Last Day: Part 1

From Wednesday, June 20:

Today marked my last day at Mattaw during my trip.  Man, it was hard.  I'm not typically very sentimental or emotional; I have more of the tendency to just put my head down and barrel through whatever is ahead of me.  Today, however, was a different story.  Each image and conversation I wanted to freeze in time and hold closely to me.  

I made my way around to each classroom, beginning in the preschool room.  We colored for a while, and then I was asked, on the spot mind you, to teach a lesson on “physical development.”  After a brief conversation I figured out Teacher Winnie was referring to a lesson more along the lines of physical education.  So we went outside, threw the ball, played Simon Says, and ran.  Best lesson I've ever taught.  Ha.

Beautiful Faith.

George is super cute and he knows it.

We folks in the States call it P-E, Winnie.

This is my sponsored child at Mattaw, Rosie.
She is adorable, and about as big as the basketball.

We finished lessons on friendly and business letter writing and vowel sounds in the upper level classrooms.  Salma even wrote a letter to me.  It was so genuine and precious.

Friendly and business letter-writing.

Salma.

One of my favorite parts of the day was getting to observe the teachers implementing some of the teaching techniques we have discussed during out time each afternoon.  The teachers in the middle room worked in small groups with students today, and then we evaluated formative assessments from the lesson during our “nap time” that afternoon.  I'm so proud of their progress and eagerness to learn as teachers.

Hellen working with a small group.

  

Before I knew it, lunch was here, and the last half-day of school was over.  Before they could go to lunch though, I held each class captive and made them take photos with me.  I plan to post these on the wall in my classroom at home.  It's my desire that the children in my classroom this upcoming year would become aware of the fact that they live in a big, big world, and that not everyone lives as they do.  I pray that awareness would give way to thanksgiving for our many blessings, and conviction and giving toward others' great need. Ultimately, I pray seeing photos of my students at Mattaw would cause my American students to ask questions of what they do at Mattaw or why I spent part of my summer here, giving me an opportunity to share with them the Good News of the Gospel.  Best kind of teaching there is, no matter which country you're in.

Upper level classes.
Where's Waldo, anyone?

Preschool class.

Middle level class.

The teachers and I spent our last session together and discussed student engagement techniques from the book The Highly Engaged Classroom by Robert Marzano.  We also discussed classroom management and discipline.  Our time went by so fast.  We said goodbye through tears and hugged each other numerous times.  Dorcus was the most difficult goodbye.  She wept and thanked me for coming, saying that she knew the Lord had sent me to her to encourage her when she thought she couldn't go on.  I was so moved and humbled by her words.  I told Dorcus how proud I was of her leadership and courage, and that I had great confidence that she could accomplish immense change because the Lord would give her strength.  We both praised God together for His work among us teachers.  We also agreed to both pray earnestly to the Lord about an opportunity to return to visit them one day.  We're both confident the Lord will provide this, so instead of goodbye we chose to say, “Tutaonana” // See you later.  And, as a side note, for once during my time here, I pronounced a Swahili word correctly. (But I did have to ask how to spell it.)

Tutaonana, Dorcus.