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| The Great Rift Valley |
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| The campsite |
The last several days have been so full! This weekend we took the whole school
on a campout. The juniors and
seniors went to the Mara and the freshman, sophmores, and elementary students
went to Hell’s Gate National Park.
I went to Hell’s Gate and Friday morning we loaded up three truck/bus
type vehicles with a total group of 85 and headed off. It was a great
time! I can not tell you how many
tents I helped set up on Friday.
Many of these kids had never done anything like this before. I live in the biggest city in East
Africa and many of the students here come from wealthy families all over East
Africa. It rained Friday night and
Saturday morning but it rains just about every time I go camping and so this
was nothing new to me. The kids
however, were not too sure about it.
They did not want to get wet!
Thankfully, the weather cleared up and we did some hiking that
afternoon. That was amazing! We
were able to hike down in the gorge and see some pretty neat landscape
features. In some places the
climbing was a little difficult.
Many of the kids needed help getting up and so Derrick went on top of
the rock and I stood below and gave kids a leg up while he caught them and
pulled them up. On Sunday morning
we broke camp and I helped with tents again. After this weekend, I feel like an expert in tents. The kids then had the option to go rock
climbing or biking. I chose to go
with the group that went climbing.
I took rock climbing at Southern my first semester there and I loved
it! I have been climbing with
friends several times since then and am hoping to get my own gear when I get
home so that I can go more often.
The rock that we were going to climb is the rock the inspired Pride Rock
(The Lion King). It was really
neat. I helped a lot kids in and out of harnesses and climbing shoes and had a
great time doing it! A lot of the
kids were really scared to do the climb and some only made it up a few
feet. I was really proud of the
ones that were willing to give it a try!
School so far this week has just been great. I have said it before and will probably
be saying it for the rest of my life.
But I think that I learn more from these kids than they do from me. Today Katie (the other SM elementary
teacher) and I lost track of time while the kids were out at recess and ended
up giving them an extra ten minutes.
This would be fine, except that it cut into math class. Math is the
class that I have the hardest time fitting everything in for. I teach 5th and 6th
grade math and it is a juggling act for sure. The first few weeks, I really thought that I was going to
pull out all my hair in frustration.
It has gotten so much better though now! I am able to get it done and feel like the kids actually
learned something. They are all
passing too, so I must not be doing too terribly.
Anyways,
we called the kids in late. The 5th
graders came in arguing like they always do and everyone came in wanting a
drink. I also knew that the 6th
graders had had some difficulty with there homework the night before and we
needed to cover some of the material.
I was slightly stressed trying to figure out how in the world I was
going to teach two different lessons and review yesterdays lesson in my now
shortened math period. I was about
to open my mouth to get after all the kids for being so rowdy coming in. To tell them that they had better sit
down and be quiet because we had way too much to do. Then I looked around.
They were happy and laughing and having a good time, while still getting
their books and preparing for class. I realized that I had a choice. I could yell at them to sit down and
then rush through the lesson. We
could have done it. But as I was
sitting standing there and looking around I realized that if I did that I would
be taking the joy right out of the room.
They would not be having fun anymore, but would be upset about being
yelled at. I would not be happy, but would be irritated because I had to yell
at them again. So I decided to
laugh with them. We went over the
homework from yesterday. We
started to cover a bit of the material that we were supposed to cover today,
but did not make it through. I
assigned some extra practice from the day before and we made it through the
class with everyone smiling.
Anyone who
has known me for a while know that I tend to be very task oriented. I like to see what needs to be done and
get it done. I do things quickly
and efficiently and I really don’t slow down or stop for much of anything. You cannot always do that with
kids. Its not good for them! They need you to slow down. They need you to take the time. To listen to them. To understand where they are coming
from. I am again learning my
lesson. Slow down. My kids are so happy most of the
time! I cant help but think its
because they realize what us adults miss.
Life is not an emergency.
It is not something that needs to be rushed through. There are more important things than
your lesson plans or your to-do list.
I think that kids are so happy because they take the time to laugh. They take the time to wonder at the
things around them.
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