Beyond words,…but I’ll try. (Or, Week 3 Reflection)

Today was an incredible day. In many ways, it is beyond words, but I want to try to write a few of my thoughts.

I spent a second day at Mkhanyiseli Primary School in a grade 7 class. It was such a special day! I was able to put a Flip video camera into the hands of 3 students and watch them explore their school with it. We even had a chance to learn to edit some of the footage together. In the afternoon, the whole class sang for me. It was beautiful to watch them. At the very end of the day, one student stood and said a very eloquent thank-you. Another gave me a long, touching thank-you letter. As the students left, the girls wanted hugs, and I worked my way through 4 different handshakes with the boys. Words do fail me at this point to describe how meaningful this all was, and how much of a connection I feel with these learners after just 2 days together.

Driving away from the school, I suddenly realized that this was my last trip through the Township. I have become used to seeing the colourful hodge-podge of structures that form most of the buildings in the Township. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly noticed the teeming life and the great poverty that are in this area, but it has become a part of our routine to see it each day. It felt unexpectedly urgent that I take note and remember what I was seeing today.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Cape Town. We will visit with partner organisations and say our goodbyes, then do a little quiet shopping before returning home to pack our things. Tomorrow, we will also say goodbye to Ian, the only team member not continuing on to Kenya. I am excited to go to Kenya, but I feel sad to be leaving South Africa. It seems as though the time has flown by, and it feels like there is so much more to learn here. Perhaps I will be able to return someday and continue my education.

On to Kenya!

Techie-Geek Heaven

What a great session with the EduNova facilitators today! We condensed about 4 workshops into a 3-hour period. We worked on integrating multimedia projects into the curriculum. During the session, we worked on projects using Presentation Software, Digital Storytelling, Video, and desktop publishing. At various times, we had digital cameras, cell phones, microphones, and Flip video cameras in use. Each team of two facilitators worked on one type of project with a Teachers Without Borders team member to guide them. They will get together next week and teach each other what they have learned.

It was a terrific, hands-on way to learn this type of integration. It was also techie-geek heaven. We were working with a group of people who are comfortable with technology, so we could move ahead at a brisk pace without overwhelming them. We were able to put all the toys in their hands and have them play with them. The small group jigsaw let us work closely and go deeper into the project. All in all, very satisfying.

On the down side, internet connectivity has been a challenge. The school we visited today had reached their cap for the month. This meant that we could not do a second session using GoogleApps to collaboratively design workshops. There was plenty to do in the multimedia workshop to fill out the day, though. The 3G mobile internet sticks that we have been using at home are out of minutes too. This is more frustrating as it impacts both our planning for Kenya and our contact with family and friends at home.

Looking forward to meeting with some educators and learners in the classroom tomorrow. I hope that I will be able to take lots of pictures!

Week 2 Reflections

Well, another week has flown by. So many things happened this week, it is hard to remember them all. We started the week with a workshop for principals of the teachers we met in the first week. It was interesting to hear their perspective on things. The principal’s “boot-camp” lasted 2 days. In many ways, I would have liked for us to participate in more than a single session. The principals can do so much to drive technology integration. I hope that we were able to set the seeds with a few of them.

The rest of the week was working with ICT facilitators. As I looked around on the first morning, I noticed that the body language was cold, closed, and skeptical. Despite a day fraught with technological challenges (5 power failures, extremely slow (and sometimes non-existent) Internet connectivity, as well as other glitches) the body language opened up and there was a positive atmosphere. By the end of the week, I really had the sense that we had helped. The facilitators had a better appreciation of the challenges facing educators to integrate ICT in a meaningful way. They also learned about a lot of useful tools. I hope that they will continue to collaborate and share with each other in the weeks and months to come.

We also encouraged them to start building banks of shared lessons created by the educators they work with. I think that doing this would have a very positive impact. Educators will lighten their planning load, and benefit from different ways of thinking about effective integration. Each of the facilitators works with many teachers, sometimes in as many as 35 schools. By working with this group, we have had the potential to affect a large numbers of educators in South Africa. I hope that this will bear some fruit.

As for what I learned this week…

1. The technical difficulties caused me to reflect on how difficult it is to be a novice integrator and have to deal with a lesson not working. A couple of these types of experiences is enough to put any educator off. We preached the need to have a “plan B” ready to launch in case of such problems. The reality is, however, that “plan B” is never what you really wanted – that was “plan A.” In working with laptops that are available when I need them, I realize that, after a little trouble shooting, my “plan B” is often the “no-tech” lesson I had planned next. I then work out the tech issues when the students are not around, and try again another time – maybe even later the same day. I have that flexibility because I can shift the schedule as needed. A teacher with limited lab time does not have this luxury. What I realized is that teachers in my own school do not know how to quickly trouble shoot and move on. I think that I need to be conscious about these moments in my own class and discuss the explicitly with my colleagues.

2. Don’t invest too much time in planning, but plan for the unexpected. The schedule of these workshops, like that in my classroom, is fluid. Things change, and it does not make sense to be too heavily invested in planning something that may not happen. On the other hand, when working in unreliable situations, it is necessary to plan for the unexpected. Plans B and even C make frequent appearances this week. I am still working on juggling this balance between not too much, and having options, but I am more conscious of it.

I am sure I learned a myriad of other things, but these are the two that I am thinking of now. For the moment, I am off to bed. We have a busy week of planning, working with teachers in their classrooms, as well as will the facilitators.

IWB Thoughts

Ian and I gave a workshop on Interactive Whiteboards for the Khanya facilitators today. It was interesting on many levels.

At some point during our first week, we were told that the Khanya facilitators were responsible for training the teachers to use the IWBs. The teachers clamoured for training, with most having little to no previous experience with a board. On Monday, we were told that selected Khanya facilitators are highly trained in the boards and passing their knowledge on to the others. As a result, we expected very little interest in this morning’s session.

Today’s session was made optional to help out the facilitators who had travelled large distances. We only expected about 15-20 people to be there. In fact, there were closer to 35 people. That kind of changed the way we had hoped to get everyone interacting with the board. On the other hand, I was really pleased to see that kind of enthusiasm.

I think, based on a straw poll, that the turnout was motivated by the fact that most Khanya facilitators seem not to have much experience with the boards. It is difficult to train someone in something that you are not completely comfortable with. If the educators are asking these facilitators for training, I can see why they would want a little more information.

Ian showed a Wiimote board as a less expensive way of having an IWB. There was lots of interest. We than discussed how to best use the tools to create sound, pedagogical lessons. I hope that the participants got what they came for. I am left with the feeling, however, that they remain unprepared to support the type of lessons that can really make the most of the power of an IWB. Maybe they are better prepared than they were, though, and maybe they will follow-up with some of the internet links we gave them. Maybe they will also increase the access by building a few Wiimote boards too. I will be crossing my fingers.

The Half-Blood Prince

Saw Harry Potter tonight. So pleased that we were able to get out to the show. Naturally, they left tons of stuff out (I mean, have your seen the book? The movie was less than 3 hours!). That being said, I thought they remained quite true to the story. They didn’t seem to make unnecessary changes or anything. Made me laugh, say “awwwww,” jump in surprise, and shed a tear. Must have been pretty good. I enjoyed it.

Curriculum Delivery vs Learning

We are in the middle of our week of workshops for facilitators. Today’s menu included a visioning workshop. When asked about the main goal or mission statement for the organization, the participants came up with a statement about getting computers and training to the school to allow for “curriculum delivery through ICT.”

Think about that for a minute. Curriculum delivery. No learning need ever take place in the scope of this vision. As long as the curriculum is delivered using ICT, it is a success – not matter if it is actually received! This vision does not even suggest at the acquisition of any kind of technology skills by teachers of students.

For the next school year, I want to keep this in mind when planning my lessons. Am I delivering content, or planning for development of competencies and learning? Am I suggesting that the technology will teach (teach-nology?) or have I designed a lesson for inquiry and construction of knowledge? Good questions to ask myself.

Busy day tomorrow. We are all hoping for great connectivity for various activities. It has been spotty at best this week. Cross your fingers that all goes well, otherwise we can demonstrate the interactive tool while everyone just watches. Better have a back-up plan, I guess.

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.