Blogtown

I just told the neighborhood kids that I am unable to dance football. Whoops. Teaching has been so fantastic this week. I’m still riding a wave of elation from this morning. Walking through town this afternoon, I heard of chorus of “teacher!” and “penny!” Even the adult student whose cellphone I confiscated in class stopped on his moto taxi to tell me, “teacher, I am driving!” On Tuesday, I tried my first environmental education class. It went so well that I carried it over to Wednesday’s lesson. I need to work on being an educator, not an advocate but a part from that, the students were incredibly responsive and excited about the lesson. I began with, “class, I have a question. What is the environment.” I was inundated with answers so I was able to easily segway into our first think/write/pair/share. I asked them if the environment is important and why? My answers ranged from scientific arguments to “because it shows the Power of the Creator.” Nice. Next, I introduced a challenging text about the Ogiek people of Kenya. We explored issues of habitat loss, deforestation and relocation. I introduced so many new vocabulary words that the students commended me for being such a smart teacher. Aww. Wednesday was “no chalkboard” day but this wasn’t too large of an obstacle since I planned a vocab review and a nature walk. I can be such a hippie. Anyway, I tried a new technique during the vocabulary review component that increased comprehension and student participation. When I asked students, “what is ___?” I would have at least two students answer and then call on a quiet student to ask them what the other student had said. There was a lot of acting, synonyms and spelling dictation. After that, we went outside of the classroom (mind-blowing for these kids) and walked around the school. I asked about what they saw, observed, noticed, etc. and we talked about what environmental problems Rwanda has. This was the critical thinking component of the lesson and it was very beneficial for those that understood. Rwanda is very clean in terms of trash but when I asked them where their trash goes, they had clearly never thought about that before. Erosion is a big problem here because of the hills and inadequate amount of terracing and the students were able to introduce this topic during the walk. Tomorrow, I am visiting two of my female students at their houses. We will see how that goes. I have to be careful about accepting too many invitations. Tuesday was Lindsay’s birthday and we had guacamole, beans and rice for lunch. It was about as close to chipotle as you can get (she’s also from Denver). Thanksgiving preparations are in the works. Rwanda pictures on facebook if you have facebook. We should find out our site placements within a few weeks…!!!!!! Wednesday night ended with a bang. It was like Christmas but better. I got 9 letters in the mail, including pictures of my cousins and ginger candy! Thank you everyone! I can go to bed and expect the presence of all my wonderful friends and family back home in my malaria dreams. Letter writing is an expensive hobby in Rwanda but it sure pays off. Closing thoughts are from my mom: “Every time you move you get to reinvent yourself, start over and get better.” I sure am. Love.