Week 8 - Professional Blog - 22/03/13

Five weeks, four classes, two tutor visits and 408 pupils later, Joanna and I have completed our school practice in Buganda Road Primary School. I can whole-heartedly say that having had the opportunity to teach in Uganda is an experience that I will never forget and one that has significantly helped me to develop as a teacher. 

Over the five weeks, Joanna and I have come across many challenges, some which we expected and others which we did not. The biggest challenge for me was the class size. Having so many children in a class puts extra pressure on the areas of behaviour management, assessment and differentiation. In terms of behaviour management and assessment (GTCNI, Competences 7, 24 and 25), I feel that the strategies that I introduced to the class were enjoyable for the children and the teachers also realised the benefit of these. Differentiation is an area which is vitally important as it “plays a major part in the quality of the education that each child receives” (Bearne, 2002, p.67) but is one of the areas that I could not completely master.  I did encourage the ‘Gifted and Talented’ students to participate in problem solving based activities and I tried to help those who were struggling on a one to one basis, however, having such a range of abilities and not even knowing half their names made this extremely difficult.

P2A - just 109 children.

Apart from these challenges I had a very enjoyable time teaching the Ugandan children in an interactive and challenging way (GTCNI, Competence 19). Seeing the enjoyment on their faces and hearing them laugh really made all the time spent making resources worthwhile. Each day I was in school I couldn’t help but think that these children truly deserved the best teaching as they were so eager to learn despite their unimaginable backgrounds.

Lovely, smiley children!

A typical lecture theatre.

Now that placement is over, Joanna and I have only four weeks of university left. Over the last 7 weeks we have got to know our classmates and lecturers, very well. We are in a PDGE class (the equivalent to a PGCE class) so all of our peers are a lot older than us. Despite of this, we have all become good friends. They are great at keeping us up to date on any changes and getting the class notes photocopied for us. The lectures themselves are very different to Northern Ireland. Joanna and I attend two modules, one on ‘Teaching and Delivery strategies’ and the other on ‘Sociology, History and Ethics in Education.’ The lectures take a discussion based format, where the lecturer’s notes are then dictated to us after the discussion. Due to the language barrier and the lecturer’s accents, I sometimes find it hard to follow but I have become accustomed to this over the last few weeks. 

Outside Makerere University.

I feel that I will have learnt a lot from attending Makerere University and participating in school practice in Buganda Road Primary School. Overall I think both of these experiences have helped me to “develop a knowledge and understanding of the need to take account of the significant features of pupil’s cultures, languages and faith and to address the implication for learning arising from these” (GTCNI, Competence 8).

References:

Bearne, E. (2002) Differentiation and Diversity in the Primary School, London, Taylor and Francis.

GTCNI (2010) Teaching: The Reflective Profession, Belfast.

Week 7 - Cultural Blog - 18/03/13

This week Joanna and I decided that we needed to break out of weekly routine of university, school, planning and ‘Gossip Girl’ and experience ‘The Arts’ of Uganda.

The African Craft Village

One of the huts at the Craft Village.

First stop was the African Crafts Village in the centre of Kampala. This is a series of huts set out in semi- circle that sell local crafts such as jewellery, bags, scarves, recycled paper products, wooden masks and porcelain kitchen utensils. “It is a style less sophisticated than that of the Western art world but that is growing in popularity and stature in galleries around the world” (Barlas and Yong, 2010, p.78).Albeit that most of the stalls sold the same products, it was great to see all the hand-made crafts and really interesting to see and hear from the shop owners how some of the products were made and techniques been passed on from generation to generation. 

Then, with our friends from ‘Dwelling Places’, we went to see a play in the National Theatre called ‘My Maid and I’. This was to celebrate ‘International Women’s Day’ and the last day of ‘Uganda’s First Annual Theatre Festival’. This festival seemed to be similar to the Speech and Drama Festivals that I have participated in and spectated at in Northern Ireland. Each day was divided into different categories and the panel of judges gave their scores and comments on each performance and awards were given to the top candidates.

After buying our goodies, popcorn (made fresh), mars bar and soda, we took our seats in the auditorium. The story of the play gave Joanna and me an insight into the relationship between maids and their employers in Uganda. It was conveyed in a Brechtian style where the set was the same for the entire performance and the two women played all of the characters by simply changing their clothes, mannerisms and accents. At some points it was hard to understand what they were saying due to the lack of microphones but at some other points the rest of the Ugandan audience was laughing and we weren’t. I presume it was Ugandan humour, similarly to how we have Northern Irish humour that only we understand. 

A snapshot of one of the scenes in 'My Maid and I'.

After experiencing some Ugandan art and drama, we decided then to go a see some traditional dance and music as “they are a clear reflection of what's going on in the hearts and minds of the culture” (Amos, 2005, p.78). One of our Ugandan friends, Nailly, invited us to go and see a dance troupe rehearse in her local village. The troupe itself was made up of approximately 20 women and teenagers who performed three different types of African dance. These all involved a lot of squealing, clapping and bum wiggling. The music was played by men using a variety of traditional African percussion instruments.

One of the traditional African dances.

The men with their instruments ready to play.

This was a very enjoyable evening where Joanna and I really felt like we were in Africa. It was a great experience to be able to witness the dance troupe in their own setting and with the local people.

Some of the local people sitting beside us.

 All of these events have given Joanna and me a great insight into the Ugandan culture and it was great to witness these ‘Arts’ first- hand.

References:

Amos, T. (2005) Piece by Piece, Broadway, New York.

Barlas, R. and Yong, L.,J. (2010) Cultures of the World: Uganda, Times Publishing, New York.

Week 6 - Professional Blog - 11/03/13

Small 'ones' (units in NI).

In my last blog I briefly mentioned that I was trying to make the children’s learning more interactive and enjoyable through adopting strategies from home such as WALT and WILF. I have continued to use these strategies this week with P2B in conjunction with some other basic approaches.

Tall tens.

Over the past few weeks, I have noticed that the Ugandan teachers adopt a rote learning teaching style. From my observations, they only ever get the children to repeat what they are saying or copy things down from the blackboard. Learning is not an enjoyable experience and there is no such thing as open-ended questions or encouraging the children to think for themselves, even though the National Curriculum for Uganda (2007, p.8) states that, “it places the child at the centre of the learning process.”

Obviously my teaching style is completely different to the teachers in Uganda.  Due to the lack of resources and space, I have found it difficult to make my teaching as interactive as at home, although, I have tried to adopt a variety of simple techniques, which make the learning more child-centred. I have implemented the use of group work through talk partners and team competitions and have also used drama, stories, songs and rhymes to enhance learning, including the famous book, “We are going on a bear hunt”. It is evident that the children enjoy when I am making a fool of myself at the front of the classroom and encouraging them to do so as well. These approaches assist with child centred learning and ensure that the children “have opportunities to be actively involved in the learning” (Northern Ireland Curriculum, 2007, p.9).

Big fat hundreds.

Written work is essential in every lesson in Uganda as it is basically the only form of assessment that takes place. Therefore I have had to include a written aspect within each of my lessons. I have found that when I am introducing the concept and teaching the children orally through student participation, songs, rhymes, drama and questioning, the children seem to understand. However when it comes to written work, the children just revert back to their old habits and copy everything down from the blackboard (sometimes including the table points and pictures of WALT and WILF).

P2B doing their written work. 

Five children receiving stickers.

In Uganda there are not the same Child Protection laws as there are in Northern Ireland.  Caning still occurs throughout Ugandan schools.  I have witnessed 10 children getting caned at the same time for talking or some other minor misbehaviour. I found this really hard to watch and was nearly crying myself, never mind the children. I don’t think this is a very effective behaviour management technique as I got the impression from the children that this happens all the time so it’s more a way of life rather than a punishment.

And the winning team is..the Tigers....ROAR!

Obviously I was never going to beat the children so I have adopted some positive behaviour approaches as according to Pritchard (2005) positive reinforcement results in favourable outcomes whereas negative reinforcement does not. These have included a similar system to the traffic light system, stickers for the best work and I have also introduced table/ group points into the classroom. All of these techniques have worked really well as the majority of the time no child reaches their third warning and the children have loved earning stickers and table points. Since I was using these positive reinforcement techniques in my lessons, I informed my teachers that they could feel free to add or take away table points at any time. The teachers have keenly adopted this approach and since I have introduced table points no beating has occurred in the classroom, which is great. I really hope that the teachers have learnt how to manage behaviour differently and continue to use these approaches in their teaching.

Girl of the Week, Ingrid.

Boy of the Week, Joseph.

Crazy P2B!! (I am in there somewhere!!)

References:

CCEA (2007)The Northern Ireland Curriculum Primary, Belfast, CCEA.

Pritchard (2005) Ways of Learning, London, Fulton.

The National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) (2007) The National Curriculum for Uganda, Kampala, NCDC.

Week 5 - Professional Blog - 02/03/13

Me outside Buganda Road Primary School.

Two weeks of school practice has been and gone. This week the number of students in my class increased from a ‘manageable’ 92 in P2D to a crazy 107 in P2C.

CRAZY P2C!!

Over the last two weeks my classroom has been a similar size to a typical classroom at home; the only difference is that there are approximately 100 children to fit in rather than the usual 30. This means that the classroom is filled with approximately 30 tables with between 4 and 5 children squished together at each table. The children are so crammed that in some cases the children at the end of the table have to turn round and write on their knees.  

One of the boys doing his work on his knees.

Around the classroom there are a few labels indicating ‘blackboard’ or ‘cupboard’ and a hand written alphabet across the top of the blackboard but apart from that there is nothing, no posters or children’s work displayed. This is a complete contrast to home where each child has their own desk with their name clearly displayed on it and there is plenty of room to move around. Generally the tables and chairs are brightly coloured and all the notice boards and windows covered in bright coloured posters and the children’s work as it is believed that, “an uncluttered space, well placed furniture, organised materials, simple and clear displays, and carefully considered seating arrangements will all enhance the teaching and learning of all those working there” (SchoolZone, 2011). It is clear that the classroom environment in P2C does not enhance learning but probably quite the opposite.

As expected the school has very few resources. When starting school each term, each child must bring with them 4 class books, 6 pencils and 4 toilet rolls which the teachers then distribute as required. The teachers are provided with a box of chalk and a few red pens. They also have some pictures of different vocabulary and a box of bottle tops to help the children draw circles, but that is the height of the resources available.  This has meant that that I have had to make all of my own teaching resources, which to say the least, has really put my art skills to the test.  Over the last two weeks, Joanna and I have made posters to help teach vocabulary and grammar, counters to teach sets and flash cards to teach counting and writing numbers.

Literacy Resources

Numeracy Resources

I have also used my iPad to show the children pictures of my school and community (P2’s topic) which the children loved. None of them (including the teachers) had ever seen an iPad which seemed really strange as there are schools in Northern Ireland where every teacher has one or in some cases every pupil.

Apart from making resources to try and make the learning more interactive and enjoyable, I have also introduced some teaching strategies from home such as WALT and WILF and the thumbs up, thumbs down assessment for learning technique as the Assessment Reform Group (1999) state that “assessment which is explicitly designed to promote learning is the simple, most powerful tool we have for both raising standards and empowering lifelong learners.” 

Thumbs up everyone!

Meet WALT and WILF.

These have all worked very successfully where the children can now tell me ‘What I am looking for’ and some of the teachers have said that they might incorporate these techniques into their teaching.

References:

Assessment Reform Group (2011) Beyond the Black Box, cited in, CCEA (2009) Assessment for Learning: A Practical Guide, Belfast, CCEA.

SchoolZone (2011) ‘Redesigning the Classroom Environment’, available at http://www.schoolzone.co.uk/resources/articles/GoodPractice/classroom/Redesigning.asp (accessed 02/03/13).