Teachers ROCK!

Fourteen American teachers. 140 Tanzanian teachers. Two Hillmans and a Peterson. Put it all together and you have an amazing inspiring week! It's hard to put into words. Friday and Saturday our teacher volunteers worked with 140 teachers from at least 30 schools, both primary and secondary. Thanks to their fundraising, we were able to offer the two days of training at no cost to them. The turnout and enthusiasm clearly highlighted the desperate need for teacher training and the desire to want to learn on the part of teachers here. It's hard to describe the conditions the teachers here face--no materials, no supplies, classes of up to 100 students, a severe teacher shortage, a rigid and often unreaslistic national curriculum, a rigorous and do-or-die examination system. It's a system that does not encourage innovation or creativity and focuses almost solely on getting high exam scores, which have very little to do with actual learning. In fact, one teacher commented, "We are always talking about teaching, but no one ever says anything about students learning." It's true. Yet these teachers showed up and worked hard for two days, knowing that there must be other ways of teaching and wanting to improve.

They couldn't have found a better group of instructors. After watching each teacher for 5 minutes I was ready to quit PHF and head back to teaching. I would be so proud to call any of these teachers my colleagues and they are some of the best the teaching profession has to offer. They did virtually all of their preparation back in the States and spent 1 day refining their lessons based on what they had seen and heard their first days here. Lessons included sports and games in learning, math and science activities, lesson planning, differentiation, respect and trust, extracurricular clubs, and higher order thinking skills. The teachers all included hands-on activities as well as opportunities to talk about how to adapt the lessons/activities for various age levels, class sizes, and lack of materials. Anyone who teaches secondary school knows how hard it is to get it up several times a day teaching the same lesson--these teachers taught their one hour lessons 8 times over the two days! In addition, these guys managed a 10 mile hike (much of which was up through a river, and no, we were not exaggerating when we told them it was going to be rough, not that they believed us!) and are just now tucking into their tents somewhere up in a Maasai village, where they're learning about traditional Maasai culture as well as the issues facing them. They'll return for a farewell dinner tomorrow night before heading off on safari and then to various places around Tanzania.
One of the things I've learned to take very seriously here is a thank you from a Tanzanian. They don't toss off a "thanks" lightly like we often do. A thank you includes a hand shake that generally continues with hand-holding, full eye contact, and a truly heart felt expression of gratitude. The phrase "nashakuru" is a deeper expression of thanks than "asante sana" and was used over and over at the end of the session. To be thanked in a such a way is such a humbling experience. I came away with a deep appreciation for the teaching experiences I've been blessed to have and a renewed conviction that PHS must continue share its resources with other educators. Think what could be accomplished if we could effect change in other schools as well as our own! I am convinced that teachers here can be far more effective if they are given opportunities to learn and to experience a different way of seeing and doing things. What a blessing for all of us that these 14 teachers shared their enthusiasm, their passion, and their commitment to teaching with us here!