8 Oct: 5 weeks gone
Somewhat frustrating day today. Apparently they did not need me to sub and Imdid not have any assigned classes. So, instead I decided to sit in on a chem class again and see what is happening ( and hopefully find ways to offer constructive suggestions if appropriate and also to plan an agenda for a meeting with the principal to discuss how to use me(specifically) and my skills more effectively and more generally how we can make a plan to use volunteers more effectively. I actually,ended up spending a lot of time trying to locate some useful chem resources on the web (that I thought I had brought with me).
Observations and new facts that I learned during the chem class
unexcused absences: Rs 60/day to school. Tardy= no consequence Not really certain who keeps track or how, but I imagine there is a large handwritten ledger book somewhere in the office.
Chem Lecture: all students have a textbook. Teacher "lectures" from text = reading word for word (including "full stop" when there is a period) and students copy exactly plus draw complicated 3-D examples (also exactly from text)
Asked student I was sitting next to questions about teachers/ teaching etc. in science (physics and chem)
Basic response: the maths is easy do not understand the material/ concepts.
Specific: physics teacher (Mingur- new) they do not understand at all what he is teaching.
I asked specifically to compare me with the chem teacher and how we teach (specifically said to be honest, but....): the answer was they learned and understood more from me. Not sure what that is worth.
Discussion with Chem teacher (Mam Rigzen):
Lab suggestion: build models with clay to visualize structures of molecules (VSEPR)
Her response ( somewhat expected, but indicating knowledge of best practice)"was that she planned that for next year, but because they started so late she has no time and needs to get through the syllabus, BUT is planning more labs and activities for next year. Didn't really seem to get my point that getting through the syllabus with little real understanding of the concept didn't bode well for passing "the test". One good thing about taking the same classes every year: you can get them later.
Other suggestions: Skip very complex structures (5 or 6 Bonding pairs) until later when they actually understand what she is presenting.
Borrowed an alcohol thermometer from the chem lab (most were mercury and seemed to be old hand me downs from somewhere. Most of them could not be read) to check temperature in my room. When I got home at 4 it was 10C (50) and now at 9 it is down to 8.
9 Oct
7:30 AM: 6*C (42.8)
Woke up with tutu karslag (sore throat), but not too bad and got better during the day. Lots of teachers sick today, but none absent, so no classes. But, it turned out to be a busy and productive day. I met with Eshey in the morning to 1) inform him of trips and changes in ETD, 2) discuss my Rs4000 donation (decided to purchase an inexpensive B&W printer for the staff room. Now there is Internet and teachers can find resources but can"t print) and most importantly 3) discuss why I am not feeling well used or productive here and what we could do to change that and what I can do to try and make future volunteers adjust more quickly.
I was a bit apprehensive about the last one, as I had heard he could be a bit sensitive to criticism, but it all went very smoothly and I have a much better feeling for how these last 3 weeks will go. He already set up a meeting with me and the two bio and chem 11 teachers to discuss a meeting for tomorrow morning where we will talk about how they might try to incorporate some inquiry into their classes. My guess is the actual implementation won't happen until next year because of the test crunch. (Ron, you will be pleased to know that I also spoke to the physics teacher/ popstar about your wind chime and marimba projects and he seemed very interested). In addition we decided that I would start to put together the outlines of an informational packet about the school to be given to incoming volunteers before they arrive to help answer the questions that we all have had to figure out on our own. I've already made the outline and need to get help with the basic facts.
I also went to watch Tsering Nyamgal's (the new teacher who was working on a PhD in chem/materials science) 10th grade science class and was pleasantly surprised- more interaction between him and students and students actually doing.
Blue Sheep: finally tracked down some better pictures and yes the ones we have seen are Blue Sheep (Tibetan Bharal) and not Ladakhi Ural. I should have learned long ago from my time in Pt. Hope- trust the natives when they tell you,something about wildlife.
10 Oct
Met with the Chem and Bio teachers this AM and things went well. It was only for 30 but they requested more meetings. We met at lunch and will do it again tomorrow. I explained about inquiry, the ideas behind why we think it is important and showed them how it is being incorporated into our new National Science Standards ( I happen to have an electronic version of the last draft of ours. I know it's supposed to be secret, but I'm in Himalayan India....). We,talked a little about the Oregon and IB work sample requirements and scoring and then I showed them an example of one I use In class where chem students have to use physical and chemical properties to Identify the materials in pennies per and post 1982. These test can include things as simple as finding densities and I was shocked when they didn't think they had sufficient materials to do this experiment! Well, that quickly determined the lunch session- how to easily find the density of rocks (the quickest thing I could round up in the school yard) using displacement and mass. Granted they don't have digital centigram balances: only 4- 2 pan balances with gram and mg weights, but those and 100 ml grad cylinders and WOW It worked! Tomorrow I will show them how to do calorimeter with simple pop can calorimeters- I know they will be amazed and it's applicable to both Bio ( energy content of various foods) and Chem (heats of combustion). Now that we start to interact in this way, I finally start to see the simple but valuable things I do have to offer.
Today I read Mike and Ann's (Shannon"s brother and sister in law) blog about their move to a small village in Kenya. Mike described it with an analogy about crossing a rover on a rope bridge. Leaving the security of everything you know to venture out into the unstable and scary rope section. Eventually coming to the new stability of the solid other side. Right now I finally am starting to feel like I am reaching that solid ground.
When I came home this afternoon I found Dorjay and Yangchan just finishing up erecting a large plastic tarp and log structure over the patio and garden on the south side of the house. Now there is a cozy little solarium that warms up quickly (warmer than the house) on the cold mornings where we have coffee/tea and breakfast. The other day I asked about when they start hearing the kitchen and TV room (making sure to be clear I was just curious and not asking them to do it for me). They don't usually bring I the stoves until sometime in mid November, mainly because the propane and kerosene are so expensive. During the summer a 40 L container of LPG last almost 3 months. In winter when they start heating: 10 days!
11Oct
Amazing how the simple lab activities we take for granted at home seem SO amazing here, and the fact that you can do labs with very simple materials is a foreign concept!
They loved the idea of pop-can calorimeters and it's applications to chem and bio. Now will they actually use them?
Really wish I had had a better understanding of what is available here before I came. It would have been so simple to bring a couple of rolls of the hundreds of dialysis tubing we had at RHS ( and will probably never use up). Doesn't exist here and such simple easy labs for diffusion.
Somewhat frustrating day today. Apparently they did not need me to sub and Imdid not have any assigned classes. So, instead I decided to sit in on a chem class again and see what is happening ( and hopefully find ways to offer constructive suggestions if appropriate and also to plan an agenda for a meeting with the principal to discuss how to use me(specifically) and my skills more effectively and more generally how we can make a plan to use volunteers more effectively. I actually,ended up spending a lot of time trying to locate some useful chem resources on the web (that I thought I had brought with me).
Observations and new facts that I learned during the chem class
unexcused absences: Rs 60/day to school. Tardy= no consequence Not really certain who keeps track or how, but I imagine there is a large handwritten ledger book somewhere in the office.
Chem Lecture: all students have a textbook. Teacher "lectures" from text = reading word for word (including "full stop" when there is a period) and students copy exactly plus draw complicated 3-D examples (also exactly from text)
Asked student I was sitting next to questions about teachers/ teaching etc. in science (physics and chem)
Basic response: the maths is easy do not understand the material/ concepts.
Specific: physics teacher (Mingur- new) they do not understand at all what he is teaching.
I asked specifically to compare me with the chem teacher and how we teach (specifically said to be honest, but....): the answer was they learned and understood more from me. Not sure what that is worth.
Discussion with Chem teacher (Mam Rigzen):
Lab suggestion: build models with clay to visualize structures of molecules (VSEPR)
Her response ( somewhat expected, but indicating knowledge of best practice)"was that she planned that for next year, but because they started so late she has no time and needs to get through the syllabus, BUT is planning more labs and activities for next year. Didn't really seem to get my point that getting through the syllabus with little real understanding of the concept didn't bode well for passing "the test". One good thing about taking the same classes every year: you can get them later.
Other suggestions: Skip very complex structures (5 or 6 Bonding pairs) until later when they actually understand what she is presenting.
Borrowed an alcohol thermometer from the chem lab (most were mercury and seemed to be old hand me downs from somewhere. Most of them could not be read) to check temperature in my room. When I got home at 4 it was 10C (50) and now at 9 it is down to 8.
9 Oct
7:30 AM: 6*C (42.8)
Woke up with tutu karslag (sore throat), but not too bad and got better during the day. Lots of teachers sick today, but none absent, so no classes. But, it turned out to be a busy and productive day. I met with Eshey in the morning to 1) inform him of trips and changes in ETD, 2) discuss my Rs4000 donation (decided to purchase an inexpensive B&W printer for the staff room. Now there is Internet and teachers can find resources but can"t print) and most importantly 3) discuss why I am not feeling well used or productive here and what we could do to change that and what I can do to try and make future volunteers adjust more quickly.
I was a bit apprehensive about the last one, as I had heard he could be a bit sensitive to criticism, but it all went very smoothly and I have a much better feeling for how these last 3 weeks will go. He already set up a meeting with me and the two bio and chem 11 teachers to discuss a meeting for tomorrow morning where we will talk about how they might try to incorporate some inquiry into their classes. My guess is the actual implementation won't happen until next year because of the test crunch. (Ron, you will be pleased to know that I also spoke to the physics teacher/ popstar about your wind chime and marimba projects and he seemed very interested). In addition we decided that I would start to put together the outlines of an informational packet about the school to be given to incoming volunteers before they arrive to help answer the questions that we all have had to figure out on our own. I've already made the outline and need to get help with the basic facts.
I also went to watch Tsering Nyamgal's (the new teacher who was working on a PhD in chem/materials science) 10th grade science class and was pleasantly surprised- more interaction between him and students and students actually doing.
Blue Sheep: finally tracked down some better pictures and yes the ones we have seen are Blue Sheep (Tibetan Bharal) and not Ladakhi Ural. I should have learned long ago from my time in Pt. Hope- trust the natives when they tell you,something about wildlife.
10 Oct
Met with the Chem and Bio teachers this AM and things went well. It was only for 30 but they requested more meetings. We met at lunch and will do it again tomorrow. I explained about inquiry, the ideas behind why we think it is important and showed them how it is being incorporated into our new National Science Standards ( I happen to have an electronic version of the last draft of ours. I know it's supposed to be secret, but I'm in Himalayan India....). We,talked a little about the Oregon and IB work sample requirements and scoring and then I showed them an example of one I use In class where chem students have to use physical and chemical properties to Identify the materials in pennies per and post 1982. These test can include things as simple as finding densities and I was shocked when they didn't think they had sufficient materials to do this experiment! Well, that quickly determined the lunch session- how to easily find the density of rocks (the quickest thing I could round up in the school yard) using displacement and mass. Granted they don't have digital centigram balances: only 4- 2 pan balances with gram and mg weights, but those and 100 ml grad cylinders and WOW It worked! Tomorrow I will show them how to do calorimeter with simple pop can calorimeters- I know they will be amazed and it's applicable to both Bio ( energy content of various foods) and Chem (heats of combustion). Now that we start to interact in this way, I finally start to see the simple but valuable things I do have to offer.
Today I read Mike and Ann's (Shannon"s brother and sister in law) blog about their move to a small village in Kenya. Mike described it with an analogy about crossing a rover on a rope bridge. Leaving the security of everything you know to venture out into the unstable and scary rope section. Eventually coming to the new stability of the solid other side. Right now I finally am starting to feel like I am reaching that solid ground.
When I came home this afternoon I found Dorjay and Yangchan just finishing up erecting a large plastic tarp and log structure over the patio and garden on the south side of the house. Now there is a cozy little solarium that warms up quickly (warmer than the house) on the cold mornings where we have coffee/tea and breakfast. The other day I asked about when they start hearing the kitchen and TV room (making sure to be clear I was just curious and not asking them to do it for me). They don't usually bring I the stoves until sometime in mid November, mainly because the propane and kerosene are so expensive. During the summer a 40 L container of LPG last almost 3 months. In winter when they start heating: 10 days!
11Oct
Amazing how the simple lab activities we take for granted at home seem SO amazing here, and the fact that you can do labs with very simple materials is a foreign concept!
They loved the idea of pop-can calorimeters and it's applications to chem and bio. Now will they actually use them?
Really wish I had had a better understanding of what is available here before I came. It would have been so simple to bring a couple of rolls of the hundreds of dialysis tubing we had at RHS ( and will probably never use up). Doesn't exist here and such simple easy labs for diffusion.
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