And then it was Friday ...

Dear Family and Friends,  

With an 8 AM - 8 PM schedule Mon-Thurs, participants and facilitators are usually tired by Thursday evening.  But Friday brings renewed vigor and more options for learning.  From its inception in 1996, Mwangaza has been committed to educating Tanzanians of all ages, in particular to assist them in gaining the information and insights needed to live healthier lives in families, schools, and other "communities".  One part of that process is education in the areas of Life Skills & Decision Making, both in relation to HIV/AIDS and to other life issues.  John and Salome have developed 2 power points filled with questions which direct ones thinking to his/her individual life circumstances, past, current, and future.  The questions do not dictate values but lead each person toward considering his/her values as implied by his/her actions, then to weighing the options/methods for making different decisions and living by different standards/values.

After that morning session, the seminar heads into the meaningful activities, the fulfillment (we hope) of the week's work, by focusing on the presentations of 5 teachers.  Until this moment, each must assume s/he might be one of the teachers presenting and be, therefore, fully prepared.   The schedule on the left shows lesson plan presentations beginning just after morning chai.  In the middle, John is handing out the lottery tickets, with each handful containing one Yes for each of the content groups.  

DeoGratias is certainly hoping he will not be "lucky" enough to get the Yes, and got his wish.  However, Sharon noted how well each winners'  content mates helped set up for his/her class and were very good students during that presentation.   Zephania, a young English teacher at Enaboishu, began the presentations just as Mike had to leave to join Allen in going to Kili to greet and welcome Carolyn & Pastor Merlyn Seitz, arriving from Ohio.  Carolyn will join we other facilitators for planning and leading the next seminar, June 27 - July 1.

Was very nice to end our day/week with all gathering on Mwangaza's front steps for a picture.  We heard a few days ago that Chiti, the young man in center front, met with his Headmaster after returning to his school in northeast TZ, telling him that he learned a lot and would be happy to show other teachers what he had learned.  He's one of the men who had never worked on a computer before and spent extra hours with Mike to learn more about Googling to find resources, evaluating them, and choosing & saving the ones which would help to teach his curriculum.  Looking forward to staying connected to him when we return home.

Some other friends stopped by in recent days, so will send stories and pix soon.  Will be attending a First Communion of Salome's daughter tomorrow early afternoon, then returning to welcome the seminar participants as they arrive early evening and get settled in for the week.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Renewed computer lab

Dear Family and Friends,  

That was Then, This is Now, a book title which reflects the "compare and contrast" of Mwangaza's computer lab last year (first picture) and this year (rest of pix).  In retrospect, the services and experiences provided by the previous computers, and the numbers of teachers who learned on them, are actually amazing, especially considering the ages of the machines and the distances travelled, just to get here.  Was quite a sight several years ago, to see the majority of seminar participants in each of 3 consecutive week's seminars, put a sticky tab in the "Have never turned on or used a computer" on the first day of their seminar.  Then, 5 days later, nearly 100% putting a new tab in the "Comfortable with using a computer for typing and email".  

With revitalized internet reception and more compact computers using flat screens, teachers working together 2 to a computer is much easier to manage.  With Carolyn Seitz, from Ohio, having joined our team for our second seminar, we will be able to split the participants into 2 groups so that each can be working individually on a computer with 2-3 facilitators assisting/advising, while the other two facilitators lead the other group in searching the Mwangaza library for references to their content areas, becoming better acquainted with the contents and resources of the government syllabi, etc.  

Many of you provided these computers with your contributions this spring.  A Scandinavian NGO (non-governmental organization) refurbishes the computers and sends them to ViaAfrica, another NGO based in Tanzania and 2 other African countries.  Mwangaza's management team negotiated with them for 20 computers, 15 here on campus (10 in one room and 5 in the library) and the other 5 given one each to the 5 Pilot Schools.  With increased memory over the older models, and using open-source software, they are easy to use and have little need for taking up memory with protection against viruses.  

The hard drive, which works with a with some similarities to Macs, and the software, which has programs resembling Office, are easy to use and mostly transferable/readable with either macs or PCs.  For very reasonable prices, less than $5,000 for the 15 computers on campus, including delivery and set-up, Mwangaza has already hosted 3 groups of students and/or teachers with focus on computer skills before last week's teachers' seminar.  

In the photos, the teachers are learning Excel (spreadsheet) from Salome and John, and practicing with a meaningful application of organizing a roster of students and their test scores.  Then S & J teach them how to find the averages, grades for the term, insert comments, and finally give the recommendation for advancement or not.  It is not unusual for teachers to have more than 60 in a class, and several classes, so this is a great way to keep track of, and keep up with, the progress and grading of several hundred students.   In the center picture, these are 2 men who had never touched a computer before last week.  Along with another novice who joined them, they cooperatively rotated in and out of the one chair to be certain each tasted of every step in the experience.  Before the end of the week, each was capable of setting up a spreadsheet, inputting the information, and organizing it as needed using the EXCEL options.  Very Cool!!!

 

Along with discovering Excel, the teachers discovered that folks who can type can work much faster on a computer than those who do not. One computer session was devoted to getting acquainted with the typing program and skills, with our teammates providing a graphic organizer showing each finger's "duties".  The program is very reinforcing, giving visual clues, not allowing any mistakes to be typed in the beginning stages, and working from index fingers out with lots of repetition.   Never enough time to reach competency in one week, but hopefully enough taste to be motivated to practice more. 

Will follow with the other uses of the "new" computers and another technology tool new to Mwangaza this year.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Grasping the Sheltered Instruction Framework

Dear Family and Friends,

Since we are beginning another seminar in 3 days, trying to wrap up the previous one.  Also know that we will have some last minute shopping and sharing with guests/friends, plus wrap-up reports and discussions filling the few days from the end of the seminar (July 1) until our plane leaves (July 6), so not likely to write much then.

Have also some stories to tell, and of course pix to share, about special sharing with friends and family here -- coming soon.

First, another creative idea from Mr. John, who decided to demonstrate "kinesthetic" learning by giving some of the participants a "temporary name", each receiving the name of 1 of the 8 Sheltered Instruction components.  They were most cooperative, standing in front, showing their ID cards, and stating their names.  However, when John asked "Were you all born in the same month?", they quickly caught on to being out of order/sequence, and hurriedly reorganized.  

We especially liked it that Mr. Samson, who at the last second was asked to substitute for a lady who had taken ill, quickly huddled with his table group and was ready with "My name is Strategies" long before his substitute sign was finished and given to him.  Love it when they are "thinking about thinking"!!

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Projector and Computers: New Windows to the Worlds of Life, Communication, and Content

Dear Family and Friends,

Sharon keeps reminding Mike that "a picture is worth a thousand words" -- obviously, Mike is slow to take a hint, including both the pix and the words.  But this time will be different ...

b/c will mostly tell you what you are seeing and let the pix speak for themselves.  Fairly obvious that Mwangaza now has a projector, and has extended internet access to the seminar hall.  John is actually teaching about Life Skills and Decision Making in the first photo, using thought-provoking questions in a power point format he and Salome developed.  They then tapped into the internet, using Google to search for subject area information, also learning some of the selection skills once 2,582,456 choices are listed.

Mike came into the picture (pun intended -- we do miss those supplied by Bil J and others from Red Eye) to show how to find, save and show subject area power points.  More than 50 power points in 7 different subject areas have been gathered, categorized, and saved on each of fifteen 512 mb flash drives.  The last 3 pictures show teachers accessing the files, then checking out "addition of intergers" (Mike's favorite).  These flash drives were donated by NIU's tech department last year, and will be traveling to the 17 schools represented at the 2 seminars, to be installed on the desktops of their computer(s).  We hope these will be good resources for teachers to review content for their own academic growth and lesson planning.  Another goal for the months to come will be finding more information/power points, attempting to attach and send to the teachers at their schools, and assisting them in planning and organizing how to get students in front of the computers.

Using Google and searching the internet for more power points, some teachers were also competent enough with their new skills to find additional power points related to content they will be teaching when return schools resume in July.  This gentleman, a teacher of 35 years, found a well-done presentation for Biology.

Since Mike has saved so many words this time, he will close with a story -- an example of why we return home each year knowing that we learned more than we taught, that we received more than we gave.  Mr. Joshua, a biology teacher from Enaboishu, has been teaching for 42 years.  He and Mike have spirited discussions about U.S. politics, particularly foreign policy and education, as he is very well read -- and he also leans a bit farther to the right on most issues.  On Thursday evening, at almost 8 PM, he was still working hard on his lesson plan and asked for help in accessing a power point to include as a reference.  Kinda tired, and thinking it would not actually influence his lesson plan at this stage, Mike was less than excited. But as one old man to another, agreed, especially since Mr. Joshua has few computer skills.

Narrowing Biology to match his LP focus, we Googled "Ecology power points" and quickly found one which looked likely to work.  In fact, the opening slide title "ECOLOGY" was soon joined in smaller print/different fonts by "Populations"; "City"; "Biosphere"; "Family"; "Nation"; "Organism"; "Community"; "Continent";  and maybe another now forgotten, scattered across the screen.  Never one to miss a chance for putting things in order, Mike suggested that a good opening discussion with students watching this powerpoint might be based on organizing the categories from largest to smallest.  Mr. Joshua thought only a second and said "Community".   Thinking he must have misunderstood and started with the smallest,  but had missed "Organism" & "Family", Mike asked again about starting with the largest group.  

Mr. Joshua said "Well of course I did, Mr. Mike, for all God's creations, all His people and animals and plants, are in the same Community.  Each of these is a Community."  And to think Mike was once an "A" student in Biology, but may have not done so well on the Tanzania test in Faith and Relationships.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Learning about and through group configurations

Dear Family & Friends,

Today will share several pix of our participants last week, 30 teachers from 8 schools, many of whom had attended one or more Mwangaza seminars over the years since 1996.  

Our 30 teachers were asked to begin the seminar seated so that each table of three represented 3 different schools and 3 different content areas.  With a key part of Mwangaza's focus over the years being students' learning, practice, and application within the interaction of group configurations, we then proceeded to guide them into 3 other groupings: double tables, subject area groups, and school groups.  In every session we modeled using a minimum of 2 different groups, often focusing first on discussions in table groupings to find different/common perspectives and experiences across schools and content, or within their subject areas so they can discuss with a common focus, then moving to the school groups so that same school colleagues could discover/discuss issues across content areas.

Since the students for each of our participants will be in the same school and, period by period, in the same class, those "groupings'" will not transfer. This gives us the challenge, and opportunity, to make our ideas/methods applicable & meaningful when the teachers return to their schools and environments.  So, we are modeling how groups can be used for 1. teaching and learning, 2. greatly increasing student opportunities for speaking and listening to the English language, 3. practice and application activities, and 4. checking for understanding. Then we must discuss with the teachers their school/classroom environments and how to adapt what we have modeled to the reality of their circumstances.

Since we are focused on students' language development, specifically language development in their NEW language of English, one of the very interesting experiences involves teachers in the same school but different subject areas discovering a common list of academic words that each uses in teaching their subject.  In other words (Yes, pun is intended), all subject area teachers use add & adding -- but 'tis very interesting to hear the history teacher tell the math and physics teacher why it's not the same as their word. Until, with a bit of guidance, the group members come to the conclusion that these are the same words, with basically the same meanings, but with different applications.  Now the teachers can also explain this to their students, and both the students' confidence and the use of these academic words increases.

Sharon is explaining the process, first for each teacher to individually select the words, from the list given, used in his/her subject area.  The the teachers were moved to subject area groups to see if there fellow math, etc. teachers agreed with their choices.  Heard some good teaching going on even then, as one physics teacher might tell another, "You must use this word when teaching the .....  concept".

A quick stop and switch to school groups, modeling that moving from one group configuration to another does not have to be chaotic nor excessively time consuming. Then heard wonderful discussion in school groups as the math teacher heard words shared with English and biology teachers, history with chemistry, etc.

Teachers from Bangala

The Enaboishu crew

And finally, Mama Sharon asks the groups to give her the subject area which use each word, with the results giving the teachers a list of common academic words they can share with Form 1 (freshmen) students in the first days of school, even posting them in classrooms.  The students now have both the opportunity and inclination to increase vocabulary knowing there will be meaningful applications in several of their courses.

Back soon with technology !!

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Using resources

Dear Family & Friends,

Our teachers definitely get their "money's worth" in quantity of time while attending a Mwangaza seminar, as we meet again each day after the evening meal for an hour of working together on developing lesson plans with the Mwangaza student-centered focus.  We hope they also find they receive the quality needed for growth in skills to address the challenges they face in their classrooms and school communities.

Bringing Monday evening's expectations/experiences to this Tuesday journal, you can see (and maybe read) that Monday night was focused on writing the content objectives, chosen from their subject area syllabi, first in the technical language of the syllabi, then in student-friendly language.  For Form I (freshmen) students learning in their second language, being able to see and read the objectives, what they are expected to learn during the day's lesson, is a step toward actual learning and ultimate academic success.  Our teachers quickly identified this as one important difference between Mwangaza's expectations and the government's lesson planning expectations.  

We used the example sometimes given as a guideline for a speech or homily: Tell them what you are going to teach, teach it, then tell them what you taught.  One teacher, who knew the answer to his own question, asked "Do you mean I should be sharing my Lesson Plan with my students?"

For example: Zephania, an English teacher from Enaboishu LSS (Marieth Mlay's school) wrote these (pictured below):

Formal (from the syllabus):

1. Students Will Be Able To express kinship.  

2. SWBAT express the occupation of family members.  

Then he changed the technical content words, which were probably not known by the students, into more conversational language which the students might have heard or would more easily comprehend.

Informal (Student-friendly):

1. SWBAT talk about their family relationships.  

2. SWBAT mention the work of their family members.  "Mention" is an interesting word in education here, as includes being able to list and explain, much more than the "by the way" meaning mentioning carries for us. 

  

One of the this year's first-time experiences for Mike was watching a group of English teachers work together to select 5 objectives from the English syllabus, then continue to work together, thoroughly discussing how each of them could/should be re-written in student-friendly vocabulary.  Only after they had established their "group standard/model" did each then begin to work on his/her own objectives, using their group's standard/model to guide individual choices.  

After selecting 5 content objectives and writing them in informal language Monday night, the teachers were to select the one objective around which they would  prepare a lesson plan for presentation to the rest of the teachers/us on Friday.  Then, starting Tuesday morning, as we continued to present the components of Sheltered Instruction, teachers were to follow-up by writing the related parts of their lesson plans.  

John and Salome started Tuesday by leading the participants on a tour of Mwangaza's Sheltered Instruction Resource Book, helping them become better acquainted with the contents and organization.  Then they turned abstract to concrete, presenting 4 written "classroom scenarios", each of which described circumstances where less than the best teaching/learning was happening.  In small groups, the teachers worked to identify the issues which needed improvement, then went to the Resource Book to find "best practices" solutions.  The discussions which followed with groups sharing their ideas made us optimistic for reaching high expectations by the end of the week.

Notes on the board helped the teachers look at the scenarios in relationship to 1. Preparing to learn; 2. Learning new content; and/or 3. Checking for understanding.    Below, a teacher is reading one of the scenarios before beginning to discuss with her table group.

 

      

Later in the day, we presented/modeled methods and strategies to link new learning with previous learning, beginning with vocabulary which would be used in the new lesson.  Teachers struggled somewhat with the differentiation of words into ordinary, technical, or process.  These struggles seem to reflect similar challenges in re-writing Formal (technical language) objectives as Informal (ordinary language) objectives.  Connecting vocabulary with which they are familiar to the new meanings/uses can help the students feel that they already know some important information needed for the lesson.  Showing them how to address new vocabulary through roots, context, etc teaches both the vocabulary and learning strategies they can use again and again.  Discussing and defining the process words, sometimes referred to as "command terms" or "performance words", helps the students learn what actions and understanding is required -- for this lesson and when the terms are used again in other lessons.

By connecting the focus of the lesson with the vocabulary of the lesson, teachers began to see what language skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening) they will have the students learn/practice/apply during the course of the lesson.  From there we helped them set Language Objectives for their lessons -- like the content objectives, these are expected to be shared with the students so they will know the expectations.

          

Teachers are beginning to connect the ideas/methods/strategies in the Resource Book with those in the Sheltered Instruction text.  

           

the teacher is competing a Graphic Organizer which Salome used to demonstrate a strategy for helping students organize and recall information, at the same time she was checking for the teachers' understanding of our previous presentation.

These 2 teachers had brought together several resources: notes from our presentations; the Resource Book; the Sh. In. text; and the government's syllabus for teaching English language. 

From 7 - 8 pm Tuesday evening after dinner, the seminar hall was very active, each teacher was working hard, and consulting with facilitators, to complete these early stages of his/her lesson plan.

You are probably tired from reading so much detail, and we certainly remember being tired by the end of that evening also.  But will return soon, refreshed and with more words and pix from the rest of the week.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Day 1 of Seminar 1 at Mwangaza

WOW !! Mwangaza's campus does come alive when 30 teachers arrive for a week's seminar, including room and board.  All of Mwangaza staff, and a couple of volunteers, find themselves with responsibilities from before to after daylight each day, providing security, housekeeping, meals, and our course, seminar sessions.

And now that the week has ended, and we've had Saturday to slow down a bit, will spend some time today looking back through those days and sharing some thoughts and pix with you.  Since have already gathered several sets of pix, will begin with Monday and continue writing some notes through today and ... until have reviewed the whole week.

1. Each seminar day begins with sala, a devotion based on a Scripture reading.  Our teammate John led us on Monday, then participants were invited to volunteer for the other days.  Hearing the harmony of 30+ voices singing hymns and listening to the Word of God is a great way to start each day.  We especially appreciate that we can join in singing the hymns, even though printed and sung in Swahili, as every vowel is pronounced -- even recognized many of the melodies, so can translate while singing.  Knowing that the teachers are using their 3rd language, we are also grateful for their extra effort to present all salas in English.

2.  Introductions follow on Monday, with the facilitators and teachers getting to connect each others faces and names.  Certainly students are appreciative and feel the teachers' investment if their teachers can call them by name -- and these teachers usually have 40-100 per period and several different groups throughout a week.  It was very reinforcing to hear both young and older teachers share some of their techniques for learning names of their students.

3. Sharon then led everyone through the objective's for the week's seminar -- which made it very clear immediately that there were high expectations for participants and facilitators.  These 10 objectives were posted on the hall wall and frequently referred to during the week.  Plus, during closing on Friday, the participants were "invited" to recall times/examples of the objectives having been addressed during the week.  The "invitation" was also their "ticket out" of the seminar, reinforcing one of the formative assessment strategies (informally measuring learning & understanding without grading their answers) we had taught/modeled during our presentations.

4. After we had gathered information regarding their schools, materials, computers, etc., John and Salome led a model lesson using the methodology we were going to teach during the week, while working in more guidance by focusing on Teaching Aids as their topic.  Seems to work well with teachers, as well as other learners, to show them the product you hope to get from them at the end of the week.  And 'tis good for our team to be creative, thinking what teaching aids, especially those that can be hands-on, are available in the school communities.

5. Mwangaza Head Cook Rachel and her proficient crew fix delicious meals for lunch and dinner, and hearty snacks to go with tea/chai for morning and late afternoon breaks. Rachel has just put more fish into the oil to deep fry before adding it to vegetables and juices for a wonderful fish stew to top the rice or ugali (corn flour mixed with water to a cold mashed potato consistency) for the evening.  

   

6. The weather is often cool, with drizzling perhaps, in the mornings, but by lunch (1 PM) we are enjoying our meal or chai at the banda or otherwise enjoying a bit of outside and sun.

      

7. One of Mike's personal favorite meals, minced (ground) beef to be picked up with the chapatti (similar to tortilla or flat bread), along with cooked cabbage and a very fresh orange.  

Now that we have lunched and supped, please allow us to send this on to you and return soon with Monday evening and beyond.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Weekend of sharing relationships

Dear Family and Friends,

What wonderful gifts of visits we received Saturday and Sunday, as Simon & Adeliade Panga from Moringe Sokoine LSS, accompanied by daughters Shuku and Barsi, joined us on Saturday afternoon for a few hours, also sampling Sharon's fried chicken, potatoes and gravy.  Was a bit of a challenge to get food ready, but Sharon coordinated well with the electricity when it was available.  Simon shared memories of spending weeks with us in our home and classrooms in 2004, also warmly remembering being present for one of First Lutheran Pie Auctions for Ketumbeine.   He also talked about the drought conditions this year and how beneficial the 8 Beans Dinner proceeds will be in buying beans to provide protein for their students.  As teachers/parents, we were touched by his choice to move from teaching math to the higher grade levels to teaching the entry levels as his daughter came into high school.  He spoke of the choice revitalizing and challenging him to be the best teacher he could be, as the best teacher is what any parent would want for their child.  Hopefully, if we return next year, we will be able to visit them in Monduli where Moringe is located.  The Headmaster and a number of staff persons there have impressed us with their dedication, manner of supporting their students, and their teaching abilities.

Then Pastor Seth came to our Tanzania/Mwangaza home, along with Fadhila, joined by son Joel and Fadhila's sister, blessing us with their presence Sunday afternoon.  Great to have special time with our "Mwanangu" again, and to have time to share with Fadhila, Joel, and his sister-in-law.  It warmed our hearts to see such great happiness in Seth's face to be with his family, and the warmth between Seth & Fadhila, and Baba and his son.  We have seen Seth writing dates and times in his notebook/calendar here, looking at his watch (yes, he is still wearing his watch -- at least sometimes) and he has spoken of trips and activities already scheduled, so we know he is very busy.  Certainly we know he intends to do research while he is here, and visit Ketumbeine, his parents, and others.  However, there is a smile that is broader and brighter than can be seen in Illinois light. Always good to be home and with family !!

We have been honored with an invitation to visit them in their home on Tuesday afternoon, the 21st.  Of course, we must get permission from our teammates at Mwangaza to leave a bit early that day, but we are confident they will agree.  It's exciting to look forward to our time with Family Sululu soon.

Today is Friday, near the end of our week's seminar, as this journal ends.  Mike rode with Allen to Kili to meet our Ohio partner, Carolyn, and her husband, who arrived about 1PM.  They also (we two last year, Seth this year) were carefully monitoring a recent volcanic eruption, but it did not interfere with their flight (from D.C. through Ethiopia). Carolyn will join John & Salome, Sharon & Mike, in planning and facilitating the next seminar.  They are moving into the guest house with us as our last LP presenter is finishing his lesson.

Hopefully we will bring a seminar report from this week to you soon.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon

Last days in Kisarawe

Dear Family and Friends,

As we stood at Mwangaza's "banda" and ate our evening meal yesterday (Wednesday, June 16), John asked if we remembered a certain Thursday of 2 weeks ago.  He was referring to our last days at Kisarawe School, with Salome getting ill late Wed afternoon and evening, then Sharon having similar stomach issues early Thursday morning.  So suddenly John and Allen are transporting Salome to clinic & hospital Wed PM to check for malaria &/or thyphoid and Mike is arranging Thurs AM for Sharon to stay at the hotel for the day.  So while John and Mike were busier than expected trying to turn we 2 into all 4 facilitators, both ladies were weak but recovering as Thursday progressed, with no serious diseases diagnosed for Salome and antibiotics made available for both (for wazungu, they had been prescribed by and brought along from DeKalb just for that possibility) available for Sharon.  In fact, even the Kisarawe Headmaster and staff became involved, as he sent the Matron to check in on our teammates.  By the time we reached home Saturday night, all were approaching full strength, although John had malaria issues early the next week -- he is not fond of Dar's heat and humidity, nor the mosquitos that live in that region.

So there are few, if any, pictures from our Thursday at Kisarawe, but will include a few others below in an attempt to give you the feeling and flow of the second half of the week.

In each of Mwangaza's seminars, several resources are put to good use.  Always those include the Mwangaza Resource Book, built through the 15 years of seminars by contributions from a number of teachers, organized in meaningful and appliable format a number of years ago by Jim Talarico, and still growing.  Within that RB is a lesson plan template, also evolving over the years, and growing to be known and respected, to the point where the gov't lesson plan template resembles Mwangaza's.

In the first photo you can see several of the participants looking at a page featuring a Learning Pyramid, which shows the increased percent of content which is retained by students as they are increasingly involved in the learning process, even to the point of applying the skills and teaching others.  

In the second picture, one of the participants is busy writing a lesson plan (on the right) for presentation on Friday while referencing the RB's LP example (on the left).

During the times provided for the participants to develop their lesson plans, we made ourselves available for consultation and feedback.  Here 2 mathematicians were writing LPs to address different topics from the gov't syllabus, but discussing with each other, and Mike, their ideas.  As in most schools around the world, teachers in TZ have more to do than time to do it, so time for discussion with colleagues is not usually available.  For Tanzanians teachers, this exchange of ideas can be even more seldom because cultural hesitancy to put forth your ideas (may be seen as bragging) and certainly a younger/new teacher would not offer ideas to someone older and more experienced.  A Kiswahili proverb, we are told, says: "A young bird has nothing to tell an old bird."

On Friday, four of the participants presented the fruits of their, and our, labors -- their lesson plans.  A lottery was held mid-morning to select 4 teachers from different content areas, making sure to include one woman and one teacher from the second, smaller school.  The other participants, and at least some of the facilitators, then became students. In the vertical photo below, we see English language teacher Pauline watching and listening as one of her "students" is making a report from his group's discussion. Later Pauline is now a "physics student" in Rainel's lesson, where he is helping her and her group set up a pendulum for measuring acceleration due to gravity.

                

After each lesson presentation, John or Salome led an evaluation, allowing input from those of us with more gray hair also.  Since we are teaching a methodology, the Lesson Checklist is there to help the teacher assess his/her lesson, make adjustments (John likes to begin the discussion with "Now that you have tried to teach us, what changes might you make in this lesson plan for your students?")  Was reinforcing to us that some were brave and tried, what was for them, new methods and strategies -- and some perhaps not so much.  Overall, it was a very positive experience, and certainly eye-opening for Sharon and Mike, making their first safari into an on-site seminar.

John and Allen, both familiar with Dar es Salaam, gave us a going away treat with a tour of the city, even finding a good spot to stop so we could snap a few pix of the harbor. Good that we did this drive early Saturday morning, as not all 4 million people (John estimated) were up and around.  Much construction everywhere one looked, and a very long traffic jam, several kilometers, coming into town as we left relatively quick.  

Some thoughts on this week's seminar, plus some wonderful weekend sharing last weekend, coming soon.

Peace and love,

Mike and Sharon