Exploring

We visited the Cape of Good Hope today. Along the way we stopped in Simon’s Town and saw some penguins. I brought along one of the Flip video cameras that were donated to leave in Africa and was able to capture some video footage to take back for students at home to work with.

I often say that teachers do all the things we wish our learners would not. In workshops, they read ahead, call out without raising their hands, talk amongst themselves when a presenter is speaking, etc. At one point on today’s trip, we pulled over to the side of the road to see some baboons. Typical of teachers not doing what we would expect of our learners, we did not read the signs carefully enough. We got out of the car so that we could get better pictures. As we moved away from the car, the alpha male of the baboons strode up to the driver’s side door. Ignoring the partially open window, he stood on his hind legs, grasped the handle and opened the door. Before we could even react, he was inside, riffling through our things. As we opened and closed doors, honked the horn, and generally shouted and shooed him out, he grabbed a team member’s backpack and dragged it to the middle of the road. Much to the delight of other passers-by, he proceeded to fling its contents onto the road as he searched for the food inside. When he was done, we managed to retrieve the bag and continue on our way with a great deal of laughing. It was one of today’s highlights. Lesson learned: pay attention to the signs.
What we reached th Cape of Good Hope, we climbed up a lookout and stood at the most South-western point on the African continent. A storm was moving in as we climbed the steps to the look-out. At times, the wind felt as though it could blow us away. At the top, I actually closed my eyes and spread my arms. I concentrated on just feeling the wind. It was wild, rough, and strangely cleansing. I thought about the early explorers who first rounded the Cape of Good Hope in search of a sea route to the East. Did they put in to shore as they rounded the point? Did they climb the same lookout and cast their gaze to the east? Did they have a celebration on the beach when they realized their success?

It was wet, windy weather, but all in all, a great trip.

Reflections on Week 1

The first week of workshops is finished. When we arrived home, I went for a walk on the beach and looked back on the week. Here are a few reflections on things that I have learned from these wonderful South African Educators.

1. Slow down and take it easy. I realized this week that it has been a long time since I have worked with teachers who are beginner and novice computer users. The teachers I work with at home have regular access to computers. Even those who are most timid can check their email, type in Word, save, etc. They may not be speed demons or display much confidence, but they know how to navigate around their machines and find what they need. This means that introducing something new is less foreign.

It took me a few days to connect the dots. I was thinking of the learners in our workshop like the timid technology users at home. I was speaking in simple terms, but ones which teachers at home would understand. I need to remember how to slow down even more, do fewer steps at once. I was out of touch with learners who were excited just to get some hands on experience with computers. I am glad to have finally made that connection.

2. Prolong the conversation. Walking around the lab, I popped in on various people as they worked or when they asked for help. I found that I often gave an expeditious answer and turned away quite quickly to help someone else. As I did so, the person I had helped often grabbed my hand and drew me back. They had more to ask or discuss. I had some wonderful exchanges during those moments when I turned back to the conversation that I had considered complete. It makes me wonder if I move on too quickly when circulating in my own class as well. What exchanges am I missing by moving on instead of lingering and perhaps asking another question?

3. Taking risks is hard. The first time is easier when someone is there to hold your hand. Some of the things we asked of the learners this week were a little scary for them. Those who were not familiar with anything we were doing really had to stretch themselves. Sometimes they just needed someone there with them to reassure them that they were on the right path. Just like taking a big jump off a rock is easier when you hold hands and jump together, any stretching of self is easier when you are not alone. The next time, jumping alone seems more achievable. Sometimes, I think that we forget this step when we are trying to teach students to be independent, confident learners. I hope that the Ning will help these educators to hold each other’s hands as they explore their developing ICT skills.

4. No matter how great the stuff you want to share, your message will not get through if there is too much of it. We had a great many things that we felt were important at the beginning of this week, and we could not envision leaving any of them out. We cut each session shorter to fit more sessions in. The problem was that there was just too much for the educators to take in. They could not longer appreciate what we were working on because we moved from one topic to the next too quickly. There was little time to consolidate skills. They were on information overload. When we went back to longer sessions and focussed on fewer topics, the educators seemed to take much more from the workshop. I wonder how often I throw too much information at my students (like when we need to get through a certain section of the math textbook)? The “I hope some of it sticks,” is not was I want to be using in my class. Less information with time to absorb it is clearly the way to go.
5. Call them what they are: Learners. I love that these teachers call their students learners. The business of students is to study. The business of learners is to learn. I want learners in my classroom.

So, there are some thoughts on the first week. When I picture the faces of the learners from this week, it makes me smile. I have felt honoured to sit shoulder-to-shoulder and learn along with them.

Serendipitous Timing

Today was the day for discussing issues of access to ICT, and the formation of ICT committees in the schools. I had arranged to have a Skype call with someone who supports and coordinates ICT Integration at the school board level in my home school board. We were waiting to start the Skype call on the big screen when he dropped off Skype.

As I tried to contact him by email to find out what was wrong, Sharon Peters (One of the team leaders) jumped on Twitter to see if anyone from her network was available. Just then, my laptop started ringing. My parents, with whom I had not spoken since arriving in South Africa, had noticed that I was online and decided to give me a call. My father, who sits on the local school board at home, agreed to step in and have an impromptu chat with the participants.

It is nice how things just work out sometimes!

What a Treat

I was able to listen to a group a educators in a session this afternoon sing a song called “Shoshanna”. This is a song that is sung all over Africa during soccer matches and the like.. It was a wonderful mingling of the rich, powerful, happy voices of our colleagues. The rhythms of it went straight through to my core. I feel so lucky to have been there listening and watching.

First Impressions of South Africa

Well, I have been in South Africa, specifically Cape Town, for a little over a day now. I am here with a Teachers Without Borders – Canada team who will provide ICT training to for teachers from schools in the Townships.

While I am still trying to take it all in and assimilate what I have been seeing.

We visited the school where we will be doing our first workshops (on school holiday right now). It was incredible. There was a big fence with razor wire around the outside of the building and parking lot. There is another locked fence to get into the school and play area. All the classroom doors face an outdoor play yard. Each door has double locks and the windows have bars on them. The door to the computer lab is like a bank vault door. It really puts things into perspective.

Our school had discussions this year about whether the front door of the school building should be locked at all times or not. Kids bring iPods to school and leave them in their unlocked lockers. Various bits of technology are scattered around the building. I don’t think that kids at home could even imagine going to school in an environment like this.

I can’t help thinking about the motivation that must be required in education here. Re-read the description of the school and think about whether you would feel welcomed as either a teacher or a student. As a student, what will keep you coming back to school day after day? As a teacher, consider walking your class down to a computer lab that is locked up like a bank vault. Imagine getting your class of 45 students into the small lab with two students per machine. How would you feel if the bandwidth for the month was already used up, and your lesson would not be possible until next month? When problems crop up, as they inevitably do with technology, would you have the tenacity to troubleshoot? And, yet we will fill a room with 50 educators, during their holidays, who are committed to getting technology into the hands of their students. A big problem here is getting kids to stay in school. Clearly, technology can be used to promote this, but just as clearly it will require quite a commitment from teachers to make this happen.

We spent the afternoon visiting Townships. We got out of the car in Langa Township and visited some of the homes there, then drove through two or three more Townships. Even though I have seen pictures and movies before, they do not do justice to the real thing. People have built shelter and homes out of whatever materials they had available. Tiny boxes, smaller than a single room in a North American house, are homes for entire families. The guide called these homes "informal housing" but that does not even come close to describing them. It was quite a contrast to drive down the street and seeing areas of informal housing next to relatively affluent areas of larger, more permanent constructions with well kept gardens. Continuing down the same street lead to smaller, simple government subsidized homes, then a return to the informal housing. It was unbelievable how much it could change in a short distance.

I am still trying to absorb and process a lot of it. Can’t wait to see what new adventures tomorrow will bring.

TWB on WOW2

End of the school year activities are in full swing, but my attention is torn between my class and my upcoming Teachers Without Borders (TWB) trip.

Last night was the final WOW2 (Women of Web 2.0) podcast of the school year. The topic was TWB and our team was invited to participate. It is a podcast that has meant a lot to me in terms of hearing new ideas and expanding my horizons beyond the area in which I live. It was exciting to be on the other side, as it were.

My only frustration was not being able to get into the chat room. I went to school to get to a high-speed connection, only to find that the chat is not accessible. Ah well.

Listening to the other team members and talking about our trip, it was very real. I can hardly believe that school will be over in 4 weeks, and we will be leaving in just 5 weeks! I have so much left to do – not the least of which is preparing my four year-old for my extended absence. Or was that preparing myself for my absence from my four year-old? Still, I can’t wait - what an experience this will be!

Keeping Up

Wow, took a look at my blog this morning and realized how long it has been...

In case anyone out there actually notices, I have written a couple of posts that I meant to write and back dated them to when the notes and the thinking were from.

New resolutions to keep current!