Today is the kids' favorite day of the year ...

Or is Christmas the most anticipated day of the year?

What am I talking about? Well, the first day of school of
course. Maybe I should rephrase this a bit and say that ...
the first day of school is most probably the parents most
anticipated day of the year.

But after all that, that isn't the point of this article. The actual
point is that of a new progressive change is teaching methods.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer we are called on in many diverse
situations to participate. My counterpart is a high school teacher
in the big city which is about 45km ( 30 miles or so ) from this
town. As is usual, bigger city people are more apt to be open
minded.

Almost from the first day I arrived here in mid 2006 my
counterpart has spoken about how in her opinion, teaching
methods are a bit outdated. Right from the beginning I've
been explaining to her that with today's technology it

doesn't have to be that way.

Last year she worked part time in the town's school system and
together we used video (with the 5th grade students being the
teachers) to try and make the students more interactive and
participatory in the classes. We made a few little movies
concerning plants, parts of plants, photosynthesis ... etc. What
happened was the fellow teachers were critical and mentioned
that all it was, was playing. The majority of the teachers in town
are still using their lesson plans from 20 years ago.

I am not writing this article to criticize these teachers. I just
want to describe the situation as it is now. We all know that
to have change it takes effort and getting out of one's comfort
zone.

So, fast forwarding to mid summer 2008.

Over time my counterpart has been thinking about using
technology in her classes. So, during the summer I went to her
house and showed her some of the tools available ... things like
basic podcast (audio clips), filming the most difficult lessons
that the students never seem to get and so on.

So for the last month or so we've been filming lessons of how
molecular formulas react. You know, this hydrogen with this
oxygen gives you this or that. We've put these on a DVD that
will be distributed through the classes. In fact these are really
nothing more than a copy of the lectures that they will receive
throughout the year. The idea being that if they didn't get it the
first time, they can just go to the respective video and
see the lecture again and again if necessary.

Also there are audio clips/podcast that she's put together
which the kids can put on their MP3 players and listen to 

while they are on the bus ... etc.

Each audio clip and film are connected to a certain lesson.
She has the program setup with which film-podcast goes
with which. It is up to the kids to study.

But what is really satisfying for me is what could be (not in town
but in the bigger city). My counterpart's principal is also one
with an open mind. The principal saw what my counterpart was
doing and called a meeting with some of the other teachers
to have her demonstrate.

The result is that there are about 5 younger teachers who
are willing to try these new methods. Each one with a
unique idea of their own as to how they could use the
technological tools.

For those who read this from other parts of the world that
have been using these techniques for a while, this probably
doesn't seem all too exciting. But for here (western region
anyway) this is all new. No one has seen or heard of it before.

Also, thanks to the forward thinking of my counterpart's
school principal they are putting this into the category of 

'pilot project'. With that, it is allowing the budget to buy 

about 60 MP3 players for the students.





One of the original challenges was to have this technological
direction inclusive for the poor kids whom didn't have or couldn't
get the money to buy an MP3 player. But now that is solved and
it will help even the playing field ... so to speak.

Another result ... which I believe will go far ... is that the small
group of younger teachers and my counterpart will meet weekly
or bi-weekly to share their ideas and experiences. Best way to
describe what I think about that is with the analogy ... two
heads are better than one.

How this affects me as a Peace Corps Volunteer is that it always
seems that these things happen at the end of our tours. I've found
that we don't always get to see the result of our efforts. In my
case, I have less than three months left and they are just
today starting to implement this new strategy. As I told my
counterpart, there will be ideas that don't fly and that is part

of beginning anything new. But after changes, tweaking this, 

getting feedback from that and so on, it'll be fine.

But I do know that things happen after we're gone.

An example is from my time in El Salvador and Senegal. There
I was in the agroforestry sector. At times trying to get trees
planted was a little difficult. At one point I would settle for them
planting anything at all.

So like any other Peace Corps Volunteer, I had to come up
with something to convince them to plant trees.

Senegal and El Salvador are exactly the same lattitude 15 degrees,

so the trees that would grow were similar. There was this tree

called 'Flor del Fuego" in El Salvador and 'Flamboyant' in Senegal

see below ...

It is a flowering tree (around May when the rains come) and the
people were saying to me ... why should we plant this tree ... it
doesn't give fruit and it's not even a great wood to use for cooking.
I replied ... the reason why I'd like you to plant this tree is because
every year in May you'll see the flowers and remember that I was
here.

I am lucky that I was in contact with the volunteers that
replaced me and they mentioned that when the trees flowered
(I didn't get to see them flower because it needs at least 2 or 3
from seed to flower) that the whole village was talking about me.

To me, this is just an example of how things happen after
we're done with our tours. And just as those trees have
grown and flowered, I know that so have the effort of
all the volunteers who've ever been wondering if they've
done any good.

So again, I hope that this project with my counterpart will
develop and flourish. I think that I'll have an opportunity this
time to see how it is progressing. We'll stay in contact after
I leave.

To finish this article I will mention that in an egotistical way
I am feeling good about myself because I was able to help
get this new thinking started. If it works, it could help change
the teaching methods (or at least open minds to alternative
methods) and how could that affect the future of the kids
of Romania?

Where else could an simple old guy like me be a part of
something that could bring such an impact?