Zac Chase's Blog (10)

I went to the SuperSpar today.…

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I petted a cheetah today. It came and laid itself down in front of us and our guide said we could come over and pet it.…

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I’m imagining this to be easier to write given the lack of Internet connectivity. After three days of travel, we’ve arrived a Gonubie, Eastern Cape, South Africa.…

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Cross-posted at Autodizactic.com



29 July 09



One of the benefits of our schedule here in Mbita has been the chance to visit and speak with teachers and learners before our workshops begin.



Wednesday, we made our visit official with an introduction to John Ololtuaa the District Education Officer (DEO) for the Suba School District.



Ololtuaa lines up nicely with his counterparts in the States.… Continue

Cross-posted at Autodizactic.com



30 August 09



“When I go home and walk down the street, people treat me like a traitor. They say, ‘Why did you betray us and abandon the normal students.”

- Benedict, Special Education Teacher

Obalwanda Special School for the Mentally Handicapped

Mbita, Kenya

In Kenya, according to Mama Jane, it’s not uncommon for someone to answer an inquiry as to what her… Continue

Cross-posted at Autodizactic.com



05 August 09



When Dan Otedo was talking to our team about what he’d like us to do whilst we’re here working with teachers from Suba, he said, “Inspire us.”



No small order.



We’ve attempted to include some sort of “wowza” factor each day using a tool that’s within reach to the teachers here. To put “within reach” into perspective, on the news last night, it was… Continue

Cross-posted at Autodizactic.com



4 August 09



Part of working with 45 teachers on ICT skills when you’ve only 11 computers available to you is the fact that not everyone can be on a computer all the time.



As such, my lot this week has been to perform as song and dance man attempting to make pedagogy sexy.



A few summers ago, I had the illustrious task of making data sexy for a conference… Continue

Cross-posted at Autodizactic.com



6 August 09



So tired today. It may be the teaching of backward design. It may be the fact that I made the mistake of wearing long pants and the room I was teaching in had no air flow to speak of. It may be any number of things. My money is on the idea that we’ve been going for about 5 weeks now and there are bound to be days that are more difficult than others.



Today… Continue

(cross-posted from http://autodizactic.com)



As promised, I’ve been working on processing the first few days of our time here in CPT.



Here’s a thing that struck me. It struck me strongly and quickly. On our tour of Langa Township, our guide Khonaye commented on the children running around. “You’ll notice they’re everywhere,” he said. “Children here will play 5, 6 blocks away from their homes without danger.”



They don’t… Continue