School Visits in Leguruki Ward, Tanzania

Yesterday we finished two and a half days of school visits. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the teachers that we had worked with in workshops and visit their schools. It also gave us an opportunity to meet school heads and thank them for supporting their teachers in attending Education Beyond Borders workshops. The first week of facilitator training was done during the last week of holidays while the teacher workshops were held during school time. To achieve this Education Beyond Borders relied on the cooperation with the District Education Officer, the Ward Education Coordinator, Mr. Urio and the school heads. The school heads are very important in passing on Education Beyond Borders workshop information to their teachers, encouraging teachers to attend workshops and allowing the teachers to be away from their schools.

On Wednesday morning we visited Sinai Primary School which is the farthest distance away from King'ori where we were staying and holding workshops. Sinai is situated high on a hill and even as we drove the hour to the school we could feel that we were climbing in altitude the entire trip. From the classroom windows there are magnificent views of Mount Meru in Arusha National Park http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/arusha.html . It was cold and windy in the classroom as the air swept through the glassless windows. Sinai Primary has five teachers: Elisante who came to facilitator training along with Hussein,Emanuel, Faulian and Daudi who all came to teacher workshops at the CKC Centre. Considering the distance that the teachers needed to travel back and forth each day it is impressive that all five of the school's teachers made the effort to attend the workshops. We observed five lessons as the teachers incorporated new teaching strategies in their classrooms that were designed to engage students in their learning and support different learning styles. We had a group debrief over chai and fried bananas. The school head teacher and Mr. Urio joined us as we commented on the preparation of the teachers and how the students were working together to answer questions. We suggested ways to have more students provide answers to their groups and were encouraged that the teachers were eager to try new ideas in the classrooms. We also complimented the teachers on being a strong community of learners themselves and how powerful they would be by working together for their 120 students. I also had an opportunity to walk around the school grounds and was impressed with their new kitchen that was built by a Swedish NGO but at the same time I was dismayed that they had no food to feed the students. Usually parents are required to provide corn, beans and rice to the schools in the area. However,  this is an area that is not good for growing crops so we weren't sure how that parents were able to support the school's food program. As Canadians we have had many conversations over the last three days about this school's lack of food and resources. We don't have any answers but it was difficult to see this situation.

During our school visits we stopped at Miririni Primary and Secondary, Nkoasenga Pimary and Secondary, Leguruki Primary and Secondary along with Mbaaseny Primary Schools. A common theme prevailed during our visits of a shortage of teachers. Many school heads discussed building teacher accommodations as a way to attract teachers but also there was  the discussion of the funding of teachers. Education and teachers is a national system that distributes teachers and resources to districts and wards. Mbaaseny Primary worked with their community to hire and pay for two additional teachers this year. Many schools have foreign sponsors to support school facilities, water, food and supplies along with community fundraising to develop their schools.

Our school visits allowed us to observe teachers who were introducing collaborative learning strategies such as carousel, placemat, think pair share and mind maps. Teachers also used activities to energize their students and check on learning from lessons. We had teachers speak to us about reaching all types of learners in their classes along with the different ability levels of their students. We discussed the need for homogeneous and heterogeneous groups when working on group activities and the ability of students to support their peers in the classroom. There were different levels of questions being used and students were able to demonstrate their learning. Observation feedback was well received and gave us an opportunity to promote the use of positive peer feedback between the teachers. 

The visits were a time to meet with teachers as they began to introduce learner centered teaching strategies and engage their students in their own learning. We look forward to hearing about the teachers' experiences through the school year by email and sharing on Facebook. We also look forward to hearing about their students' reactions to working with new strategies. Education Beyond Borders will continue to grow in Leguruki Ward as teachers attend workshops, become facilitators and spread the word about EBB's goals of developing learner centered teaching instruction. As the Professional Learning Community in Leguruki Ward grows so will the teachers and their ability to develop their own professional development which will be the culmination of Education Beyond Border's efforts here.