Something lighter today. It’s 12:15 AM as I write this, and we’re to be leaving for the school at 7:15 AM. My body’s been struggling against a restful night’s sleep for the past two nights, so I’m hoping to wear it down tonight. Clearly, it will have no other choice than at least one complete REM cycle. Yes, this is the plan of a 7 year old. Today was beautiful. As the weather was sunny and the clouds continued to hold back, we took advantage and visited Table Mountain. We took the gondolas rather than making the 4-5 hour hike each way. Next time, I guess. The mountain was tremendous and different than the others I’ve visited in the last 6 months (San Juan, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Blue Mountain). It was pushed up from the sea millions of years ago but remained only an island until the water receded. Most amazing was standing at a precipice and watching the clouds from below fly up the side and overhead. Part of something. On our return trip, we were able to stop by the Pick ‘n’ Pay to purchase the little things. Washing my hair with shampoo tonight rather than lathering with a bar of soap felt indulgent. That was nothing compared to using proper toothpaste to replace the miniscule tube I’d squirreled away from the plane ride. The bulk of the day, however, was spent planning tomorrow’s workshop in detail and scoping out the rest of the week. It was the first time the 6 of us sat in the same room to ply our craft in a focused way. As expected, the dynamic took us a bit to figure out. It was like working as part of a beginning faculty once again. I like that feeling. The biggest challenge for me is holding true to the concept that it’s the ideas, the ways of thinking that can make the most impact here. In the end, if a teacher we work with here isn’t proficient in using PowerPoint, I won’t be worried so long as she has started to see her colleagues in a collaborative life or has begun to let inquiry drive her classroom. With so much to talk about and only a week with this group of educators, I’m reminded of the lure of direct instruction. Fitting the core of ICT tools into a week feels like designing a micro-world history class. If they could just sit in the room, listening rapt with attention as each of us took a turn relaying important information, think how much we could teach. How much would they learn? Tonight, I’m closing with a question. If you were to design a week-long course in ICT, what would be at the top of your list? What would be the first things cut? What would be your biggest focus? All right, I’m closing with three questions.
Tag: Cape Town
Day 2: The Townships
The goal for my writing whilst I’m here has to be to get it all down whilst I’m still to close to my experiences to have perspective.
Our first full day began with a trip to the Liwa Primary School which is where we’ll be conducting the bulk of our workshops over the course of the next three weeks. Honestly, John got it best during tonight’s debriefing when he said conditions at the school were better than he’d expected. From our Skype planning chats and this morning’s cursory drive through the townships, I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect. Two padlocked, razor-wired gates later and we were in.
The tech capabilities within the school include a 25-station PC lab with a 3-gig monthly Internet cap and three Smart Boards.
Now, I enjoy my interactive white board, but I can’t say as I’d sacrifice any of SLA’s student laptops for it. Think of the netbooks the school could have purchased.
After the school and a planning meeting to go over Monday’s schedule, we headed into Cape Town proper for lunch at a Muslim restaurant.
Konaye, our guide for our township tour this afternoon, met us at the restaurant and arranged for a friend of his from the neighborhood to give us some history on that section of town. What I learned whilst waiting for our appetizers would fuel a world history class for at least a semester.
I’m still sorting it all out. I likely will be for quite some time.
From lunch, we loaded into a van for the township tour.
I need to pause for a moment. “Township,” until today, had painted a quaint idyllic picture in my head.
In Cape Town, the townships are where black Africans and colored Africans were relocated after the displacement of Apartheid.
One family on top of another, on top of another in buildings of scap wood or corrugated metal.
According to Konaye, the government of Cape Town plans to have properly constructed government subsidized housing for the 2.5 million families who need it by 2014. I shared his doubt in the achievement of that goal.
The question Noble posed to one 23-year-old man who was working on completing his diploma in IT was what had kept him in school rather than dropping out.
“Education is something no one can take away from me,” he responded.
Clearly, someone put this guy, the eldest of 7 children who lives in a 3-bedroom apartment with his siblings an mother and father, the value of an education.
With the amazingly high dropout rate and sheer number of students in need of an education here, I wonder how to help make a difference and help teachers here communicate that same value to their students.