A Teacher's Travels & Search for Math/Science Theorems that aren't Named after White Men |
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A Teacher's Travels & Search for Math/Science Theorems that aren't Named after White Men |
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Happy Sunday to you all! Happy three day weekend to y’all Stateside….although, I do not believe in celebrating presidents, we have yet to have one who believes in the liberation of all people, this current one is a monster---so, I searched what else happened today in history worth celebrating besides the birth of some old white men who owned slaves, and I found---the Gambian independence! Alas, happy three day weekend in honor of The Gambia gaining independence. “Rain is about growth” This Valentine’s week had some lovely moments, most of which took place in primary schools. Perhaps my favorite places to be are in happy, upbeat elementary schools. I arrived early Tuesday morning, on a particularly rainy day to an elementary school, the oldest in Gaborone, in African Mall---an open market area with bustling salons, tailors and food stands. This is one of the few times in my life that I’ve embraced rain, as rain is of course really culturally important to Batswana because the nation is primarily a desert climate. Their currency is called “pula,” which in Setswana means rain, giving, “make it rain,” all the more significance. When it rains, it rains, and it doesn’t drain, leaving massive puddles, which made my walk to school an adventure of navigating pop-up ponds, and quickly running to the edges of sidewalks so as to not get splashed by passing cars. When I first arrived at Ben Thema, I’m led to the main office by a late student. I guess students all over the world decide to sleep in on rainy mornings. The principal is a bit upset that the Ministry of Ed didn’t call her to alert her of my arrival, understandable, so she yells that I must leave and go visit another school. I’m a bit annoyed at this moment because it’s pouring rain, and I’ve already walked over a mile to get there, but I tell her I understand. I then assumed she was walking me out to the gate, but I guess along the way she changed her mind, and she leads me to a standard 6 classroom, the equivalent to 5th grade. I spend the bulk of the day, and the following day with this class. The teacher is exceptional, warm and positive. She engages the students in a lesson in agricultural studies, something we don’t have in the US, but I believe could benefit from having, especially when our students struggle to make healthy eating choices and don’t understand land conservation. The students break up into groups and think critically about problems farmers in Botswana face, then present on the problems and proposed solutions to those problems. Before each presentation, each presenter is given a beautiful, harmonized song in Setswana. They then introduce each presentation confidently and audibly, which if you’ve ever taught, know this is a huge struggle in a 5th grade classroom. “Today my teacher asked us to present on problems facing farmers in Botswana. One of those problems is, …..” Students discussed problems, such as not diversifying crops, HIV/AIDS, and drought, really eloquently. The class of 43 students is with their teacher all day. The classroom is covered in teacher made anchor charts in both English and Setswana--posters about life in traditional life in Batswana villages, One is called, “Traditional Scientific Practices in Botswana.” The classroom is rooted in this place. The teacher shares her government made syllabus with me, and she is expected to teach 8 subjects, as are all primary school teachers--- math, science & society, English, Setswana, agricultural studies, creativity & performing arts, social studies and moral education. The national curriculum is jam packed, but focused on equal parts academics, vocational training (crafts, tool handling, mbira, etc.) and what we would call, social emotional learning, with a huge focus on problems of the home and their prevention. The student culture, here and at every school I’ve been to, is so supportive. Students are proud and genuinely excited for their peers when they answer questions correctly. They glow when an adult gives them positive feedback, even in the simple form of a smile. Adult approval is very important to children, and in my opinion, the benefits of this are positive. I’m constantly thinking of all the current American discourse on adultism, which I believe has been butchered to mean that children can communicate with adults the same ways they would with children, that they need not be interested in approval of adults, and that they essentially see adults as “equals” in the most simplistic meaning of that word suggests. Children play a distinct role in society here in Gaborone. However, they are independent, confident and intelligent whilst also being respectful, and hyper-aware of how they need to conduct themselves around adults. The results are positive. I spend time in standard 1 as well, which I believe is the equivalent to kindergarten or first grade, depending on where in the US you reside. The children complete an activity in sorting, in which they have to identify the seeds all indigenous to Botswana, then paste them on a sheet of paper. The students socialize with one another but are careful and focused, as they neatly paste sorghum, maize and marula seeds onto their papers. This activity is precisely what I’m here studying---the teacher has created an activity with the students’ development, this land and indigenous knowledge systems in mind. All primary classrooms must include a cultural corner, which models traditional tools like mortar and pestle, and traditional village style homes, as well as instruments. After my first day at Ben Thema, I leave out with the standard 1s I had spent the morning with. One of them hustles me out of 4 pula so that he can buy a hotdog from the street vendor and promises me he’ll bring me a beautiful present the following day. His classmate, missing his 2 front baby teeth, tells me, “You’ll never see that present.” He laughs, and they independently go hand in hand to catch their Combi bus. “Your students are so beautiful, teacher Tess!” I head back to Ben Thema for an additional day, and plan a knowledge exchange with the standard 6 class. They’ll send videos and emails teaching my students about peace and conflict resolution, something they have studied in school since they were 5, and in turn my students will fundraise for them for textbooks, which they currently don’t really have or will share some other knowledge they’ll come up with upon my return. I quickly pop into a standard 3 classroom (2nd grade), as they do a math lesson. They can barely read the warn chalkboard, but work hard nonetheless. They are such active participants in their own learning. When a student bothers their peer, the peer will quietly get up, calmly and privately tell her teacher. There is no whiney tattling. Students manage their own paperwork and smile as if they’ve won the lottery when they or their classmates get the answers correctly. “Do you have ancestors in America?” I spend the rest of this day and the next with my favorite school I’ve been to, Thebe. The teachers are so warm and lovely. Thebe is located in White City, a more low income community. The walk there is quiet, sandy and I saw more chickens on my walk there than anyone. I spent most of my first day there with, Winnie, another exceptional teacher, and her standard 1 class. It was love at first sight between me and all the children I met in this school, starting with this class. I get there as they’re singing and completing morning writing exercises before they go to break, and Winnie shared with me some of the issues the students face. They face many of the same socio-economic issues as my students face, minus of course, the violence. One student, a very tiny, 5 year old Zimbabwean girl, then guided me through the classroom and explained to me who the smartest kids were, explained the strange phenomena of students coming up to me and asking me to go to the toilet, “They are asking you because they’re scared to ask teacher, and they know you’re a teacher who could say yes.” Over the course of the next couple of days at Thebe, I experience standard 4, standard 1, pre-K, and another amazing standard 6 class, who discussed crime, punishment and religions being a deterrent for crime in society. The students are learning about all religions practiced in Botswana, and the ways in which they provide their followers a moral compass. I agree with this approach, even as a non-religious person. I learn that one cannot be convicted of a crime in Botswana if they are mentally ill. They discuss the reasons for crime often stemming from poverty, inequality and neglect. Students can define morality and consider animal rights and conservation in most of their discourses around equity. The teacher had to step out and had me help the students with their math exercises, ordering fractions. I then let the 10-12 year olds ask me questions about the US. One student asked me, “Do you have ancestors in America?” I at first understood his question very literally, but a student corrected me, “No he means, like do you worship your ancestors.” I had begun to answer the question pretty diplomatically, until another student giggled and said, “They don’t know their ancestors. How could they worship them?” I don’t know if the student was referring to black Americans, or was referring to his own understanding of the US being an immigrant question, but I thought the assessment was moving and powerful. On Valentines Day, I was at Thebe and students were out of uniform in their fanciest red, white and pink clothing. Many children asked if I’d be their Valentine, as they asked all of their teachers. Of course I accepted, and even slipped them sweets. “I love you, teacher.” These children are open to the world and to the adults, who have given them no reason to distrust them. Their eyes are wide and deep, almost as if they’re still open to seeing the world. Some of my own students’ eyes are often squinted----from exhaustion, from Fortnite and even often squinted because they have seen too much of the world, have reason to distrust adults and would rather see less. Students, or learners as they are called here, will often stare at me, and when I smile at them, they match my smile with an even bigger one, which stays on their face, long after I and they have looked elsewhere. It has been incredibly inspiring to see black children, not yet hurt by this world, not only thriving, but glowing in the classroom. They are not, for the most part, traumatized or hurt by this world and its adults. Their glossy, wide, joyful eyes have left an impression on me, that I hope will stay with me long after I’ve gone. 30% of world’s languages are in Africa In addition to swooning over children’s brilliance, I’ve been reading a lot of linguistics still, namely, Language Decline and Death in Africa, by my new friend, Professor Herman Batibo. His books are fascinating, and I’ve learned about language groups in Africa, the use of ex-colonial languages, the use of dominant languages, as well as dying languages. The British, who ruled indirectly, preferred the use of local languages, which is why countries like Tanzania and Botswana primarily use a dominant native language, Kiswahili and Setswana respectively, whereas French and Portuguese colonial powers adopted policies of assimilation. Most interesting to me, is when Batibo writes about the loss of culture, indigenous knowledge systems, zoological and botanical knowledge that occurs when languages become extinct. An example he uses, is a comparison of English and Kisukuma. Kisukuma is a language spoken in Tanzania. In English, there are numerous words to describe colors, whereas in KiSukuma there is black, white and red. However, Sukuma are herders and their language has extensive ways of describing cattle classification, which would be untranslatable in English. Language isn’t just a communication tool, but holds unique ways of understanding experiences, conceptual knowledge and the universe. Batibo also writes about how development is stalled when African countries use ex-colonial languages, like English, or a dominant language, like Setswana, and he writes, “It is a fact that no developed country has developed on the basis of a foreign language as development involves the participation of all citizens in nation building.” Think about a country like Denmark, who uses its own language, Danish. I could go on and on, but instead I’d encourage us all to read more about linguistics, something I didn’t think to read about until this trip, even as someone who loves studying and learning languages. Takiya, I love you. This Valentine’s Day marked two years we have been without Takiya. The holiday of love for me, regardless of romantic situations, will always be about my love for Takiya and her family. I’ll never stop reminding the world, that we were once blessed with a beautiful, sweet girl named Takiya. She loved to sing along to Young M.A, respected everyone, warmed our hearts with her smile and made us all the better for knowing her. She reminds me daily, still, of the importance of fighting for safer and more abundant black childhoods, in which children’s eyes are always large, glowing and open to a world who has not yet betrayed nor will ever betray them. I love you, Takiya. I love you children, who smile and laugh, even when you know the world is scary. I love you adults, who work daily to make the lives of children more beautiful. And as always, love to all who read. Ke a go rata. This evening I'm embarking on a new adventure, on a long over night bus headed north to Maun. I am confident that I will see at least three elephants.
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AuthorFulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Archives
April 2019
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