So now it has been about 1 week and a half since we began teaching, and everything seems to be coming together far more than it was at the beginning of last week. My experience thus far has been something I can hardly describe, both in difficulty, reward, and enjoyment.
After looking at the pre-tests, it seemed apparent that the Koalabata students lacked more fundamental mathematics skills, but with this past time in the classroom, I have seen that the students at both schools have picked up the habit of simply saying numbers out loud without thinking them through or necessarily going through with the arithmetic to solve a problem, even if they know the steps. I still have formed a new view of this project that has left me even more enthusiastic and hopeful for the next 3 1/2 weeks.
The first week at both schools was spent beginning with reviewing fundamental math skills that I stressed the students would need for all the later topics they expressed the desire to learn about, such as more advanced algebra, ratios, and proportions. While I have been frustrated at times, more often as a result of my own lack of ability to express a concept than the students’ willingness to listen, they have for the most part completed the homework assigned to them and seem to be grasping the material. Today, I taught a unit on dimensional analysis, a topic I was worried about it that it often involves a large level of assumption and critical thinking, an ability that I had not yet experienced and tested with them since the last week was dominated by stressing procedures and methods of basic math skills that I needed to work on before I began to get into more complex math. I did not doubt their ability, but I was not sure what to expect.  The truth is, at both schools, where dimensional analysis had not been taught, the students grasped the concept faster than I ever remember grasping it when I was their age. What I found was that their critical thinking was as sharp as I had ever seen. The problem seems to be fundamental math skills, and in many cases I attribute their difficulty with a topic to basic arithmetic rather than the lack of ability to understand the idea behind what is progressing in a math problem. When a class of students comprehends something they have never learned before in less than 1 hour, you know that there is no problem, there is just a need for a more thorough covering of topics and a more solid foundation. As a result, I am attempting to continually thrown in arithmetic problems to the homework to bolster that aspect of their math. I am not as worried about the more advanced topics as I once was. With this new view in mind, I believe that with a stressing of basics alongside these more difficult areas, the program can be enormously effective in these 5 weeks and after we leave. We have spoken to the teachers, who have been more than helpful and involved with our stay at both schools, especially at Koalabata. While it is their winter break, they sit in on class everyday, continue to give suggestions, take notes, and give us the honest feedback we know need in a situation we have never been in before. They genuinely are the long term hope for this program, and for any education program that is attempted abroad by a group that is working with another school. I have no doubts that they will continue to work with the students and hopefully use our lessons as a tool to lay a reinforcing groundwork for math and science as well as to provide an understanding of more complex topics. My new view, while it may not be revolutionary, is something I am looking forward to thinking about as I move through the rest of the process. Coupling review of fundamentals with introduction and review of more difficult concepts bolsters students ability as well as their confidence when they see they can do more.

On the Baylor front, we spoke to the principal of Koalabata and confirmed that such an event would indeed be useful. We prepared a proposal for the event, including our hopes of coupling the testing with student presentations to parents and other students. Tomorrow we will meet with Dr. Mohape to discuss some of the logistics and the contribution that Baylor will hopefully be able to make to the program. Nothing is set in stone, but it will all be after tomorrow. I’ll let you know.

Sorry this blog post did not actually have anything very entertaining in it in the way of stories or odd happenings,

Amit