Big John's

 Closing Assembly...they made me sit up front with all the teachers.  Ha, I felt so silly!

Isaac at Big John's on the last day with some of his many buddies.

Another highlight for me has been working with the standard 3 class at Big John's primary school.  This is a COTN school that includes nursery-standard 6.  I was able to spend some time helping one of the teachers learn how to implement small groups for reading.  The traditional approach to teaching here is to copy the textbook onto the chalkboard and have the students copy it.  Any chance to model effective teaching strategies is a positive.

After several days of working on getting reading groups going, I was able to assess all 52 students (yep, 52 in one class!).  Then, I shared with their teacher how he can use this data to go a step further and level the groups so they can get instruction at their level.  

Finally, I really wanted to address the discipline and management in his classroom with this teacher.  I was nervous to do this and did not want to be the American teacher telling him the "right" way to do everything.  My first few days there he was polite but did not seem particularly happy to have me there.  By the last couple of days, he would greet me with a huge smile and this special 3-part handshake that's beyond just a quick, traditional greeting.  I showed him how to use green, yellow and red cups with student names on craft sticks to manage behavior.  He was so excited to implement something that would help improve his classroom management!

It was such a treat to get to spend some time working in an area I am passionate about. Education is so crucial for these children to have a chance in a country so full of poverty.