Next Standard Article (2/28/14)

School Practice (Uganda Versus the United States)

Education students in their second and third years spend time in school practice (SP) during the January semester. During this time, they are supervised by education lecturers using an evaluation form developed by the education department at UCU. SP students prepare a scheme of work for the term as we as individual lesson plans. We also have a form of school practice in the states, but we call it student teaching. Since I have had the privilege to supervise in both countries, I would like to compare the differences and similarities of the two.

Topic	United States	Uganda
Length of school practice	One semester ·      Students can choose to student teach from January to May or August to December ·      Student teaching takes place during the LAST semester of your senior year of college (before graduation) ·      All university work is finished when a student enters student teaching	8-10 weeks ·      Second year students teach for 8 weeks ·      Third year students teach for 10 weeks ·      Students at UCU complete their SP during the January semester
Frequency of school practice	One time Students complete student teaching one time, during their fourth year at university.	Two times Students complete school practice during second and third years.
Supervision	Teacher, university faculty ·      Students are evaluated by university faculty a minimum of two times during student teaching ·      Students are also evaluated by the certified teacher, which is the original teacher of the class	Head teacher, university faculty ·      Students are evaluated by university faculty at least six times (three in each subject) ·      Students are evaluated by administration of the school one time (DOS, head teacher, etc.)
Class size	15-25 students The class sizes are regulated by law.	40-100+ students The class sizes are regulated by the school.
Teaching time	8 hours per day (40 hours per week) Student teachers follow a regular teacher’s schedule of working eight hours per day (7:30-3:30).	Number of lessons per week (about 9) Student teachers are given a certain amount of lessons by the head teacher. Most students have around nine lessons.
School choice	Chosen by university The student teacher selects three districts in rank order and the university matches them to a school. All of the schools are public (government) and must be supervised by a certified teacher.	Chosen by student The student teacher chooses the school by taking a letter from the university for approval of conducting school practice. The letter is then returned to the university in order to arrange the supervising lecturer.
Resources	Books, internet, interactive white board, available to all students	Some books and chalkboard
Food	No food is included	Usually break tea and lunch are included
Grading system	Student teachers are graded mostly by the supervising teacher (from the school), but the university faculty also contributes to the grade. The grade is either “pass” or “fail” and you must pass to graduate.	Student teachers are grading by combining the six observations and one observation by the head teacher. They are given a percentage (out of one hundred).
Lesson Plans	Student teachers follow the standards of the state and the curriculum map of the district. They write lesson plans and submit them for approval from the supervising teacher. The supervising teacher must approve of their lesson plans before the lesson is taught.	Student teachers are required to create a scheme of work and also write lesson plans for each lesson taught. The supervisor looks over these plans each time he/she visits the student teacher.

Overall, I have enjoyed supervising school practice over the past three weeks. In every school I enter, I receive praise from the staff and head teachers about our UCU students. The teachers know that our students are disciplined, responsible, and knowledgeable. Several schools have even asked to retain our students after they are finished with school practice! I look forward to nurturing our students over the next month and watching them blossom into amazing teachers.

School Practice

I really wish everyone could see through my eyes. The experiences and things I saw today (Wednesday) remind me of why I love bring part of the educational process. I have the privilege of supervising school practice for six students. Our student teachers have to complete school practice twice during their university time, once during year two and one during year three. Each school practice time last 8 weeks. During the 8 weeks, student teachers are observed six times. I am overjoyed and excited that I get to be a part of this process as a supervisor. It allows me to get out into public and private schools and see our students in action.

This is the form I am required to use to grade students.

Each school has a way of greeting visitors and security procedures. Some have huge gates with guards and some just have an office you walk into and sign-in to the visitor’s log. My supervision began on Wednesday with Winnie at a small, Catholic private school. The school is very young, only about four years old and is associated with a church next to it. The tuition is about Shs 400,000 (less than $200) per term. I took a boda to go to her school, but it was so close to campus that I could have walked. The school was very welcoming with a small office. Winnie came and picked me up and took me to her class. As soon as I arrived, the students greeted me in unison. Winnie taught senior 2 with about 40 students. This was Winnie’s first teaching experience and she was nervous, but prepared well. The lesson covered two hours. I was surprised at the amount of knowledge the students had and how quiet they were during the lesson. After the lesson, we conferenced and then Winnie walked me back to the road.

Today (Thursday) I began with an observation at another small, private, Christian school with about 400 students. Their tuition is about Shs 350,000-400,000. I took a boda, but he took me to the wrong school. There is Naminyango Secondary School and Naminyango High School. So, I had to take another boda to Racheal’s school. It seemed a long way, but I arrived at the right school and Racheal greeted me. Rachel was teaching senior 2 and taught a lesson on vocabulary using a text. The texts here are so, so old. All of the students have these notebooks that they keep their class notes from the blackboard.

Next, I headed to Seeta High School, again via boda. On my way, I passed many animals, screaming kids, and many stares. I often tell people here I feel like an alien because people stare and shout “muzungu” but I guess I have gotten used to it. This is a HUGE school and there are around 2500 students. This is a private, Christian school started by a member of parliament and the tuition is Shs 800,000 ($320). My student, Gladys, had over 90 students in her class. It was a really large, large class. I don’t really know how she managed. The students were very inquisitive and excited for my presence. Gladys used a text from 1985, but she helped students to try to understand the context about archaeology. As far as I could tell, there were three students per book. 

This is the tradition food at schools (beans and posho)

After Gladys' school, I headed to Seeeta Hill College, which was just up the hill from Seeta High. This school has around 400 students and the tuition is ranges from Shs 600,000-900,000 ($240-360). Aron is a third year student and will graduate in November. He is an excellent teacher and will possibly already have a job by the time her graduates. His school is small and he had 27 students in his class.

Today (Friday) I set off for Mukono Parents' High School to see a second year student. This is a private school of about 800 students with a tuition of about Shs 800,000 ($320) per term. Remember there are three terms, so this is almost $1000 a year PER CHILD! Needless to say, most money goes towards education. Asha is from Tanzania and I visited her in Dar es Salaam during the winter holiday. She is an excellent students and will be an awesome teacher. She works hard and thinks carefully about her lesson plans. I am so proud to supervisor her!

I am also proud to say I can ride a boda sideways without falling off like the lady in the picture! So excited about that!

I look forward to the next six weeks that I have to observe our students in action. They are a joy to work with and I am so thankful for this experience.

Things I have learned so far:

•       Very few resources are available (paper, pens, pencils)
•       Our student teachers don’t like students to use dictionaries
•       There is a blackboard in every classroom
•       Students sit very close and are very quiet
•       Students are very quiet when answering questions, but teachers encourage them to speak up
•       Teachers only have to be in the classes when they give lessons
•       Teachers like quiet classrooms
•       Bugs, wasps, noise, etc. don’t phase students

Restoration Gateway

On Friday, I headed to Karuma, Uganda with a friend to visit the NGO, Restoration Gateway. I have visited many NGOs during my time here, but none quite as amazing as this one. Now, I know this is 281 km (about 174 miles) would normally take about 4 hours, but the roads here are very challenging and our whole trip took 8-9 hours.

First, we took bodas down to the stage (bus stop) in order to get a taxi to Kampala. This usually costs a little less than .50 (Shs 1,000). The ride takes about 10 minutes. I feel safe on the motorcycles here in Mukono, but I would not ride them in the city. I don't mind the bodas as long as I can sit straight. The challenge comes when you have to carry luggage or groceries on them in a skirt. I have not mastered sitting sideways.

Around 2, we caught a taxi to Kampala. Just in case you forgot what these look like, I have a pictures to help you understand.

There are so, so many taxis here. They are easy to get and cheap (about $1 to Kampala). So, it took about an hour to get to Kampala and then we headed to the bus terminal. Again, the transportation is cheap. It costs us about $8 (Shs 20,000) for the journey from Kampala to Karuma. I took this pic from the bus.

Here is a picture of the bus terminal. I took this picture from my seat on the bus. Yes, it is crazy! You can literally get any kind of snack or service here, including cell phone charging...all for a fee, of course. Once you get on the bus, you have to wait for it to fill up. We waited close to two hours for everyone to get on and then we headed to Karuma.

Traveling here is hard to describe unless you go through it. The ride is incredible bumpy with many stops along the way. We sat in the back and many times you are actually lifted of your seat because of the speed bumps or the bus having to dodge another oncoming vehicle. Some of the road is pavement, but most is just rough gravel because of construction. What is paved is usually a single road with many potholes, which often narrows to where one car can get by because of erosion. A two-lane road often encourages buses to pass slower vehicles and they do it at breakneck speeds often with oncoming traffic in sight. All vehicles use the same road including semis, coach buses, people walking, and cars.

Need a goat?

It is unbelievable. NOTHING is air conditioned and since it is the dry season, things are very, very hot. I know those of you in the U.S. will not empathize with me because you are sick of winter, but being hot and sweaty on an 8 hour bus journey is not fun. The bus only stops once along the way for a "short call" (bathroom) or to pick up snacks, but there are many, many stops for food along the way. I eat everything, which might explain why I have had parasites several times, but I love the food. I think I have gained about 5-10 pounds, but I know it will come back off when I head back to the land of salads.

mchomo (goat/beef)

gonja (roasted plantains)

Kampala is the largest city in Uganda and has the most access to goods. Many people come to Uganda to buy things and then take them back to the village and sell them. These goods may include construction items, suitcases, sacks of clothes, etc. All of these things have to go INSIDE the bus. So, imagine people, along with all of these goods sitting in seats and the aisle. In fact, getting out of the bus was like going through an obstacle course. We reached (arrived) Karuma at about 10 p.m. on Friday night.

We were going to take a boda, but there were none around. Daniel called his brother and they headed down to pick us up. The center was a little over three miles from Restoration Gateway (RG). As we waited for Emma and Moses to pick us up, we started walking down a long, dark road. Most Ugandans are used to the darkness because of the rolling blackouts, but I am not. I hate dark places. But I was assured that it was safe and we headed down the road. As we headed down the road, Emma and Moses picked us up and we headed to our accommodations for the night. Daniel stayed with his brother and I stayed in one of the houses.

RG was created out of a need to take care of orphans whose parents were killed in the war or by AIDS. The organization is based in Waco, Texas. They have a primary school, dental center, chicken house, various crops, gym, library, and houses for the children.

Each house contains about 8-10 children with a Ugandan mom. There are about 100 children on site. There are also several missionaries there including several doctors and teachers.

The campus is beautiful and overlooks the River Nile.

While we were there, they had an engineering team from EMI (Engineering Ministries International). Their main purpose during the week was to evaluate the structures, survey the land, and design a 180 bed hospital. We were privileged to hear their report on Saturday night before they left on Sunday. It was amazing to see the progress they have made and the future plans. We were also able to attend a church service there on Sunday morning, which was in Acholi and English. Nothing thrills me more than being a part of a bilingual event!

Overall, we had a great weekend and I really enjoyed my time at RG. To learn more about this NGO, check out their webpage here

Standard Article (2/17)

A Renewed Writing and Study Skills Course

Lecturers from Foundation Studies and Languages and Literature along with library staff made the journey from Mukono to Jinja to begin the process of reviewing the textbook of a foundational writing class, Writing and Study Skills (WSS), required for all first year students. This course began as a response to the needs of strengthening the academic reading and writing skills of all students in all programs. The workbook was last revised in 2010. A revision was necessary to align with the curriculum reform for secondary schools conducted by the National Curriculum Development Centre. This workbook revision will reflect many changes in response to the curriculum reform and the age of technology.

The first change includes moving from a teacher-centered approach to a learner-centered approach. This change will be reflected in the teacher’s edition and will be evident throughout classroom activities where students will be using group and partner work to review writing samples from various disciplines. Students will be involved in interactive lessons that will require using speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills throughout the course.

Another noticeable change will be in the integration of new technology skills including the library research database and writing websites. Students will be given step-by-step instructions from library staff in the workbook on how to conduct effective and efficient research on a given topic using UCU resources. Students will also be guided through how to use social media and various websites to publish their writing and strengthen weak writing skills.

Finally, the workbook will still have four rhetorical modes, but the lessons will now be organized by modes as opposed to skills. Each mode will have integrated skills in grammar, research, technology, critical thinking, etc. The amount of time spent in each mode will vary, depending on the amount of content contained in each mode. For example, narrative will be taught over two weeks, whereas expository will be taught over five weeks.

To remain true to the original objectives of the course, the lecturers listened to many sessions on the history of the course, curriculum development, and incorporating technology led by experienced faculty of UCU and the ELF, Jamie Cardwell. The staff made collective decisions and worked together to ensure all involved in teaching the course understood the curriculum, instructional activities, and assessments required. During the last half of the workshop, the faculty divided into four different rhetorical modes and began working on the various sections. The faculty will continue working on the workbook and the ELF will write the teacher’s edition and edit the final product. The new workbook is expected to be ready for publication in early June with implementation during the upcoming September semester.