Thoughts from the Tech Teacher

Teaching in a computer lab in the third world is probably as "interesting" as you think it may be. In some ways, the infrastructure and hardware we have access to would surprise you. School buys all teachers new HP laptops. (which is awesome since my own new laptop broke...have I mentioned that 1000 times yet?) Our computer lab is running brand new N-Computing thin clients on a Microsoft 2012 Multipoint Server. (The students are excited to be using Windows 8, except for those who already hate all things Microsoft...company loyalties are universal.)

In other ways, like all things in Africa, as set up as we are, things just don't work. The servers are set up to run on batteries when the power goes off, but right now some part of the network is not staying powered. Since we are using networked computers, they all shut down anyway. School has a fast Internet connection, except there seems to be something slowing it down tremendously just in the past week (basically, since I started teaching...) In many ways, these issues are not far from similar problems we've faced back at Eastern Christian in the first world. I am not surprised, after 12 years of teaching, when my tech-based Plan A doesn't work. My slightly less tech-based Plan B often doesn't work either, unfortunately, and I am still gathering the resources and ideas needed to have some pen and pencil Plan Cs ready.

I have two IT staff hired at the school helping out. And when I say helping out, I mean, they take care of everything and I have just been focusing on lesson plans and how to get the technology to do what I need to teach effectively. Teachers ask the IT staff to help with printing problems, projector problems, wireless problems. Wow, I am spoiled! But at the same time, it's been a learning experience for me to find out where I fit in the tech scheme of things. I am willing to help, but I don't know the system very well yet. And when I want help, instead of fixing something myself, I need to rely on others to do it. This takes some getting used to. I am feeling my way yet, but I remain pretty upbeat.

Well, kind of upbeat, because honestly I haven't had a class period yet where the network and the computers worked as I wanted them too. It would be nice to get my "Plan A" lesson that I am excited about taught once or twice! (I've decided that I cannot rely on ANY Internet connectivity to teach. No more GoogleDocs, Google Earth, or Prezi. Boo!)

On Tuesdays, I mostly teach Grades 6, 7, and 8. The middle school curriculum gives me the most freedom to teach what I want to teach. And I have to admit, I was not looking forward to teaching this age. I have always been a "I need high school students so I can treat them as adults" kind of teacher. But it turns out, the crazy 7th graders are actually my favorite group right now. (I have them for homeroom as well. They are energetic but I like it.) And of course it's fun teaching my daughter and her classmates. They all like me because I play MineCraft. As I've always said, I get along with kids because I've never matured myself. I'll be teaching this age group things like word processing, presentations, and an introduction to programming (a program called Scratch).

On Wednesdays, I mostly teach Kindergarten - Grade 5. OK, I never knew that I'd be spending most of my time in the computer lab convinced to keep people sitting down. They get up to tell me when things don't work, they get up to tell me when things do work, they get up to tell me they are happy, sad, or about to go to the bathroom. Well, I did have a great time this week learning what ages could handle certain things. Grade 2 could learn to log in, but it was a whole period. Grade 3 did it in 5 minutes! Kindergarten had a great time learning where the letters on the keyboard were. Most of the time, these classes will be learning typing and playing some fun math/reading games when they are with me. (I am learning how to take games from the Internet and save them on the local computers for easy access. Once I stock pile enough of them, this will be ...easy?)

The rest of the time, I am teaching two classes to high schoolers. ICT (Information & Communication Technologies.) It's a long story to describe these classes in detail. Basically, HOPAC's secondary school curriculum comes from an International Program that Cambridge University created. It's a prestigious and ambitious program, and requires us to really focus on "teaching to the tests." So for the first time in my teaching career, I can't just teach the things about computers that I find interesting. Still, the curriculum is pretty interesting. The biggest challenge is learning a lot of new terminology. It turns out that English English and American English are quite different when it comes to education. "Mark" is a "grade". A "Paper" is an "exam." Those are two examples, but actually there is almost an entirely different worldview I need to get used to in terms of grading and teaching. My "IGCSE ICT" class is mostly Grade 9, and they thoroughly learn word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentations and HTML (web pages). My "Applied ICT AS level" is the advanced class for Grade 11/12, and it focuses on advanced skills, mostly on the database level. They also have to memorize how computer systems are used in a wide variety of industries, from burglar alarm systems to car manufacturing to online banking to hospitals. Their paper at the end of the year consists of scenarios from different industries, and they need to provide insight into the hardware and software their "client" might need to solve a problem, and then build complex databases related to it. Well, sorry for the details, I should have just said, "I have a lot to learn yet to teach this class."

Well, there is still a lot more I could say about my students, about the differences in teaching here and in America, and about HOPAC's unique atmosphere. But those will have to wait...sorry for all the tech details, but I know some of you (ie my fellow geeks) need to understand this level of computer detail :)