The seminars, part 2

And continuing ....

We facilitated each session in pairs, basically the lead teacher and support partner, but the other 2 were usually in attendance. With observations and our previous weeks together in April-May, our team seemed able to link methodology and vocabulary for the participants as we moved through the week. The 4 of us appeared in all possible combinations of nationalities and genders, hopefully conveying that our methods were applicable in different school settings and with different teaching styles. Over our many years, we 2 have received much advice from experts who had obviously not been where we were -- couldn't be much more obvious than here, where wazungu from the USA have obviously not been where the seminar participants are. John and Salome were great in making suggestions/connections to Tanzanian secondary school environments and challenges. Certainly our time sharing with them in April and May helped us be more aware and hopefully more realistic and believable.

Mike enjoys stirring the pot a bit by putting number and word challenges before the participants, sometimes containing a not-so-subtle message. Can always count on the math/science types to respond even if nothing is said until one is either successful at solving it or s/he is confident that a mistake must have been made by Mike -- and that has happened. This year my favorite is: 5 ___/___ X 20 ___/___ X 15 ___/___ X 2 ___/___ = # _____/_____ Followed by # ____/____ -:- 40 ___/___ = # ___/___. Mike Moshi solved the equations by figuring out the message: If you are 5 minutes late for each of your classes each week, you cheat your students out of 75 class periods in a year. We also challenged with some mnemonics (like HOMES for our Great Lakes, had them looking for combinations with countries in Africa, including those bordering TZ -- Mr. Tobias came up with a good sentence for that one. Below, Mike is challenging teachers to see applications beyond the obvious -- Venn diagrams can be used for more than math concepts, just as our acacia thorn was also good for a toothpick.

Of course no gathering worth mentioning, especially if it has Lutheran somewhere in it's name, could have been successful without good food to sustain the hard work. We broke for chai and lunch, but everyone worked until dinner at 6 PM, and more than half were working on lesson plans each evening until about 9. Love that long handled wooden spoon Rachel is using to stir the sauce for the meal's ugali (corn flour mixed with water). Most days were warm enough to eat under/around the banda, even if needed a jacket or sweater. Below is one participant helping us establish a new seminar practice, scraping and stacking plates after finished eating. Think the kitchen ladies appreciated Sharon's idea and Mike's encouraging everyone to participate in setting a new tradition.

Our experiences over our teaching years reinforces that:

1. it's hard to carry then sustain the enthusiasm and implement the new ideas of a seminar once back into the old environment, but technology has brought options of follow-up by texting and emailing that had not been here before.

and 2. we are excited to have some days in July to visit these pilot schools for continuing the professional development . We know that John and Salome will continue to do so after we leave.

Now it's time to look only ahead to next week's seminar and be certain that we are prepared and energized. Marieth Mlay (2001) will join in as a participant, then serve Mwangaza by giving feedback and being a mentor to the Enaboishu LSS team, her school.

Peace & love,

Mike and Sharon

The seminars, part 1

Dear Family and Friends,

"Why are you going to Tanzania?" "What are you going to do in Tanzania" were very frequent questions in the last months of '09 and the first few months of '10. And always we replied "To facilitate seminars for secondary teachers". Guess it's about time to send word(s), and a few pix of course, since last week was one of those "facilitating" weeks, with this week to assess that week and prepare for next week when 30+ teachers from a total of 8 schools will attend.

Since both the words and the pictures will be multiple, already know will take a couple of installments to complete and send this journal. If gets too many or too long, remember the location of your "delete" button.

The format and focus will be the same, with adaptations for coordinating a larger number (like dividing them into 2 groups and presenting some sessions to each instead of to the total group) and a few changes to improve some things we found in our surveys/assessment. Once again, we do know that Sunday evening through Saturday morning will be intense !

Mike teased John and Salome this afternoon with a few stories of superstitious athletes and coaches who will try to keep everything the same for the next game when have had an outstanding game. Since he feels good about the first week, doesn't want to take a chance on changing anything in our prepping, so will take off for Ketumbeine again Thursday afternoon. Wasn't his funniest joke and half the team voted a resounding "absolutely NO".

20 of 23 scheduled seminar participants arrived Sunday evening, with our team on hand to check folks in, assign rooms, note whether or not the pre-assigned lesson plan was finished, and to hand out the first assignment. Attendance can be an issue here and makes both planning and professional development follow-up challenging.

Enjoyed when one of those checking in mentioned that he must have been given the wrong homework sheet, as parts of his were highlighted -- had highlighted one every so often to bring forth the idea of adapting text. With his announcement, folks immediately began comparing sheets and interest in one of Monday morning's topics was off and running.

Each day began at 8 AM with Sala (Bible study), which in turn begins and ends with a hymn. With many familiar English names under the Swahili titles in the hymnal, reasonably easy for us to "sing" because all letters in Swahili words are pronounced. With great TZ voices singing in harmony and the Sala led in English, we are blessed each day before we are called upon to lead others. Mama Sharon, assisted with hymns by Salome, led Friday's Sala.

It is important to know your audience and ours was varied, with 5+ subject areas (+ b/c most teachers are prepared to teach a combination, such as math & physics), 5 schools, and experience ranging from 3 months to 25 years. Some had attended Mwangaza seminars in past years, including times when we were here, but those were focused more on specific content than methodology. From the beginning, we developed 3 different grouping configurations (school, content area, tables) and moved from one to another during each session, emphasizing expectations of grouping and student interactions providing opportunities for listening (to someone other than the teacher), speaking, writing, and reading. Notice Mr. David in the pink hat with his school colleagues on the left and with the math group on the right. Also had some teachers who have administrative duties, working side-by-side with the teachers they lead, in some of those group configurations.

Since expectations of Mwangaza's longitudinal grant focused on Form I students, which our "teaching language through teaching content" is now coordinated with, include regular measurement of progress and the keeping/interpreting of data, the participants were also introduced to and practiced using Microsoft EXCEL. Very challenging for several who have had no/little computer experience, and made more challenging by the age and status of Mwangaza's donated desktop computers. However, we observed some of the best partnering and teamwork between participants that have ever witnessed anywhere.

Even though holding only 512 mb of memory, flash drives donated by N IL Univ were very helpful and a big hit. We downloaded some power points for physics (very nice one on simple machines!) and math (notice favorites here?) so could be taken back to the small 6 - 18 computer labs at the schools and used even though some do not have internet connection. If you happen to have sites you really like for a content area, please send the info (site and specific content, please) and we will work on taking more flash drives filled with info to the schools when visit them in July.

Back soon with Installment 2

Peace & love,

Mike and Sharon

Quick and wonderful safari to Ketumbeine, part 2

This mountain is Pastor's home territory and all signs pointed to his being happy to be back and people glad to have him. He has been here about 2 months, with our understanding that he had been in Engoruka and the two pastors were exchanged. After leaving the first church, we stopped at Pastor's boma and had chai. Randy got the child's version of the 3-legged stool.

Then we were off to mountain congregation 2, who are in the 5th year of building a beautiful brick church while continuing to worship in a building which is leaning seriously downhill.

ELCA missionary Doctor Steve Friberg has helped this project move along by overseeing a couple of groups who have come to TZ wanting to do a project -- mixing cement by hand for a large floor area is a project not soon forgotten. Having been on the roads to this place, it is nearly impossible to imagine how bricks and cement were moved here.

Our last stop for the morning (now about 2:30 PM) was a couple of kilometers hike from a stick, rock, mud and cow dung building where we were welcomed by a youth choir. After receiving lunch back in the main village, we left for the congregation under the acacia tree, where we also were treated to beautiful music, goat meat BBQ, with acacia thorns for toothpicks.

Bethany Friberg, our great B&B hostess, introduced us to her ladies beading group. Sharon made some selections for those who have requested and some items for the N IL Synod Women. Bethany also shared the actual receipts and accounting of the Love Auction money First Lutheran had sent last year for famine relief. We were very impressed with the great job the Friberg's did in organizing through the evangelists and local leaders to find those most in need of nourishment. At one point in our conversations, Steve said "You need to share with people that, without those funds coming for food, our family would have left the area, because we were not prepared to stay and watch children and families starve to death." This from a man who has set up dispensaries and clinics way out in the bush, where people struggle to live on a daily basis.

Saturday morning gave us the opportunity to visit one more congregation, near a very large boma, which in this case was a settlement of many individual homes within the same thorn fence. Their old church is pictured in both the middle and right photos, with Randy, Marissa, and Sharon standing on the floor (which was only footings when you were there, Jack) of the church-to-be. The evangelist shared a very nice story of "community" here, as the boma's inhabitants and neighbors are mixed in their religious beliefs, but everyone has been invited and has gathered in the old church over the years for meetings and during rainy and cold weather, so the community is now looking forward to the new church being finished.

Took Mike 6 trips to TZ to get here; Sharon remembered well by church elders from her '03 visit; and both of us very grateful to Randy and Pastor Seth Sululu for making this trip possible.

Peace and Love,

Mike & Sharon

Quick and wonderful Ketumbeine safari, Part 1

Dear Family and Friends,

Luggage comfortably packed in the back? Seat belts on? Everyone have plenty of elbow room? Hope you enjoyed that moment, because in TZ there are no such "road trips". Starting with only 8, we stopped at an Evangelists' school and added several more. Randy Stubbs showed many skills that we folks from First did not know he had, including securing luggage for cross-country trips which are literally "across country" !

Once arrived at Ketumbeine, Pastor Lukoja (sp?) used maps to orient us to our travels to and around his parish, which now has 21 congregations. To give you a bit of an idea where we are/were: Mt. Meru/Mwangaza are just to the right of his knuckle, with Arusha under it. The heavy black line is the border with Kenya, and Mt. Kilimanjaro is the arrowhead sitting in the upper middle of the white area still in TZ. Pastor is pointing at Longido, where we left the highway heading southwest (left) to Ketumbeine. If you are wondering why we didn't just drive northwest from Arusha to Ketumbeine, please look closely for the road -- as there is none. As is was, most of the "main" road from Longido looks like the section below.



On our way up Ketumbeine Mountain to visit our first congregation outside the actual village of Ketumbeine (remember the road picture from the "transition" email?), we passed this water project, with water piped from a spring to a central location at this elevation. Once nearing the first church, we had this view of the office-to-be, the church roof beyond, and the valley we had just left beyond that. Quite the contrast when looking past the church in the other direction, to the top of the mountain still covered by mist.


Part 2 to follow soon.
Mike

Deo Gratias Mlay's First Communion

Dear Family & Friends,

Seems like months, not weeks, since the first Sunday of this month of June, b/c of the many "happenin's" in the 12 days since. Will try to catch up with a trio of journalings, while Sharon will add another from a special day with Mary E. Laiser and Women Leaders of the Diocese.

We looked forward to June 6th b/c we were to be part of the Mlay family in the celebration of Deo Gratias' 1st Communion. Deo is actually the son of Festo's youngest brother who died, along with Deo's mother, several years ago. Marieth and Festo adopted Deo and older sister, Jackie, as there "... is always room for one, make that 2, more... " in Tanzania, and when it is family, there is no limit.

Sharon prepared bread, making 4 loaves which we backpacked, along with the butter, 'cross country (remember the infamous bridge from an earlier letter?) to arrive in time, with the chickens, for breakfast tea church.

Deo was dressed and ready for his special day, as 'tis a big deal and many extended family members and friends were expected.

Some, however, would stay behind and begin the cooking while the rest of us were at church -- for 4 hours!!! Told you, it is a big deal !!

After the procession b/4 church, the service and long sermon, a second procession to bless the grounds, school, church office, another building, back to church for the first offering, communion for the 1st timers, then the rest of us, then the second offering, then the introduction and speeches of the class leaders, then the introduction of each first communicant, (then Sharon waking Mike), and all this time with some 2,000 people in and around a church with 800 seated on benches meant for 400, we were found outside by Marieth ("You must have been hiding, for you do not exactly look like everyone else!") and headed back to their home.

There we joined many friends and relatives, including relatives of Martin Msseemmaa and Festo's mother joining Bahati with Vickie, the newest of the Mlay clan. Couldn't get Marieth to stand still long enough to get 4 generations of family, so settled for these 3 together.

Because Mama was seeing to the food, here being stirred and seasoned by her sister -- pots full of chicken pieces, green bananas in stew, cole slaw, etc. We two were needed to speak English with a number of Marieth's students who had volunteered to help by cutting up fruit and veggies. Mike took one picture of them, showed the picture, and basically lost the camera for the next hour.

After a short walk, we did arrive at the festivities hall, where Deo and friend were the celebrities of the day. Here Mama and Baba are the first to dance forward and deliver a gift -- this may be the part of the day that Deo liked best !! We were able to get such a close-up picture b/c they surprised us greatly with an introduction of Deo's Bebe (Grandmother) and Grandfather from the United States, then moved us to the "high table", just to the right of the "head table". As if we wazungu were not noticed b/4, we were now seated in front of and facing the rest of the guests.

But, as often happens in TZ when 2 events are scheduled for the same day, the first is nowhere near finished when the second is already overdue. Since our 2nd happened to be dinner with the Bishop, with whom Sharon had done well to negotiate a 7 PM dinner from his 2 PM invitation, we joined the food line just behind Deo and family, then begged forgiveness and slipped out the back door. On the way to meet the Bishop, Mike did mention to Sharon that his last bite had been at breakfast, so he was going to hold the Bishop to his offer of a nice DINNER meeting.

And that it was, with Mary E. serving as our chauffeur and dinner companion and Bishop sharing as socially as we can remember -- over very good food. He even followed up by bringing his wife to get re-acquainted at Mwangaza the next afternoon. It took a bit for Mrs. Laiser to sort out exactly whom she remembered from DeKalb, but memories did come back to her when prompted by names and years she was there or you were here, and she sends her "Greetings" to all.

In each of our TZ visits, we have been honored by those here with whom we have shared personally and by others who recognize us as being the representatives for yourselves and so many others. Sometimes the lines between those positions are hard to discern.

Hope this email does not overwhelm your machines with so many pictures. Much easier to share 10 visuals than write the 10,000 words needed to match their "worth".

Peace & love,

Mike & Sharon

Holy transition, Batman!

Dear Friends & Family,

Perhaps next week we will have some time to reflect and tell stories, as the stories seem to be mounting up but the time to write and tell is less and less. However, most of you know that, for a cold beverage, Mike will stop by and talk your leg off once we return home -- actually, he will do it for nothing, but a cold beverage certainly sounds good this evening.

But, since Mike is responsible for the " first act" tomorrow morning, will write a few words of captions to try capturing a bit of the parameters of our Wednesday through Monday transitions:

Spent the whole afternoon, with John and Salome putting in "overtime" Wednesday, reviewing together to see that all pieces were set to be in place for the seminar.


Then off to Ketumbeine, where we encountered interesting "roads" going up the mountain (Sharon's comment: "We have to come down this road also?!")




And interesting "no roads" to the Congregation under the acacia tree. Then joined them for a bit of dancing and eating goat!



But back in time to welcome our seminar participants with a very busy, and we hope fulfilling day. Made our day when one young man said "If I could make my classes go as quickly as this day went, no students would fail." Now we feel even more challenged to mentor them into getting students much more involved in the learning process.




Thanks much for keeping the prayers coming this way,

Peace & Love,

Mike & Sharon

Ready, set, be back Sunday!

Dear Family and Friends,

So much happening so quickly now, with our first group of seminar participants arriving Sunday evening so we can be officially opening the week at 8 AM Monday. Our team spent the afternoon yesterday going over the schedule, step-by-step, looking to be certain that we had the shared responsibilities covered by one or another, quickly summarizing our lesson plans for each of the seminar sessions, even planning some homework and a few puzzle challenges for our participants. We believe they will "get their money's worth" from this week if they come open for some new perspectives and ready to work hard.

We leave this afternoon with Randy Stubbs, Pastor Seth Sululu, spouse and son, a Finnish teacher, and "there's always room for one more" in Tanzania, so ... for Ketumbeine, our Companion Congregation. Will return Saturday evening, rest well, and occupy Sunday with last minute preps before participants arrive.

Will write when able about last Sunday, when we shared Deo Gratias' First Communion with the Mlay family.

Meanwhile, Peace & Love,

Mike & Sharon

Week 6: May 30 – June 5

Dear Friends and Family,

We will have quite the "day of rest" today, as have been invited to share in the Tanzanian branch of our family tree, Marieth & Festo Mlay's family, plus quite a group of extended family and friends, celebration of Deo Gratias Mlay's First Communion. Deo's Father (Festo's brother) died several years ago, so Deo & Jackie were adopted by Festo and Marieth.

Adding to the "rest" (pun intended) of the day, Bishop Laiser discovered that we are in TZ and has invited us for tomorrow's evening meal. In 2001, we told the Bishop "Sorry, we can't because we already have a commitment" and found that our commitment had been rescheduled by the time we landed. So this time, we just said "Thanks, we'd love to join you."

Since we will soon be in the midst of seminars, thought would summarize again why we came to TZ this year. In earlier emails/journals, you have received pictures and stories from off campus, but much has been happening on Mwangaza's grounds also.

Most of our first month on campus was invested in mentoring and being mentored by Mwangaza's Program Coordinators, John Kavishe and Salome Lally. We brought to them the research and best teaching practices of Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (SIOP). By sharing their professional experiences and providing opportunities for visiting secondary schools, they have brought us much closer to understanding the numerous challenges in Tanzania's educational environment, including poverty in families and shortages of teachers. Our focus this year: addressing the language gap for Form 1 students who enter high school, with limited English as their 2nd or 3rd language, and immediately take all classes and tests in English.

One of the most remarkable factors of this year has been the meeting of paths that were unknowingly parallel for several months on different continents. Dr. Shoonie, John and Salome had developed a 2.5 year Intervention plan for 5 Lutheran Secondary Schools in the Arusha region whose students had not scored well on 2009's National Exams. As Sharon and I began specific planning of timelines, goals, and objectives for our educational safari, our communications with Mwangaza leadership brought to light the similarities of our preparations and the Intervention already in action. With Global Missions approval of Mwangaza's Intervention Grant Proposal and the generosity of many of our family members and friends, 2 weeks of seminars, with texts and materials supplied for 60 teachers from 13 schools, will take place in June-July. By the time we landed at Kilimanjaro, our separate paths had become 2 side-by-side lanes of the same highway.

Entering June, our team is now very busy planning the 2 one-week seminars for secondary teachers, developing very interactive sessions in which we will model and demonstrate how learning can be enhanced through a methodology known as SIOP, teaching language through the teaching of the subject area content. Teachers can scaffold content, and the processes of learning it, just as fundis (Tanzanian craftsmen) scaffold a wall, and the process of building.

Once the student, or wall, is capable of standing on his/its own, the scaffolding may be removed. Unlike buildings, students have the advantage of being able to scaffold themselves, that is, learning how to learn. We will be demonstrating, to the seminar participants, methods to guide their students to turning the teachers' scaffolding into the students' personal learning strategies which can be generalized to different content areas and learning situations. A USA geography teacher, in a lesson about fresh water lakes, might require students to name the 5 Great Lakes. Many teachers have taught the mnemonic "HOMES" specifically to address this one question. If the teachers went one step beyond, and taught how to use mnemonics, then "METAL" might be applied to name the African countries on the Mediterranean Sea. After claiming this scaffold as a strategy, the students might develop a reminder of the "order of operations" in math, or likewise for the steps to classification of plants in biology, refugees from countries bordering Tanzania in history, etc....

Good professional development is never finished after one week, so we are working on the job description and budgetary requirement to provide a full-time "coach/coordinator" for the teams of seminar graduates once they return to their respective schools. We would love the opportunity to mentor a coach before our July 25th date for returning home. With regular visits, on-going encouragement and training from the Coach, plus the support and expertise of John and Salome, this years' seminar alumni could be well equipped to bring about significant changes in the learning, testing results, and lives of their students.

And IF such successful changes do occur at the Pilot Schools, then the end of the next 2.5 years, December 2012, could be the beginning of other schools asking "What about us?" Don't you just love it when folks ask questions?

Peace & Love,

Mike & Sharon

PS. Not trying to write a fund raising letter, so only read below if you are curious about the proposed costs:

Including salary, travel/visits to the schools, and materials, costs to employ a well qualified person to do a good job of "coaching" are about $24/day, $720/month, $21,600 for 2.5 years (to be in coordination with the timeline of the other Intervention Plan).

Week 5: The bakery is open

Dear Family and Friends,

Of course no one will be surprised that Sharon's cooking has made an impression.

Thursday the Mwangaza ladies put their heads, hearts, and hands together and provided quite the treat for the staff, who later pulled numbers from Andrea's straw hat to find the order of choosing the loaf to take home. (Can you tell he was very happy to have drawn the #1 choice?!!)

Another loaf was divided between the evenings' watchmen. You may find the recipe below, and please note: the dough may be kept in the frig for up to 2 weeks, removing enough to bake a nice loaf as desired. We wazungu have certainly enjoyed the option of fresh bread vs the disintegrating before your eyes sliced bread options.

Of course, all this was happening around and between team meetings regarding 1. the seminar objectives and 2. the potential "intervention" position, job description and possible applicants, the tech wizard working to eliminate the recent virus issues in the computers, the fundi painting the bathroom, the Head of the 5th pilot school stopping by, etc.







Peace & Love,

Mike (Sharon wouldn't have let me brag about her if I had let her read this one first)


The master recipe:Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2tbsp granulated yeast (1 1/2 packages)
1 1/2tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all purpose white flour

Boule =ball in French

1. Heat water to just about 100 F
2. Add yeast and salt to water. Don't worry about it dissolving.
3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping up flour and leveling the top of the measuring cup w/a knife; don't pat down. Use wooden spoon. Don't knead, but can use very wet hands to mix and press together. This is done in minutes and yields a wet dough loose enough to conform to the container.
4. Cover loosely. Allow the mixture to rise at room temp until it begins to collapse, apporoximately 2 hours. Longer rising times, up to 5 hrs, will not harm the result. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Refrigerated dough easier to manipulate. Recommend refrigerating at least 3 hours before shaping.
5. on baking day prepare a pizza peel by sprinking it liberally with cornmeal to prenvent loaf froms ticking. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then cut off a 1lb (grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom of 4 sides rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom is a collection fo four bunched ends.
6. Place the ball on the pizza peel. let it rest uncovered for about 40 min.
7. before baking, preheat oven to 450F
8. dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing, serrated knife to pass without sticking. Slash1/4 inch deep cross. This helps the bread expand during baking.
9. Put in oven and quickly but carefully pour about a cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch. With wet dough, there's little risk of drying out the interior, despite the dark crust. Cool completely on a wire rack.
10. Store rest of dough up to 2 weeks in fridge. (not air tight container)

Annemarie's personal experiences:
I made sandwiches with it. For the pizza you start at #5 but don't let it rest and roll it out. I think you could just press to flatten too. I put cut up canned tomatoes for sauce and then add veggies and meat and cheese on top. Cook for 10 + minutes. I baked for almost 20 I think. Could be a change for you. I think I also added oregano etc. It says press to 1/8 inch.

I don't have a pizza peel or a baking stone. I just cooked on a baking sheet that I had put cornmeal on. My bread did stick a little to bottom.