Notes from teaching

There’s a lot of things I haven’t talked about on this platform, but I can’t keep track of the stories I’ve put on here, in a letter, or over the phone. So sorry if anything in these posts ever repeats (or if it doesn’t make sense) and let me know if I left you hanging or curious!

Just to overview: I’m at a senior secondary hostel school (Grades 10-12), teaching Grade 11 mathematics. Contrasting the U.S., the school year is broken up into three 14-week terms, starting in January and ending in December. There is no long summer break, but there is a 5-week break after Term 1 ends in April, a 2-week break after Term 2 ends in August, and a 5-week break after Term 3 ends in December. A typical school day starts at 7:00 am and ends at 1:00 pm, with eight 40-minute periods and a 30-minute break. After lunch, there is afternoon study from 3:00-5:00 pm; after dinner, there is evening study from 6:30-8:30 pm. Teachers rotate the supervision of these studies, but I’m normally at one or both of these studies, teaching my extended mathematics class (there is no class period for this) or working in the office staff room so my learners can come for help. Namibia has national exams at certain grades to determine if a learner passes or fails. In Grade 11, there is no national exam until Grade 12 because each of their subjects is a two-year course. Ideally, I stay with my Grade 11s next year so I can coach them through their revision and prep before these national exams.

Anyway, I haven’t talked much about the realities and day-to-day of teaching. The following are a series of notes, from drafts I never got around to posting, or from times I was just reflecting. I won’t have WiFi for a bit, so sorry it’s a lot of words and no pictures– I promise to catch up in the next post.

Notes at the end of Term 1, April 2019:

The last 6 weeks of Term 1 were not too eventful from a teaching aspect. The learners wrote (took) exams for the last 6 weeks, taking about 1 test per day. Since my learners took the mathematics test the first week of exams, I was graded and finished with all of them that first week. The rest of the time, I invigilated other exams and didn’t do as much planning for Term 2 as I should have. I didn’t realize testing would start so early, so I didn’t finish all the material I wanted in Term 1. This was ok since I set the exam for Term 1, but for Term 2 and Term 3 this year (and for the national exams next year) they will be set by others, and they’re out of my control. Which means I really need to make sure my topics are covered! I don’t want to disadvantage my learners. It’s so hard to try to speed up sometimes though. A small percentage of my learners could keep up, but it’s so hard to move on when I know the majority are still confused with not just the new topics, but the foundational ones as well. And, I still have a lot to work on myself with my teaching styles and methods. This is pretty new for me, after all. I really hope I can just stay with my Grade 11s and finish teaching them in year 2 before their national exams. If they don’t pass these, they don’t pass and can’t go on to Namibian universities. So the goal is to get as many of them as possible to pass! And a big thing is staying on top of the syllabus so everything gets finished. So I’m torn between getting through all the topics now and then reviewing like crazy, or going more slowly through topics now but then having to rush at the end of next year. It’s hard and there’s external pressure with it. This is actually influencing my learners’ futures. But, it’s less dramatic as it sounds. We’ll get there together if we keep working hard, and they’ll be fine. We have a long road ahead but I’m looking forward to seeing them learn.

Notes 5 weeks through Term 2, June 2019:

Already halfway through another term! We start exams in about three weeks, and I’m glad that we have covered all of the topics required by the regional schedule for the term. I’m currently debating whether I want to push through a few more topics, so the end of year exam has more time for review, or just thoroughly review now. It’s so much easier now that I know all (almost all–yeah, still kicking myself) of my learner’s names and the strengths and weaknesses of each class. Some are so much easier to teach than others. But it’s interesting to think about the reasons why.

I have 4 sections of Grade 11, and they are split up by what is called a field of study. In the U.S., at least in the public high schools I know of, no one picks a specific field of interest they are confined to during high school. I could take math, history, accounting, physics, geography, and French all at the same time if I wanted. And I did. In the States, we have our core classes, and we have our electives, where we have some freedom and leeway. Here, in Namibia, the education system is adapted from the Cambridge system, so things are different. Depending on staff and the size of a secondary school, these different fields of study are offered. The only common classes between these fields of study are maths, English, and Silozi (the vernacular). The rest depend on if you are in 11A (Social sciences: history, geography, development studies), 11B (Natural sciences: biology, agriculture, physical science), 11C (Agricultural sciences: biology, agriculture, geography), or 11D (Commercial sciences: accounting, economics, business studies). I think there are a few other fields of study offered elsewhere, but these are the options at my school. When a learner registers, they get to pick which field of study they want to be placed in. Well, pick, I should say. What happens is that a learner comes and registers and it’s first come, first serve. And some fields are more popular than others. So if your first choice is full when you register/transfer, you might be out of luck. The goal is to get an average distribution (so 170 grade seven learners would give ~45 learners in each class), but the reality of the distribution is 44 in 11A, 55 in 11B, 46 in 11C, and 25 in 11D. Natural sciences, at my school, is usually the most popular (a pleasant surprise, as a ChemE), but commercial sciences make learners run away. Learners pick fields of study in Grade 10, typically, but there were a lot of education reforms across Namibia last year so we had a lot of transfers from other schools, and they may not have placed in their previous field of study.

The other interesting thing that comes into play is the math that comes easier to certain classes based on their field or the way the learners approach problems/interact with me. For example, teaching money math was easy and intuitive to my 11D learners, who calculate interest/debits/credits often. This vocabulary is already familiar to them. Graphs and conversions were better for 11B and 11C classes, who study graphs frequently in biology and physical science. My 11As understand percentages and visual things like maps better. My 11As (think: future lawyers, politicians, journalists) are also the most vocal. I announce a test will be on Friday? “Miss, we thought you said Monday. Madame, we have two other tests that day.” They always have a response and try to negotiate. Interestingly, this class also understands me, and my English, the least. I’m still figuring out ways to manage this. They also (largely due to this language gap) consistently do the worst on my exams, and only one of them is taking additional Extended Mathematics. They will be my project. But, to be honest, it’s the hardest class to be in and and teach in. Teaching a new topic–or reteaching an old one–and often getting complaints of “I don’t understand anything. Please repeat everything,” is so exasperating. These are the most overwhelming phrases a learner can give me, and I’m sorry if I have ever used such absolutes with a teacher. We will get there though. 11B, although it is my HUGE class, consistently performs second best on my exams. They are the class I’ve seen the most growth in. You should see the conditions they (and all my other classes, but particularly 11B) learn in. Without complaint (for the most part–after all, these are teenagers). They get a bit rowdy sometimes, but overall they are great. They help each other, they are eager to learn, they like being challenged. My 11Cs are the sweetest. They decorated the classroom when it was my birthday (they were the only ones that asked when it was), they laugh at my jokes, they check in on me when I’m sick. But they also give me grief sometimes. I have them most often as the first period of the day, and I hate tardiness. Bad combo. Since classes are 40 minutes, and now in the winter the learners want the door closed, any latecomer screeches open this poorly closed metalic door (the sound is worse than you imagine) intermittently during the first 10-20 minutes of my lessons. Let’s just say it doesn’t start my day off right. There’s also more miscommunication in this class; like with the 11As, these learners’ English isn’t as strong. Finally, My 11Ds. Just by numbers, 11D is a dream. I knew all their names so easily, there’s more time for questions, less distractions, everyone has enough oxygen in the air to breathe… they always do the best on the exams. But the reasons are clear. So much has to do with environment. These kids aren’t inherently smarter than the others, although I do have a few that are exceptionally bright. They get more attention! I can address deficits and miscommunications much more quickly. I can move around the room. They can move around and solve problems in the chalkboard and it doesn’t create more of a distraction than it’s worth. And since there are less of them, I can mobilize the strong ones to teach problems to learners who are struggling, helping them solidify their knowledge also.

So although I’m really dealing with 170 personalities, these 4 class trends are really interesting to compare and reflect on. And it really changes how I plan my day/my lessons. Like now, as I’m writing this, I have a few free periods until going to 11D, which will be a breeze. They will ask me questions, they will ask me why (no other classes do that), and it will be fun. The goal is to get there with the other classes also (especially 11C and 11A). Progress, that’s what I’m looking here. Baby steps. Anything.

Notes with 5 weeks left of term 2, July 2019

Revising this a few weeks later, everything is still true. Exams are now around the corner, starting next week. But I also had my most difficult week of being here. The last weekend in June started off on a high note, where we held the annual Mr. and Ms. Sikosinyana pageant and then hosted a volleyball/netball/soccer tournament. Saturday night, though, we got news that one of our learners died in a car accident. In fact, one of my learners. In 11A. He was also the son of my Head of Department, my direct supervisor. The following week was so rough. It was a week of mourning, of not knowing how to act, what to say–Do I keep teaching? What can I say to my 11A class? A week of not knowing how to navigate death in general, but especially not in a new culture. I went to my first burial in Namibia and it was the hardest thing I’ve done here. Watching my other learners carry a coffin, read letters to the family, lose their friend at such a young age…it’s just not natural. To commemorate him, we planted trees around his grave and hopefully we will have some kind of memorium at the school. It’s been a painful time, but all we can do is try to move forward together.

**I’ll be in touch in a week or so with pictures! Sorry for all the words but hopefully this explains my day-to-day realities a bit better.