Now that I have a better picture of how Christ the King operates, I have to try to adjust my teaching style. As I have noted earlier, teachers here grade classwork and homework everyday. Having to grade my own assignments, I have learned that this becomes quite tedious. As I walk around the school and sit in the teachers area, almost every teacher has a stack of notebooks piled high in front of them that they are busy grading. Rarely will I see a teacher reading the newspaper or browsing the Internet.
I find this very frustrating because it seems like a waste of time. Most teachers if the work is correct will mark the problem with a check mark. If the problem is wrong, they will mark it with an X and not really explain why or how the student did the problem incorrectly. Also since their is so much grading after the teacher assigns the classwork, they will begin to grade the previous days homework. This means that teachers are not walking around the room helping the students who are confused or who have questions. When the students are given their homework to copy down from the chalkboard, teachers then begin to grade the classwork. So it seems that there is little interaction between the teacher and students since the teacher is always grading student work.
It is also frustrating because the students are used to copying their classwork and homework directly from the chalkboard. It seems that there is so much class time wasted as students are copying down their work. Students here are also accustom to having the freedom of walking around the classroom while the teacher is teaching. As I have been observing, students will walk right up to the teacher and ask a question about their work or if they can go to the bathroom while the teacher is teaching. The students themselves may feel the need to get up and walk around because they are sitting most of the day. Most of their classes are taught in their own classroom.
In general, I have been very impressed with how smart the third graders are. Their math skills and knowledge of the English language are much better than I expected.
This is definately a learning experince for me as I try to adjust my teaching style to best meet the needs of my students.
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Congratulations on settling down in Accra. I am sure you have observed many differences and also similarities between the Ghanaian and U.S. American educational systems. The Ghanaians inherited their educational system from the British so you will see some similarities. It is very structured and teachers use the rote approach. Have you observed how the educational approaches used in the classroom may be influenced by the culture? I am curious to hear your observations. Hope you and Tyler had a great weekend. Talk to you soon.
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