I want to be a GREAT teacher!

This past Friday, Hannah, Becca, and I had the opportunity to visit Rosslyn Academy Nairobi, Kenya. Rosslyn is a Christian international school that provides an international preK-12 education. I believe they are located about 10K outside of Nairobi and they have a beautiful 40-acre campus. When you first drive through the gate, it looks like paradise! There is an awesome facility for sports. It is basically an open roof, under ground gymnasium. The rest of the campus is overflowing with beautiful landscape, flowers, and intriguing architecture. All of the buildings have a curve to them and the library is designed in the shape of a circle. Every thing flows so nicely on this campus. I felt like I was in the most beautiful college setting I have ever been in and this is just a school for preK-12. The students do not live on campus, but many teachers and staff do. There are over 50 nationalities represented at Rosslyn and I have never really experienced so much diversity in one place. Rosslyn is a mission based school. All of their teachers have a firm relationship with Christ and that was evident in the way they taught and interacted with their students.

The academic excellence at this school is unreal. I was almost in tears observing how well behaved the children were and watching the teachers work in their element. It was breathtaking. One teacher explained it to us saying, "This is a teacher's heaven. The kids want to learn." Kids are still kids no matter where you teach, but these teachers seem to be doing everything right and I did not hear one teacher or staff have to discipline a child for talking in class or not focusing on the task in front of them. With great teachers, comes great students I suppose.

Rosslyn

First, we all took a tour of the amazing campus and then Hannah and I went to a fourth grade classroom to observe. The students are reading Mr. Popper's Penguins and they were going through each chapter summarizing it into a word or phrase. It was a great review and refresher for many of the students I'm sure.

Then we head over to 2nd grade. This was my favorite part of the day. In 2nd grade the students were learning about dinosaurs. In this class there were probably only 2 or 3 kids who were from the same place. Diversity at it's finest. The classroom was huge, colorful, and even had a sweet reading loft above us. We all sat on a carpet in a circle while the teacher led a discussion about dinosaurs and what we know about them. She answered every question in such a Christian way. The students all participated and were fully engaged the whole time. Then we read 2 stories about dinosaurs and they had to determine whether they were fiction or non-fiction. These 2nd graders really grasped concepts in ways I have never noticed in children before.

2nd grade room

2nd grade room with reading loft

I learned two fun teaching techniques from this 2nd grade teacher as well...When she is reading and claps, the students say the next word (guaranteeing that they are focused on the reading), and when she stops reading and counts to three, the students start reading aloud together. I thought this was so clever and a good way to handle classroom management in a setting that would otherwise be hectic. Shoot, if I were in second grade and was sitting on a rug with my friends, there is no way I would have been so engaged as these students were. It was very encouraging to see.

Then we headed over to preK and got to play with the kids and help them draw pictures of things that move mysteriously...like wind or the sun. We know they are moving but we can't really see them move or know why they do. The fact that preschoolers grasped that concept was boggling to me. Yes, I did see boys picking noses and girls being giggly (kids are still kids) but over all , this classroom was so well organized and the kids were so cute and well behaved.

PreK room

After that was lunch with teachers and staff members. We met some really cool teachers and had some great conversations about isolationism and how this school is run so differently than a Kenyan or British school system. Some of the teachers can feel really isolated from the outside world since they live and work on campus. One thing Hannah and I have noticed in Kenya is that no matter how much you love it here, meeting someone from the states or getting to talk to someone from home is so comfortable and refreshing. You don't really realize that you miss home until those moments and even then, it's such a strange feeling.

After lunch we went to senior seminar. This is the coolest class ever! Senior seminar is a course that seniors take (obviously) and they research a topic of choice (illegal immigrants, gorilla art, gender roles, etc.) and write a 10 page essay as well as present a 30 minute presentation with media used. Talking to the seniors about their project ideas and progress on them was so neat. If I had been in this class I would have picked the easiest topic and rushed through it. These students picked very complex ideas and were putting forth a lot of effort into their work. I met one boy who was researching gorilla art (kind of like graffiti) and he expressed to me that he wants to go to the states for college since that is where he is from and that he also has been frustrated lately because he knows he wants to go into media but has no clue what kind etc. I told him about the 6 media majors we have with us at Daystar and he almost jumped out of his seat he was so excited. He gave me his email and is hoping to shadow, help out, or talk to the people from our group. I am really excited for him as well. He is so motivated and I know he will go far.

Senior Sem

Tiempo para la clase de espanol! (Time for Spanish class!) Spanish class was so interesting to see! The teacher decided to teach this class as a 'flipped' classroom. That means that the students do the learning outside of class so that during class they can work on assignments and have the teacher their to help them. I had never really understood a flipped classroom before and honestly thought they were a bad idea but this class was so fun and you could really tell that the students were succeeding  The students know more Spanish than I do and I have completed almost 1 1/2 more years of Spanish classes then they have so far. The desks in this classroom were in a large circle so that everyone could see each other. This really set the atmosphere and tone of the classroom. The techniques this teacher used were so well done. He has a silly hat that he wears and when he wears it means you can only speak in Spanish. The students also learned a huge passage of the Bible in Spanish and recite it every class. What a great vocab exercise! They even sang a worship song in Spanish with the teacher playing his acoustic as back up. I love unconventional ways of learning extra vocab and grammar. I don't know about your experiences, but if a teacher wore a goofy hat and expected me to sing in front of my peers in freshman year of high school, I do not think I would be as enthusiastic as these freshman were. It is amazing to me how much having an exceptional teacher changes the dynamic of learning and the academic excellence.

Finally before we debriefed our day with some staff members (which was basically us applauding the school in every aspect and encouraging the superintendent about how great his school is) we were able to observe an 8th grade English course- which was taught by a fellow Chicagoan who had a nephew and niece at Trinity Christian College. He was such a 'hip' teacher and you could really tell how comfortable the students were in his class. I loved the units he was teaching. They had just finished up learning slang terms and they wrote songs and raps including their vocab. We were able to see the students fearlessly get up in front of their peers and present their songs. Once again, if you had asked me or any of my friends in eighth grade to get up and be so vulnerable, I guarantee it would not have gone so well.

Then they began their unit on technology and why we choose to use what we choose to use etc. The teacher used an article about the Amish (which interestingly only one boy knew what Amish was) to show the students how thoughtful you can be about what you allow in your life. This class really made me think deeper about everyday decisions I make. I commend this teacher for bringing such meaningful and relevant topics into his language arts lessons and challenging the students to grow and push themselves.

I loved that Rosslyn is truly preparing these kids to go back to the states and succeed in the American education system. The majority of the students who attend are mission kids, or children of staff or business men and will end up going to the states for college. Rosslyn also has a very successful fine-arts and sports program. You can see students art work throughout the campus represented by stain glass windows and murals. They even have a pool on campus! I was seriously in shock at the facility, staff, and students. I have never seen anything like this before in my life. I was going into this day expecting something much different and I was truly blown away. I had no clue that schools like this existed!  I know that this is not the only school running in this way but, if this standard of education works why aren't more schools jumping on the band wagon and raising their standards? It is sad that many good teachers are being held captive by the 'system.' I know there are many GREAT teachers everywhere and I have been lucky enough to observe one last semester. Also, I have had many great teachers in the past and I am sure to have many more to come. I guess just seeing a school so saturated with them was exciting to me.

Flags represent the different nationalities represented. 

Every technique or strategy of teaching that I have been taught was implemented at Rosslyn in the way that is should be implemented. It is sad that in some schools you only ever seen teachers teach the way these ones did on days that they were being observed. I strongly encourage any education majors or people who are just curious to visit their website and check it out for yourself. I am really hoping to student teach in an international school like this and to be able to learn from such amazing teachers. They really hire the best of the best at Rosslyn. Becoming a teacher at Rosslyn is quite the process and they don't really take people who haven't taught in the states for at least 3 years and established themselves as excellent teachers. Even to student teach at Rosslyn you must go through a long process and they don't really like having students there for less than 8 weeks.

Overall, this was the best observation experience I have ever had in one visit. For me, it was such a motivation to become the best teacher I can be and it also opened my eyes about international schools and for the first time ever I was glad that I am going to be certified for elementary education as well as special education  Although special education is my passion, this was the first time I was able to vision myself teaching in a general education classroom. I also know how badly Hannah needed this day to encourage and refresh her. I know that I will remember this day for the rest of my life. It was the day I realized that I really do want to be a teacher! And a great one at that!

Also, I decided that I really want my children (if I have children) to go to a school like this. I was at a point- being an education major and seeing the corruption first hand- that I felt like homeschooling would be my only option by the time I have children, and who knows maybe it will be, but I feel like these student's have such a well-rounded education and view of life that it really gave me hope. There is so much diversity, such great teachers, Christian emphasis, and life experiences at this school and I really cannot think of one thing I would have changed about what I observed. I am truly amazed and have such hope for education after seeing that. Join me in praying for the corrupted education systems all over the world.

One last thing I have been thinking a lot about lately is luck and fairness. What did any of those students do to deserve such an amazing education when I have also observed in the same country students who learn from outdated, falling apart textbooks? They don't even each get to have one of their own. There is only enough for the teacher to teach from- if that class is lucky enough to have an actual teacher. It's not fair at all. How is it that classrooms like the one I just described are still probably more commonplace than the ones like Rosslyn had? If any one of the students in that poor classroom had been born in a different country, to a different family, or had more money and were put in a better school they would probably be succeeding just as much as the students I observed at Rosslyn. I just wish there was something realistic that could be done to bring equality in the education system.

What I have done to deserve the life I have? Nothing! I don't deserve it at all, yet here I am living the dream, wearing new clothing, eating whatever I feel like when I feel like it, and sleeping in a nice room with a mosquito net. I am able to go to virtually any school that I want and I am such a procrastinator and take my education for granted daily.  I am already foreshadowing how much my mind set has changed and how difficult it is going to be for me to adjust back to the American way of life and thinking. Actually, I hope that I never do adjust back. I want to be forever changed because of the things I have seen and experienced on this time in Kenya.

Psalm 106:3 "Blessed are they who observe justice and do righteousness at all times."

Micah 6:8 "What does the LORD require of you but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?"

James 3:1-2 "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body."

Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Titus 2:7-8 "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opportunity may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us."

Matthew 5:1-16  “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

(Sorry I don't have pictures, when Hannah can upload her pictures to Facebook I will be sure to tag myself or add them to this post)

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