End of the Term, End of 2011

End of the first term reflections.  As my vacation of a week and a half comes to a very quick close I want to document some of the things that have characterized my first term of teaching so then I can make the appropriate changes in the second term.  (My vacation is a measly week and a half because they took away a week and half of our break to bring us back to school early to teach the Form 3 students in order to better prepare them for their upcoming BECE exam, their high school entrance exam.) 

This is how the first term ended: 17 of 63 Form 1 students passed Integrated Science, 10 of 53 Form 2 students passed Integrated Science, and 5 of 37 Form 3 students passed Mathematics.  Over all their performances were very, very lacking.  I know this is a combination of my ability to teach but also their own discipline and responsibility to study, do homework, and review their notes.  I know most students not only failed my courses but also the courses of the other teachers as well.  Therefore even though I teach every period I’m given, assign homework, teach extra classes, and invite students over to my house for tutoring, these Ghanaian students are just plain and simply poor students.  They don’t have parents that engage them about their studies but rather send them to farm or to work in the market, they don’t have textbooks to read and do exercises in, and they don’t have any role models that exemplify the payoff of education within their local community.  I try to give motivational speeches and encourage them but it doesn’t seem to sink in. 

New things that I want to try this upcoming term are: 1. give more homework – assign at least 5 questions to answer after every class period; 2. get students to copy the notes before the class is actually taught so then we can do exercises, discuss, and answer questions during class rather than just copy notes from the board; 3. bring two students to my house each night for one hour of two-on-one tutoring – for the Form 3 this means that they’ll get private undivided attention twice a month; and 4. finally since the in-class during the term work is only 30% of the final grade (the term’s final is worth 70%, a percentage dictated by the Ghana Education Service) I’ll give pass/fail credit for doing the homework so the students just need to demonstrate that they’re trying in order to get that 30%.

So, teaching is a mixed bag but mostly it is extremely rewarding and I believe this is directly proportional to the hard work I’m putting into it.  The other things that I spend my time doing are spending long weekends with Kate during which we cook, relax, go to church, and run.  Once a month at church I get to give the homily and that has been amazing.  I think some of my enthusiasm gets lost in translation (by the live-in Catechist), but I really enjoy being in front of the congregation (an average of 10 people each Sunday).  I try to run twice or three times a week, but that has slowed as my teaching work increases.  I could save time by paying some to do my laundry, but I like get my hands dirty and doing it myself.  The same goes for cooking.  I could eat in town every night for just a dollar, but not only do I like cooking for myself, I crave the variety in the food whereas in town only a choice of two dishes is available.

I need to end this reflection here.  I never seem to have enough time to write everything I want so I should really do this more often.  If you have specific questions for me, please feel free to write me an email or comment to this post.  I’ll try to write more regularly as well.  The New Year will be a time of finding my stride in the classroom and carving time to do some more intensive language study and hopefully a little grant writing.  Christmas and New Year’s Eve were totally strange here, but nonetheless they were fun to celebrate.  During Christmas there wasn’t any snow, any trees, any mangers, or any lights.  Just simple church services that were same as the ones every other Sunday.  I did get two packages from home, one from my cousin, and one surprise package from a friend and these were definitely the highlight of the season.  I’m swimming in M&Ms, Crystal Light, and dried soup packets – exactly what I asked for!  New Year’s was celebrated with champagne and chocolate chip cookies at 10pm and then at the stroke of 12 there was a quiet kiss goodnight.  The awkward translation of these holidays really are just another day here in this country which is so different than home, a country that leaves so much to be desired, but one that is experientially perfect in its own way.  I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.  Happy New Year!  Godspeed.  -Zachar

You can find the pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151141892965495.805899.705840494&type=1&l=00de00a39d