Today was our first day of teaching! For two people who have education in their hearts, this is a very exciting moment in any year, but this year it was a bit daunting. Instead of a familiar classroom, largely familiar kids, familiar colleagues and a very familiar context, we have had to spend a lot of time over the last week learning what to expect, and expecting a serious uphill road.
But although there is a great deal that's different (chalkboards instead of tablet + data projector, peanut butter or polony sandwiches and juice in a bucket for lunch), there is also a lot that is the same.
After conversations with other teachers here, it seems that many of the key strategies we've identified over the past eight years of teaching may be just as applicable here as in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. And so far our lessons (both taught and observed) are bearing that out. We feel incredibly privileged to have the time and space (not to mention the push of necessity) to be more intentional about our teaching this year. So, for what it's worth, here are some of the intentional things we're setting out to do in our classrooms.
Learning names
No-one likes to be an anonymous number in the classroom - or worse, to be lumped together with the rest of the group. We have both found that engagement sky-rockets when we know everyone's names - even though engagement can look different with our different teaching styles. So Adam has spent a lot of time uploading students' faces and names to an app called Anki, and we are studying hard! I have told the kids that I'm aiming to know them all by the end of Feb, but secretly I am hoping for sooner. While some names are unfamiliar, mostly they are not overly difficult.
Having this sorted makes a whole slew of sneaky teacher techniques available - from 'cold calling' to 'everyone speaks' - regardless of resource level of the classroom in question.
Immediate Feedback
If you've got something wrong, you need to know it. Preferably straight away, and preferably in a non-threatening way. We've spent some time creating one of Adam's all-time favourite teaching tools: the colour MCQ booklets. These are a wonderful low tech way of getting every student to vote on an answer, so teachers and students alike immediately know where they are in terms of concept development. And as we are teaching the same cohort for grade 12 Maths and Physical Sciences, we can double up on the effectiveness of the technique, as familiarity reduces threat level and thus increases efficacy.
High Expectations
Regardless of a student's marks or supposed ability, believing that they can engage with difficult concepts and interesting questions, and expecting them to put in the effort to grow often seems to be a pivotal technique, if it can be called that. In an environment where motivation is not always the order of the day, it seems that having high expectations of our students might well be even more important. As we are teaching for a selection programme, we are spoilt by having wonderfully self-motivated learners in our classes, even if they still struggle to achieve the marks they are capable of. Teaching purely "to the test" without building understanding, or teaching only the basics does not come close to doing them justice.
Keep your head straight
We are teaching kids who travel long distances, on their weekends or in their afternoons, to attend extra classes. This is a huge responsibility, and one we don't take lightly. Not only this, but we are both falling into some mentorship roles with other teachers in the programme, simply because of our experience levels in a generally young team. So "just being here" is not enough: thorough preparation, careful thought and love-in-action needs to go into every taught and observed lesson. We are so aware of our short-comings and awestruck - though not daunted - by the task before us. Humility, listening and adjusting where necessary will need to form the backbone of our teaching practice.
So, as you can see, our days have been packed with activity and thinking. As we walk home to our temporary accommodation each evening (we are in the rightmost unit of the long rectangular building), we are tired, but excited about the ways in which we have the privilege of working in young people's lives.
Walks, and runs, and trips to the beach allow us time to reflect, both separately and together. Connecting, growing and teaching here is going to be a long, long road. But it doesn't have to be all uphill!
Until next time,
Jo and Adam
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