Every once in a while - when I'm sitting in a classroom at
Thandokulu High School or when I'm stuck somewhere between sleeping and waking
- I can't escape the thought, "What am I even doing here?"
Here, in Cape Town, South Africa. Am I kidding myself that I have something to
offer high school students who come from an entirely different background than
I do? Students who speak Xhosa or another
African language at home, which is usually in an impoverished township ridden
with crime, violence, and heartache.
What does a middle-class white girl from the midwestern United States
have to offer in this situation?
Two weeks ago I offered a lesson on optimization (an
application of calculus) to several classes of Grade 12 students. Whenever I asked if something made sense,
they would respond and ask further questions, which was a dream come true for a
pre-service teacher like me. Exams
started last week for students at Thandokulu, and I think it is reasonable to
say that several Grade 12 students will at least know how to start an
optimization problem on their math exam next week. I hope that many will feel comfortable
completing the process as well.
Did I bring anything special or beneficial in my
optimization lesson? Several of the
teachers I have observed at Thandokulu have a more authoritarian style than I
am comfortable with, so perhaps I brought some variety to the school day. However, I'm not sure that presenting
something special or unique is really the point of me working at
Thandokulu. Closer to the point might be
providing students with another person in their life who cares about their
learning and, even more importantly, who cares about them as a person.
I hope I've had some success in carrying that point across,
and that I can continue to do so. It's a
little challenging with exams going on all through last week, this coming week,
and the following week. Some days I just
supervise students taking a test, while other days I get to interact with the
few students who come to school when they don't have any exams to write. Last
week the principal of Thandokulu was really excited about a free online
resource in math and science, but students cannot take advantage of it without
an email address and a device (computer, smartphone, tablet, etc.) to download
materials onto. It's hard to say whether the students Connor and I helped set
up email addresses for will get any use out of their free materials.
Fortunately there's a lot of math that can be done with only chalk and a
chalkboard. Even then it is hard to tell how much is really sinking in - one
8th grade girl said that the problem on the board with ratios made sense, but
her classmate said, "No, sister, you are lost." It wasn't derogatory
in any way - she was a shy girl, and hesitant to ask for help, so I tried to
explain it in different ways, but it's hard to know if I really helped her
understand. I wish I could speak fluent Xhosa, but as that isn't the case I'll
just keep trying variations in English. The language barrier is challenging to cross
at times, but worth the effort even with the frustration it produces. As much
as I am learning from this experience, I hope the students at Thandokulu are
benefiting as well.
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