My first academic year of teaching in Cape Verde is coming to a rapid close. Overall I think the year has gone pretty smoothly, and I'm excited by the extent to which I feel involved at Uni-CV. I'm confident in my work and even though It was a busy semester, it was a really good semester. It might be out of necessity, but I'm happy with the amount of responsibility that was entrusted to me. I enjoyed the courses I taught this semester, and I enjoyed working with the fifth year students as a thesis advisor and supervisor for their student teaching.
It's come to my attention, yet again that my blog might give the impression that I'm not working as much as I'm living life to the fullest. I don't know why, but that perception bothers me. It might be my pride, but I feel the need to make it clear that the majority of my time and energy is spent working. Most of my posts are about special occasions like holidays or traveling to other islands, because they are new experiences. It's much harder for me to write about work, because when 10+ hours of your day is spent doing something, it becomes really hard to write about. It's really hard to differentiate any one thing that warrants a post. Especially this semester when it's harder than ever to keep up with the posts.
I think I've already written about my classes this semester, so I figure I should write a little about what I've been doing with the majority of my mornings. This semester I was asked to serve as an Estago Pedagogico supervisor. Estagio Pedagogico is the student teaching practicum that all fifth year students have to complete as part of the licenture. We have twenty-six fifth year students at four of the local high schools in Mindelo. My job was to visit the school and observe them teaching to provide critical feedback. Over the course of the semester I was able to see all but two teach, most of them multiple times. It was great to be back in high schools. I sometimes miss my students. Sure teens, can drive a sane person nuts, but they keep you on your toes. Most of the high schools here reminded me of the schools I worked in back home. The high schools here lack a good amount of basic materials (most don't have class sets of textbooks), but the classes aren't all that different than what you would find back home. One thing that really struck me is the amount of teacher authority here. If a student acts out in class, they are out. When I first arrived here I was shocked at the falta disciplina policy. If a student misbehaves, let's say they come to class more than 15 minutes late, the teacher has the right to remove the student from the classroom. I'm still not a hundred percent sure how I feel about that particular policy, but one thing I can say is that I think the level of discipline in the classrooms here are overall higher than in the states. Students have the opportunity to go to liberal arts high schools or vocational high schools. Granted, as in any ed. system, there are certain problems or shortcomings, but it made me realize that in the States I think we are too quick to give students too much power at the expense of teachers.
When I was teaching there were certain students I did not think belonged in a general education high school. Some of these students were kids that were known to be involved in gangs, bullied kids, didn't do work, would be suspended for cursing, yelling at a teacher, getting into fights, all that jazz. A few of them did all of the above, but continued to come to school to "flex their muscle". If they got in trouble, many of them would be back in school before you blinked an eye. We had no real discipline in the school I taught at. Teachers shouldered the responsibility of enforcing rules without the support of consequences. This is an age in which a growing number of people seem to believe that if the student is shown that the teacher cares, they will change their deviant ways. It completely undermines the reality of the situation in which a lot of these little "tuggies" need serious counseling and support that isn't possible in a class of 35. Some of the most serious offenses were found to be due to "emotional disturbances" and the kids were sent back into the classroom. Who do the policies today support? How is this helpful to the student who might be back in class, but poses a danger to himself/herself and others? How is it fair to the other students? How can we support or justify having schools that are unsafe? Which is more justifiable: failing the students that are seriously behind or causing major continuous disturbances, or do we risk the education of whole classes? What is so wrong with gifted programs? Why are vocational education programs often overlooked or not seen as a priority? What is so wrong with keeping students back? Should students that are reading at a second grade level be in the tenth grade class? Shouldn't they be kept back at an earlier age and given intensive tutoring? The fact that I had multiple students (we are talking double digit percentages) reading at a 4 grade level or lower in the tenth grade, seems absurd to me.
So much time is wasted passing blame from one person or group to the other for the outcome of todays education system, that people seem to be losing sight of finding solutions. Are we raising generations of those whose overriding motivation is "entitlement"?
Anyways, I digress. Getting all heated and off topic, running off on tangents, is why I generally try to stick to writing about the silly side of life. Hikes to new spots on the island. Why I choose to drink the local beer, Strella, over the Portuguese beer, SuperBock, in an effort to support a CV industry rather than a Portuguese industry. The difference between "pssssssssssssssssst" and "psssst". Which is a catcall and which is a friend trying to get your attention. The really important things in life.
The last bit about teaching that I'll write for a while is that I'm really happy that I worked in the States before coming to work here in Cape Verde. I think my experiences there have allowed me to appreciate certain things that I otherwise might not have. Biggest example? Going home for lunch. Going home to cook lunch and relax (or do work but in the comfort of home) was not a possibility at any of the jobs I worked at post college. Here it's something that while I'm used to it, I try to remind myself to appreciate it. I think it's easier to take challenges or stressful situations here in stride. It also pushes me to use my time to get involved in as many things as possible and experience as much as I can while I'm here because there is a difference between a busy day working at home and a busy day working here. Sure it gets downright hectic here, there are days that are non-stop, but there is something fundamentally different that I can't really describe. If I figure it out, I'll blog about it. I do worry that I like it so much here, it's going to be one hell of an adjustment when I return to the States. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on the end of the year.
