Day Nine - Wednesday: Joey learns a lesson

Joey's post
Today was HOT. I knew that it would be – Ghana is at the equator – and it is in Africa afterall, but as I was hammering in nails with the students today around noon I suddenly I thought it had started raining - only to realize it’s my own perspiration dripping on the Mahogany. Blech. Gross, but accurate.

Yesterday I taught drafting to my lead students- Kotay and Gabriel. We already built one chalkboard and so I thought I would teach a few of the basic drafting skills. I had the students walk over and measure the pieces of wood, the chalkboard, and then come back to draft it in scale. This would take only a few hours at most- right? Wrong- all day!

Here’s what happened…..We first had to make a drafting board and clamp it to a wobbly table. We had problems with the T-Square staying “square” to draw straight lines. The “machine shop” (the outdoor cabinet making company we visited that was a shed with power tools in the yard) used inches and feet but the students were working with the metric system so every measurement had to be converted- so a mini-lecture on fractions/decimal conversion distracted me and then I suddenly realized that Gabriel has gone MIA.

Gabriel was back in a class. I asked his teacher if he could come back and work with me and he came back for a few minutes and then slipped away again. This happened about four or five times…all day….did I mention we were trying to get some drafting done? I didn’t get it. He had been gun-ho about every other part of the process so what was it? Was he frustrated with the math or getting tired of erasing crooked lines? What? I spoke to Greenie about it while walking her home from the hotel (she stays with Charles’s family- Kate and I stay at a “luxury” hotel). Greenie said she thought that Gabriel was getting jealous of any attention I was giving to Kotay -- Gabriel is quiet, a little stoic, withdrawn- very polite and intelligent but seems reticent to let down any walls. Kotay, on the other hand, is outgoing and humorous and in-your-face engaged. I hadn’t noticed that I wasn’t engaging Gabriel as much as I was Kotay. This made sense….every time I would turn to see if Gabriel was grasping a concept he would be gone.

So today I tried a new tactic.

The students and I had built two bookcases and we had the pieces already cut for a third so I gathered the troops and said that today they would be building a bookcase all by themselves and Gabriel’s job was to be the “boss.” They were to practice working as a team and Gabe would make the final decisions on matters. This did the trick- Gabe was in his element and the others were snapping to his lead. I do this a lot in my stagecraft class and the hardest part is sitting back when you see the kids make a mistake.

I’ll try to keep this short (Ha ha- kate calls me Steinbeck b/c I’m so wordy)… when you put books on a bookcase the weight travels down thru the material into the floor so the shelf has to be able to transfer the weight to vertical sides of the case. We added 1”x1” strips of wood to support each shelf on the vertical boards –little ledges for the shelf to rest on. The students accidentally put the supports above the shelf instead of below on one of the sides. So if the kids assembled it as it was, they would have discovered the mistake themselves but…

Charles is an amazing man- he first graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering at the polytechnical college in Ghana then ran companies successfully before giving all that up to chase his dream of building schools for children. He has built Tuskegee International School from the ground up. It’s built on “family land” – land that was won from another tribe in a war hundreds of years ago - and it has stayed in the family ever since. This means that it has not been “aquired” by the government, something that seems to happen often and leads to lots of litigation and family feuds. Although the area is now well populated, when he first started to build the school it was heavily forested; Charles started by clearing the land- cutting down the trees by himself and the roots on the trees in this area are huge. It is impossible to look at the school and surrounding area, homes, stores, a major road within 100 meters, and think just 15 years ago no one was here. So he has been in charge of every step of the construction for the past 15 years often doing the work himself. He supervises the workers he sometimes hires to pour concrete or lay tiles or run electrical lines- everything that goes on is in his eagle eye. He has to be- this is his passion – his creation.

Back to bookcase---- Charles spots the error the kids made from across the compound and comes over while the students are at snack time and picks up a tape-measure... I quickly go up to him and say “I know- I know- they put them on upside down, but let them figure it out themselves”- I believe they need to be able to correct their own mistakes. Charles says okay and thinks it is important for them to learn... But – 5 minutes later he is pointing out the error to the kids. Arrgghh- I get it. He can’t help himself- it’s his nature. But it was frustrating – I was looking forward to the moment when the kids figured out their mistake and were able to fix it with out an adult butting in.

The kids were oblivious to all of this and took his correction in stride (they are used to it) and did a great job working as a team to build the bookcase. Gabriel shone as a team leader and kept Kotay in line and they had fun and felt very proud of their efforts. Charles said that this bookcase would have to go in his office because it looks so nice. Kate says that this was a good reminder that sometimes you get to the hoped for outcome despite your own plans and/or frustrations. This goes for me and the students today.

-- joey

Rare picture of Gabriel's wonderful smile :)

Day Nine - Wednesday: Greenie's Post

Every Wednesday is worship service. For approximately one hour, 1-8^th graders sit together, sing songs, pray, collect offering and hear a message from the local pastor (Pastor William). Students are free to dance to the hymns and be actively involved in all aspects of the service.

The Nursery has grown since last school year. They now have 31 children from ages 1 ½ to 3. The room, one of the last that will be remodeled also holds 42 JK children and since tile work is being done on two rooms, 27 SK children join to make 100 children in the room. 3 teachers run this and are very organized. They keep 3 different lessons going at once and command the attention of the children with minimal distractions.

The children eat lunch in the Nursery/KG room washing their hands both before and after their meals which consists mainly of rice.

It was not the Nursery /KG’s turn to get their bags that were sewn by Lisa Nielsen’s SK class. Each bag contained pesewas (coins) for each child. The children were happy that their Parker sister school students made these bags for them.

____________________________________________________

Kate continued her masterful work as a teacher of all types of math. She used the compound again to teach the concept of bearings and this time, the students enthusiasm about the concept was clearly obvious as they moved NE and SW on the compound grounds. With string in hand, students found ways to mark points that made their learning easier.

Kate doesn’t miss a trick and keeping pencils close at hand is most important as she laced them into her hair to have them ready for immediate use. Some things don’t change and checking classwork is one of them. Kate’s handmade books that she used to teach time with 1^st graders were checked before she went home. Kate’s dedication and devotion to her teaching is so apparent and it is wonderful to watch.

____________________________________________________

Joey continues to help his “team” learn about the tools he brought, one of which was a bit and brace which is used to put screws into the wood. Joey also had several smaller projects that he worked on with students, one of which making wooden boxes with a hinge top.

The blackboard was stained by Gideon and is now ready for a board to be painted and attached. It was fun taking a photo of Joey and his team that included Gideon, David, Joey, Gabriel, and Kotey. The final bookcase was assembled. This is the one that will go into the office where Charles is anxious to organize his books of information and necessary materials for Tuskegee. Joey’s team of students are really learning a lot about working as a productive team – and carpentry and woodworking.
_____________________________________________________

Keeping the compound clean to show pride for your school is expected by students from grades 1-8. When school is over, students empty the trash, and sweep the compound before leaving.

This was another fulfilling and productive day. Everyone is getting a good rhythm and a lot of great learning is going on. Tomorrow is Republic Day and there is no school for the children but there will still be a lot of things going on at Tuskegee.

Hugs, Greenie.

Day Eight - Tuesday: Greenie's Post

Guest Blogger: Greenie

Due to Kate’s generosity of sharing and her artful way of creating a blog, she has offered me an opportunity to be one of the contributor’s to the journey being taken this summer by her, Joey, and myself. It is an understatement when I say that I am grateful for these two teachers and the contributions they are making to Tuskegee. They have earned appreciation from everyone at the school. My role has moved from active teaching to coordinator and it is a pleasure to watch Kate and Joey share their masterful talents with the children and teachers of Tuskegee as I work behind the scenes with director and founder Charles Yarfoh.

A trip around Accra on Sunday provided all of us with wonderful experiences that included a trip to a variety of places. It was wonderful having Madam Fausty and Charles as our tour guides.

On Monday, it was back to teaching and Kate jumped right in with her amazing math skills and had to schedule her lessons because so many teachers wanted her in their classrooms. Her lesson on clocks with Class ones was amazing and even though she said she had never taught clocks before, it was obvious she knew what she was doing.

Joey continued working with students on the bookcases, guiding them and encouraging them to take risks in thinking and learning.

Today, Kate met her scheduled visits to teach in Class 4, JHS 1 & 2. She is working with base 10 blocks and the students are loving her approach.

As a yearly project, I brought items for the students created by Parker kids. This year I had kits for heart-shaped bags that held handkerchiefs. Handkerchiefs are a necessity and required part of the school uniform. In fact the students sometimes have to show that they have a clean handkerchief for the school day at the school morning exercise. What’s this? Morning exercise? At Tuskegee morning exercise includes saying the pledge to the Ghanaian flag, singing the national anthem, sometimes the school song and a prayer to bless the day. Another project from Chicago was school supply pouches that were put together for older students. These pouches each held colored pencils, protractors, pens and erasers for the students. Parker PM director Stacey Newmark and her daughter Molly lovingly organized and filled these pouches for Classes 6, 7 and 8. The sister school connection has now moved from Parker students to Parker faculty to Parker families.!

I am so appreciative of this summer’s experience with teachers like Kate and Joey. I am grateful for their talents and for the effect it is having on the school, students, and teachers. Charles Yarfoh is extraordinarily grateful for the support Dan Frank has given to make this connection so meaningful.

Day Eight - Tuesday Kate's post

Greenie did the big post today but I wanted to share some great pictures from the day....

Charles Yarfoh, Headmaster of Tuskegee International Schools

Greenie helped me organize materials and kept me focused today. I got to observe Greenie in action with the students. As you can see in the pictures below, when Greenie sits down it is like moths to a flame. Her bright lights shines, and the children simply cannot resist. She turned filling ziplock bags with base-10 cubes into an important lesson on place value. Fabulous!

Joanna and Grace, two of my math students from JHS 1 (Parker's 6th grade)

Kotay, rightfully proud of his drafting work - Joey and students drafting....

One of the snacks available at the school store: Obama Biscuits!

Day Seven - Monday

FROM KATE: Today was all school, all the time. Joey and I arrived at 8:15 and you would have thought it was noon - they were ready for us today. I taught three classes today and it was fantastic. I started with Class One; Madam Rebecca, the teacher, wanted me to come in and teach time. No problem....except for the fact that I have never taught time to first graders. It was wonderful and they stuck with the lesson for an hour and a half. Amazing! Most importantly, all but two of the 28 students participated at least once. I'm going back in Wednesday and promise 100% participation! Hold me to it those of you reading this.

Then I went to JHS 2; that's our eighth grade. Their teacher Belinda told me they were a pretty unengaged class and she was hoping I could do some hands on work. We measure desks and found square area, talked about a range of data and then went out to the courtyard to measure out a square. We're working towards bearings (angles and measurement) so tomorrow we'll find the true center of our square and Madam Belinda and I are going to stand in fixed positions and the students have to determine what angle we're standing at from center. We'll see; this is another new venture for me. Thanks to Joey for coming up with the rope idea - a big help.

Greenie has been busy all day every day between time in the individual classrooms, schoolwide projects, construction projects, keeping track of and helping Joey and I make sense of every thing, her school connections projects....well, the list goes on. Greenie is amazing. I can see why she and Charles have such a powerful connection. Honorable, compassionate, focused and generous in all ways. Two peas in an exceptional pod.

This afternoon I worked with four boys on adding and subtracting using word problems. They ATE IT UP! "Four more, Madame Kate, let's do four more." This was after school.

As a complete aside, I went to visit the nursery today. They have 48 kids in their ages 2-5. It's unbelievably well organized and exactly as chaotic as you would imagine it to be. That many little people in one place......The teacher was singing a series of familiar children's songs and after making shy eye contact with me for about an hour, gradually the students started coming closer. In the end, there were about 20 of them in a semi-circle singing "You are My Sunshine" to me on their own. 20 rabbits singing. It was magical. That room is a trap; you can get lost in their smiles, their warmth, their voices.

Ok, Joey's turn.

Kate said that we arrived at 8:15-- my students were so excited when we showed up (kate has a very valid reason for being late and she doesn't want to blog about it- but it was a very scary moment of our trip. it was quite shocking and Charles made sure that the hotel fixed the problem)

so when we walked into the courtyard of the school (all the classrooms are open to the air- have no windows) and the students can look over the "wall" of their classroom and my students looked so relieved to be able to get out of class (somehow the students that have been assigned to me or have gravitated to "construction crew" are just like Parker stagecraft kids- they want to build, use tools, and skip regular class.)

We finished two bookcases today and I have reached the point were I can assign a leader and the other students work with them- they all now no how the tools work and understand the process and they listen to each other and help each other. So I am just there to answer questions and help when needed but basically I just stood back and beamed. I am so proud of them. One of the tools is a Bit & Brace (not sure what a Bit and Brace is? Me neither until three days ago...pictures are in Greenie's camera so they'll come in the next day or so when Joey's able to wrestle the camera out of her hands - she has a bit of a death grip on the thing) hand drill and we are using it to drill holes and screw in screws. We have a few parts of the bookcase that require 2-1/2" screws (huge) and at one point it took all four of the students to push down on the tool and turn in the screw - seeing all of them struggling together, smiling and laughing while doing so is an amazing sight for me. so proud.

We finished an hour early and so I got out the Wayne Barton Chip Carving tools. Yesterday I showed Gabriel (the 17 year old that lives with Charles family and is turning out to be the team leader)- he was showing the other "crew" the technique and they started learning from him- made me feel like a good teacher- then the whole school let out and all the kids circled the boys and watched as Gabriel demonstrated a pattern. Awesome end of a school day.

We got back to the hotel after skipping home electrified from the good day and then all sorts of entertaining mishaps and room changes and entertainment, but I'll let Kate tell you about that when she is energized to do so.

One more thing from Kate....We were talking with Greenie about some of the bigger structural projects that need to happen at the school. Two in particular are of interest to us looking ahead to the next two to three years: the water filtration and the solar powered electricity. More on this later but I wanted to get it down. Start generating ideas people, we have some work to do back home.

Day Six - Sunday Accra Travels

Today is Sunday and we headed over to the school at 9:15. Madame Fousty was making a dish called banku; it’s cassava and maise cooked over coals and stirred nonstop until it’s thick, almost like a dense paste. You pull pieces from a ball of the banku and use it to spoon up a stew. Mme Fausty made okra stew and mackerel stew with green peppers.

Very tasty although the banku has a strong fermented flavor that takes some getting used to. We had a very interesting conversation about the political system in Ghana and the history of President Nkrumah, his regime, etc.

At around 11:00 we headed out for Accra. Madam Fausty was beautiful in her traditional dress.

We drove around the city and took in several sites. We went to the university first. The statues below are in the Akuafo Hall – Akuafo means farmer and this part of the university is the school of agriculture.

We also went to the memorial park where the tombs of President Nkrumah and his wife are located. It’s a very peaceful location. There were at least two wedding parties taking pictures there. The entrance fee was $2.00cedi for Ghanaians and $6.00 cedi for non-Ghanaians. We paid the tourist tax today! We also went into the museum there; there were many pictures of Nkrumah and the many international heads of state he met and worked with throughout his regime. Many of the pictures referred to him as Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. Osagyefo essentially means, “esteemed leader” and is a term of respect.

At the Memorial Park

This statue shows a man beating on the “talking drum” from the southern region of Ghana. Originally it was used to call warriors together for battle but now it’s used call people together as a community.

All around the park were some young trees that were planted at the 2007, 50 year independence jubilee. Many international leaders and representatives came (Jesse Jackson was among them) and planted a tree to mark the occasion. This is Mugabe’s tree. You’ll notice how small and undergrown it is for a three year old tree. Charles said just like Mugabe’s government, the thing can’t grow. Charles is funny and incredibly astute.

We went down to the coast and saw some of the old colonial buildings, two old forts that are now used as prisons and a light house that was used to guide the slave ships into port.

Charles took us by the teaching hospital but his opinion of it was pretty grim. Apparently the place has a reputation for terrible care. The doctors all have their own clinics and the nurses are underpaid and inattentive. Charles said people consider this the worst place to go when you’re sick because you know you’ll die there. What a reputation for a hospital to have! This statue is in honor of the man who built the original building you can see on the right.

As we headed out of town we passed an enormous “slum,” as Charles referred to it. It was huge and is apparently riddled with crime, drugs and exceptional poverty. A UN project nearby intended to extend the “pond” to allow access for ships closer to the market in the city is on hold because of the slum but there is little movement on the part of the government because of the number of voters living in the slum.

This is the President Atta-Mills house.

On our way out of town we stopped for a mineral water (meaning a soda) and meat pies. The crust was flaky and buttery and the meat was seasoned with a mild curry. Delicious!

Another great day in Ghana.

Day Five - Saturday: Work Day!

Guest post by Joey:

Saturday has been a day of work. From 8am on the school compound was filled with student volunteers – sanding, measuring, sawing, nailing, more sanding, sweeping, laundry, cement-laying, more sanding, gluing, calculating, measuring and then…..some more sanding.

Notice.....Isaac is sanding.....

Charles was out and about working in town and then came back and got right back to keeping an eye on the craftsmen and a strong sense of order, which just emanates from him. And more sanding.....

I am so impressed how hard the students worked- from 8:00-4:00 and all smiles the whole time. I enjoyed watching the students work with each other- the older students teaching the younger students how to saw (and then getting a little frustrated and taking the saw back) The students learned how to layout a design from blueprints that Gabriel (17 year old) and I have been designing since the first day.

It was wonderful working with the tools that were donated. The students were fascinated with the planer and all the saws and shiny new tools- I think every scrap piece of wood had chisel marks and holes in them from the Bit & Brace.

Meanwhile....there was some sanding happening....still.....

I would like to thank Madame Kate and Madame Greenie for sanding all day! Their Biceps are like “hard bodies”- They were singing and sanding and talking with the kids and sanding and making up (sanding) games and sanding and…sanding.

By the way, Ghana won tonight!!!! We celebrated in the pub across from the hotel - the people watching the game couldn't have been happier to have a couple of Americans in the crowd as Ghana beat the US. Lots of hugs, dancing and absolute, unadulterated joy.