Love, Life, and Lessons with the Kinzenbaws: Teacher Training in the Bush

I have to admit that I was really nervous going into leading a teacher training for teachers out in the bush yesterday. For a few reasons... One being I have been out of the game for 3 years. Had to kick myself back in to teacher mode. Thankfully, the three things they wanted me to talk about are three parts of teaching that never really leave you. I was also fortunate to work to work in a top-notch school district with AMAZING co-workers, whom I learned more from than any amount of schooling. All of their wisdom, ideas, and techniques have stuck with me. Thank you to those wonderful people. You know who you are. :-)
The three topics were ethics of being a teacher, classroom management, and lesson planning. My second reason for being nervous was I wanted to be relevant to them. The 1st topic didn't really present a problem because that topic is pretty much the same for Zambians and Americans. I spoke about the high calling of being a teacher and how we need to have high standards for ourselves. No matter where you are on a map, teachers are an important part of society. All teachers are role models whether they like it or not. We have the power of being able to greatly help or harm their students because of this. Our words carry great weight. And our actions speak louder than words. I warned the teachers that students are always watching. Our students want to know that we are who we say we are and that we value education. If we don't have a love for learning and convey that love to our students, most are unlikely to develop that passion on their own. The only difficult part of this lesson was motivating them to take on this task. In America, because teaching is a paid job, most are going to be pretty ethical teachers. We have to be on time and be prepared or we will lose our job. There is an external motivation system in place. Here, out in the bush, these teachers are VOLUNTEERS. All of their hard work and effort has to come from within, an internal motivation system. Just plain out of the goodness of their heart, they need to show up on time everyday and pour into these students so that some great change can occur in this country. Would most American teachers do this? No paycheck? No benefits? Working another job just so you can also teach for free??? I can't say I would be signing up for that. (Side note-I am not saying that American teachers don't also have an internal motivation system, many do, but we have both!) I tried my best though to encourage them to be the change this country needs, to keep showing up and investing in the future. To trust that their hard work is not in vain and that I greatly admire them for continuing on despite the hardships. I wish I could have had more answers, more help for them...Please pray for these teachers. They need it.
The 2nd topic was classroom management. Oh the joy of trying to teach many students with different backgrounds, learning styles, and personalities. I tried to keep it simple with this subject since they don't have near the amount of resources we have for classroom set up, behavior systems, etc. I spoke on 7 guidelines to have for managing your class. 1, take charge from the beginning. Let students know you are the boss and you expect them to be respectful, to listen, to participate, and to do their best. 2nd, go over these expectations multiple times. Don't let little things slide. 3rd, have established consequences for not meeting expectations. These should be developmentally appropriate and students should know what will happen, instead of being surprised. 4th, avoid disruptions by moving about and keeping an eye on students. I know once I started talking to another teacher who popped in, my classroom would go from quite to earthquake level noise real quick. 5th, praise constantly. Make a big deal out of the good. 6th, be proactive. Have your lessons and materials ready to go before the day begins so you are not trying to do that while teaching. 7th, be fair. There is no one in the world that respects someone who is unfair. This is the short version, but wanted to give an idea. Doreen helped me with examples to give and we also explained a few individual and class systems to keep behavior in check.
Last, but not least, lesson planning. I might be weird, but I always loved planning lessons. I enjoyed the challenge of looking at what my students needed to learn and how I might help them learn it. There wasn't much time left for this session, but I was able to show them a basic template and explain the importance of planning ahead. Doreen told me that they loved it!!! I was so glad, because I wasn't sure what experience they had with it. I learned that in government schools, they have to plan the whole term at once-13 weeks! And the exams are only in the last week. They were happy to know that while you should know your overarching subjects and goals, that lesson plans need to be fluid and meet the needs of your students. They also enjoyed learning about how to give smaller and different types of assessments during the term to get an idea if students are getting it or not.
All in all it was a fabulous day. They were so grateful and it was such a small thing on my part. I never thought that I would be doing a teacher training in the bush in Africa with chickens wondering in and out of the classroom and bathroom breaks in a hole in the ground. But I loved it and I hope I get to do it again.