Travels To, Through and From the Dunes

     This weekend we had the opportunity to embark on another adventure to Zebra River Lodge. Being that Peter and Elkie are the same owners of our hotel here in Windhoek as this lodge, they invited us down for the weekend. The ride down was longer than expected, and there were a couple hiccups along the way.

     To get started, we did not know that Shantel, a free lance tour guide, was coming down with us OR that the back seat was going to be folded up in one of the vehicles. That being said, I took the floor in between the middle seats in one vehicle and Jessica took it in the other. We also had another fun guest--Dinky toy. Dinky toy was Shantel's bird who had been found with a broken wing after a storm a little over a year ago. The whole drive, Dinky toy was on Shantel's shoulder, and sometimes on Paula's hand. Dinky was fed popcorn, sandwiches, etc and drank from Shantel's lip. It made for an interesting drive for half of our group.

     After a few hours, it became very hot and the sun was definitely beating down. AC didn't help much, so we used Kari's handy, dandy pink scarf to give us some shade. We then hit hiccup number 2--a flat tire. It took some time to figure out where the tire was, how to get it down, and how to jack up the car, so we all wandered the un-busy straight and soaked up some rays. It became very hot, however, and we loved it when quick shade would travel over us, thanks to the clouds. Eventually, Helen and Shantel figured out the tire situation and we were on the road again.
 
     After a couple bathroom stops, we were almost done with the tar road part of the trip and onto the last 100 km leg of dirt and gravel. However, we then had another surprise--another rider. That being said, Janelle squeezed into a seat with Paula and we were off, now with our lovely cook Maggie with us, too. On this ride the floor started becoming very hot as the engine had been going for a long time and the sun was beating down. That aside, I also was slightly numb from the squished position and getting tossed around by the bumps on the now dirt road. Jan was behind me and allowed me to sit on the edge of her seat for a while. Peter then met us with his Land Rover and Paula, Janelle and I hopped vehicles. It was FABULOUS. All in all, it was definitely a road trip to remember.
 
     On arrival at Zebra River Lodge, I was in awe at the beauty. All around us were hills of layers upon layers of rock and greenery. I felt like I was driving onto a movie set that couldn't possibly be real. We drove about 8 km into the property, which is a total of 125 sq km. We then arrived at our new paradise--the lodge. It was gorgeous. We were met with some amazing salad and hot, fresh bread before heading to our rooms. After a bit, we walked around enjoying the beatuiful scenery and went for quick swim.

     Peter then offered to take us for a 'sun-downer', for which we drove up on top of one of the hills and overlooked the property. As we watched the sun go down, it began to ran. We decided to embrace this and continued to take pictures and run around as it poored around us all while the sun went down. We then had an amazing dinner consisting of lamb stew, brown rice and green beans. It was phenomenal. Our rooms, however, did not have air conditioning so they were quite muggy and warm. It took us a long time to get to sleep, and we woke up on several occassions due to the bugs. Bri's room had a gecko in it, which she originally thought was a wall decoration. She then blew on it, followed by an immediate scream as it scurried away.

     The next morning we woke up bright and early for our trip to the DUNES! After our 5:30am breakfast, we headed out for our adventure. Peter wanted to take some of the lodge staff that had never had the chance to go to the dunes before, so we took a 3rd vehicle, and who was our driver? Paula. She was quite excited, however the eventual 4-wheel driving on the sand made us all a little bit nervous.

     The drive there was just as beautiful as the lodge. With various mountains, all if which had 'stripes' of various layers of rocks, the landscape was unbelievable. We eventually entered the park and the Namib desert, so we made a quick stop for Shantel to explain to us some of the history of the dunes. She talked about the red sand being caused from the high amount of iron and the rusting that is caused by the intense sun. She also discussed the fact that the dunes get oranger and browner the closer you get to the coast. The sand is also very clean, as she showed us by rubbing wet sand on her sleeve and it not leaving a mark. We found a couple desert animals, blind golden mole, shovelnosed lizard, desert ants, etc, then were off once more. We had already spotted some ostriches, oryxs, and more on the way there.

     As we began to drive through the park, the dunes were on both sides of us. With the beautiful sun, a few clouds, blue sky, and red/orange sand, it was unlike anything I have ever seen before. I loved watching the lines that the crests of the sand dunes made and the various heights and shapes of each as they twisted, turned, and melted into each other. We then stopped at Dune 45 for some lunch. With a 'friend' sitting above us (see picture below), we chowed down then hiked up the dune. It was much hotter, and much higher than expected. Many of us began by sprinting up for the first bit, which ended up being a horrible idea. Not only were we winded, but someone also got sick. However, we were all troopers and pushed on to the top. The view was AMAZING and undescribable. We all sat at the top for a while and just overlooked the area. The sun was hot, we were all sweaty, but it was so worth it. Then run down the side was also exciting, despite our shoes quickly becoming filled with sand.

     We then headed down to the 'big dunes'. The largest two were titled "Big Mama" and "Big Daddy". Big Daddy is 360 meters high and was a beast to look at. But I can't get ahead of myself...lets go back to the drive to get there. The tar ended, and sand lay before us. Paula put the car into 4 wheel drive and got a quick lesson from Peter before hitting the sand. Then the adventure began. With much screaming, a lot of sliding, and Shantel's vehicle needing a push from its riders, they got through the sand. Our entire ride we were all holding onto to each other and handles, and were also screaming. However, due to the fact that this was Paula's first time driving on the sand, we screamed words of encouragement and tried to stay as calm as possible when trees were too close for comfort. Eventually, we got to our destination, and the huge dunes were before us.

     After a quick mini hike up a little bit of Big Mama to overlook the pan, we headed over to Big Daddy. There, could hike over to see Big Daddy in all of his glory where dead trees were standing at the base. The trees have been dead for hundreds of years, however the wood is too hard for the termites and there is not enough moisture to rot them, so they are just standing there. It was a 2 mile hike there and back in the heat, but totally worth it. We got some great pictures, and by the time we were done, were completely exhausted. We were excited for the AC of the cars and the pool waiting for us back at the lodge.

     Back at the lodge, we took a quick dip then relaxed before dinner. We had kudu for dinner, which was amazing, and some great brownies for dessert. Afterwards, we all sat and chatted for a while and Bri did my hair how she use to do hers as an inner-city middle schooler. This was followed up by both Jan and Paula also getting theirs done. Bri has the pictures, but I will try to post them soon. It was pretty epic.

     We then all went to our porch to gaze up at the amazing stars. The milky way was directly above us and was breath-taking. If only my camera could have captured the magnificent view we had. As we all looked up together, we chatted, laughed, and talked about the trip so far. It is hard to believe that we have our trip is already almost half way over, but we are all excited for what is still to come.

     The next morning, we slept in some and then sat on our porch once more drinking coffee and chatting. We then embarked on another adventure--our trip home. Paula drove as Shantel was staying at the lodge, which meant another great ride for me in the back seat. We ran into a minor problem about 45 minutes into our journey--a river had formed. There had been two quick downpours the night before which apparently created the water now flowing before us. Jan waded out to see how deep and discovered although the water was only 5 inches or so at the deepest points, the thick mud was going to be hard to cross. Paula faced it head on. She faced the water and mud and did a GREAT job! There was a lot of screaming, many videos taken (one can be seen below), and some scary moments, but she was a champ. We then ran into another problem a half kilometer up the road....another river had formed. This one had a lot more rocks and the edge of the road on the other side had fallen in. That being said, we had to go back. We had to, once more, cross the mud and water. Paula once again did a great job as she was fearless and powered through the mud. I must say, that between the sand, the water, the mud and the crazy bumps along the unpaved road all the way home, I have a new-found respect for this woman.

     The rest of the ride home was once again gorgeous. We enjoyed each other's company, and the ride home was much quicker than the ride there. We passed several babboon families along the way and had a huge lizard in the road as well. We are all now back at Casa relaxing, enjoying the weather, and preparing for school tomorrow. Before Jan, Paula and Katie leave us on Thursday, there is much we still have to do this week.

The pictures below are out of order, and due to my lack of patience at the moment, they will stay that way. Sorry! They will all have captions though!

Katie and me, hanging out while the tire gets fixed

Amazing Rocks!

So beautiful

Lizard crossing

Jan checking out the 'river' for us

Flat tire :(

Hanging out while in the sunshine

Crazy Cricket at the lodge

One of the many FABULOUS views at Zebra River Lodge

Our table for the Sun-downer

Jill and I on our walk around the lodge

Amazing view at the Sun-downer

Doulbe rainbow after our Sun-downer rainstorm

view when sitting on the edge

Shovelnosed lizard

Ostriches at the dunes

Dunes!

Oryx

The light path from the top is where we ran down

Dune 45--you can see where we ran down again

my lunch 'friend'

Dune 45 and our lunch shade

pushing in the sand

Katie, Janelle and Me with Big Daddy in the backround

Big Mama in the distance

Group at the Sundowner

Some of the Group at the Dunes

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eznoMm8fJaQ

Watch the link...Paula is a Stud. Enough said.

Check it out from Kari's perspective. Pretty epic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfbMPXSTJk&feature=player_embedded

Hanging out at the top of Dune 45

View from the top of Dune 45!

Another day at AI Steenkamp

     So today was a great day! After the amazing thunderstorm last night, I was slightly tired as the thunder that shook us and the lightning that lit up our room kept me up until late and woke me up frequently. That being said, I downed some coffee at breakfast, packed my bags and supplies, and we headed off to school.
I had my normal morning crew of learners hang out with me before school. The group has slowly started to grow, and I had 8 learners of various ages attached at my hip until I had to go to our morning staff meeting. At the staff meeting, I briefly saw my teacher whom returned with me to start class only to take attendance. Once it was taken, he was gone until lunch break.

     This morning started off with a double period of math with my 5D group. I had started to grade their homework the day before after school and had found that 90% of the class did not do their homework in either math or english. That being said, I had already planned on giving a homework speech. After discussing that teachers do not give homework to take the fun out of our learner's lives, I let them know that if their homework for the week was not done by Monday, then they would stay in at break and finish. They seemed appreciative for the time extension to finish, but we shall see if they do. After that conversation they were pretty good the whole period. We practiced our various forms--standard, expanded, word--by allowing the learners to create their own number on a notecard. They then swapped it with someone at their table and wrote the number in expanded and word form. After completion, they traded back and corrected the number they created. This went pretty well, but it was slightly chaotic as some still struggled. I took a step back about 5 minutes in and, although we had already done one together as a class, did the whole process a second time together. This helped, and they all did pretty well overall. The second round of this went much smoother.

     During this double period, I had a few learner-created distractions, but not nearly as many as yesterday or the day before. One learner was dismissed to the bathroom then decided it was a great idea to yell in through the window. Apparently, he had forgotten I had legs and could go tell him to come back to class. I did so and had him stand outside the door until my directions to the whole class were completed. As I went out there, I could already tell he was embarrassed. I squatted down next to him and asked him why he had done that. He said he didn't know, and just stared at his feet. I then began talking to him about what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he said a lawyer. I asked him if he thought lawyers studied hard and if they tried their best in school. He said yes, of course. We had a great conversation about how smart he was and about his family, goals and what he was going to do to become a lawyer. By the time I sent him away to the bathroom, he was slightly teary-eyed, but also smiling a nice, huge smile. After taking two steps away to go to the bathroom, he quickly whipped back around, gave me a quick hug, then ran away. My heart melted.

     I then had my 5A group for math. We once again discussed homework (it actually ended up being a conversation with each class), however, this talk was done outside in line as I made them exit my classroom and try again. I have a feeling that all of these speeches will be given to each group at some point over my time here. Having learned from the last class that more than one example was needed, we went over changing numbers from standard into word and expanded form together a few times after they created their own numbers. Jan and Paula then came in as we were doing so. The pictures below are from that period as we practicded together. Afterwards, the lesson went great though! They were all excited to swap notecards and correct each others' work. I would call them Mr. Thomas or Ms. Tia as they were correcting, which made them all giggle.

     5D then returned to me for English. I finished Wheedle on the Needle, as they had not got to the day prior due to misbehavior. Afterwards, I gave them the 4 square assignment that the other classes had been given the day before, and they began working on it. At the end of the period, many of them wanted to stay in with me for break, however, one of the University of Namibia student teachers (the one who is taking my 5A math class) wanted to speak with me. I kicked all of the learners out for a bit, and we sat down together. At first, she wanted my advice on how to introduce approximation next week. She said that she had heard that I was great at getting the learners to enjoy what I am teaching about and keeping their attention. We discussed the next week and the lessons and went through the book together. I told her that I really just use the book as a guideline as to what topic to discuss, and she seemed surprise. She wanted to know where I get my ideas then, and I told her I just make it up or have seen other people teach. She just laughed. I then helped her with her math homework. She has an exam tomorrow and didn't know how to solve a few of the problems.

     Once she left, my room once again flooded with learners and we played several rounds of hangman before they went to their next class. I had English for the rest of the day, and as both of these groups had 'finished' the 4 square assignment (aka they had it assigned for homework, didn't do it, so got the same homework speech), I decided to go over some of the vocabulary they didn't understand from the book. We made a chart with three columns: word, meaning, picture. They then wrote down the words, came up with definitions as a group, then drew a picture for each one as to remember it easier. This went great in both classes, and they really enjoyed having so much drawing intertwined with their learning.

     I had a planning period in between my two 5E classes and my last 5C class. Magically, my teacher showed up during this time. He sat down and asked me what I would like him to do with my kids tomorrow. This made me laugh on the inside, as he called them MY kids. I told him what I had done today and what would be good tomorrow. He went with both ideas, for Math and English, but threw in a spelling quiz on the vocabulary words I had given them in English. Being that I thought it was unfair to 5E to not know a quiz was coming their way, I stood outside their classes door at the end of that period to make sure they knew. My last class also went well, other than one learner who decided hiding under his desk every 2 mintues was funny. We had a great chat. :)

     This afternoon has been full of some chill time, pool time and now soon-to-be packing. We are heading out to the dunes tomorrow, and need to pack for a couple days. The learners were not too excited to hear I was gone tomorrow, but were excited I would be back Monday...little do most of them know, I will not be their teacher. :/ I didn't have it in me to tell them.

     Change of subject--Steve sadly left our group this last Sunday. We were all very sad to see him go, and it honestly isn't the same without him here. After a random comment he made to Uanee in the car about us all wearing black for his departure the next day, I quickly jumped on it and we all decided to actually do it. We had a great photo shoot with him that day, and as Jan let me borrow her memory card to get her pics of me in school today, I took the ones below as well :)

Since Steve was leaving us, we all wore black to mourn

Gotta love our Papa Steve

Namibia Sunrise-Part 1

Namibian Sunrise-Part 2

Teaching some Math

Solving the problem as a class

Answers, anyone?

Thumbs up if you agree, down if you disagree

Hard at work

Working

Providing a little support

"EXPAAAAANDED form!"

Paula and Jan wearing some traditional Owomba dresses...what goofs. :)

Introducing Wheedle, Word Form...and a new class...?

     After some some great planning and preparing time last night, I was pretty excited to teach my classes today. Being that the learners are not read to very often, I was excited to get to read to them one of my few favority books (thanks to Hassen)--Wheedle on the Needle. Being that it talked about where I lived and Brian had printed me off some great landscapes of Washington and skyline pictures of Seattle, I was set. For math, I made posters of the various terms and vocabulary that we had gone over the day before and were going over today. I also tried to plan my lesson so that I was all set for a fun review game for the next day. The learners, however, had different plans.

     I tried to remember that I had only had these learners for one day. That being said, I still expected less 'beatings' between them and interruptions to occur. This, however, was not the case. Although not as bad as the day prior, my 5D class still did not really get what standing in a line, entering a classroom or respecting others within the classroom looked like. That being said, a series of events unfolded. The first time I had them, we had another nice talk about respect and dealing with problems. I explained to them that if another learner hits them, I want to know, but there is a time and a place. We also discussed that when you shout out, it interrupts others' learning and that I, as their teacher, would not tolerate such a thing. During our second period together, which was the last of the day, they entered the room like crazed animals instead of learners. Therefore, I got their attention, via clapping, followed by telling them all to leave my classroom. At first, they froze. Then I said, "Do I need to say it again?" They then filed out and immediately stood in their lines. With the beginning of this speech being, "How rude and disrespectful..." and ending with, "I am not mad...but I am sad because I had a lot of fun things planned and we will not get to do them now because of your behavior", the rest of the class period was a smooth flowing, fabulous last period of the day. We successfully got through the entire lesson with participation from all, and had time for me to share my picture of my family. Although I may have been a little harsh with the guilt trip at the beginning, they all left having reaching the learning target and with smiles on their faces.
My other classes had their ups and downs as well. The 'up' in every English class was when I read Wheedle on the Needle to them. The whole time their eyes were either on me or the picture. They participated throughout the lesson discussing the problem, various events and solution. The real pictures of the area were a hit, too, as they loved seeing actual pictures of where I came from and snow. They all laughed and enjoyed various parts of the book. However, when I would ask them to predict what was next, after explaining what a prediction was of course, very few answered. I tried to explain no answer was wrong, but even then very few hands were raised. I am hoping that it is just 'first prediction jitters' and that more hands will go up next time.

     Although the read aloud went fabulous, the assignment was a stretch for them. I did a 'traditional' four square assignment where they drew a picture in each (problem, event 1, event 2, solution) and had one full sentence. Being that we did full sentences the day before, I figured this was a good next step. The issue was not their interest in the assignment, but rather the fact that it was unlike any assignment they had ever been given. The idea that their could be multiple answers was unheard of to them. They began to be confused how one person could use stealing tools and scaring the workers as their events, while the next uses moving to the mountain and collecting clouds. Despite the fact that the assignment had me sweating by the end of it, as I wandered from table to table, person to person, in, around and through very close quarters, I would still call it a success. For those who didn't finish, this project was their homework. 5D never got to finish the book due to the challenges they threw at me, so we will finish tomorrow. The other classes, 5C and 5E will be doing a vocabulary activity based off the words they did not know in the book today. A re-read might be in order...I will probably let the learners vote on it tomorrow.
  
     Math went great for 5D, but had a few bumps in 5A. After making their nametags, we had problems with putting caps on markers and returning them. After the saying to, "put the caps on now" the third time, I was done. I then told them that their heads needed to be on their desks and nothing in their hands. This took a good minute or so before they all had done so. Using a similar speech as I had with 5D, I added in the fact that I had bought these markers and to use them was a privledge. After discussing respect, self-control was the next topic as their hands seemed to be magnetized to the markers and their pencils on their desks. We then did a minute of thinking about making choices and being responsible for your own actions, restarting the time everytime a pencil was touched. With two boys making this a game and touching their pencils every 30 seconds or so, the rest of the class went back to work silently while the two boys and I had a quick mini-conference at my desk.

     The lesson following the management piece went great. It is interesting to me seeing the strengths of the learners here with these new math concepts to those of my students back home. When we first introduced standard, expanded and word from in Federal Way, expanded from seemed to be the most difficult concept. Disecting the number into smaller parts was hard. However, due to the fact that English is not my learners' first language here, the word form is definitely the most difficult. That being said, we will be spending a few more days on this concept to solidify it before continuing.

     Although there were definite hiccups in the day, several spurring on the 'teacher talk', I would still call it a success. At least with two of my classes, they now know where the line is drawn and what is expected. I don't expect perfection tomorrow from them because of this, but I am hoping for an improvement, no matter how small.

     Not counting breaking up small, in-class 'fights' (aka exchanging hits back and forth a few times), the number of fights I have now broken up outside the class has now hit 7--4 yesterday and 3 today. I broke up one pretty large one between two grade 7 boys, who exchanged several hard 'clips' (punches) before freezing mid-swing as I hollered. I then led them both to my classroom where we discussed their actions. I am pretty sure if I hear that line, "but, miss, we were just playing" as an excuse again...well, I don't know what I will do, but it is absolutely ridiculous.

     My learners have caught onto my strong, anti-fighting feelings as proved today after school. As we were leaving Steenkamp in our taxi, one of my learner's were on the side of the road wrestling with another boy. After giving him 'the look' from the taxi, he smiled as the boy leaped on him. Instead of fighting back, my learner wrapped his arms around the other boy and patted his back while still smiling, as if he was giving him a hug. It was great. The 'hug' pose continued until we were at least out of site from them, all the boy caught in the hug-grip of my learner was flailing and trying to wrestle. It was great.

     Despite the overall positive feeling I had from my lessons today, I was hit was something from out of no where after school. There are student teachers from the University of Namibia that are also placed at our school for 1 month--1 week observing and 3 weeks to teach 40 lessons. I was informed in the middle of my 4th period class that 2 of these student teachers were also being placed with my teacher, and I therefore had to sit down with them after school and let them choose classes to take from me. I was not happy with this at all, however I really had no choice. So one teacher took my 5A math class, and the other took my 5C and 5E english classes, now leaving me with 5D for both math and english. While they were choosing, they had some not-so-great things to say about the group they were not taking. I responded by telling them how great they were for me today and that they really were great learners, they just needed someone to care and take the time to set the boundaries. To this, I received two quite large eye rolls.

     Overall, I am just frustrated with the predicament I am now in. Paula and Jan are coming in tomorrow to meet with the principal, and we will figure out a 2nd placement for me to have during my free periods. I know it will all work out in the end, but I hate that right after I have now started solidifying solid relationships and routines with my learners they are snatched away from me. However, I will still learn a lot from my 5D learners, and I know I will fall in love with whatever 2nd placement I get. Ultimately, I think this is yet another learning experience for me, as I am learning flexibility to the max. I am also having to learn to let go and just go with the flow, when that is not my usual when I am giving a group of children. As I already had considered the learners of 5A, 5C and 5E 'mine' from the moment they walked through my door, my biggest struggle is that I cannot control the teaching that will take place starting next week when the lose the 'mine' title. But I know I will connect with whatever new learners I am given tomorrow, and I now have the opportunity to practice teaching routines and establishing my management method again...so here goes nothing...

5th Grade Math & English, Here I Come!

     My new classroom is now Mr.!Gaaseb's Room 13--grade 5 Math and English. After receiving my placement after our morning meeting, and therefore after the learners had already entered the classroom, there was no time to discuss what I would be doing with my teacher. The only question I got to ask was, "Is there a certain way you get their attention?" To this he chuckled and responded, "Yes...I yell, of course". As he began to do so, another student teacher, from the University of Namibia walked in, too. She was observing for the week and is suppose to teach a few lessons of the next month. That being said, she had already been in the class the day prior.

     Mr.!Gaaseb, about 28.3 seconds later looked at us both and said, "Keep them busy. I will be back..." and walked right out the door. After a few seconds of me standing there dumbfounded, I asked the other teacher calmly, "So...what did you do yesterday?" She pointed at one section of the chalkboard while simultaneously starting to yell at the learners to stop talking and take out their homework. I then decided to take this opportunity to watch and observe her teaching for a bit. She then went through each question on the board and asked the learners to share their answers. As she did so, I wrote each answer in full sentences on the board.

     After answering the 5 questions as a class, she began going around with a red pen correcting their papers. Even though they could have done so while we were going over them, this was not acceptable and we had to do it. I therefore borrowed a red pen, as it HAD to be red, from one of my learners and began to correct sentences. Instead of just correcting, I took the opportunity to start connecting with my learners, since correcting 44 papers is not a quick process.

     The other student teacher was then removed and put in another class to fill in for a teacher that did not show up, so I was now alone. I introduced the 'clap pattern' method to getting attention, and we practiced it a few times. Mr.!Gaaseb then strolled back in for a brief moment to hand me two books--Grade 5: English for all in Namibia and Grade 5: Mathematics in Context. After the transfer of books was completed he smiled, told me what page they had ended on in English, then once again left the class, shutting the door behind him. However, as I opened up to the next page, the bell rang and out they went. One period down...seven to go.

     Now realizing that it was I needed to figure out something to do, I quickly scanned the math section of the board and found the page he had just finished (this is pretty simple as it was all directly out of the book). They had began to discuss place value, worth and expanded form. This was PERFECT! Back home, in my practicum class with Erin, we had taught the same topic the first few weeks, so I was prepared with a few tricks up my sleeve.

     I quickly erased the board as my learners entered the classroom and found their seats. After doing so, I quickly glanced at the schedule to make sure I was teaching Math and not English (last minute anxiety...but it paid off). To my surprise, I found that I had this same set of learners for 3 periods in a row: 2 for Math and 1 for English. I decided to take the optimistic side of this and think about how great it was to be able to teach a full lesson and not have to be limited to a 40 minute period. Little did I know what group of learners were sitting before me.

     Although I have not been teaching for very long, there are always those learners, and even more so, those classes that are more challenging their others. Granted, I view each and every one of them as little bundles of joy; their are just those that help you grow as a teacher. :) My 5D class, consisting of 43 learners, are definitely ones that are going to help me grow as a teacher.

     Here are some of the highlights/main events that unraveled during the hour and a half time block that I had these learners:

• I started off by raising my hand to get attention and introducing myself. I then asked them if I could teach them something fun and new. They agreed of course, followed by me explaining that as much as I have a very loud voice, I do not want to yell at them. Instead, I showed them the 'clap pattern' method, which they loved. Although this was not as effective as I would have liked from the start with this group, as when the clapping stopped, they would just start talking, the farther into the time it got, the more effective it was. It goes to show you that routines do not stick for good right away, but if you tough it out it is totally worth it.
• After posing a question, I asked the learners to put quiet thumbs on their papers so that I knew they were finished solving the problem. To this, I had 43 learners placing the pad of their thumb down on their paper, like a thumbs down sign. I wish I could have captured that moment on a kodak. It was precious. I then demonstrated what I meant with a huge smile on my face, and they all giggled and changed them to 'thumbs up'.
• I asked the learners to discuss as a table their answers before sharing with them as a class. I told them I expected quiet voices and only math conversations, but that they needed to talk to each other. They all just stared at me, as one small girl in the front says, "Miss...you mean you want us to talk to each other?" As I had gone into the class prepared for any comment, I simply smiled and said, "Yes! Of course! Make sure everyone at your table talks." This was followed by the amazing sight of seeing 43 faces light up and begin quietly discussing place value.
• I also asked for brave, courageous learners to come demonstrate their solutions on the board. To this, I had 43 looks of shock. Apparently learners do not use the chalkboard...ever. That being said, I of course had one brave soul come solve the problem, followed by 42 hands shooting in the air to solve the next one.
• Although the title of 'teacher' and 'miss' coming out of my learners mouths is pretty precious and adorable, having all of them do so to get me to call on them is not. That being said, I nicely demonstrated the kinds of hands I call on and don't. A few learners still did not understand that standing, shaking their hand and yelling, 'miss' would not get my attention, but as I ignored it or thanked those people whom I did call on for their quiet hands, they did eventually.

     As they had already covered place value and worth the previous class period, we reviewed the topics at first. However, I quickly realized that only the same 3 hands were being raised, so I re-taught them. After they all were comfortable with these (I checked via thumbs up, sideways and down--thought of you Kathy), we moved onto standard and expanded form.

     Here, I once again received tons of blank, in awe stares as I asked the learners to stand so that I can teach them two new terms. They quickly stood, as the same small girl as before quietly whispered to me, "We never get to stand in class, miss. This is great." I taught them the standard and expanded forms that we had done with my fabulous 4th grade class back home, and it was like a whole new world was opened to them. After having said the terms to the ceiling, the floor, their thumbs, the tables, their noses, and to me, they took their seats again. Whether they completely understand the concepts yet or not, to see some of them teaching their peers during break the motions to math vocabulary made my day.

     I then decided to give them homework, as I the principal at the staff training made it clear that homework needed to be given every night. I quickly came up with 7 math problems that encompassed today's lesson and had them copy it down in their homework books. I also quickly wrote them down in my own notebook so that I could give my later class the same problems (I might as well try to be consistent).

     We then had some time for questions, and as they had progressively become more and more well behaved, I decided to let them ask me 20 questions about me. The questions ranged from where I came from, the weather, my family, my hair, my language, age, etc. They all were intrigued to learn anything and everything. To my hair question, I let it out of my ponytail so they could see the length. They all gasped. I then told them I was considering cutting it, and mid sentence got a resounding, "NO!" from all of them. Apparently my mind has now been made up for me thanks to a packed full room of grade 5 learners in Katutura, Namibia.
　
     It was then time for break, and many of them did not want to leave. However, they all did eventually and I went to hang out with the other teachers, or colleagues as they often say, in the staff room. After swapping some stories with the other student teachers, I returned to my classroom to plan for my English classes and last Math class.

     Now although my stories so far have maybe mean it seem like my day was a walk in the park, let me tell you about the little blurps I have left out. There is constant hitting going on inside and outside the class. They 'beat' each other constantly. After having stopped them many, many, many times, I finally had a huge conversation about it with my group of learners. We discussed respecting yourself and others. This also lead to a conversation about focusing on the speakers and not talking over the teacher and their peers. Although this worked for the class period, it sadly did not carry over to the break. On my return to my class, I broke up 2 fights (which were only 2 of the 4 big fights that I broke up of the day). Both of these fights were between learners from my 5D group. This lead to two very long conversations with both sets of learners, multiple apologies to each other, and discussions about how they could have acted differently and consequences. All in all, I am hoping these will stick more that the group conversation in class.

     Having experienced the struggle of getting the learners to write in full sentences, I decided just to focus on this for the my next 2 periods of English, one with a new group and the other back with my great 5D learners (yes, I got to have them 4 periods today :) ) Therefore, I wanted to get them to want to write, and went with questions about them. I asked them their favorite color, subject, animal, what they liked to do for fun and what made them laugh. They then copied down each question, discussed it as a group (this being a new group of learners, this lead to the same shocked looks), then a few learners shared their answers in full sentences. As a class, we decided if their answer was being said in a full sentence or not, and then I gave them time to write down their own answer in a full sentence.

     The last two questions were a little more difficult: what is one strength you have in school and what is one goal you have for school. I had to explain these questions in much more detail as they had never heard of strength or goal tied with school before. I related both to futball, our soccer back home, and discussed the importance of knowing these as a learner. They answered these questions just on their own papers in full sentences. I then gave them their homework: Write full 3 sentences answering, "What will I do to achieve my goal in school?" I gave them an example having to do with Math, and they all seemed pretty serious about answering it the best they could. These classes both went great, and ended with teaching them hangman to reinforce the spelling of some of the new words--strength, goal, favorite.

     I then had my last period of math with another new group of learners. Once again the lesson went great and they all seemed to love the motions, group discussions, and clapping. Two minutes prior to the release bell ringing, Mr.!Gaaseb entered the classroom, smiling as always. He asked if I was almost finished, and I told him yes. He then glanced at what I had written on the board and said, "Wow...I like that". Having witnessed my clap pattern at the end of the first period, he then clapped to get their attention, grinning at me after they had copied his pattern and saying, "It actually worked". I smiled and nodded, and he lead them in the end of school prayer. I then dismissed them and recieved over 40 hugs as the learners headed out of the classroom.

     After school, Katie, Veronica and I went to a local orphanage to help tutor the children with their homework. The first hour they learners rest, so I had time to start planning for the next day. The conversation of, "Take the books. I will observe you teach tomorrow," from Mr.!Gaaseb to me provided me with the chance to really start taking these classes onto whatever I wanted. Therefore, I am planning "Wheedle on the Needle" with my English classes and word form with my Math. Hopefully both will go great.

     Some of the children then came out and did their homework with us. Many of them did not have any, and just played with our hair and chatted with us instead. I taught 2 of the girls, Cynthia and Priscilla, some sign language, too. We then played some gold fish and just chatted with them. One of my learners in my 5A class lives at the same orphanage. He was overjoyed to see me their, and even more so that I could help him with his homework...the assignment I had given him. The afternoon was great, and I cannot wait to go back again next Tuesday.

View from the door into my class

View from door, second half of class

View of the front, looking from the back corner

Cynthia, Me and Johanis with my new hair-do

Veronica teaching Bianca and Jessica cards

Goofy!

Me with more of the kiddos

Group shot!

Emmanuel

Priscilla