Today we were led by a few members of the community on a bike tour in Soweto, an informal settlement in South Africa. The homes were set up very close together and built mostly out of storage containers, and the streets were filled with people. We had a conversation about whether or not there were laws or if anyone followed the laws. Although there are laws in these cities, the people are lawless in a rebellion towards the government. We saw this in Soweto with driving as well as the piles of trash that surrounded it. The people of this community let trash pile up because the government refuses to probably dispose of it as well as help them with any sort of amenities. The children were constantly shouting "sawubona" and waving to us as we rode by and a few of them even jumped on a few of my friends handle bars for a short ride. Riding through this community, I was really able to see just how little the government helps its people. Our guide showed us this huge apartment building right next to the informal settlement, but no one was living in it. The rent was too high for anyone to pay for it, but for this community it was a constant reminder of what they couldn't have. Something else I saw though, was how tight nit these communities are. They are loyal to each other and their community and it was something we all noticed. It become extremely present after our guide shared with us what Soweto means. The true definition is South Western Township, but to the people of this settlement it means "So We Too".
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After 3 months of emailing back and forth we finally met the wonderful educators from South Africa. Going to the Apartheid Museum with them and hearing from them just how much the Apartheid affected them and their country had such an impact.
One of the first exhibits when we walked into the museum was all about Winnie Mandela. I walked into the room and immediately got the chills. There were candles lit underneath short summaries about her life and work of activism and extreme compassion for the oppressed people of South Africa. One of the quotes that really stuck with me said “We are aware that the road before us is uphill, but we shall fight to the bitter end for justice” The rest of the museum focused on the entirety of Nelson Mandela’s life as well as an outline of the Apartheid. Although a little overwhelming with information, it was absolutely moving. Reading about Nelson Mandela’s life from him growing up and leaving royalty behind to live a completely different life of activism and really understanding just how big of a fight he went through for the people of South Africa was truly amazing. Nelson Mandela was loved not only by South Africa, but by the world for his compassion, leadership and passion for change. First day of traveling here we go! Surprisingly enough traveling wasn’t too bad. I woke up the morning of the 26th of June anxiously waiting for our flight at 4:00 pm, naturally getting there 3 hours early out of nervousness and excitement. My friend Kassidy and I booked our flights together and grabbed one last beer at Stone in the San Diego airport before our first flight to LAX (only 21 minutes in the air). We had a short layover before we hopped onto our next 10 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. We landed safely and ran straight for empty chairs to take a quick nap before finding A GOLD MINE. A shower in the airport for only $8. The shower from the gods definitely made the 7 hour layover, time change, and next and final flight to Johannesburg so much more doable.
After 28 hours of traveling we finally landed in Johannesburg. It finally hit us when we were reunited with our cohort, we’re in South Africa so ready to begin this incredible journey together. With only a few days left before I depart on this amazing journey in South Africa with my classmates I reflected upon the information I’ve gained through our readings, through our email groups and discussions we’ve had as a class. I feel like I have a much better understanding of how the education system in South Africa is set up as well as more about how the apartheid affected their communities. Which is something I really felt I needed to get a better understanding of and my group was able to show me that. In my email group I was paired with a group of people who come from all different types of backgrounds and even then, we found out that our views are very alike. The passion that we all share for bettering the education system and for creating a safe place of support for all of our students and future students is very apparent. I have learned so much from them already and I can’t wait until we are able to work together in person. I’m confident that we will able to produce something that can help each of us as educators and hopefully help those around us. With that…t-minus 2 days!
Our main points this week were how to incorporate inclusive practices in our own classroom, how trauma and language can affect learning and how to individualize learning for students. I believe of all of the pieces that we should incorporate in our classroom as an educator, these are definitely of the most important.
Making all of our students feel welcome and celebrated in the classroom is so incredibly necessary for their learning and for the classroom environment in general. If a student doesn’t feel as though you care about them as a whole person their learning will suffer. Inclusion could be giving many different options for projects or creating different stations for different learning styles, incorporating more than one culture in the classroom so that each student is represented, or even using phrases throughout the day or week in different languages of students in your classrooms. There are so many options that can help students and yourself learn more about each other and ensure a welcoming classroom. After connecting with other educators from the United States as well as South Africa, even though we live in completely different communities, I’ve realized that we all have one goal in mind: to create a better education system for future students than the one we grew up in. One of my group members discussed the issue of teacher-centered schooling where the focus is all on the teacher. In this type of classroom, the students sit back and are talked to when the best way for them to learn would be for the teacher to be the facilitator of their learning.
This week we also researched and discussed how important it is a general educator to support students with an IEP or who may possibly need one. It really is a team effort and there has to be a lot of communication involved on all sides. Each student is different, so that means that the support for each child must be individualized, monitored, and continuously re-evaluated. The main idea I took away from my readings was well stated by Weatherly: “We don’t wait for them to fail, before we start giving them support”. It is our job as educators to support our students and always monitor their progress to help them grow in the present and in the future. This week and in our class session as a group, we discussed the 13 different types of disabilities and ways that we can help support students with those disabilities in the classroom. There are so many small things that we can do in the classroom to support these students and that also can help engage the class as a whole. For example, for a student with TBI or traumatic brain injury may have memory difficulties both short term and long term, problems following directions, taking tests, problems concentrating, and more. For this student it might be helpful to give them extra time completing a test, break down complex directions and even help them start a daily planner to keep track of their assignments and schedules so that they can stay organized and reduce any confusion.
In our readings from “Can We Talk About Race?” it discussed residential segregation. I did have some knowledge of this before, but in this reading, it opened my eyes to another factor that comes with residential segregation. With the desegregation process, African American teachers began to be dismissed and dominantly Black schools were being shut down. With the loss of African American teachers, African American students lost role models in academics and in life. Dr. Tatum states that as teachers we “need to be willing to learn deeply about the lives of their students in their full cultural, socio-economic, and sociopolitical contexts in order to affirm their identities authentically—with identity stories of hope and empowerment”. In just 2 short months, I will be traveling to South Africa with some of my fellow classmates and I couldn't be more excited. My love for traveling is something my parents instilled in me at a young age and the experiences I've had abroad have been some of my favorite and most memorable ones. I'm so lucky to be in a program at USD that pushes us to leap outside of the comfort of our own home to explore the world around us. I'm super excited to go on this trip and broaden my knowledge of different education systems and hear from other educators their experiences in the field of education. I have so much to learn about diverse learners and the education system in general, and being able to do that in South Africa I know will be an amazing experience.
I'm really looking forward to embarking on this journey with my classmates and fellow changemakers. The experiences we will share together, the knowledge we will have gained, and the time spent in South Africa surrounded by eager learners is something I know I will cherish for a long time. Traveling in general forces us to open our minds and hearts to new experiences and allows us to do a bit of soul searching as well. This trip couldn't come any sooner and I will definitely be counting down the days! |
Study AbroadThis June I have gotten the opportunity to travel to South Africa to observe policies and practices of the education systems. I will be working with students and educators from the U.S. and South Africa on a Changemaker Project. Our hope is to bring awareness to the different types of diverse learners in the U.S., South Africa and all over. Archives
August 2018
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