I feel bad that I've left everyone in the dark lately, so I just wanted to recap my last month and tell you what I'm going to be so busy with the next couple of months.
May went by quite quickly. It seems that in my life, I'm most comfortable being busy and under some stress, so somehow I have managed to replicate those condition on the other side of the world. I have found myself in a mix of projects, and for the first time since I've been here, I truly and fully believe in them all. So what am I doing, you ask? Let me tell you.
First, and of course, I've been teaching. Still teaching physical science and biology to form 3 (11th grade) which is 9 periods, so 6 hours a day in the classroom.
My other primary project is as a teacher development facilitator (TDF), which I've been doing more this term. My 'cluster,' or group of nearby schools, has 9 secondary schools spread over about 60km of road. I've now visited all but two of them (putting a lot if miles on my bike), both of which I plan to visit soon. The reason I've been visiting them is so that I can introduce myself, let them know what I do, and exchange contact information. In the future I want to go to every school at least once a term (3 terms per year) to do classroom observations, where I watch a lesson and provide the teacher with feedback on his/her lesson structure, teaching style, delivery, creation of a student friendly classroom, and technical material of the lesson (if its a subject I know). The teachers love this non-threatening feedback that isn't coming from their boss or the Ministry of Education.
The other major aspect of being a TDF is workshops. These workshops combine education on the topic itself with good, student-based ways to teach it. I have done three workshop for primary school teachers (circulatory system, respiratory system, and reproduction) and I have my first one with the secondary school teachers (genetics) at the end if July.
So what secondary projects have I done? Great question!
I have now held two separate 4-hour extra classes for form 4 (12th grade) students in my cluster that are preparing for their MSCE (Malawi School Certificate Exam) focusing on graphing, and I have another this next weekend in Chinteche. The MSCE is the sole determinant of if a student graduates or not, and the scores are used as a transcript would be in the states when it comes to finding a job. Since graphs and tables are commonly on the exams and Malawian students don't tend to learn them very well, I thought this was a good thing to review a few weeks before the exam.
I have been very busy with my Anamed (Action for Natural Medicine) garden, in preparation of putting one in our school. Anamed recommends always having one demonstration garden where community members can see the plants and even harvest some medicine, while maintaining a secret garden that only a few people know about and can act as a nursery. My house's back yard is that secret garden.
I will be starting back up doing Peace Corps Skillz, part of Grass Roots Soccer. It's a great program, and while most of my work isn't normally with kids, this is one project I'm willing to work with them on.
The exciting new project I'm embarking on is getting the community to build a library for our school. While I'll probably have to help them out with the grant process, but any grant requires at least half the costs be covered by the school.
Outside if secondary projects, I have a few fun things with Peace Corps coming up. First, I was selected to be one of eight Resource Volunteers for the new training group, meaning I will be a trainer for two weeks of their Pre-Service training. I have the Training of Trainers next week. The other project I might be involved in is Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), but I still haven't heard from them.
On a fun, personal note, I will be attending the Malawi vs Namibia World Cup Qualifying match in Blantyre this Wednesday, so expect a post from that. I'm really excited!
So, that's what I'm up to and why I haven't been posting much. Hope to post something fun from my visit to Blantyre and my first trip to the southern region, soon.
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