Lessons learned while teaching

Today was our last day at Malambo School. Though our interactions with the students were very limited, we slowly but surely started to form a bond with them. My first thoughts of the 7th grade were that they would be eager to learn and easy to get to know. My thoughts quickly changed as I realized that the students were shy. Even when we had called people up to tell us their names they spoke softly. At first, I thought that this would be a complication but there were certain students that made-up for others. There were three students that I remember most: Twaambo, Omeck, and Tyson.

Twaambo was the class clown but he also was one of the smartest in the class. Whenever we would ask a question he would be the first one to raise his hand. When we were asking the students questions about the story we read to them, Twaambo quick to raise his hand for every single answer.

Omeck was a quiet student, untill you got to know him. Omeck was very good at drawing. During our collage lesson Omeck's work was both creative and interesting. I believe that Omeck was able to open up to us through his drawing. When I first saw his artwork on the board I started to talk to him about how amazing his work was for a kid his age. For that particular assignment he got the highest grade in his class for shading.

The smartest student in his class, would have to be Tyson. He would always help the other students with classwork. An example of this is when we were teaching the students about measurements, instead of staying in his seat once he was finished, Tyson helped the other students that were struggling. I found this a symbolic significant as it reflects on how the community as a whole helps each other out.

-Ayinde