projects

Hey everyone!

 

 I happen to have super good interwebs right now so despite the lack of pictures I still wanted to do a post.  SO I decided to talk about the various projects that I'm working on right now.

 

 I have to admit I really hit the ground running with all of my projects because

1.     I’m no longer a n00b.  I’ve been here for 6+ month and I’m ready to do my thing! (actually a new peace corps group just came to Uganda a few days ago!)

2.     I just have so many ideas

3.     It’s time to start what I’ve came here to do!

Now I am a busy lady! (For the record I'm currently in the capital, Kampala, for two reasons 1. Training on Tuesday at headquarters (because I’m a VAC representative) 2. Meeting the Ugandan national girls lacrosse team because I was asked to be their coach [!?!?!])

 So let's get into this...

Primary project

 My primary project, the main reasons why I am here, is to be a literacy specialist.  Which include working with small groups of grade 4 pupils to improve their reading skills. Not only can the pupils not speak English but when they (barely) read they are just reciting words they have memorized.  (Example: if they see any word that begins with 'wa' they'll just say water) In my reading groups I've started teaching the pupils letter sounds, starting at the core so they can eventually decode words.  It's been going pretty well; I won' lie, it's challenging, but I see a lot of potential coming from this.

 I'm also working to implement alternatives to corporal punishment.  It is technically against the law but you would never know that if you visited my school.  Having said that I've got my work cut out for me to convince a bunch of teachers that have been canned and therefore are canning their pupils to stop and try something else. It’s a vicious cycle.  A lot of them aren't buying it.

Library

This project I'm SUPER excited about.  Uganda doesn't have a 'reading culture' which is mainly due to the lack of reading materials.  I never realized how I took the school library growing up for granted, not to mention library class in elementary school.  Probably about 1% of my school has held a book, and I don't even want to know how many of them HAVEN'T been to a library.  The average class size is 75 pupils at my school so it is out of the question to have a text book for each pupil.  When my school receives text books (which is rare) they come in sets of 10 : /.

 Having said that I've started a library project! I put together a committee of teachers, community members, a contracting company, and pupils to get a library at my school!

 We've had our initial meeting about 'Why a library', 'What is a library', and budgeting, which is where we’re currently at. There is a two-room-dilapidated building at my school which everyone thought would be a great library and study room space when renovated.  However, the contractor took a look at it and it's infested with termites to the point of no return.  So we decided that we would demolish the building and use some of its resources to build a new building!  So we're currently working through the budget, which at the moment is around $10,000.  I'm working with the head-teachers to bring that number down in any way possible. 

Peace Corps has grants for volunteers for things like this that are up to $10,000.  You're probably thinking, "That's great, it's just enough.  Why are you looking to bring the cost down?". The answer is that building the library is only half the battle, both financially and physically. Once the library room is built we need desks, chairs, shelves, cupboards, etc. built the stock.  & not to mention, we need books!! All the building and paying for books needs to be paid for.  Luckily, myself and a few other volunteers have looked into various book donation organizations and they're super cooperative (i.e. Books for Africa, The International Book Bank, etc.)!

So that's that, certainly a work in progress!

 

Girls Math Club

 I'm starting a math club for girls! As many of you know one of my majors was Math and it's something I really enjoy.  I truly believe in the magic of a good math teacher because I'm a product of some.  I've been EXTREMLY fortunate to have a handful of good math teachers that (especially) believed in me.  Without them I would have never discovered how AWESOME math could be, and what I could do with it!

Girls + Maths = Super Girls!!

That is a picture of my counterpart, Jacinta, and I & it says 'Girls Can Be As Good In Math As Boys'.

I'll be honest, I've never been too concerned with work-place-feminism because I believe the true female roles models are the ladies who are killing it at work and in their relationships, not the ones who are constantly fighting the man (literally).  Thanks to some amazing women before us we're able to make the choice for ourselves to be a stay at home mom, CEO, part-time employee, doctor, muscle builder, student, etc.  We're making our mark as proactive women and now there is no other place to go but up.  But here in Ugandan the women don't have the opportunity to be 'killing it a work' nor to make their own choices.  So my idea of equally isn't even possible for the future ladies of Uganda at my school. Therefore, as an American female, naturally, I'm making the choice to do something about it!

 Enter: my Girls Math Club for girls at my school and the neighboring teacher's college.

 One of my favorite jobs was being a math tutor at a local middle school [that my mother happen to also work at ; )].  I was working with students struggling in math to improve their basic skills.  An amazing, yet overlooked, method, for example, since you can't do algebra when you can't multiply.  My main goal was to invoke a fondness towards the subject.  This was easy for me to do because I am a math nerd and will always get excited when math is on the menu. So when I taught I built energy and passion into my lessons and without my students knowing it they were getting excited about math (What?! Yes, it's true). *Lead by example: "Miss Ceruti likes and enjoys math so it's possible that I could too.", said at least one of my students [I imagine ; )].

 I'm going to take the same concept to my math club.  If I model a GIRL, who LIKES, MATH I'm hoping these girls will think it is possible for them.  Then, like a cherry on top, I'm going to give them the encouragement they are seriously lacking. Girls + exciting math + encouragement - boys  = confidence to excel!

Okay, I could talk about math education all day, but I won't, so I'm going to sum this up:

 The pupils from my school and the students at the teachers college will meet once a week, separately.  At the meetings I’ll present the math curriculum (from the beginning) in a fun and entertaining way (games, puzzles, hands on activities, etc.).  Then, once a month both groups will get together giving the older ones an opportunity to practice new teaching methods, and the little ones a positive female role model to look up to.  BOOM

Girls Lacrosse Coach

Continuing my mission of Girl Power I’ve jumped into my secondary project:

I have been asked to be the Ugandan national girls lacrosse coach. Yup, you read that correctly, and I am PUMPED! In case you were unaware I dabbled in the game of lacrosse throughout middle and high school.  I played defense and I won’t lie, I wasn’t too bad. Yes, it’s true I stopped playing after junior year but that’s because of the stupid politics that went into SHS school sports.  As my dad would say, “It’s only a game.” (I wish more people had that mentality)

Let’s start from the beginning: Fields of Growth introduced lacrosse to Uganda is 2010.  http://fieldsofgrowthintl.org/  I met a volunteer that coaches the boys team, and he’s far more qualified than I.  He’s actually taking his whole team to America in a month to compete in the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships! They’re the first African team to enter. When I told him I used to play he mentioned the girls team is looking for a team. I figured this would be an awesome secondary project and asked him to get me in touch with the girls.  A few phone calls later and I’m on my way to Kampala to meet to meet the girls and have our first practice! They’re some great girls and they’re A LOT better than I thought they’d be. Fields of Growth is very excited about the girls team because it’s provides another option for girls to show Uganda what they’re made of and for them to play they only need a stick (they just brought a bunch of donated ones too!!).  I’m very excited to start this project.  Sorry, I don’t have more to tell because I just met with the girls yesterday.

 
Alrighty, hope all is well with everyone, enjoy the weekend : )

Actually found these pictures from a little picnic hike I went on with some friends near my village!
#TeamLeo xoxo

Team Leo!!

My friend Pamela & I.  Those are the Rwenzori's in the background