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First School Visit
First School Visit
This was our first official school visit day! The school we visited is in Accra but in an area that is a bit more rural, where the families fish for a living. I was not prepared for what I would see, the blackened ceilings were falling in, the walls were open to the heat, wind, and rain, the kids used books that were decades old, many desks had broken backs, the teachers had only chalkboards and whiteboards for teaching. I watched a computer science lesson where the students were taking notes about spreadsheets but only the teacher had a computer. My heart was in my throat for the first half hour.
However, I also observed who were children who were smiling and engaged, listening, laughing, and learning. I saw teachers who were passionate about what they were teaching and who cared about their students. They made the best of the sparse materials that they had. Teachers taught in English but would repeat in the local language, Ga, to check for understanding. I watched a beautiful poetry lesson sprinkled with frequent rooster "cock-a-doodle doos." Learning does not only happen with MacBooks, Google Slides and PearDeck. This was a good reminder to be thankful for the resources we have in our classrooms and that maybe sometimes It’s nice to go back to the basics.
After our school visit, we stopped at the Dikan photography gallery for a quick tour. This gallery featuring African photography is also a library and learning center for anyone interested in learning photography. Our guide told us that it is the only gallery in Africa that is dedicated solely to photography! The founder, Paul Nisson, shared his vision with us and invited us to collaborate with his team. You can see the website at https://www.dikancenter.org/
After an amazing lunch, we traveled to the headquarters of T-TEL (Transforming Teaching, Education, and Learning). The founders of this NGO have sourced grant money to help reform the Ghanaian education system. They are also big supporters of equality for women, which has been a struggle here in Ghana. We were given some important curriculum materials to deliver to our host schools and celebrated International Women’s Day together with a pic before leaving!
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