The Trailer From Teachers2Teachers in Haiti

Trailer for Teachers2Teachers - Cap Haitian, Haiti

My Pedagogical Reflection from Haiti

Just going to say from the start.... I am sorry for the length of this blog.  But, from a teacher's view point this is what I saw, what I learned, and what I did with that information during five days in the classroom of the Baudin Methodist kindergarten classroom.

• Day One

     I found myself holding back tears, many times. I got into the van to go home after Day One and I was still trying to hold back tears.  This was perhaps the most rewarding professional experience I have ever had.  I taught three new songs in French, led counting activities that had manipulatives, read The Grouchy Ladybug in French, colored ladybugs, helped out with a snack and P.E. and then sang more songs.  There are four pre-K and kindergarten teachers who are shadowing me from Haiti.  Already on Day One I have noticed some signs of Haitian education pop up such as their method of repetition.  As I was reading The Grouchy Ladybug aloud "At 9:00..." the teachers would lead the students to say "At 9:00."  At first it caught me off guard and then I realized they were getting the students to repeat the story.  Silly me, I starting thinking they were trying to correct my pronunciation of "At 9:00."  (Ha!  OK ladies.... I thought I was pretty clear in my pronunciation of "At 9:00"... jokes on me.)  Day One was so overwhelming.  First of all I had to just accept that I actually made it here and stop crying over how big of an accomplishment that was, then I had to pray for all the correct words to come out in French, and then execute a lesson planned with no prior knowledge of situation and of student abilities.  I meet with the teachers after school and could only get out "OK...That's what I do."  I was so exhausted that we small talked a little and then I left.

     We all went home, took a nap, and then the reflection came.......  It was in the shower, as a matter of fact (where all great ideas come from) that the reflections opened up.  The goal I made in North Carolina was to show how many activities and manipulatives I could make with paper plates and how many different lessons I could pull from a single piece of literature.  REASSESS!  My goal for Tuesday will be to encourage ore physical response (TPR) rather than monotonous verbal repetition.  Haitian students need to do more than just listen and talk.  Some students have difficulty with digit recognition so identifying numbers out of sequential order will be added.  I also reflected that in order for my four Haitian colleagues to "buy in" to what I have to share, they are going to have to "buy in" to me!  And I feel this is true no matter who the student is. You will "buy" from the salesman if you trust him and you will "learn" from the teacher if there is a rapport.  (This theory was confirmed again on a greater measure this summer at the Capturing Kids Heart training that I attended.)  Monday after school and while waiting for our van to arrive I was showing one of them a picture of my kids on my phone.  She then kept swiping and there she saw all my food pictures and my sewing pictures.  So of course she asked about them.  Looking back on this..... How haphazardly perfect! It gave us all the opportunity to share who sews, who loves to cook, who has children and how old are they.  Build the rapport and they will follow!

     So tomorrow I'm going to address each one of them with a "Bise" (equivalent to an American hand shake) and by their first name.  Then I'm going to hit them with what I totally forgot to do on Day One (I forgive myself because I was so overwhelmed). I am going to hit them with my goals for them and ask them to take notes.  Watch Out! Here comes the teacher!

Look how cute these little guys are during P.E.

• Day Two

     Day two went much better.  I didn't have to hold back as many tears.  However, I over-planned.  How many times do we do that?  Although it's a much better position to be in than under-planning.  As I reflect afterwards I wonder if I'm really stressing the "active learning" skills that I want them to appreciate.  We visited with an American in town after school who runs the shelter Streethearts and she was commenting on the education problems in Haiti.  She also talked about the repetition method.  The teacher says it, the student repeats it, over and over and over.  They never apply, never evaluate, never see a science experiment, and are never asked "what do you think?"  So, as always the idea hits me in the shower, "Why am I not showing my best practices? All this time I have been showing cute stuff for Kindergarten classes that I found on Pinterest, but what about ME.  Frappé and Scoot!" (And if you are a former student of mine and reading this you know exactly what I am talking about.) So, as all great reflective teachers do, I race out of the shower throwing clothes on my still damp, sticky body and run out of the bathroom with a towel on my head searching for a pen and paper to start making a list of things to do! It has honestly taken me two days to adjust and get into my grove here with the schedules, students, resources, etc... I have had to capitalize on reflecting everyday and changing everyday.  The Ah Ha Moment! Isn't that what we are suppose to do everyday as educators? Yes! It should not take an undeveloped nation and language barriers to realize and emphasize the importance of reflective teaching.  We all walk into a class with new students and get a new schedule and have new resources every year and we should constantly be reflecting on... Is it working? Are they growing?

Reflecting as a team after Day Two.

• Day Three

     Day three went great.  I gave them four different hands on activities to apply numbers, animal vocabulary, life cycle of the ladybug, and telling time.  Tomorrow will be the Haitian teachers' turn to practice a new method or to show me some stuff.  I plan on taking lots of notes.  I keep getting asked by friends, "How smart are the students?"  Well, when we do math, they can count, they can put numbers in order, and they can write digits - right on par for kindergarten.  Then, when I show them a picture of ladybug eggs, actually put a picture of ladybug eggs on each table, point to exactly what it is, show them exactly where I want them to draw it, and place the crayon in their hand = nothing.   I get a blank look.  Keep in mind, the ladybug drawing activity is one I practiced with Camilla, who is pre-K age, prior to departure to make sure the skill level was accurate and get an idea of expected outcome.  When I asked Camilla to do it I simply said "Draw this here."  -"OK mommy...... What's next?"  I believe an issue in Haiti illuminated by this lesson is that they know facts, but can't create.  They have no idea how to take a concept and draw it.  Leigh, who was teaching the 5th grade camp, had similar issues when she asked them to pick a vocabulary word to illustrate.  That cognition skill in the brain of interpretation and creating is completely left out of the "repetition method."  Perhaps this is why adults upon exiting school in Haiti have no skill sets and just want to get a job, a basic job.  There are no careers amongst the majority peasant class.

     Another thing I noticed, even from the teachers, is they have no knowledge of things outside of Haiti.  For example, with The Grouchy Ladybug, I was teaching the animal vocabulary words for the animals in the story.  When I got to praying mantis the teachers translated into French "cricket." No, I know what a cricket is.  When I got to Hyena I heard "Oh - loup."  No, loup is French for wolf, this is not a wolf.  And finally, they had no idea, and had never seen a rhinoceros and even tried to translate it as elephant.  Theses are teachers we are talking about!  I know you may not have rhinoceros in Haiti, and you may not have a zoo, but by God, have you never in your life been exposed to books, cartoons?  Has science been so omitted from the curriculum that no one can name animals in the sea, animals of the savannah, the jungle, the forest?  Mammals vs. Reptiles?  Insets vs. Crustaceans??  I think I am most upset that they are never encouraged to draw as children.

• Day Four

     On Day Four two of the Haitian teachers presented and, as I imagined, I observed a whole lot of lecture and verbal repetition with chanting.  I like the chanting and singing but I don't like the constant verbal repetition.  I literally heard instruction for 4 minutes, "Eleven is a number with two digits.  Eleven is a number with two digits.  Twelve is a number with two digits.  Twelve is a number with two digits...."   This is how the teachers were taught and they have never been trained to do anything differently.  To their defense, some of this is also due to the language barrier of the students.  Creole is typically the language used at home and school is taught in French.  So, for kindergartners who are learning the French in their first year, some of this spoken participation has an intentional purpose of teaching language syntax.  However, that is ALL it is teaching.  Some students just repeat the phrases without looking to actually see what 11 and 12 look like and can not identify them.  At the end of the day they asked my opinion. Hmm..... how do I give constructive criticism and offer points to improve on IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE!  I tried to praise one teacher's song and then praised how she made them go to the board.  The other teacher, I just apologized because she did not know prior that she was teaching and wasn't prepared.  Then I went on to say I loved the songs and that I was going to share them with colleagues in the U.S.  But, I also stressed in as much French as I knew, that there needed to be more hands on activities 50% of the time because some students can not write.  They defended themselves by explaining their lack of resources which is true and in which I intend to help them some.  Both Day Four and Day Five were centered around the Haitian teachers practicing a new process but I also planned a short 30-minute activity each day. 

     For Day Five's quick activity I decided to offer feedback the best way I knew how while being linguistically limited.  I planned to re-teach the second teacher's lesson from Day Four with her same poster as the resource but then added a foldable to show (secretly) how I could improve her lesson.  This way, without having to look-up a ton of words in the dictionary, I can model what parts I liked and offer a suggestion on how to take it to the next level and here is how the students will react.  So, Madame Nylva hung a poster of the alphabet on the board and called out one letter at a time while asking students to name things that start with that letter.  She also sang an alphabet song.  For Day Five, I will use the same poster, the same song, but I'm only going to do A, B, C, and D in her same mode.  Then, I will give students a foldable made like a "hot dog" with four windows cut and pre-labeled A, B, C, and D.  As we go through the discussion I will ask students to draw an object that they named in the window of each letter - just one little way to show improvement without resources and also model an effective, yet realistic outcome for improvement.

     Wouldn't that be a great professional development idea in the U.S.? Take two teachers in the same content and give them each a different topic. Then observe each other delivering the lesson in the classroom with students.  Then trade topics.  The rules are you have to keep 50% of the original teacher's methods (a form of affirming what you liked from that teacher and perhaps what you continue to borrow from that teacher) and then put your own spin on the other 50%.  Then, observe each other again!  What a fun, challenging way to collaborate and reflect on your own lessons.

Much of Haitian early education is taught through song and dance.

Another song outside during recess.

So, this is actually a screen shot of a video of them hopping.... I left the part out where Nylva falls and creates a traffic jam.  Ha!  Fun Times.

• Day Five 

     Day Five went great.  All plans went smooth and I even kept my problem child who tends to walk away busy and engaged.  They left happy, I left blessed.  There is hope for Haiti, but it is going to have to come from the people to educate themselves and believe in themselves to make demands upon the government.  One step at a time.  

     I will share one more story from Day Five.  The morning usually starts with singing.  Madame Nylva sang "Père je t'adore."  I recognized it immediately as and old Camp Tekoa song "Father I Adore The."  I picked up on the lyrics real fast.  I also had Madame Nylva help me to transcribe the words properly.  Then at snack time I told the four teachers that I knew that song and that we sang it in rounds where I come from.  So, I told Nylva and Juliette to start singing, then when the second verse started I began singing the round in English.  Went went on for a full three rounds.  I could not have asked for a better finale to the week than this collaboration of Christian Love!

Aren't they so cute.  Little man in the Carolina Blue and White shirt on the front line was only 4 years-old.  

Streethearts

And then we met Linsey.  Here is a brief profile to give you a better impression of how amazing I think she is.

Linsey is pictured far left outside of the safe house with two of our team members Jennifer and Jaci.

Linsey Jorgenson is from Virginia and a 2005 graduate of East Carolina University. With a degree in Communications she spent some time in corporate marketing before working with a non-profit in Cap Haitien.  She began working with an orphanage and focused on multiple projects with the "street kids."  This is where her passion took flight.  In October 2012, she founded Streethearts. The model she created focused on 6 areas necessary for children to cultivate and maintain a healthy heart.   To read her current newsletter from April:
http://www.streetheartshaiti.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-Q1-newsletter.pdf

Inside of the safe house is decorated with inspirational quotes and bible verses in English,  French, and Creole.

Unlike most Haitian orphanages that just feed the child, clean them, then kick them out at age 18 with no resources, Linsey and her team have created 6 different programs.  They learn to cook for themselves, they do fitness, they all have chores, and they have a work force team to actually prepare them to exit and make their own money.  Pretty fascinating right? The website: http://www.streetheartshaiti.org

We taught the boys the Cupid Shuffle!

Our team member Leigh letting some of the kids play with her hair.

Then, stupid me, I asked the dumb question: "When you say they come from a rough background in the U.S. it usually means some economic hardship but along with physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; but when you say that in Haiti, are they the same social problems or is it mostly economical?" And here is what I learned:
Its not economical because no one here knows they are poor, its just normal for them.  90% of street boys are male prostitutes to make quick money.  When they enter the Streethearts program they have to be treated for syphilis.  Other situations result from cruel measures such as one kid who was repeatedly electrocuted by his mother, because this was how she was raised. Kids live in homes where one or more parents have died and a grandparent has difficulty caring for them so the boys take to the streets.  Haiti is slowly moving into second place in the population of street boys.  The Bahamas, due to drug trafficking problems, is slowly taking its first place position, followed by Jamaica.  Operations such as Linsey's are reducing the numbers in Haiti.  At Streethearts while receiving programs to change their behaviors, the boys are placed under very strict orders because otherwise they would take out their aggression on each other.  Then Lindsey told us about 12 year-old Franky completely unaware that he was my student helper at camp that week (and with behavior problems that are hard to manage...walking off....  I could see how in the US he would be a student who would be quickly "labeled").  I immediately started looking to the sky, widening my eyes, stopping the tears that were growing without control.  When you want to hear his story I'll tell you one-on-one, but rest assured he has been saved because of Streethearts. I then noticed one of the boys making friendship bracelets.  This is one method that they boys are responsible for raising money and learning a skill to work for a living.  I bought four on the spot.
     On day five of camp I was able to keep Franky busy all day by making him feel like my special friend.  I taught him how to play Tic Tac Toe, had him pass out papers, he tied shoes for the little ones, and in the end I got a good bye hug and a picture.  If you could see inside my head the reflecting practice that was going on about "hard" students to teach, why they act the way they do,  and how to mold the behavior before labeling and writing off..... HUMMMMMMMMM........  No doubt about it, Linsey is my new hero for believing in a child.

Franky and I on the last day of camp.

Like and Follow Streethearts on Facebook:

I'm in Paradise.....

     ..... no doubt about it.  But, as we taxied up to the "tourist beach" by boat, I got a little saddened.  Haiti has the resources and the means to be a great Caribbean nation, the first independent black nation, similar in tourists revenue to its island neighbor The Dominican Republic; however, Haiti's corrupt government stalls progress.  The government actually tries to keep the people un-schooled and poor (sending their personal children abroad for educations and sometimes 'forgetting' to pay the teachers).  As we pull up to Paradise Beach, we can see numerous private homes and private resorts - WHAT!  HERE?  Yes!  I can only imagine how our Haitian friend Marckendy and his two sisters traveling with us may feel.  It reminds me of the frustration I felt a few years ago at the height of teacher pay freezes in North Carolina when I traveled to Europe with two teachers from New Jersey.  To hear the younger one complain about the stress of only getting a 2% pay raise after 3 years and now only making about $70,000 per year.  Forget living cost difference between NC and NJ - there is not a $40,000 per year difference.  I felt like banging my head against the wall because I knew the only culprit in my way was the elected government.  OK.... enough of my 1st world problems and not nearly close to the problems that Haiti faces.  But how frustrating one can feel to know it is only corrupt government that stands in your way of providing for your family.
     For now, I'm ordering one Prestige (Haitian beer) and enjoying the Paradise I can afford.

    Come to find out, this private beach is owned by a New Yorker and we paid $10 to play here for the day. Also today, his son happened to be here hosting a bachelor's party with his friends. I negotiated a koozie from Paradise!  

They can be found on Facebook

     Paradise Beach is located next to Labadee Beach where Royal Caribbean owns some land.  The harsh reality about Royal Caribbean's land is that they have walled it off from the rest of Haiti.  According to my tour guide, visiting tourist may pay to visit the resort but Haitians are not.  Ouch! I'm offended and will not be visiting Royal Caribbean's false pretense of Haiti.

Royal Caribbean's Land and Resort.

The wall blocking off Royal Caribbean from the rest of Haiti.

My First Impressions of Haiti: The Country and the Poverty

"Poverty is like everything else.  It gradually becomes endurable.  It ends by taking shape and becoming fixed.  You vegetate, that is to say you develop in some squalid way, sufficient for existence," Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

     Trash surrounds the street; smashed plastic soda bottles, shoes, remnants of cloth that were once clothes, tin cans.... mixed with leaves, rocks, rubble, dirt.  Then, once a week the community of a neighborhood will make an even larger pile of trash in the middle of the road to be collected by the public service.  I never saw a trash can but I did see a child open a lolly pop and just drop the paper on the ground, a learned behavior.

     We crossed over a bridge and my heart broke: standing water with canoe type boats ready to navigate the dark brown canal of floating papers, bottles, and branches.

     In our neighborhood, a good 20 minutes from the center city of Cap Haitien, the roads are all unpaved.  Paths connect blocks of cinder block, open sheds called homes where children run between all the paths barefoot playing before bedtime.  They are happy, fed, and content.

     There is no running electricity though the city of 600,000.  You have electricity when you decide to turn on your own personal generator.  Our rented "guest house" had electricity and air condition but only from about 5:00 pm till when we left for school the next morning at 7:30.  We would often get home from school, sit around for a few hours sweating, and then the noise...... of the generator.  Yes! And here comes the air and internet.  

The Guest House

     On Saturday June 27th, we visit an English academy, one of many that dot the streets of Cap Haitien.  Students pay to attend this Saturday program to learn a skill that will prepare them for possibly a job in a county with an unemployment rate of 40%.  We agreed to show up as a favor to just speak to the students, allow them to ask questions, and practice their English for about one hour with a native speaker.  To get to the academy we had to snake down narrow allies of dilapidated French style architecture, flooded with market vendors selling shoes, beauty products, shampoo, clothes, fruits, vegetables, electric wiring...  We entered an unmarked door and climbed to the second floor where the academy ran six different classroom of English.  For the first 10 minutes we sat in the language lab with headphones hanging from the wall and no lights, no fans, windows open.  At this point I was coming close to delirium.  And then the noise.... the generator was turned on to begin class.  Hello fans, blow on me now.  

     We also visited a typical Cap Haitien house of a friend.  When I say typical home, I refer to a couple of cinder block walls, corrugated metal laid for a roof, curtains as doors, a corrugated metal building in the back as the toilet, and a pile of rocks with a curtain to mark off the shower.  This typical house also had wiring and a TV, but without the sound of the generator going the house was dark for our tour.  

     There is also no running water in the city or country side.  There are community wells (puits) where water is free.  You always see a group of people waiting to hand pump their buckets full and take them back to cook, clean, or shower.  Drinking water is bought.  Street salesmen carrying baggies of water on their heads or selling bags from the back of a truck are seen throughout Cap Haitien.  You see locals biting off the corner of their bag and then sucking from it at their leisure like a child with a applesauce squeeze pack.

Truck delivering the baggies of drinking water to be sold in town.

     Oh... and everyone is seen with a cellphone in hand texting!