us in contact with a vendor pushing his or her product, a taxi cab blaring its horn, or one of the many women (sometimes men) selling various goods from the buckets that they carry on their heads. We all went with the intention of finding some sort of fabric for our shirts or dresses, and seamstresses and tailors who can make them.

The girls knew of the seamstress they wanted to go to, and were consumed by the many different types of dresses that could be made. As for me, I had to find someone to make my shirt. While the girls went back and forth on the types of dresses and types of fabric they would like to use, the process for me took roughly 3 minutes. I walked into a little hut, asked a man to make me a shirt, one of his workers brought me to the fabric, I picked out a crazy pattern, pointed at a shirt type, got measured, and paid. I pick up my shirt on Monday, and I can't wait to see how it comes out.

I don't like to shop, so luckily, we had time to have a beer break:

This little outdoor bar was a cool little spot. It had a lot more lizards than the bars I go to in the States. We even watched one hunt down a fly and eat it. 

Some of us were craving pizza, so we asked a cab driver to bring us to somewhere with pizza. I think all of us were craving a little bit of America, and the pizza did the trick. We also got some french fries, just because. 

The restaurant was right outside of Baba Yara Stadium, which is a soccer stadium that houses various professional clubs from Kumasi. We are trying our best to coordinate a time and date to see a professional game. This is a student teaching experience and a cultural experience, and from hearing about soccer (football) every day, wherever I go, I think seeing a game would be a very important cultural experience. 

We kind of just walked into the stadium. Notice the Ghanaian Flag
in the stadium seats.