School Update

After reading our last couple of blogs you may think we are just scooting around India with no responsibilities or growth. In actuality, a lot has been going on with our volunteer placements. I’ll speak for myself (Sara) about the school and then Mike can update about Sahara later.The school situation has definitely had its up and downs. This last week the teacher turn out was really low. So low in fact that almost every period in the morning Anne and I were assigned to teach a different class (one that we had not prepared for). There is no sub system here, so when the teacher is gone, someone has to either take 30 more kids or a teacher must take the class during their period off. We were given lesson plans at best and then instructed to go to the assigned classroom. On paper lesson plans are great. In the classrooms here, it is usually played out completely differently. If students are loud (which is very typical), we spend half our class time trying to get their attention (the strategies I learned are not working yet). Some classes go great, others go so poorly you want to walk out half way through the lesson.
I’ve also started teaching science in the sixth standard (our 6th grade) this week. I loved making the lesson plans and working with Mike to refine them in what hopefully would turn out successful. The first day went wonderfully, but mostly because half the school was gone because they wanted an extra day of Diwali (the holiday they have been celebrating). I only had 15-17 students instead of 30. I think that may be the key to success. The second day went awful. By the time we got home we were both exhausted. The kids talk non-stop and do not even listen to classmates talking. I try to engage students but typically the kids with the answer shout it out, and try to shout it louder and louder above everyone else. I’ve never been such a supporter of hand raising. We were also put in charge of 3rd standard and 7th standard English, which just makes for a long day, especially when we aren’t anticipating it.
Some good things: I made a USA question box so kids can put in questions they have about me or my country so they do not interrupt the class. I also have an India box I am putting questions in that students that behave can answer India questions near the end of the class. Hopefully this will be beneficial in the coming week. One my classes wrote me an apology note, reading,

Dear Sara Didi,
We are really sorry that we made you so sad yesterday. There were some
reasons behind our bad behavior with you in the class.
1. We cannot understand your language
2. We do not have so experience about how to work with a foreigner
3. We are not at the level to understand your language
Sorry, sorry, sorry
So please understand our problems and help us to understand science very well. From all the student from6 Sargam

After that I had high hopes of some great behavior. I told them in the beginning of class that they may have a hard time understanding me, so I will speak slower. I also told them I have a hard time understanding them when they all talk at the same time and each student needs to

raise their hand so we can work together. I’m pretty confident they can actually understand me if they are listening, but the listening is a hard step for most. The conversation got good behavior for about 10 minutes before we had some issues, but it was definitely better than the day before.
I was informed mid-week that they had some interviews for science teachers, but when I inquired about it later they said they all fell through. This is by far the most challenging teaching situation I’ve been in, in my short stint with it. I have been using some visuals from the library (a single room with some random teaching aids) and the two small textbooks they have. I’m really thankful Anne has been able to help me in most of my classes and is really supportive. I’m really hopeful that next week will be better and I’m less

tired by the end of the day. We’re hoping to make more connection with other teachers, as we feel more isolated and randomly placed than anything else. It’s hard when they mostly speak Marathi or Hindi in the teacher's lounge, but a couple of teachers have started talking to us. We have also heard this is one of the best government schools around and the others are worse off with fewer resources and fewer teachers. It is hard to imagine sometimes. We’re hoping to learn a lot, but sometimes learning means refining by fire and fire sure is hot sometimes.

Captions: 1. The school 2. one of my two classrooms 3. the 2nd floor hallway (where the 2 6th grade classrooms are) 4. the library (where Anne is taking control and hopefully making it more accessible)