Reflections on Practicum and pictures

Joe here: Back in mid-June we Peace Corps trainnee (PCT) teachers began practicum, eight days of teaching in schools near our home-stay. Another PCT, Kristian, and I taught JSS form 1 and 2 (7th and 8th grade) math and science at a Catholic school. I began the first half of practicum teaching science while Kristian taught math and vice versa for the second half. We taught such topics as pressure, light energy, rounding numbers, and interest rates. The timing of practicum felt sudden having had only a few discussions about how to teach and having observed only two JSS class periods in Ghana, but it was necessary considering school schedule. Nonetheless, the experience and feedback(the permanent teacher and a Peace Corps trainer sat in each period to critique our performance) is valuable as I ponder my next two years at site. To follow are just some observations about the school in which I taught, some bearing stark contrast to schools in which I was taught in the US. The quality and amount of resources available to students and teachers could be improved. Although I wouldn't argue it a necessary component for an education, the school lacked electricity and running water. Students fetched bucket-loads of water from a borehole and stored it in a barrel in the headmaster's office. Students did not have textbooks, hence the only way to, say, assign homework problems was to spend class time writing and copying from the chalkboard. Students arrived before class to maintain the grounds; boys mowed the lawn by machete(or "cutlass") while girls swept the classrooms with brooms that are dried stems from palm leaves tied together. At the start of the school day, the class prefects(students elected by the class to be their first line of communication with the teachers) led an assembly outside during which students in unison recited prayers, sang Ghana's national anthem, and marched into the classrooms. During class, student behavior varied between classclown to teacher's pet with some students cracking jokes in Twi to nearby friends whereas some students copied notes feverishly and had hands raised to participate at every oppurtunity. The teachers and headmaster were very open and unanimously enthused to welcome Kristian and me into Ghana's education system. With that said, Hallie's and my collaborating teachers from our schools in Donkorkrom will come to Kukurantumi in about a weeks time to meet us. From there, we will travel to visit our future schools and home before returning to Kukurantumi for the second month of training.

Below is an outline of a school calendar for 2010-2011 that I copied from a volunteer teaching in the Western Region. I believe the dates apply nationwide:
Term 1: September 15 - December 16
Term 2: January 11 - April 14
Term 3: May 10 - July 28

Even further below are some pictures. From top to bottom: cocoa beans being dried at the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana; Hallie and Nick in a cocoa field, those green and yellow pods keep cocoa beans; PCV Alex and his dog Herbert building and lounging under furniture for a school; Alex's showering innovation; kontommire stew, among the ingredients are leaves from a cocoyam tree and smoked fish; Hallie and I hanging out in a cave near Boti Falls