What are we Doing?

The other day while explaining this to my mom, I realized that what makes perfect sense in my mind seems foggy when elaborated, so I'll do my best to explain.
Firstly, this is the first time our group from OSU is traveling to Sierra Leone to work with Njala University faculty and students. This is intended to be a five-year project, with Sierra Leonoean students coming to the camp at least one week per year. Our goal is to have Njala faculty and students travel to OSU over the years to cross-train with us in subjects such as agriculture, leadership, sciences, and economics (to name a few). Basically, this will be similar to an agricultural based 4-H program reinforced throughout the year by outreach and extension within the country, similar to the OSU land-grant system of educational extension across the state. 4-HIM Ministries has graciously volunteered the children from their orphanage in Sierra Leone to attend during this first round, but for following years Njala representatives will recruit children from across the country to attend. The goal is for our students to learn critical skills which may be shared and reproduced in their communities, hence improving quality of life at home.

So, when I first signed up for this assignment, I was under the impression that I would develop two courses to teach 10 student classes in which the students would create simple art projects utilizing natural materials, preferably locally available resources, so that the projects may be replicated after we leave.

Planning this sounds simple enough, but when I started working out the logistics of my classes, I began confronting problems that needed solving. First, how long will class periods last? If I want to teach art, I need an idea of how much time I have so that the projects fit into the allotted time. Also, will I teach the same group of students more than once? This way if a student does not finish their project, they may finish it later in the week. Then I wondereed about the age range of our students. Will these art projects be age-appropriate? Furthermore, what kind of supplies will we have? I understand not having paints or colored pencils, but will we even have scissors, tape, and glue?

So, I started out by asking Dr. Dicks what our class schedule will look like. The reponse was basically, "You guys will have to work that out." Ok. This poses a challenge because everyone (OSU-side) going is either out of the country our out of the state working on other projects until we leave. Regardless I decided to make a possible class schedule spreadsheet just so I could have a better idea of what to plan for. At first I started with a rolling one-hour class schedule, but that seemed to be too chaotic. Then I tried a 4-hour block schedule, but realized that would be way too much time in one class and the kids would get too antsy. From there I tried a two-hour block schedule, which seemed to be the best option so far. I put the schedule aside for a few days and then thought, why not 1.5 hour classes? This way we could fit in five classes a day, allowing us each to teach one subject to all student groups throughout the day.

I shared the schedule spreadsheet with Dr. Dicks and he was very happy with it. Then I shared it with my trusted classmate and co-adventurer, Pia, to see if she thought it was realistic. While reviewing it we both realized there was no way we could each just teach two classes for the whole week. If the kids are there for five to six days, we'd be done with the two classes within a couple days. So, we'd have to plan for at least four classes, maybe five. We were both finding it hard enough to think of two appropriate classes to teach--how were we to create four or five? See, we were both concerned about cultural differences that might limit what subject matter is appropriate to teach. Additionally since we don't know the kids or Njala faculty, it's just plain difficult to plan. I think by the end of the conversation we concluded if in this first round in Sierra Leone we can just smooth out the edges around the daily schedule that would be a big accomplishment. There truly is no way to predict what our time there will be like. From the beginning I've kept the mindset that this will be more hectic and spontaneous than anything--we all just need to keep an open mind and team spirit to make it work.

Anyhow, to make a very long story a bit shorter, last week we had a conference call to sort out the details of our project. Pia and I were very relieved to find out that Njala faculty already have classes planned, and we will be there to support them like teacher assistants. Whew! What a big relief! We will still have after school time to do special projects with the kids, like art, crafts, music, and games. That sounds much more manageable, and I hope to still do some artsy things with the kids.