Kolda Day 3

Our tailed outfits were delivered this morning and we got to wear them for the day. I admit I was a bit hesitant but Tinty rocked her dress. After, I had worn mine for a while, it was so much cooler (both literally and figuratively) than the slacks and shirts I had been wearing.

Tinty and I went back to Fanta's school to observe and teach a few classes. Tinty presented a great class on American Culture to a large class. The students were always polite, and attentive. They take notes in the most amazingly beautiful handwriting..even the boys.

Where we take for granted the ability to use PowerPoint or visual media to teach, we had to get the one projector for the school. The school has over 2,300 students but only one projector...we had to use Fanta's personal laptop as well. Technology while it is present in limited amounts is very centralized. Students do have phones but data is too expensive to ask them to use it as part of school projects. These kids are very smart. Most speak four or five languages already. However, they are limited to how they can use those skills to interact with the rest of the world. They miss out on so much information available to them that we take for granted.

The rubber bracelets I brought (over 2,500) were a hit with all kids at all age ranges)

Water is a a premium even at school. We were provided water throughout the day in plastic bags. Just bite off a corner and drink it up. convenient and quick!

As we moved to another part of the Lycee. We got to observe an advanced math class. The teacher was using a chalk board and a wet sponge as an eraser. When we asked why they were not using the work benches and smart board that was installed in the classroom the teacher said it did not work.

Apparently, a NGO (non governmental organization) had donated it and brought it tot he school. They had installed the smart board but had never set the rest of it up or showed anyone how to use it.

Being a techie kind of guy, I accepted the challenge to work on it while he taught class.

After about, 45 minutes I had the wiring completed and the connections made. We all crossed our fingers as I turned it on..and success! All those years of setting up and fixing smart boards in my school paid off. I almost had to laugh out loud, as the students all turned their desks around almost immediately to see and use the new technology assets that had been sitting in their classroom not hooked up and prepared for use for over a year.

This again brought me back to my big question of how technology is used for education here in Senegal. Even when the materials are donated by well wishing people and organizations there is almost zero training or follow up to ensure they can be utilized. While the people in Sengel are extremely smart and knowledgeable, they too need help with new technology in order to maximize educational impact.

In the computer desks where the SMART board and equipment were, there was also a complete chemistry lab. The math teacher said he would make sure the chemistry teacher knew about it. I am sure he would find it useful as well.

Now it was my time to teach a class. I wanted to share project based learning with the school and the students. I have always thought that this type of learning provided deeper understanding and allowed students to solve real world problems with new knowledge rather than traditional rote learning.

The Senegalese teachers were a bit skeptical as they told me about the large class sizes 80-100 students in a class, and the lack of school provided materials. I understand completely about school budget restraints and told them there are ways to work around that if they are persistent as we too have budget limits in the U.S.

I had brought materials for a rocketry project. Using a donated PITSCO straw rocket launch, index cards and tape we would design and launch rockets. While the class was attentive as usual, when I told them they would be making these rockets and launching the rockets themselves, they excitement grew to a palpable level.

I started with basic rocketry background knowledge such as names of parts of the rocket and Newton's Laws of Motion. But I quickly delved right into the design and construction part of the class.

The students loved the idea of designing the rockets. I especially loved that the girls were very much into the project as well. One of my side projects is to always get more girls interested in STEM fields. As the students worked on their rockets, we decide to have a contest to see if the girls could design a better rocket to go further in distance. This challange was quickly accepted and the work really got serious from that point on.

We moved to another building to conduct our launches.

And our final winner..was as I predicted one of the girl engineers!

During the project we taught engineering skills, graphing, angles, measurement and conversion of metric length and good sportsmanship. The kids loved it, and as we all reflected on it, they very definitely agreed that project based learning was not only more fun than traditional sit at your desk and take notes, but also gave them a deeper understanding of how to use knowledge across disciplines. As a final parting gift, I left the launcher and extra materials with the head physics teacher for use in other classes.

As usual, I think I had almost as much fun as the students. They asked if I would come back and teach more. I think Fanta has my schedule full for this trip...but maybe next year I could stay longer?????? ;) I grabbed a quick photo with some of the students who didn't have to rush off to the next class. I later learned I had made a bunch of them late.. but they were excused since the project ran a bit longer than it should have. :)

After a long day we stopped at Fanta's house for another fantastic home cooked meal. Tinty even helped make dough for the cookies. I guess they had heard about my cooking skills and declined any help from me at all. lol I did get to play with the kids and as usual had a wonderful time with them.

Note to self.. when you let the kids have your phone.. all kinds of pictures appear!

As usual, I felt at home with my Senegalese family. A great night and dinner... but we are not done yet! Fanta keeps us on a busy schedule! We did get to go shower and change..I did mention most days were about 113-120 degrees right??

WE headed off to visit some of the local educational office and ministers. Inspector Balde (who is quite a jokester) and a very nice guy who I liked a lot even with our language hurdles, I felt great being around, gave us a tour of his office. He is in charge of the high schools in the Kolda region. He spoke to us about the challenges of teaching in Senegal as well as his plans to try to overcome those challenges. As at home, good leadership is essential to good education.

One the way back home, we stopped at a U.S. Aid food storage facility. Where the NGO had helped build a facility for store harvested rice and other local food products for future use as well as for sale to other areas and countries.

As we thought the night was over, we were treated to some home made cookies that Tinty had made earlier. It was a quiet time for some adult talk about education and challenges we all faced. How much Senegal was both alike and different from the challenges we faced in U.S. education.

Just like at home, the kids slowly fell out from being tired (and the heat I think). The family sleeps outside to catch the breezes until early in the morning and then moves inside for the rest of the night. Tinty and I took started to fall asleep and went back to our rooms to prepare for another full day int he morning.