“Thinking about Thinking”, Secondary Project.

This is a project that I delivered to ten pre-school, first and second grade classes.  A meeting was done with the Administrators of the schools to introduce  the importance of teaching critical thinking.  The project was based on reading a book in an interactive teaching strategy.  The feedback from the administrators and the teachers was positive, “very interesting”, possibly implying that this method will be used by them in the future.

I took my experience from working in a primary school that scored very low in the Achievement Gap in 2009, especially in reading.  This study calculated the gap of students based on economic issues, race, and educational institutions across America; it generated new issues of teaching and learning styles, and leadership in our education domain.

Here the situation is very different; Mozambique is the 6^th poorest country in the world and in the infancy stage of independence, so these issues of teaching and learning styles is “very interesting”.  For the most part the teacher dictates and the children repeat, my walks passing the school sounds like this:

TEACHER:            “THE BIRD IS ON THE TREE” (She is pointing at a poster taped to the board, yelling so 50 1^st graders sitting on the floor or crammed at a desk have her attention)

STUDENTS:         “THE BIRD IS ON THE TREE”

TEACHER:            “THE BIRD IS RED, WHAT COLOR IS THE BIRD?”

STUDENTS:         “THE BIRD IS RED”.

I am not an academic scholar, many more informative books have been written on this topic, but just knowing the students and talking to them as well as the adults, there are huge red flags in this strategy.

I have honed it down to one thing that I could introduce in my village; the skill of CRITICAL THINKING.  

In the American culture I believe we have this skill as second nature; we have talk shows, advertisements, statistics, competitions – they all challenge our thought processes until we ourselves have our own opinions, viewpoints, and answers. How many times do we say “let me think about this?”
We have learned how to think.

Here, that bird is red, not maroon, not crimson, but just red. Students don’t need to think about it, they just have to remember what the teacher told them. Fine for the color red, but what if someday they need an answer that wasn’t dictated by some teacher? When does that practice start?

My class started by asking their help  to  tell the story.  I brought in picture books and started questioning them from the cover. “What do you think this book is about?” “What is going to happen on the next page?””Would you eat the apple?”  They look at the pictures and  came up with many answers, then I guide them to continue thinking for the correct answer.  As the pages are turned I asked questions and pointing out images and in the end they told me the story – I didn’t have to read the words.

The kids were mesmerized with the books, for many it was the first books they laid their hands on.  These photographs demonstrate the lively interest of the students. At the end I gave them time just to look through the pile, I then had time to talk to the teacher who were also a bit mesmerized by the strategy of not militarily dictating 5 hours a day.

Personally, this was fun, and I have about 500 new friends!

Mobile Healthcare

Here in Mozambique, community outreach is a huge factor in delivering needed services.  A very popular position in the hospital is to be an “activista” an activist – one who goes out to your neighborhood and consults with you on your health condition. I took the opportunity to walk with them and experience the “mobile health care services” to a neighborhood about 45 minute walk from the hospital.

The techs had a list and contacted the patients to confirm the visits.  It was an interesting eye opener to people’s awareness of diseases and their practicing a healthy life style. 

We sat with a young 16 year old who was scheduled to get a HIV test.  He was aware of the disease and knew somewhat of how it was transmitted and boosted that he and his girlfriend were monogamous for the past 3 years.  Monogamy here in the village was brought with Christianity, the traditional customs are still followed, therefore a man can have as many wives as he can provide for, 2-3 is very common, and it also is one of the reasons why a higher percentage of women have HIV then men. 

Abstinence is promoted in discussions more to young females (10-14 yrs old) to motivate them towards education before bearing children. When it comes to reducing HIV the use of condoms and testing is emphasized for older individuals (15+).

At the second household we found 3 children with acute dermatitis and malnutrition.  They had recently been abandoned by their mother and moved in with their dad and step mother.  After our visit the dad was informed to bring the kids to the hospital and enroll them into a nutrition program where the family is given a protein supplement – peanut butter packages and get medicine for the dermatitis. Because of lack of records the children were also tested for HIV- thankfully it came out negative. (The following day the dad did come to the hospital).

We then stopped at a man’s house whose in his 70’s and has Tuberculosis; he was very welcoming to the negative HIV results, but still needs to follow through on the TB.

This is one of my favorite activities, the walk is long and the temperature is high, but so necessary; people get informed, receive services, and are encouraged to come to the hospital for additional treatment.

At the end of the day these walks into the bush I am reminded how these families can survive with so little and smile without one grudge. 

It is a dose of gratuity for me.

 @bloggingabroad