Adventures in Namibia: 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.