I am learning the difficulties of planning in Nicaragua. Last week was the first full week of classes, and it has become clear to me that while there are many similarities, there are some significant differences between the schools here and the schools back in the US.
Some key differences I have discovered:
1. The kids wear uniforms. No, this was not difficult to see, but it does make a difference. Last week, a rather significant number of kids just did not go to school because they weren't "ready." They didn't have their notebooks, pencils, or new uniforms. So they did not go to school. While it is not uncommon for kids new to a school to show up a few days late in the US, generally students who are returning to the same school from the last year go to school when school starts. From what the teachers here have told me, this is quite normal.
2. The kids and teachers only go to school for half a day. The morning turn is usually 7:15-12:15, and the afternoon from 12:15 to 5:15. In the morning the kindergarten through 3rd grade students usually go to school, and in the afternoon it's 4-6 grade. So while trying to catch as many teachers as possible teaching science last week, I had some pretty long days, since the full school day is from 7:15 to 5:15. The director and subdirector (sort of equivalent to the principal and vice-principal) work all those hours, every day. I am very impressed by their stamina, as I am about to die. It is also summer here and they wear jeans, polo shirts, and close-toed shoes every day.
3. They make up their schedule during or after the first week of school. Last week I chose a random day to visit each school, since I did not yet have schedules for when the 3-6 grade teachers would be teaching natural science. Little did I realize that many of them would not have their schedules yet either. I am not sure if it is a consequence or cause of the lack of first week attendance mentioned in Difference #1, but the first week is used as a diagnostic week, where they sort of see where the students are. Then they make their schedule. For that reason, some of my teachers could tell me when their science classes are, and some couldn't. Therefore, this week I am planning with what I have, but my schedule could still really change.
4. They have fewer hours of classes. This might seem like a natural extension on #2, but in the past here they haven't served lunch at school, and the students are supposed to receive a short 30 minute recess. Now there is a program where food is delivered to each school monthly, and different parents (read mothers) cook for each grade. The program is meant to improve student nutrition. That's a great idea, but I've discovered that the students arrive at school for the afternoon at 12:15, the food arrives at around 12:20 and they have to eat before they can begin classes. Recess also usually runs somewhere around 45 minutes, instead of the scheduled 30 minutes. Therefore, students tend to have significantly less than their planned 5 hours of classes each day. At least this is true based on what I have seen so far. Maybe as the year settles in and things become more organized, this situation will improve.
5. Textbooks come from the government. In the US, we dictate curriculum, and then each state or school district chooses textbooks accordingly. They come with varying levels of extras, such as videos, Spanish versions, workbooks, etc. Here, each grade, as well as multi-grade, has their own guidebook for each subject that is produced and distributed by the government. This is a huge endeavor, but I can see how it would help greatly with consistency. It also means that many teachers are used to having one resource for each class they teach, and may be less accustomed to pulling different activities from many different sources. While many teachers in the states lament this "extra" work, I always liked being able to pull in activities from different sources that I liked a lot.
6. Tests and exams count a lot. Today I asked one of my 3rd grade teachers about her grading scheme and this is what she told me is pretty common: 3 tests at 10 points each, 10 points participation (which includes classwork and homework), and a 60 point exam, for a total of 100 points. That means 90% of their grade comes from written tests and exams. This is so different from what I am used to! The positive of this is that students are really held accountable for learning what they're supposed to know. If they don't know it, there's no way they can pass, which is a problem we sometimes run into in the states, where a student doesn't seem to know very much, but their other grades give them a passing grade. The downside is that some students aren't good at written tests, written tests only address one kind of knowledge (usually memorization), and it makes it more difficult to keep students on task in class because what really matters for their grades is the tests. Even if they never do a bit of classwork or homework, they can still make a 90%.
Some similarities:
1. There is a lot of variety between the different schools. One of my schools has multi-grade classes, where kindergarten is a class, but the 1&2, 3&4, and 5&6 are combined so that rather than have 6 classes there are only 3. At this particular school, 1-6 all attend classes in the afternoon, with only the kindergarten going in the morning. This variation also applies to the physical environment. One of my schools has a brand new building built by the government of Japan, and includes chalkboards, desks, cabinets, and lights. It's a very impressive building. Then I have another school where the teachers only have class in one end of a double classroom building because the other end is missing part of its roof and wall thanks to a storm from last year. Someone also stole one of the wooden windows over the school break. Apparently, they really needed wood.
2. There is a wide variety in motivation and quality of teachers. This should come as no surprise, as people vary in all professions wherever you go. I have observed teachers who clearly couldn't care less that the kids weren't engaged and weren't learning, and I have seen some truly amazing teachers who keep their kids interested with nothing more than their chalkboard, 3 or 4 textbooks, and their classroom manner. These teachers have been truly impressive, as engagement is a challenge when you have many resources as your disposal. With a minimum of resources, good teachers are to be respected all the more.
3. The Ministry of Education is trying to move from didactic to participatory education. That's one of the reasons I'm here. I've also been impressed with the workshops I have seen, as they have addressed things like the learning cycle, and cooperative learning. As in the states, some teachers have no interest in this, and some teachers are embracing it with whole hearts. I went into a 4th grade classroom last week, and the teacher was walking around observing groups, and he'd randomly ask a student, "What's your role?" Once they answered, he'd ask them for a group report based on what their role was. For the non-teachers I mean roles like secretary, time manager, supply manager, etc. I see this as one of the most promising areas for my work here. I have seen many teachers use group work, and they really like it, but most of what I have seen has been textbook-based, doing what they might normally do singley, but in a group. Moving from this to more cooperative activities, such as a jigsaw or project is a natural progression.
4. Scheduling is very difficult. I remember working for Jon Singer in the US, and how a teacher would say they'd be on this lesson, and I'd go to the school to videotape and they'd be on something completely different because they'd had an assembly the day before. Or worse, the assembly would be that day. Today I went to one of my schools to observe a 3rd grade natural science class, only to find out they wouldn't have natural science because their science class is at 11:15 and they have a teacher meeting at 11 and all the students are going home an hour early. So I observed 20 minutes of math instead. You can learn a lot about a teacher's style from watching them teach math, but it's not exactly what I meant to do today.
***************************************
And some people have asked what my days/weeks are actually like. Here's a summary of this week.
Monday: Plan for the rest of the week. Cook so that I will have leftovers when there's no time to cook. Go to Mérida Primary School (PM) to ask 3rd grade teachers for schedule. Go to Instituto (I = High School) to meet with English teacher. Stay to help 1st year students with pronunciation exercise.
Tuesday: Go to Mérida PM to observe 3rd grade natural science. Observe math instead. Stay for teacher meeting, where I discover that a local citizens group, Fundación Entre Volcanes (FEV), has organized a cleaning campaign for this Friday, and a truck from the mayor’s office is going by at 2 on Friday to pick up garbage from a few large communities around Maderas. Great idea, may complicate my scheduled class observations for Friday. They also have a meeting on Friday with the high school students about water quality. Unfortunately, I have already planned to be in El Madroñal on Friday, so I can´t some to meeting. Need to coordinate better with FEV but is difficult because their office is in Moyogalpa, 2 hours away by bus, and because of buses, a trip there takes up my entire day. Return to school for the afternoon to observe 4, 5, and 6th grade science classes.
Wednesday: Take bus with bike to San Ramón, 5K away to observe afternoon classes. Hang out at recess, observe classes, bike 5K back to Mérida. 5:30-6:30 PM in school, have beginner´s English practice group. More advanced group 6:30-7:30.
Thursday: Take bus to San Ramón with bike. Continue 5K on bike to Tichaná. Observe afternoon classes. Bike 10K back. Try not to die since I am in terrible shape.
Friday: Take 9AM bus to Santa Cruz. Walk a little over 1K to El Madroñal. Observe 3-6 grade science classes. Take 6:30 bus back to Mérida. Sleep like the dead.
***************************************
And finally, a personal note. I am now living in my own house, and it´s a palace. My shower is basically outdoors, which I love. My bed has a REAL mattress, which is amazing after being able to feel every wooden slat in my bed for 3 months. Also, being able to cook for myself is aweome. I love it. I´ve made French toast, mashed potatoes, Annie´s Mac&Cheese (sent by loving people from home), cooked oatmeal, and stirfry all in the past 3 days. I know I´ll go back to eating rice and beans, but right now I´m just reveling in my ability to make foods I´ve been missing for a while.
And after talking to my dad, I realized that I feel in touch with so much more of humanity now than I ever did in the US. Let me try to clearly explain something that is still relatively fuzzy in my own head. Here, I wash my clothese by hand. My house does not have air condition, or even windows with glass or screens in them. I do not have a refrigerator. I have two pots to cook with, and my bookshelf is made out of a piece of wood and two upside down buckets. I have a letrine, and at night when I don´t want to go outside, I have the equivalent of a chamber pot. I don´t have a car, and if I want to get around I have to find a ride, take the bus, or ride my bike. Right now, I´m living a lot more like people in the entire rest of the world than I did when I lived in the US. I don´t think we realize how incredibly atypical our lifestyles there are. How much more luxurious, but also dependent on modern technology and oil we are. But not only does that put me on a more even playing field with people in this time, but it puts me more in touch with people in past times as well. I bought a gas stove, but all my neighbors cook with fire the same as people have been since we discovered fire in the first place. People have been washing their laundry by hand a whole lot longer than they´ve been using washing machines. Most people here have a little wooden bar that´s attached to the doorframe and when you want to secure your door shut from the inside, you just turn that wooden peg down. (I, of course, have the Peace Corps dictated wooden bars on my doors.) But here´s the cool thing - when I talked to my dad on the phone he said when he was a kid in SC, all they had on their doors were wooden bars like that. It´s like I can now identify with more of humanity in space and time than I ever have been able to before. And I type that completely sincerely on my new-fangled laptop before I post it on the equally new internet. I´m not proposing that I step back in time and give up my laptop, or my gas stove, or my new mattress, but I do think it´s been incredibly useful and educational for me to see a little bit of what life is and has been like for 99.9% of all the people who have been on this planet.
***************************************
Also, I promise the next blog will have pictures.
Some key differences I have discovered:
1. The kids wear uniforms. No, this was not difficult to see, but it does make a difference. Last week, a rather significant number of kids just did not go to school because they weren't "ready." They didn't have their notebooks, pencils, or new uniforms. So they did not go to school. While it is not uncommon for kids new to a school to show up a few days late in the US, generally students who are returning to the same school from the last year go to school when school starts. From what the teachers here have told me, this is quite normal.
2. The kids and teachers only go to school for half a day. The morning turn is usually 7:15-12:15, and the afternoon from 12:15 to 5:15. In the morning the kindergarten through 3rd grade students usually go to school, and in the afternoon it's 4-6 grade. So while trying to catch as many teachers as possible teaching science last week, I had some pretty long days, since the full school day is from 7:15 to 5:15. The director and subdirector (sort of equivalent to the principal and vice-principal) work all those hours, every day. I am very impressed by their stamina, as I am about to die. It is also summer here and they wear jeans, polo shirts, and close-toed shoes every day.
3. They make up their schedule during or after the first week of school. Last week I chose a random day to visit each school, since I did not yet have schedules for when the 3-6 grade teachers would be teaching natural science. Little did I realize that many of them would not have their schedules yet either. I am not sure if it is a consequence or cause of the lack of first week attendance mentioned in Difference #1, but the first week is used as a diagnostic week, where they sort of see where the students are. Then they make their schedule. For that reason, some of my teachers could tell me when their science classes are, and some couldn't. Therefore, this week I am planning with what I have, but my schedule could still really change.
4. They have fewer hours of classes. This might seem like a natural extension on #2, but in the past here they haven't served lunch at school, and the students are supposed to receive a short 30 minute recess. Now there is a program where food is delivered to each school monthly, and different parents (read mothers) cook for each grade. The program is meant to improve student nutrition. That's a great idea, but I've discovered that the students arrive at school for the afternoon at 12:15, the food arrives at around 12:20 and they have to eat before they can begin classes. Recess also usually runs somewhere around 45 minutes, instead of the scheduled 30 minutes. Therefore, students tend to have significantly less than their planned 5 hours of classes each day. At least this is true based on what I have seen so far. Maybe as the year settles in and things become more organized, this situation will improve.
5. Textbooks come from the government. In the US, we dictate curriculum, and then each state or school district chooses textbooks accordingly. They come with varying levels of extras, such as videos, Spanish versions, workbooks, etc. Here, each grade, as well as multi-grade, has their own guidebook for each subject that is produced and distributed by the government. This is a huge endeavor, but I can see how it would help greatly with consistency. It also means that many teachers are used to having one resource for each class they teach, and may be less accustomed to pulling different activities from many different sources. While many teachers in the states lament this "extra" work, I always liked being able to pull in activities from different sources that I liked a lot.
6. Tests and exams count a lot. Today I asked one of my 3rd grade teachers about her grading scheme and this is what she told me is pretty common: 3 tests at 10 points each, 10 points participation (which includes classwork and homework), and a 60 point exam, for a total of 100 points. That means 90% of their grade comes from written tests and exams. This is so different from what I am used to! The positive of this is that students are really held accountable for learning what they're supposed to know. If they don't know it, there's no way they can pass, which is a problem we sometimes run into in the states, where a student doesn't seem to know very much, but their other grades give them a passing grade. The downside is that some students aren't good at written tests, written tests only address one kind of knowledge (usually memorization), and it makes it more difficult to keep students on task in class because what really matters for their grades is the tests. Even if they never do a bit of classwork or homework, they can still make a 90%.
Some similarities:
1. There is a lot of variety between the different schools. One of my schools has multi-grade classes, where kindergarten is a class, but the 1&2, 3&4, and 5&6 are combined so that rather than have 6 classes there are only 3. At this particular school, 1-6 all attend classes in the afternoon, with only the kindergarten going in the morning. This variation also applies to the physical environment. One of my schools has a brand new building built by the government of Japan, and includes chalkboards, desks, cabinets, and lights. It's a very impressive building. Then I have another school where the teachers only have class in one end of a double classroom building because the other end is missing part of its roof and wall thanks to a storm from last year. Someone also stole one of the wooden windows over the school break. Apparently, they really needed wood.
2. There is a wide variety in motivation and quality of teachers. This should come as no surprise, as people vary in all professions wherever you go. I have observed teachers who clearly couldn't care less that the kids weren't engaged and weren't learning, and I have seen some truly amazing teachers who keep their kids interested with nothing more than their chalkboard, 3 or 4 textbooks, and their classroom manner. These teachers have been truly impressive, as engagement is a challenge when you have many resources as your disposal. With a minimum of resources, good teachers are to be respected all the more.
3. The Ministry of Education is trying to move from didactic to participatory education. That's one of the reasons I'm here. I've also been impressed with the workshops I have seen, as they have addressed things like the learning cycle, and cooperative learning. As in the states, some teachers have no interest in this, and some teachers are embracing it with whole hearts. I went into a 4th grade classroom last week, and the teacher was walking around observing groups, and he'd randomly ask a student, "What's your role?" Once they answered, he'd ask them for a group report based on what their role was. For the non-teachers I mean roles like secretary, time manager, supply manager, etc. I see this as one of the most promising areas for my work here. I have seen many teachers use group work, and they really like it, but most of what I have seen has been textbook-based, doing what they might normally do singley, but in a group. Moving from this to more cooperative activities, such as a jigsaw or project is a natural progression.
4. Scheduling is very difficult. I remember working for Jon Singer in the US, and how a teacher would say they'd be on this lesson, and I'd go to the school to videotape and they'd be on something completely different because they'd had an assembly the day before. Or worse, the assembly would be that day. Today I went to one of my schools to observe a 3rd grade natural science class, only to find out they wouldn't have natural science because their science class is at 11:15 and they have a teacher meeting at 11 and all the students are going home an hour early. So I observed 20 minutes of math instead. You can learn a lot about a teacher's style from watching them teach math, but it's not exactly what I meant to do today.
***************************************
And some people have asked what my days/weeks are actually like. Here's a summary of this week.
Monday: Plan for the rest of the week. Cook so that I will have leftovers when there's no time to cook. Go to Mérida Primary School (PM) to ask 3rd grade teachers for schedule. Go to Instituto (I = High School) to meet with English teacher. Stay to help 1st year students with pronunciation exercise.
Tuesday: Go to Mérida PM to observe 3rd grade natural science. Observe math instead. Stay for teacher meeting, where I discover that a local citizens group, Fundación Entre Volcanes (FEV), has organized a cleaning campaign for this Friday, and a truck from the mayor’s office is going by at 2 on Friday to pick up garbage from a few large communities around Maderas. Great idea, may complicate my scheduled class observations for Friday. They also have a meeting on Friday with the high school students about water quality. Unfortunately, I have already planned to be in El Madroñal on Friday, so I can´t some to meeting. Need to coordinate better with FEV but is difficult because their office is in Moyogalpa, 2 hours away by bus, and because of buses, a trip there takes up my entire day. Return to school for the afternoon to observe 4, 5, and 6th grade science classes.
Wednesday: Take bus with bike to San Ramón, 5K away to observe afternoon classes. Hang out at recess, observe classes, bike 5K back to Mérida. 5:30-6:30 PM in school, have beginner´s English practice group. More advanced group 6:30-7:30.
Thursday: Take bus to San Ramón with bike. Continue 5K on bike to Tichaná. Observe afternoon classes. Bike 10K back. Try not to die since I am in terrible shape.
Friday: Take 9AM bus to Santa Cruz. Walk a little over 1K to El Madroñal. Observe 3-6 grade science classes. Take 6:30 bus back to Mérida. Sleep like the dead.
***************************************
And finally, a personal note. I am now living in my own house, and it´s a palace. My shower is basically outdoors, which I love. My bed has a REAL mattress, which is amazing after being able to feel every wooden slat in my bed for 3 months. Also, being able to cook for myself is aweome. I love it. I´ve made French toast, mashed potatoes, Annie´s Mac&Cheese (sent by loving people from home), cooked oatmeal, and stirfry all in the past 3 days. I know I´ll go back to eating rice and beans, but right now I´m just reveling in my ability to make foods I´ve been missing for a while.
And after talking to my dad, I realized that I feel in touch with so much more of humanity now than I ever did in the US. Let me try to clearly explain something that is still relatively fuzzy in my own head. Here, I wash my clothese by hand. My house does not have air condition, or even windows with glass or screens in them. I do not have a refrigerator. I have two pots to cook with, and my bookshelf is made out of a piece of wood and two upside down buckets. I have a letrine, and at night when I don´t want to go outside, I have the equivalent of a chamber pot. I don´t have a car, and if I want to get around I have to find a ride, take the bus, or ride my bike. Right now, I´m living a lot more like people in the entire rest of the world than I did when I lived in the US. I don´t think we realize how incredibly atypical our lifestyles there are. How much more luxurious, but also dependent on modern technology and oil we are. But not only does that put me on a more even playing field with people in this time, but it puts me more in touch with people in past times as well. I bought a gas stove, but all my neighbors cook with fire the same as people have been since we discovered fire in the first place. People have been washing their laundry by hand a whole lot longer than they´ve been using washing machines. Most people here have a little wooden bar that´s attached to the doorframe and when you want to secure your door shut from the inside, you just turn that wooden peg down. (I, of course, have the Peace Corps dictated wooden bars on my doors.) But here´s the cool thing - when I talked to my dad on the phone he said when he was a kid in SC, all they had on their doors were wooden bars like that. It´s like I can now identify with more of humanity in space and time than I ever have been able to before. And I type that completely sincerely on my new-fangled laptop before I post it on the equally new internet. I´m not proposing that I step back in time and give up my laptop, or my gas stove, or my new mattress, but I do think it´s been incredibly useful and educational for me to see a little bit of what life is and has been like for 99.9% of all the people who have been on this planet.
***************************************
Also, I promise the next blog will have pictures.
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