It's the Little Things

It's hard to believe I've already been here for over 5 weeks.  Time has absolutely flown by and I find myself learning and growing more and more with each passing week.  I've now finished teaching my first unit with the grade 8s, 9s, and 10s, and will be moving into our month long poetry unit starting on Tuesday!

Poetry month is something I've been looking forward to since I first arrived.  I would not by any means consider myself a poet or even a writer of any type, but I have experienced first hand how therapeutic and cleansing the process of writing and sharing poetry can be.  To say I'm excited to share this experience with the students would be an absolute understatement.  Whether it's in class writings, reading journals, or personal work the students share with me, I'm continually impressed by how they express themselves using such thoughtful and articulate words.  This has been my inspiration and motivation to practice what I preach and use writing as a more creative outlet throughout my time here.

One of the many reasons I'm so excited for poetry month is because of the mentality of the students at Imagine Scholar.  Among other qualities, I've been both impressed and humbled by the student's abilities to appreciate the little things in life. As cliche as I know this sounds, Imagine Scholar has brought new meaning to this phrase for me.  I've spent a lot of time thinking about why this may be the case.  Why are these students able to be so much more appreciative than I was at their age? Why is it that they are able to see the larger scope of life and put things into perspective, when my peers and I were unable to do the same? I do not have the answers to these questions, but it's something I will continue to ponder.  I am however, appreciative that this mindset has worn off on me more and more throughout my time here.

Whether it's the daily hugs and smiles that I will never get tired of, making it through the day without losing power, or a cool and crisp morning (those don't happen very often here), I find that everyone is focused on the positives of life, no matter how simple and despite all the tragedy that occurs in this community.

Excited about our new brick walkway!

One thing I have really come to appreciate since being here is how much all of the people I'm surrounded by everyday are beginning to feel like a family.  Imagine Scholar is such a unique work environment where we not only work together but also live together.  In addition to the group of facilitators that live at Imagine Scholar, we also have a group of four charismatic, bright young ladies who are the Imagine Scholar graduate interns.  The girls come into the education center every morning and are a huge part of what makes this such a special place.  Add the roughly 50 students who are in and out everyday and I've gained one, big support network here.  Leaving everyone back home was by far the hardest part of embarking on this adventure, but each and every one of these people has reassured me in their own ways that coming here was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I want to take this opportunity to challenge anyone who is reading this.  At some point during the day, appreciate something little that you would normally glaze over.  Take the time to recognize that you are lucky to have all that you have in your life, whether it be your morning coffee, a stranger smiling and saying hello, or even just your electricity and running water, something many people around the world are not so fortunate to have.  Today, I'm feeling grateful for my fan that is helping me combat the uncomfortable heat that is telling me summer in the Nkomazi is just around the corner.  So what is it that you are going to stop and feel grateful for today?

Until next time, Sala Kahle!

Lessons to be Learned

Teaching. A career often thought of as something anyone can do.  A fall-back plan, a space-filler while preparing for the real job, or a career you come to later in life after you've already done the hard work.  It's taken me just two days of teaching to appreciate how completely off-base these ideas are.

After leading a unit alongside of another facilitator for two weeks, that the students absolutely devoured about the passion of reading and writing, I was feeling anxious but really thrilled about the idea of taking on the classroom by myself.  During these earlier classes I was able to bring excerpts of writing from pieces I love, and share them with the students.  I chose a snippet from Toni Morrison's, Beloved, which focuses on the idea of loving yourself, regardless of what others think or say as one piece to share. For my second piece, I selected the beginning of Dr. Seuss' Oh the Places You'll Go, which has inspired me throughout many different stages of my life to take chances and be independent without looking back.  I was able to juxtapose these two pieces and their writing style, Morrison and her sophisticated tone, against Seuss' playful rhyme-scheme, and share how they each convey a powerful message of self-reliance.  I was blown away by the student's interpretation of the writing, and their ability to apply these themes to their own lives.  Needless to say, these classes were quite inspiring and gave me much to look forward to for the coming weeks, months, and years of working with the Imagine Scholars.

Grade 9 students after our first passion class

Feeling excited and possibly a bit over-confident after the wild success of the passion unit, I began teaching on my own last Thursday.  My first class was with the Grade 9 students, who you can see pictured above.  Based on the zest and willingness to share that I saw the previous two weeks of class, I had similar expectations going into our first class discussion of Pro and Con articles.  Despite my own energetic presentation and having made an effort to pick an article which I thought would interest the students, I was greeted by silence, unenthusiastic spirits, and sleepy eyes.  After a class of my urging, encouraging, and begging for student participation without much reciprocation, I went to sleep Thursday night feeling confused about what went wrong, nervous about class the next day, and a bit discouraged.

I woke up Friday morning feeling determined to turn things around and luckily had the support of my Grade 10 students to help me do so.  With virtually the exact same lesson plan, my Friday class experience could not have been more different than the previous day.  Each and every student was eager to share their thoughts and opinions of the article, wanted to continue the class discussion after our class time had come to an end, and were asking if we would be able to continue the discussion into next week's class period.  I had to do little prompting, and instead was able to sit back and smile while I listened to the students' interpretations and impressions of the article.

Although Friday's class was more enjoyable than Thursdays, I learned a lot from my first two days of solo teaching.  I'm extremely lucky to be working with a group of highly motivated students, many of whom are at the very top of their class.  Despite this fact, I need to keep in mind that they are teenagers, who are still working through how to feel comfortable and confident with themselves. Even if they have the answers, they aren't always going to share them in front of their peers.  This was also a good reminder that this is just as much a learning experience for me as it is the students.  As I stated earlier, I can say without a doubt that teaching is NOT easy, and is something I hope I will learn to become successful at overtime, but that may not always be the case for now.  I know there will be days that I walk away feeling as confused and discouraged as I did on Thursday, and I need to learn to take these days in stride and grow from them, instead of dwelling and feeling defeated.

Luckily, this is just the beginning of the journey and I have lots of ideas and support to help me every step of the way! Until next time, Sala Kahle!