First week of term: boards, wikis, and carpets

One week late... again. This whole "one blog a week" deal is not going so well...

Second term started on Tuesday and we are in the full swing of school already. Just this week:

1. We started cataloguing books for a book drive we did last term for a primary school in Mbare, a high density area of Harare. We had some fantastic student volunteers ('tis the season of recommendations and volunteering looks oh so good on a college application) but we underestimated the amount of books we had collected and how long it would take to "catalogue", even with our basic (and flawed, as we discovered) system.

2. I've marked 2 Language papers of Form 4 homework - only 2 Upper 6 essays, 2 more Form 4 papers, a L6 project and a Form 3 project to go. Yay. Why do I give holiday homework again?

3. Our headmaster has left (he's South African and his work permit was not renewed) - I have not had  a single term at this school yet that hasn't been marked by some major staff change or drama. The day after his last day, the first day of term, we had an emergency staff meeting where the chairman of the school board sternly told us who would be coming to fill in while they look for another head and informed us the two deputies would be leading the school until then and they had full powers to exercise "Disciplinary Sanctions" against any - wait for it - staff member who did not comply with their authority. "Disciplinary Sanctions"?! First of all, what the heck are "Disciplinary Sanctions"? I'm tempted to be non-compliant just to find out!  And secondly, who does he think we are that he feels the need threaten us with "Disciplinary Sanctions"? Why do we have boards again?

4. I introduced two of my classes to wikis. Over the holidays I spent some serious time working on a couple for two of my exam classes (a wiki is a website that can be edited collectively by a group of people, the largest example of which is Wikipedia). I had used a wiki with my student teaching class in Michigan and it was very successful - students were able to discuss with each other online and post comments and questions about the book leading to, I think, a greater depth of understanding and enjoyment of the text. I had removed all thoughts of online/internet/computer teaching from my planning when I came back to Zimbabwe - you cannot count on every person having access to internet, but this holiday (after being inspired by some English Journal reading) I decided that we can make it work. We have a computer lab, so surely the boarders can have access to internet there, and this is a wealthy school - almost every student will have internet at home (or, even more likely, a smart phone with access to it) and they are all on facebook all day long so 15 minutes of wiki conversation shouldn't be arduous. I spent a lot of time on the wikis making the home page attractive, creating pages for notes on characters and discussion questions. And, on Tuesday morning when I showed my classes, did the faces of my students glow with anticipation and awe as I revealed our new private wiki? Did the room start to buzz with comments as they turned to each other in glee? Did they call out in a grateful chorus, "Oh Miss Bell, thank you for all that hard work and time you put into that wiki and giving us space to take ownership of our learning, to interact with each other and our texts in a richer, different way leading to a greater depth of understanding and enjoyment of this play"? No. There was no glow, buzz or chorus. Why do I think up new, creative ways to teach again? Don't worry, my students are going to use these darn wikis and they're going to enjoy it, whether they like it or not.

5. The new carpets that the matron and I ordered for the hostel were installed while I was teaching and now I have to tell the matron that the carpet that she oversaw being installed into the front hall of our hostel was not meant to go there but in the common room and so, no, she cannot ask the Head of Boarding if she can have the old front hall one for her room because the old front hall one is not old and needs to go back in the front hall. I'm doing role plays for that conversation in my head.


However, three highlights:

1. Yesterday one of my Form 1 boarders came to show me her new guitar... just because.

2. I saw one of my L6 Language students in another class before our first language lesson and she said to me  excitedly, "I can't wait for Language!" I almost fell over (they are a class that has been very difficult to draw any kind of emotion from, let alone excitement) and then I asked, "Why?" and she said, and I quote, scout's honour, "Because we had such a cool holiday project!"

3. When I walked into my Upper 6 lesson (a class which has been easy to connect with and which, if teacher's were allowed to have favourites...) they just grinned at me. They were happy to see me, so they say--I personally think it more likely to be a combination of first week excitement, second term stress getting to them early, the joke L had just told and the chaplain's sermon that morning that told them that if they weren't happy they would fail--but I'm going to go with they were happy to see me.