Adventures in Kenya Series - Days 7/8 - Out of the Mara, On to Kimilili

I'm running out of superlatives to describe my days.

 Yesterday was...

I'll just show you with pictures. I started the day with an sunrise game drive where we saw a whole pride of lions hanging around some termite mounds, and a whole lot more. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took.  I took more than 1000 pictures in my 30 hours in Masai Mara.

Then, I had a quick breakfast and headed back out on a game drive with a stop at a Masai Village to learn about Masai culture.  Touristy, for sure, but also enlightening.

I had just enough time to jump in the pool and Skype with my wife afterwards to wish her a happy Mother's Day before catching my flight from the airstrip back to Wilson Airport in Nairobi.

After Livingstone and Jackson picked me up we went to Carnivore, a place where they grill all kinds of exotic meats up and serve them to you off Masai swords until you surrender.  Loads of fun.

This morning we woke up at 3:30 and were on the road by 4AM to drive to the HIP Academy in Mukuyuni, a Western Kenyan village close to the town of Kimilili. The ride was enlightening for me for a few reasons.  Since we were all exhausted, I relieved Jackson of driving and drove on the left side of the road for the first time in my life.  Driving in Kenya is part a game of "chicken", part "dodge the pothole", and part "don't get stuck in the mud" all rolled into one.  It took us 8 hours with one stop to "take tea" (have a quick breakfast) in Eldoret. We also had to wait for donkeys, goats, and a cow to cross the road in front of the car at different points. And, when 

When I put on some driving music to keep myself awake, I learned that neither Livingstone, nor Jackson has ever heard of the Beatles.  They both knew Michael Jackson, though.

We got stopped by police checks twice on the drive, both times while Jackson was driving.  This is apparently perfectly normal.  The police just waive you over and see if there's something they can make you pay for.  The first time, the police officer asked me where I was from.  When I told him I was from the USA, he said, "Like Obama!"  When I explained that I had met the president, we waived us along with a smile.  The second stop wasn't as friendly.  The officer asked Livingstone to get out of the car.  He then directed him inside the police office.  Jackson followed to try and talk to the officer.  I was left in the car feeling a little confused.

Two minutes later Jackson and Livingstone came back to the car and I learned about the Kenyan practice of "chai."  What happens is the police officers set up a stop, and then look for a reason to threaten you with a citation. In this case, Livingstone wasn't wearing a seat belt in the back seat. What they really want is some "chai", or a small bribe to make it all go away.  The term comes from it being enough money to buy a cup of tea. This is the way the officers suppliment their small income. The equivilent of a few bucks was enough to get us back on the road. 

Along the drive we crossed the equator back into the Northern Hemisphere. We stopped to take a picture with the sign.

The afternoon at HIP Academy was great.  First, Livingstone showed me around the school and gardens.

I brought a whole suitcase of math manipulatives and hands-on materials with me, so I spent time teaching the kids and teachers how to use the two-sided colored chips, the Cuisinaire rods, and the dominoes. Nobody, including Livingstone had ever heard of dominoes before.  When I showed them how they could be used to set up a chain reaction, they were so excited, and they did a little "engineering" exploration to see what they could create.  

During the afternoon, I was also able to pass out the stuffed animals that my son, Michael Jr., had asked me to bring for the kids. They were so happy!  It made me happy as well, and very proud of him for giving them up.  

We had two Skype calls during the afternoon.  The first was with Anne Mirtchen in Australia. We played Mystery Skype to guess each other's locations, and then the first/second graders used the stuffed animals I had brought to teach the kids in Australia the Kiswahili names of the different animals.  Everyone got a chuckle when they found out that the Swahili word for "Kangaroo" is "Kangaroo." This was the first Skype call for every one of the students in the school.  Learning with others from far away locations was a totally new concept for them.

The second Skype call was actually after the students at HIP left.  Sue Levine Skyped us with a second grade class in Atlanta.  Livingstone and I answered questions about the school and Kenya, and broke into a great duet rendition of "Hakuna Matata" for the kids when they asked to learn a Swahili phrase.  I'm sure sue is going to post that video on Facebook.

After school was out, Livingstone walked me around his hometown, down a dirt road to a path, and then over a makeshift wooden bridge.  I met a dozen people who all wanted to know what a Mzingu was doing in their village.  Some school children laughed and said "Good morning!" to me, even though it was 4PM.  One local climbed a guava tree for me so that I could try guava for the first time (I didn't care for it.)

I also go to meet Livingstone's wonderful family.  His mom and dad were great, and Grandma Dina is simply awesome.  After our walk I came back to find her wearing a University of Scranton hat that I had brought that was leftover from EdCamp NEPA last month.

Then, we drove to Kimilili where we checked into the nicest hotel in town for the night, and where I sit typing this post with the sounds of motorbikes, cows, and chidren in the background.  So far, there was a backout, my light didn't work, Livingstone's wall outlet was missing, and the toilet overflowed in Jackson's room.  But, hey, it's Africa, and it's all good.  Hakuna Matata.  The bed is clean, and there's a lock on the door.  That's about all I need for a good night's sleep, I hope. Still, I'm using my LifeStraw water bottle to filter anything out of the tap before I drink it.  We are spending the morning at HIP Academy where I will show the rest of the math materials, and then we are headed 5 hours back towards Lake Nakure National Park for my last two nights in Kenya.

Adventures in Kenya Series - Day 4 - Cheery Children Education Centre

There is so much to tell about that happened today. I hope I can remember it all.

The day started with a drive into the Kibera Slum. After a short 200 foot walk, Tracy Hansen and Kyrsha from NGGE, Livinstone, and me came to the Cheery Children Education Center. Livingstone had previously taught here, and Tracy has spent a lot of time with these children, both in person during the past month and virtually where she has been teaching them via Skype. Tracy and Kyrsha left after a half-hour to do attend to some NGGE business.

I have Skyped many times with Emmily (the Head Teacher), Jairus (the director of the school), and Livingstone here at the school, and finally arriving in person was special.  Most of the students recognized "Teacher Tracy" immediately and had big smiles on their faces. 

Jairus and I said our hellos, and then Emmily took me on a tour of the school.  They have over 300 students in grades Pre-K through 4.  Most of the students are in the younger grades. Each of the classes in grades 1-4 greeted me with a poem.  One was in Swahili about the need for cleanliness, one was about the importance of education, one was about the need to pay attention. Many of the students in grades 3 and 4 recognized me as "Michael" from previous Skype calls and the Distance Teaching Project Videos.

After introductions, grades 3 and 4 crammed into one small classroom to have a Skype call with Iro in Greece.  There are so many classes that want to Skype with the kids while I'm here, but unfortunately with the time change, it's difficult to make it work with many of them. Since Greece is only an hour different than here, it has been easy to connect with Iro.

The children told me that they were studying English nouns, so we brainstormed a few nouns to use for our call. They chose "school, teacher, classroom, desk, and sock."  When we Skyped Iro, she taught us the Greek translation of the words, and the chidren shared with her the Kiswahili translation. We had a lot of fun with the word "teacher," which has two translations in Greek depending on the gender of the teacher.  

Afterward I interviewed a couple of children about the call.  They were a little nervous on camera, but afterward they started playing with my camera and pretending to interview each other. They wanted to be the interviewer instead of the interviewee. First they pretended to interview Livingstone, then they wanted to interview me.  So, I turned on the camera and let them interview me. It was so much fun! I can't wait to see that video - I've got so much video footage that I haven't even started going through it yet. And, it's only day 4...

Next, I brought the hands-on math materials that I carried over with me in my luggage to the 3rd and 4th grade classes.  We spent some time playing multiplication games with the dice, modeling subtraction with cuisinare rods, and using base-10 blocks to model addition problems and to build understanding of our number system.  Most of the materials that I brought are modeled by our Wallenpaupack stuents in the Distance Teaching Project Videos that we've been making.  I got a request from their teacher to make a few videos on division, since that's a topic with which they struggle.





For the second day in a row, my math lesson got cut short by a visit from Vestergaard.  Today they were delivering the filters to the schools.  When they arrived at Cheery I again thanked them for their partnership with Project LINC and took a few photos.





After the people from Vestergaard left, the older students were playing in the small courtyard with a eucolyptus tree. Some of them had jump ropes.  I joined them and (poorly) jumped rope. When I asked them if any of them could do tricks with the jump rope, they didn't know what I was talking about.  I pulled up a YouTube video on my phone of 30 jumproping tricks.  We took turns trying them out.  It was loads of fun.



After a nice lunch of rice and beans, Steve Sherman and a group of students in South Africa Skyped in to talk to the older students.  We started with Mystery Skype and the kids at Cheery tried to figure out what African country they were talking to. We brought in a globe, and eventually they figured it out.  Then, the students on two different parts of the continent got to know each other with a few questions and answers.  Both sets of students supported English Premier League football clubs, which made for a fun moment.





Next, Beverly Ladd Skyped in to Cheery's second grade class with a few of her second grade students in North Carolina, USA. The kids here taught her students to count in Kiswahili. When I met them in the morning, I had promised them the chance to be my teacher today, so I played the part of student as well and tried to pronounce each number correctly.



At the end of the day, Emmily led a Skype call that she had previously set up through Skype in the Classroom. The children at Cheery have been connecting with kids from all over the world to teach Swahili and about their lives in Kibera.  This call was with a class in Florida. Since Jairus had told me that Emmily was shy about being on camera, I snuck my GoPro camera into the back of the room and used the app on my iPhone to record parts of the call without her knowing it. She got a good laugh when I told her afterward.




When the school day was done, Jairus and Livingstone walked me back to Barnabas's house through the Kibera Slum. I had asked to walk instead of driving. I knew that avoiding the uncomfortable parts of Kibera would also prevent me from understanding why I am here. As we stepped over sewage water and rubbish, passed children playing a game that looked a lot like running bases with a ball of garbage, and walked on the railroad tracks, I asked as many questions as I thought polite of Livingstone and Jairus to try and learn more. I took a few pictures after asking them if it would be appropriate. Jairus kindly showed me where he lived and explained about the different areas of the slum, and the different kinds of dwellings. Seeing pictures before coming here did not come close to complete experience I had today that included the smells, sights, sounds, and vibes that you get from really being in a place.  What I had seen around Barnabas's house on the edge of Kibera was not at all indicative of the way people live just a few minutes walk away.








This evening there was a large group of us at the dinner table.  A few friends of the family joined us, and we had an interesting conversation about politics, both in African countries and in the United States. The Kenyans were shocked to hear that much of the political system in the US is heavily influenced by money from large corporations.  I was enlightened about much of the goings on in Africa that I had no idea about due to the lack of international coverage from American news outlets. When one of the men at dinner mentioned that he came from President Obama's home village, I mentioned that I had met the President. That got a very enthusiastic reaction, and they got a chuckle when I brought up POTUS's very soft hands.

Today was incredible. At each place I go, I wish I had more time to work with the kids and teachers. Tomorrow promises to be pretty amazing as well.  I will be at both Havilla and Cheery as the water filters from Project LINC are installed, and I will be leading a 7 party group Skype call with both schools and all the students from around the world who helped raise money for the filters as they are passed out to children to bring to their families. I'm excited to let our students in Pennsylvania, as well as the others in Greece and Kansas, see the product of their great work in this project.

One of the highlights of the day was definitely getting video messages from my daughter and my wife. I miss them so much, and seeing their faces and hearing their voices makes me so happy.

Tomorrow will be a busy day.  It's time to clean up and go to bed.

Finding a #MysterySkype Connection for Your Students

Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to build cultural awareness, critical thinking skills, and geography skills by guessing the location of the other classroom through a series of yes/no questions. Other variations can be used for different content areas.  Classes can play “Mystery Element” or “Mystery Animal” in science class, “Mystery Number” in math class, or “Mystery Historical Figure” in history class.  It is suitable for all age groups, from Kindergarten through college, and can be adapted for almost any subject area.  Some general guidelines that I’ve typed for my teachers can be found here: Mystery Skype Guidelines

Once people learn about Mystery Skype and the student learning that results from playing, they immediately want to begin setting up connections for their students.  In this post, I will share three easy ways to find a partner class for your next Mystery Skype game.

Skype in the Classroom Website

If you have never taken the time to explore the Skype in the Classroom (SITC) website, drop everything and do it now. In addition to Mystery Skype connections, this site will allow you to find authors, scientists, social innovators, and experts who are willing to talk to your students via Skype call to enhance their learning. There are also Skype Guide lessons which will teach you how to use Skype in your classroom and how to best use the website to create amazing learning experiences for your students.

Finding Mystery Skype connections is amazingly easy on the Skype in the Classroom Website.  First, create an account and log in. You can use your Skype or Microsoft ID to create your SITC account.  Be aware that, while they are connected to each other, your SITC account and your Skype account are different.

 

Next, Click on the “Mystery Skype” link on the top of the page (click on pictures to see them bigger).

On the next page, scroll down a bit and you will see a few different ways to connect with other teachers who are willing to Mystery Skype.  On the left side of the page, there are drop down menus that will allow you to narrow down the choices.  This is helpful because there are over 100,000 teachers and experts using the Skype in the Classroom website.  If you choose “United States” as the country you will have the option of narrowing your choices down by state as well. Clicking on any teacher’s name will take you to his/her profile where you can send him/her a message (see below).

My favorite way of searching for Mystery Skype connections on SITC is by using the map feature.  Above the drop down menus there is a blue button that says, “Search the Map.

The interactive map is very easy to use.  Simply move the map and zoom in/out on the location with which you are looking to connect.  Teachers and guest speakers in the area shown on the map will appear below.  Clicking on any of their names will take you to the teacher’s profile.  On this page you can see Skype in the Classroom lessons that he/she have created, lessons in which they’ve participated, and information about his/her class.  To contact the teacher to set up your Mystery Skype, click on the “Send a Message” link on the right side of the page.

In the message, make sure to introduce yourself, to list what classes and/or grades you teach, and to list a few times that you would like to connect.  I also like to include my email address and to have the teacher respond to me via email so that it is easier to keep track of our discussion.

Finding Connections on Twitter

Many educators use Twitter to learn from each other, share lesson ideas, and to set up collaborative projects for their students.  This is a great tool that can be used to find Mystery Skype connections as well.

To get the most out of Twitter, it is important to understand hashtags. Hashtags are used by people in their tweets as a way of curating posts into categories. For example, someone sending a tweet about a math lesson might put #mathchat in their post so that others who follow that hashtag can see it and respond.  Kindergarten teachers may use #kinderchat in their tweets, and principals may use #edadmin.  A rather comprehensive list ofeducational hashtags has been collected and published by Jerry Blumengarten. 

If you tweet out a request for a Mystery Skype using the correct hashtags, there is a good chance that another teacher will see it and respond to you. It’s always a good idea to put the age/grade of your students and any preferences you have in your post.  Since you only have 140 characters, feel free to use abbreviations like “Ss” for Students and “Ts” for teachers.  Make sure that you use one (or more) of the hashtags below in your 140 character post.

Some of the best hashtags to use when looking for Mystery Skype connections are:

•        #MysterySkype – Lots of teachers follow this hashtag and use it to connect.
•        #Skype2Learn – This hashtag is used for Mystery Skype as well as other types of Skype lessons.
•        #SkypeMT – Skype Master Teachers are experts at using Skype in education. Using this hashtag will let them see your request and help you find a connection.
•        #GlobalLearning – Teachers from around the world who connect their classrooms for global projects follow this hashtag.

A good tweet might look something like this:

Following the hashtags listed above is also a good idea if you are interested in using Skype in your classroom.  To follow a hashtag on Twitter, use the search feature at the top of the page. Type the hashtag you wish to follow in the search field.  Make sure to include the # at the beginning of the hashtag.

After you search for the hashtag you’d like to follow, click on “All” on the top of the page to see all tweets using that hashtag.  If you see a post to which you would like to respond, click on the arrow below the tweet.  This will allow you to tell the person that you are interested in connecting with him/her.

Building your professional network on Twitter will also make it easier for you to find connections.  When you see people who are tweeting about things that interest you, click on their name.  In their profile you will find a button which will allow you to follow them and see all of their tweets. Just as in real life, the more you interact with people, the more you will build relationships that lead to collaboration.

Use Your Other Social Media Networks to Find Connections

Many people think of Facebook as a place to share pictures with friends and family, but it can be a great tool for finding connections for your students.  It never hurts to ask for what you need from your network.  I’ve had a lot of success finding experts to connect with my students in this way.  It also can be a great way to find Mystery Skype contacts. 

Facebook groups also provide excellent opportunities for teachers to connect and learn from each other.  Some groups are public (anybody can join and contribute), and others are private (you must be invited).  If you do a search in Facebook for “Education”, you will see more than a thousand groups where educators are communicating and collaborating with each other. More specific searches such as “Mystery Skype” will give you less results, but may help you find a group that meets your needs.  Find a public group that looks interesting, and join to get involved. If you see a closed group that you would like join, you can send a request for membership. 

The Most Important Thing Is to Get Started

Trying something new is always a little scary. Setting up your first Mystery Skype is no different.  It’s natural to be nervous, especially when you know that another teacher will be seeing your class and any mistakes you make on camera.  Everyone feels that way when they start out, and for that reason, the communities of teachers on the Skype in the Classroom website, Twitter, and Facebook are usually happy to help you get started.  Don’t be afraid to tell the teacher(s) that you connect with that you are new to using Skype and may need some help. Teachers who are experienced at creating this type of learning experience become passionate about helping others do the same for their students.

Once you start using Mystery Skype as a learning tool with your students a new world of global learning will open up to you.  The possibilities really are limitless when you can bring other classes and amazing people into your classroom via Skype to help your students learn. You can see the reactions of teachers to the amazingexperiences their students have had on the SITC website.

There’s no time like right now to add your story to that list.  Go find your perfect Mystery Skype connection!