My classroom has been a “project” since the
beginning of the year. Here is the shortest synopsis I can give of my year so
far…
First two weeks of
school, teach in second grade (with about 24 hours of notice). Spend a week
subbing and testing. Start doing individual work with two students as my
classroom is covered in wood shavings from library construction. Do this for a
couple weeks until the carpenter stops showing up and I realize I have to take
things into my own hands. Spend a few days cleaning out the classroom and
taking extra desks from other classrooms to try and fill mine. Realize I have a
10-foot high GIGANTIC cupboard in my classroom that I don’t know what to do
with and is too heavy to move on my own. Eventually start taking small-groups
even though there are still buckets of paint and extra sheets of wood in the
back of my class. Come to terms with the fact that once a first grade teacher
is hired, I will have to give up these students to another teacher. Have this
actually happen. Realize that I finally need/get/have to start with the groups
that I will have for the rest of the year. Have Holly come in and tell me we’re
rearranging my class. Get overwhelmed. Do it anyway. Realize I envision having a
reading/quiet/work corner… But have nothing to make it happen. Finally have
Autumn convince me to dive in with my groups. Have a relatively successful (and
stressful) first two days. Write this blog.
One of the things that
I’m trying to do in my class is to break the mold of Ghanaian school culture…
To do things hands-on. To
make my classroom feel welcoming. To have my room be a place where change
happens. I don’t want my classroom to feel like we’re in America… I just want
my kids to feel like they belong and can be comfortable here.
Part of this process
involves having resources… Having manipulatives, having mats on the ground to
sit on (kids here really hate sitting on the ground… it’s pretty funny),
building a shelf to start a mini-library, getting and making things to decorate
the walls and fabric to cover the open shelves…
I am asking that you
consider helping me in this process by making a financial donation at the City
of Refuge website with the purpose of it going to my classroom. Every day, I
have a 17 year old come in who is trying to learn to read… A 13 year old who
can tell me 8 letters of the alphabet… An 8 year old who made me cry when he
recited the spelling of his name out loud to me… a 13 year old who is thriving
after she has spent multiple years learning and loving at City of Refuge, and
now needs to be pushed to keep going… an 8 year old who laughs with joy as he
beats me at football, but shies away when I ask him to do a math problem, still
figuring out what his new life at CORM means for him… These are faces of hope,
faces of potential, faces of opportunity, and I want to be able to give them
more.
Please consider
helping me in bringing change to these kids. My goal is to raise $200 for this
project. You can donate online at www.cityofrefugeoutreach.com using their PayPal button… When making
a donation, include a note of “KT1- Classroom,” which will send the money to me.
While you are at the
website, take a look around… Find out what this ministry is about. I am blessed
to be a part of what these people are working to accomplish, and I hope that
you are willing to partner with us in the process of “educate, motivate,
liberate.”
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