Week 15- University of Zululand- Sawubona! Unjani? Ngikhona ngyibonga! Wena unjani? (Hello! How are you? I am good thank you! And you?)

My Program

April 15^th- From Durban I drove up to Richard’s Bay and checked into my hotel. Zululand is very green and humid…I am one of the few people who enjoy both- although April is not nearly as humid as January from what I hear. I was told representatives from the university would come by my hotel later that day to finalize my program for the week. I was able to unpack, drop off my laundry, and write for a bit before they arrived. Professor Imenda and Mike Mngomezulu arrived later that evening and showed me the tentative schedule. I saw they had arranged for me to visit 3 schools, university classes, and meet with various UZ personnel. I would have a very packed, yet diverse, schedule for the week. We decided to meet at 7am and I would follow Professor Imenda to the university in Empangeni.

April 16^th- My first meeting was with the Deputy Vice Chancellor followed by the Dean of Education. I was graciously introduced, welcomed, and debriefed on the goals for the collaboration. In addition to the spelled out plan, I was asked to make observations about the university. I was also asked if I would be willing to give a debriefing at the end of the week with a larger audience of university representatives. The Vice Chancellor is concerned with the 40% dropout rate of university students and the language and curriculum issues. He was hoping we could use this week to work together on possible options for collaboration in the future. I was given a temporary office next to the Dean’s office in the school of education.

My Evening Office

 

From the university meetings, I was taken to Khethiwe Special School in Ngwelezane to visit the staff and hear about their school needs. The school enrollment includes 30-50 students who were taken away from their homes by the welfare system. Although the school is residential, many of the learners are trying to get back to their families. All of the students have social workers and many have other support personnel as well.

The principal was concerned about a lack of inclusive practices; she said most of the teachers had not really been trained on disabilities or strategies that would help the students. The ages ranged from birth to 18 years old. Many students were from child-reared families because of the high rate of HIV/AIDS, crime, abuse, and other risks in the area. The staff reported they wanted to hear about adaptations to curriculum, abuse issues, working effectively with students with disabilities, and help planning for the future of their students. My thought was to provide a workshop on identifying diverse learners’ needs, helpful strategies, and how to support learners by working as a team.

The next stop was a visit to Sinaye Senior Primary School in Nseleni. The assistant principal introduced me to five teachers from their staff. They explained the school was grades 5-7, housing between 40-47 students in a classroom. There are 33 teachers at the school. The major issues they identified included not having strategies for learning disabilities, language issues (teachers had barriers elaborating/grading in English), background issues (lack of support at home, child-headed families, poverty, crime, diseases, and abuse in the homes), lack of basic skills, unknowledgeable about strategies, and discipline at school. The teachers also mentioned the incredible resilience of the students at their school. They reported there was some help from the NGOs, but they are not always functional. The meeting was in a computer lab, however, I noticed none of the computers seemed to be on. The teachers said they had not been trained on technology but they hope to begin using the computers in May, however, they are a full service school- meaning they house the computer lab for all of the schools in the area. I mentioned to the school faculty that I had some trainings on inclusive academic and behavioral strategies to use when working with diverse learners. They said four teachers could get out of class and attend the training on Thursday. I asked why only four could attend, was it not possible for all of the teachers to be there? They said they didn’t usually train everyone. I offered to do the training in two sessions so that more of the teachers could participate.

I ate crocodile for dinner...kind of tough.

 

That evening, I prepared for the Khethiwe workshop. Khethiwe means “one who was chosen” (Zulu). I started with my introduction- I explained my family is from farmers, teachers, nurses, businessmen, travelers, and storytellers. I am from the United States- I started out in psychology and working with severely abused children. I worked in foster care…then was laid off and ended up in Indonesia. When I returned to the United States, I had planned to travel the world teaching English. I needed a job and because many of my family members are teachers and they encouraged me to work in the schools. Part of my job with the district, was to go into classrooms and give suggestions to teachers about how to reduce the negative behaviors in the classroom…the teachers often told me, “You are not a teacher, you don’t know.” Long story short(ish), I asked to teach a history unit in one of the classes…and I found out I was supposed to be teaching. I moved to California and took a job in Oakland with “the worst of the worst of OUSD.” Through mentoring, support, and encouragement I earned my credential, then masters, then doctorate…and now I am here.

In the presentation, I compared the issues students experienced in the school I teach at in San Francisco to the issues they raised in Khethiwe. Then I prepared some slides about the information on brain research- parts of the brain related to learning, brain chemicals, and how the brain retains information (Sousa, 2007). I also went over common challenges of diverse learners (auditory processing, visual processing, language issues, emotional, social, and behavioral challenges) and different accommodations teachers can use to address these issues. I finalized the presentation with information about how to use observations and assessments to guide practice when working with diverse students.

I also had to prepare to teach the Master’s level Educational Psychology students on Inclusive Education (3 hour class). For this class, I focused more on the history of special education in USA and SA. Inclusion in both countries is an interesting topic. Inclusion is the idea (some say ideal) that all students should be educated in the same classroom, hence, there would be no special schools or classrooms. In the US, we are trying to move towards more inclusive education, however, with districts, universities, and the federal government it is a slow and litigious process (from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of  2004). In the US, students are provided with “free and appropriate public education” in the “least restricted environment.” More than full inclusion, many districts are working toward inclusive practices. In South Africa, after apartheid ended (1991) and the constitution was approved (1996), the writers expressed a need for creating a country without segregation where ALL people were given the same opportunities in education and life. White Paper #6 outlined the country’s plan for Inclusive Education. Inclusive education is one of the most progressive ideas in education systems, and South Africa’s plan included getting rid of special schools and educators. Unfortunately, since the plan was set out, most educators have not been trained on how to work with students with diverse needs.

"Please Keep Left"- helpful reminder ;)

Because the school systems, especially government schools, are already overwhelmed with intense needs (social, emotional, and language barriers), the addition of learning and physical barriers has been difficult. The last part of the training I prepared focused on strategies for different subject areas (math, reading, and writing) and challenges (behavioral issues, emotional issues, on the spectrum, and attention issues). I created a document that allowed teachers to discuss what things they were already doing in the classroom that are successful and at the end of the presentation I provided simple and complex accommodations and modifications based on research.

By this time it was after midnight and I had to be at the university at 7:30am…

April 17- First thing this morning I went to the Thuthukani Special School. Thuthukani is Zulu for growth and development. Ninety-seven percent of their school population is Zulu, rural, and poor; the other 3% is White, Indian, or Coloured. They teach in 4 languages- Zulu, English, Afrikaans, and South African Sign Language (everyone in the school learns sign language). They found that, due to financial and technological issues, most of the assistive technology is not suitable for their students, so learning sign language and picture messages are effective modes of communication. The school was started 32 years ago in a garage, they served 4 blind students during apartheid…2 weeks later the number had gone up to 20 students. They were one of the first multiracial schools in the area in the 1980’s. They now serve youth with intellectual disabilities (deaf, down syndrome, on the spectrum, physical impairments, and fetal alcohol syndrome). There are 356 students ages 6-18, however, they also house a program for students older than 18 who want to come in and work in the vocational program (they get paid a stipend for the weight of the work they produce).

 The students quilting projects (theme: self-expression)

Although my visit was supposed to be for one hour, they had schedule 4 hours of information for me- we agreed to keep it to 2 hours because I needed to teach the class at the university. They took me on a tour of the school and I was able to see the different classrooms for the prefoundation, foundation, intermediate, and senior grade levels. In one class, they were singing and using a sign language on a song about HIV/AIDS. In addition to their classrooms, they had a workshop for sewing, cleaning, manual labor, and artistic expression. Another positive is the food program they have established on campus. The issues the staff at Thuthukani identified included the lack of mainstreaming of learners; lack of appropriate curriculum from the department of education, incorporating basic skills, children disappearing into society without skills to take care of themselves…and many end up in jail. They also mentioned the stigma and families not taking their needs seriously. Another theme of the department of education saying they are not doing enough and then when they ask for help they are told they are the experts. After speaking with them, it seemed like giving a workshop on service learning projects may be helpful for increasing skills, community involvement, and social justice issues for their learners.

We were finally able to leave the school and head back to the university for the master’s level class I was guest lecturing. I had to take a few minutes to get organized and when I finally entered the room, I found out the students had been waiting since 8am for me (all I could think is that, I wish I had known there was plenty of work I could have left). I went through my presentation and Mike made copies of the handouts I had prepared. I thought all of the students had been teaching in the classroom before, but I found out that was not the case for all of the master’s level students here. Also, I realized there were some language issues I had not expected. I could tell they were trying to understand me, so I slowed down my speech and presentation even more. As I presented on working with diverse learners, I modeled many of the strategies I speak about in my workshops. Modeling is positive, the more frustrating part is that I struggled to understand their responses well. We worked together for the next hour and thirty minutes and in the end, the group thanked me for my time and they each told me something they had learned that they did not know before.

After the class I was supposed to meet with the Dean of Education for a lunch, however, she had a class to teach and had to leave soon after I arrived (which was of course late). I had a few minutes to gather myself together and organize the necessary supplies before heading to the Khethiwe for their workshop.

Beautiful educators from Khethiwe School

The principal and teachers were waiting in the principal’s office when we arrived, the district was doing a training and the room we were originally going to use was not available…neither was technology for my powerpoint. It is funny to think that I didn’t think about the digital divide while I was working on the powerpoint. Luckily, I had printed off a copy along with the handouts. The group was small so we used the office and I turned my computer around to present. The temperature was quite hot, but everyone involved was so positive and engaged in our conversations so the 2 hours went by quickly. They thanked me for the information. The principal said she was so happy to have support from the university. She said the information presented on strategies, skills, and knowledge about disabilities she was not aware of, no one had ever trained them. She felt “blessed” the university thought of their little program.

 

Once again I headed back to the hotel with just enough energy to finalize the workshop for Sinaye Senior Primary School and prepare for the seminar I would be holding with the staff from the language department from the university the next day. I think my brain stopped working at some point that evening…so I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

 

April 18^th- According to the schedule, I was supposed to meet with individual faculty from the university this morning, luckily, due to busy schedules most of the people had to cancel…I was relieved because this gave me a chance to write down some of the observations I would include in my report for the debriefing.

 

A little after noon we arrived at Sinaye (Zulu translation- “we are with him”) School to give the double workshop. Because of photocopying issues, I was running late again (ugh). Once we arrived and I was looking for the cord to plug my computer into the LCD projector, I realized they had an overhead projector for me…luckily I had printed off the powerpoint before I left campus (I had asked them if they had an LDC projector in the interview). Mike went to make copies and I began with the first activities- the emotional photos, the cloze story (fill in the blanks), and the make a sentence without using words with the letters R, T, N, S, or E. I gave each small group a few minutes to try to do the activity, then I asked them to share out. To the first group I said, “Okay, pick one picture on the paper, explain what is in the picture and what emotion goes with the scene, then tell the group how that emotion would affect a learner.” Nobody spoke. I called on people, they looked at me blankly, so I walked over and asked them to point out a picture to me. They didn’t move. I didn’t know what to do…were they being rude or did they not understand the question? So, I rephrased the question- “What do you see in the picture?” Still nothing. I asked the teacher to point to a picture…no movement. I pointed to a picture and she finally spoke…she said, “Marikana.” Yes, it was a picture of the police aiming guns at the Marikana miners. We were making progress. Then I asked anyone in the group about the emotion and the effect on learners. Another teacher said the police hurting the people they are supposed to protect makes everyone feel unsafe. YES! We were making progress.

After the warm up, I went into the civil rights issues around inclusion. I tied the legal requirements to strategies when working with diverse learners. Because I only had an hour, I wanted to jump right into the strategies the teachers could use so I split the teachers into 8 groups (jigsaw style). Each group I gave a chapter of the SIOP Model book (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2013) and a graphic organizer. I showed them how the headings matched the graphic organizer and that under the headings was the information to put in the boxes. After everyone had their materials I went around to give support (and directions again). First, I realized the photocopies were out of order (frustrating). Next, two of the graphic organizers were missing (when I sent the papers to be copied the machine must have left out two pages). Finally, as I met with each group I realized that they were not being disrespectful, the teachers were struggling with English…to the point that they weren’t able to read the text and find the main points like I was asking. I didn’t expect this. Actually as I was going through my notes later, I saw that they original group of teachers told me the educators had a hard time teaching from the English text, I thought it was because of the learners’ language issues, but now I realize it was the educators' as well. Hmmmm…was there a way for me to save this workshop (or the next one to be held in 20 minutes)? We finished up what we could and I told them this was an introduction to the model and I asked them to revisit the information I had shared at a later date.

Group 2 came into the room. I took a deep breath, I asked for guidance from the universe, and I started the beginning activity. This session went better because I understood the language issues and that I would need to be more specific with how to complete the graphic organizer. One unfortunate thing was that the group before had taken my handouts and I didn’t have any extra copies, so the groups were larger and I wasn’t able to give all of the materials to the school as I had planned. Some of the statements from the teachers as I went around the room included, “These are important strategies, I hadn’t thought of that.” “I think this might work.” Okay, a positive was coming out of this session, thank goodness. The teachers assured me they would revisit the information and thanked me for coming to their school. I do have to say I was surprised that when I left the school at 2:20, almost all of the cars were gone. I asked why we had held the seminar during the school day while students were still there and yet once the students left, the teachers did as well. Mike said, “I think it is just that way.”

Those 2.5 hours took quite a bit of energy, and I still had another seminar with the Language Department. Another deep breath. At least they had catered lunch for this session. My plan was to review the SIOP model and how they could use it to support the learning of the university students and future teachers. The fact that I had just presented to a group of teachers who didn’t understand my English was an eye-opener.

I made it to the seminar and asked the group to tell me about themselves (I had to not talk for a while) and what they would like from me. I received rather formal responses. I showed them the textbook on the SIOP Model. Then I told them that I would be debriefing with the Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors, and such tomorrow and that I could be a voice for them…what could they tell me? The energy in the room changed- and they all started talking. The lecturers mentioned the universities' students struggled to put “pen to paper” and write. The reading and writing skills in English were very low. Some of the lecturers related this to apartheid where they relied on education for success, and now post-apartheid they can make it without academic credentials, so the motivation to learn and improve scholastically is very low. Also, the families are not educated so there is a low level of academic expectations and support from families. Students arrive at UZ with a deficit and then with the large numbers, crowded venues, and lack of supports in place, the students often fall through the cracks or drop out. The lecturers rely on a lot of group activities which could lead to some students not contributing to the assignment but still passing. Most of the undergraduate classes are between 400-1000. The schools are not teaching skills because many of the teachers do not have the skills…and university is not the time to teach basic skills. Also, the students (and faculty) have very little exposure and comfort with technology. Finally, in the Zululand area, people can survive on just speaking Zulu…the radio, newspapers, and community conversations are all held in Zulu, so there is very little opportunity to practice and expose students to English. Aha, this is why the teachers who I have been meeting with struggled to understand me as well! Is there a way to fill in the education and language gap to meet the new generation of learners?

Friday, April 19^th- I drove to Thuthukani School to present at 8am. This was the special school for students with intellectual disabilities. After meeting with them and hearing their focus of inclusive practices, community involvement, and culturally responsive pedagogy, I decided to do a workshop on service learning projects. We began the session discussing issues they encounter in their school, this was a powerful dialogue about stigmas, lack of parent involvement, and protecting students from negativity while giving them exposure to the “outside” world. I then reviewed the elements of service learning that Dr. Tess Reid and I presented on in Spain (2009):  integrated learning, meeting genuine need, student voice, collaboration, reciprocity, systemic reflection, and civic responsibility (Frey, 2003; Teng, 2008). Then we talked about how they could address the school issues using service learning projects. The group seemed very appreciative for the workshop.

Finally, for my last meeting, the debriefing with representatives from the university, I had put together a document beginning with thanks for the opportunity to work with them for the week. I gave three textbooks as “gifts.”

*Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., and Short, D. J. (2013). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (4^th Ed). Boston:  Pearson.

This book highlights best practices to use when working with English language learners (or learners who do not speak language as their mother tongue). The text provides helpful strategies that help ALL educators improve their practice.

*Sousa, D. A. (2007). How the special need brain learns (2^nd Ed). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

This book reviews brain research and how development can affect learning and retention. It also provides helpful strategies for working with learners with learning difficulties, attention disorders, speech disabilities, reading disabilities, writing disabilities, math disabilities, emotional issues, behavioral issues, and are on the spectrum of autism.

*Spandel, V. (2013). Creating writers: 6 traits, process, workshop, and literature (6^th Ed). Boston: Pearson.

This book provides ideas for increasing writing skills in learners, how to support writing and expression abilities. Although it is a bit dense, there are some good information and creative lessons included in the book.

I listed the presentations I had given, and then, the strengths and concerns written in the most objective and honest way I know. They thanked me for the input, agreed with the information, and asked if I would be willing to return after my time at the University of Johannesburg to work more closely with the faculty. They offered to write a proposal for my return based on the recommendations and support I have already provided. I left that meeting feeling blessed.