Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Picnic with the Rhinos
Visiting schools and teachers...
The pictures - me with some teachers during tea - they were attending a class at a local hotel
The team with the principal - we had given him some art materials to share
The children - they loved getting their pictures taken! They crowded around - and wanted to see themselves in the pictures! Children receive a hot meal each day. In most schools parents come in to cook the meal - which is one dish with a maise or pasta with a small amount of meat. It's cooked in large cauldrons - and each child brings his or her own dish to receive the lunch. Often this is the only hot meal of the day - and if the teacher is not there - there are no substitute teachers - the children typically come to school for the meals. The food is placed in a large picnic cooler and scooped out into their dishes.
During our time in Sekhukhune, we visited several schools as well as some professional development training sessions. Uniformly we found the teachers eager to learn - the sessions were about technology - and somewhat scared - as some had never used a computer! They also loved to get their pictures taken!
I'm with some primary school teachers at a training session to help them learn to teach the new curriculum that's coming in January. It was tea break - and the team was chatting with several of the teachers - to begin to get a sense of their use of computers. This was our first week - and we were to create tools that would be used on computers. In addition, there is an initiative in Limpopo province for teachers to incorporate more technology into the classrooms - but remember I've said that some schools don't have running water and a few don't have electricity. Many with electricity have no access to Internet - and often the one computer is locked in the principal's office. Interesting set of mixed messages!
On another day we visited two schools – one in a very poor rural area – yes without running water – and the other in an area a bit better – but with an outstanding principal who did so much for the school – and managed to obtain several computers – and a security system and air conditioning for that room! All schools keep their computers in locked rooms – there’s a lot of theft of computers from schools – for sale to a ready market!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Mondays...
So we've been here for 4 Mondays... and none of them at the client site!
The first week our key client, Mr Matsapolo - was supposed to come to the lodge where we're staying - we waited all day - and he came about 6 pm. So when we went to his office the next day... here's what we saw! And interestingly there's a poster on the wall saying 2011 is the Year of the Forest - we think much of the forest is in his office!
On the second Monday morning we called to tell him we'd be arriving late - our driver Noah has challenges arriving at 7:30 to pick us up. Mr Matsapolo told us that he was busy - and that we should work at the lodge.
Similar story the third Monday - except that he was in Polokwane! He told us to work at the lodge and he would stop by when he finished his meeting. So we worked in a conference room at the lodge all day - and at 6 pm he showed up! We worked with him until 7:30 - and made excellent progress.
So the fourth Monday.....we had an 8:30 meeting with the District Senior Manager to review our main deliverable - a professional development framework for teachers to support their implementation of a new curriculum. Noah came promptly at 7:30 and all 7 of us piled into the car. At the provincial office, where the other team works, they got out and headed into the office. But Noah got out of the car as well - and said there was a problem with the car's registration and he couldn't drive it! We reminded him we had an 8:30 meeting - and he said - 'no problem!' And he disappeared. A couple of calls to him in the next 30 minutes yielded nothing - and he came back at 8:10 with another car. BUT it's 45 minutes to the district office- depending on the number of cows in the road!
We called the District Senior Manager to explain our delay - he commented that there was some type of inspection going on and didn't seem surprised about the delay. He reminded us that he had another meeting at 9 - and suggested we meet on Wednesday. Bummer - we wanted his feedback! Our framework includes observations of the teacher by the principal and we've heard the union is actively encouraging teachers to refuse to allow principals to observe them! And we wanted guidance on our implementation plan.. and how we should position the need for observations of teachers to help identify their skill gaps.
So we called Mr. Matsapolo to check with him on our schedule for the day. He suggested that we work at the lodge - he told us he was busy looking for an audience for our presentations! So a couple of weeks ago he asked each us to prepare 1 hour of training that would be useful to his staff - or any group within the district - and to plan to present these on Tuesday Oct 4. So we all prepared our materials. He told us that his planned audience was busy - so there would be no presentations on Tuesday - but we should be ready to give them on Wednesday - if he found an audience!
We reminded him that we thought we were presenting out final report to the district office team on Wednesday - and we learned that he did not have an audience for that day either. So we have 3 lovely decks without an audience! And two great decks - one from each of our workstreams - also in search of an audience!
The first week our key client, Mr Matsapolo - was supposed to come to the lodge where we're staying - we waited all day - and he came about 6 pm. So when we went to his office the next day... here's what we saw! And interestingly there's a poster on the wall saying 2011 is the Year of the Forest - we think much of the forest is in his office!
On the second Monday morning we called to tell him we'd be arriving late - our driver Noah has challenges arriving at 7:30 to pick us up. Mr Matsapolo told us that he was busy - and that we should work at the lodge.
Similar story the third Monday - except that he was in Polokwane! He told us to work at the lodge and he would stop by when he finished his meeting. So we worked in a conference room at the lodge all day - and at 6 pm he showed up! We worked with him until 7:30 - and made excellent progress.
So the fourth Monday.....we had an 8:30 meeting with the District Senior Manager to review our main deliverable - a professional development framework for teachers to support their implementation of a new curriculum. Noah came promptly at 7:30 and all 7 of us piled into the car. At the provincial office, where the other team works, they got out and headed into the office. But Noah got out of the car as well - and said there was a problem with the car's registration and he couldn't drive it! We reminded him we had an 8:30 meeting - and he said - 'no problem!' And he disappeared. A couple of calls to him in the next 30 minutes yielded nothing - and he came back at 8:10 with another car. BUT it's 45 minutes to the district office- depending on the number of cows in the road!
We called the District Senior Manager to explain our delay - he commented that there was some type of inspection going on and didn't seem surprised about the delay. He reminded us that he had another meeting at 9 - and suggested we meet on Wednesday. Bummer - we wanted his feedback! Our framework includes observations of the teacher by the principal and we've heard the union is actively encouraging teachers to refuse to allow principals to observe them! And we wanted guidance on our implementation plan.. and how we should position the need for observations of teachers to help identify their skill gaps.
So we called Mr. Matsapolo to check with him on our schedule for the day. He suggested that we work at the lodge - he told us he was busy looking for an audience for our presentations! So a couple of weeks ago he asked each us to prepare 1 hour of training that would be useful to his staff - or any group within the district - and to plan to present these on Tuesday Oct 4. So we all prepared our materials. He told us that his planned audience was busy - so there would be no presentations on Tuesday - but we should be ready to give them on Wednesday - if he found an audience!
We reminded him that we thought we were presenting out final report to the district office team on Wednesday - and we learned that he did not have an audience for that day either. So we have 3 lovely decks without an audience! And two great decks - one from each of our workstreams - also in search of an audience!
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