Today has been informative; we started the morning by receiving a brief overview of Senegalese history and culture, as well as the educational system. I always enjoy hearing history from another perspective, but in this case especially so, since I certainly never learned ANYTHING about pre-colonial African history in school. Senegal has a rich history of peace and tolerance; I heard this described by a lady yesterday as being “excellent talkers.” By this she means that Senegal has a record of being the peacekeepers and negotiators for the region.
There was much to learn, compare, and process in our morning sessions, but what struck me the most was a simple sentence that one presenter mentioned in passing when speaking of the fact that most of the Muslim population (which comprises over 94% of the Senegal) are Sufi. He said, “There is nothing they have to teach us.” Out of context, this sentence seems odd for a teacher to say, but he was referring to Islamic extremists who are trying to convert the Sufi in Senegal to more fundamental sects of Islam. As in, Senegal has such a rich history of practicing Islam, being at peace with each other and other religions and ethnicities, that there is no place for those who want to isolate and make them into something they are not. In the afternoon we heard from a panel of teachers and teacher trainers of English as a foreign language, who were very dynamic and passionate about their profession. The English teachers in Senegal have formed an organization for voluntary peer professional development and observation- completely voluntary, but with the goal of continuous improvement as a practice. We heard from some truly outstanding educators who shared some truly wonderful philosophies and ideals. We went to dinner at Fleur-de-Lys in the heart of the city, which had some nice views of the bay as the sun was setting. I had the privilege of sitting with Rokhaya, our in-country consultant, and brainstorming some ideas of how to create a partnership amongst our students to help promote girls’ education, particularly in STEM.
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Today we met with the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) in the afternoon, and heard about their initiatives to further the education of girls in all regions of Senegal. In particular, it was interesting to me to hear about their clubs to promote STEM in girls, and how they involve the girls’ families and the community in encouraging girls to advance in STEM subjects. Also, their focus is not just on the girls but also on improving the perception of girls’ education in boys as well. They do this by running coed clubs, which I think is a better approach, rather than separating the girls and raising the possibility of resentment. There were several reasons given why girls do not finish school: the first being of course poverty. Public schools here have mandatory fees- according to Mme. Diop it costs about 15,000-20,000 CFA a month to keep a girl in high school (which is about 30 dollars a month)- this is for school fees, necessary supplies, etc. That is entirely too much money for many families. But even if that cost can be overcome, there are pressures to marry or to help at home with chores, and depending on the location, there are some problems with girls being in a hostile environment when they come to school. There are many other factors, but the end result is that last year 11,000 girls in Senegal did not finish their school year. So here’s my proposal: thirty dollars a month- that’s probably what I spend in overpriced coffee. Surely I can make do with cheaper coffee and find a way to help at least one girl make it through her high school. If anyone else is interested, I will be happy to send the contact information for this NGO. On a completely unrelated note, I have sadly killed my camera battery somehow and it is completely dead with no resuscitation likely. So any other pictures will either be shamelessly stolen from my fellow teachers or taken with my ancient iPhone 3. Only three days until we leave for Senegal! As our itinerary is finalized and packing has begun, I have been hit with the hard realization that there is no happy solution to packing for a trip like this. Remembering how often simple school supplies like pens and pencils were needed in Togo, I have been hoarding my class supplies bought from back-to-school sales until they fill a suitcase on their own. Which is fine, except that apparently there are stricter weight limits for our internal flight to Kolda than the international ones.
Our host teacher extraordinaire, Mme. Fanta Boiro, of course had a solution (as she does for every minor or major detail we bring up): send it on a bus to Kolda once we get to Dakar, and she will assist us with this once we're in-country. Remembering the taxi-brousse from my Peace Corps days, I am a little envious of the adventures this bag is going to have, precariously strapped to some public transportation which may or may not get there. The whole making arrangements for school supplies made me think of the whole debate in development on giving materials vs. supporting local efforts. Of course, long-term change is best accomplished when it is initiated and carried out by local communities, and I don't think anyone would disagree with that. However, I have sometimes heard the argument that bringing gifts leads to expectations of more, making sustainable development more challenging. Perhaps, but then again, I can think of dozens of times when individuals and communities in Togo shared all they had to give with me, even if it was just a glass of water. I think of the meals prepared, the many times my quartier stayed up to make sure I made it home safely, and the stories exchanged that made us all realize how much we had in common despite being from very different worlds. From that perspective, to come empty-handed under the ideals of development just seems wrong to me: we who have so much can share a little, even if getting them there turns out to be a greater challenge than just packing a bag. Granted, I have no good reason for the second bag being entirely too full as well, other than paranoia that I will need some medicine or other and my general bad habit of overpacking. Here's hoping no one hefts either bag on their head like my host mother did sixteen years ago on the first night of my training, in which I managed to lock myself in my room, tell my young host brother that I eat everybody (and he kept his distance for a few days until he realized it was my poor French and not cannibalism), and many, many other crises that just seem funny now. I know this trip will just be a snapshot of Kolda, my host school and teacher, and Senegal, but I hope that in two weeks, I will come home with one suitcase less, and my heart a little lighter from worries and my head a little fuller of collaborative ideas. So, this week I discovered that I am headed to Kolda, in the southern part of Senegal below the Gambia. Our host will be Mme Fanta Fofana, English teacher at the Lycee Alpha Molo Balde, who has already impressed me with her organization and creativity.
I am looking forward to the entire experience, but especially visiting the schools. Being the French system, it is interesting to me that so many aspects sound like Togo, but yet I expect to find many differences as well. Like the fact that my phone says it will be 108 next week. And the hotel where we'll be staying offers boar hunts. (Which, by the way, was a French verb I actually recognized from high school- chasser. I certainly didn't have need of that verb in Togo or anytime since, but apparently I retained that knowledge nonetheless). The hospitality, the greetings (saluer), and community emphasis all remind me of Togo, which are some of my favorite memories. Now that we know where we are going, the time to prepare and plan seems rather short- everything from small gifts to bug spray to revising my research question, which I think will stem around ESD. Having observed very structured instruction for sustainable development in Japan, and having made a greater effort to actively teach ESD in my own classes, I am curious what I will find in Kolda- and Dakar. One of the great things about sustainability education is that it is almost impossible to be a cynic about our future as a global community, when dealing with such passionate, sincere teenagers who are determined to change the world...and probably will. I'm headed today to Washington DC to participate in the TGC Global Learning Symposium. Since I got a great deal of resources out of last year's symposium, I am hoping to do the same, especially in education for sustainable development.
I am also really looking forward to hearing more about Senegal, where I'm headed in April, particularly their educational system, the basic structure of which is similar to Togo's. This is also a great opportunity to brush up my French, and establish some more contacts for student collaboration. I am trying to keep an open mind, for my experiences in Togo were fifteen years ago, and I cannot expect a completely different country to be the same. However, I am optimistic from what I have read that I will once again need to learn extended greetings, and look forward to an intense few weeks of cultural exchanges. I have to confess to being somewhat wary of getting too excited, until I am actually on the plane to Dakar- last year's understandable but incredibly disheartening cancellation just has me feeling a little cautious. But even that disappointment was valuable in bringing a greater understanding of the reality of threats to global collaboration, and lead to some good discussions in class. We are in the middle of robotics season at my school (FIRST- For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)- this is our twelfth year competing, and my 11th as a mentor. Basically, the students had six weeks to build a robot that could lift and stack bins of different sizes, along with a few other tasks. We have been to one competition, and will have one more at the end of March (about a week before I leave for Kampala).
So I've taken a lot of photos of Keenan students building the robot, at the competition, etc, but have been challenged as to how to model robotics for the students at the school in Kampala- I would like to find a way to model programming a robot but I don't want to bring a lot of excess material or technology. The Lego robotics kids the jrFLL teams use is one possibility, but seem a little simplistic. It all brings to mind a classroom in Vo-Attive I visited in Togo- where there was no electricity, but yet the exam question written on the board was, "Why can birds sit on an electric wire and not get electrocuted?" (Or something like that- the eloquence of the question has probably been lost from faulty memory and rusty translation skills.) I remember reflecting at the time how difficult it must be to really understand grounding and other electrical concepts when learning by memorization, without the benefit of hands-on activities. And yet, I suspect that the majority of students taking that exam were successful. And so I find myself brainstorming how to not just bring some flashy demo, but how to actually teach about robots in a way that could be built upon, perhaps with collaboration from my school. I was very excited to learn last week that I will be visiting Lubiri Secondary School in Kampala, Uganda as part of the Teachers for Global Classrooms program. Our host, Diana Nalule, teachers Information and Communication Technology. I am very curious to see how IT is taught at her school, and what lessons we all can learn from each other. As a new teacher of computer science, I am especially curious about the way students are taught to code and to use technologies. My students learn Python through an Activities, Projects, and Problems model (Project Lead the Way); it will be interesting to compare different pedagogies across cultures. Learning to code is one of the "in" topics in STEM education; I wonder how much that transcends borders, and if so, how that is accomplished. Even within my state, many different classes are classified as computer science: business applications, CAD, coding classes, and everything in between. "We must work diligently to democratize computer science learning so that no group is denied access to this fundamental knowledge. Not only is this an issue of civil rights, but computer science as a field desperately needs diverse and multiple perspectives."- Jane Margolis, author |
Kirstin Bullington
I teach science, engineering, and computer science at W.J. Keenan High School in Columbia, SC Archives
March 2016
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