From the other side of the globe...

Aaaaaaaaand I’m back! So, it’s been a while but I wanted to let you know that I will start to be more active with my blog. I was able to find consistent internet access through a local telephone provider so I now have wireless internet on my computer. It’s really quite amazing and I would say rivals what I would expect in the United States. I understand that Tanzania has the population to support the technology, although I don’t feel as though a good portion of those people have the money to do so. Regardless, I had 3G-High Speed service in Mbeya town so it is available. Now on to a post!


So I’m at one of the critical moments I thought about several times before coming here. I haven’t exactly thought about it nearly as much since arriving but now, the night before I feel like it deserves some intense thought. Tomorrow is my first day stepping into the classroom as a permanent teacher. I taught at my internship school for around 3 weeks but that was understood to be temporary so the student teacher relationship was different. The students I interact with tomorrow will likely be my students through February of 2011 and it is this group of kids that I will most directly affect. Therefore, since first impressions are so important, I feel it necessary to think through how I am going to work tomorrow.

I intend to have our first period together be more directly focused on identifying the students I have in front of me. I am told that my school regularly performs well on exams and often it is prestigious enough it gets to select its students and ensure that the highest performing and most motivated are sitting it its classrooms. Now, I’m all for motivation and commitment to academics, but from what I’ve been introduced to so far in TZ, that can often mean they are simply able to memorize the right things for the tests. I fully intend to teach in a way that requires the student to understand the concept and not memorize the problem, and I hope the students are able. But in order to know how to identify how the student is solving the problems, I must know the students.
So, my series of inquiries…
First, I need the basic information, just so I can identify students by their names and so forth.
Second, I need to know how they function in class. How and in what they take notes, where they turn in papers, how well they understand concepts taught in English, etc. I would imagine there are significant differences in how an American class is run versus a normal Tanzanian class. But I intend to run mine like with a more American flavor, because exposure to outside ideas is the whole point of Peace Corps. Obviously, if there’s something better the Tanzanians do, I’ll try to incorporate it.
Thirdly, I’m trying to find out about their non-academic lives, for one to see where I can interact outside of class, but also to know what they like to do. Corporal punishment is widely used here and I really do not think it is appropriate in the school setting. I imagine I’ll deal with this topic again, but in general, I’d like to know what to take away or make them do as a punishment that is not just beating the kids.
Then finally, get a feel for what they’ve been taught but also a sense of what they know, because I’ve learned that they almost never line up perfectly.
I’m sure tomorrow will go significantly less smoothly than I’d like but I’m looking forward to it. So now, I should prepare for bed and a good night’s sleep.


Just a note, while I was typing this up, we had an EARTHQUAKE!!! It was relatively small but it was a new experience for me. Thunderstorms and earthquakes! I’m quite excited 

Enter cheesy quote about the future...

This blog is the product of a few things. The first was my father's suggestion that I record all my experiences associated with this new chapter of my life. It's one of those parents know best moments where they tell you to do something and your first reaction is thinking that this is making up for a missed opportunity in their life but then you realize that, true or not, they are still right and it's in older you's best interest. It also satisfied my own desire to keep my home hemisphere somewhat involved in my life. So here we are. I'm not a particularly witty or eloquent person so I'm going to try to limit myself to writing the highlights so as to make this worthwhile to you, the reader. Anyway, here we go....

The Peace Corps is surely going to be a great experience, and as I've said before, the best way I can describe these next 2 1/2 years is terrifyingly exciting, but the coming sacrifice weighs on me. I thought when I started this process that my effort in my job and community would be the biggest gift I'm giving, but the longer I go into this process, the more I think it will simply be the time. I skipped a class today to get my dental exam done. Now that's a very small issue, especially given the intensity of said class, but it reminds me of what will come soon. I'm skipping birthdays, weddings, Christmases, graduations, and I pray not, but maybe funerals. While I'm gone, the world here keeps turning and that, for me, is scary. I don't get to watch things grow and change but rather simply get stuck back into the world, two years post-me. Two years can seem like forever or nothing at all but it's this context that reminds me, in shocking form, that an enormous amount can change in that time. But, that's something I said I would be willing to give up for this experience, and I'm still 100% in agreement with that. It's going to be hard at times, but it will be worth it. No doubt.