I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own

Bob commented awhile ago that he never thought that his first teaching experience would be in Africa. Well, I never really thought of having teaching experience period, let alone in Africa. But here I find myself teaching biology to a group of eager minds ready to be molded. Do I have the proper qualifications to teach? No. Do I posses the proper skills and mindset of a teacher? Probably not. Yet the Lord has placed me here and has put these young men in front of me who wish to learn what I have to offer them, so darn it all if I will fail them now!

If nothing else can be said, then at least I am tenacious. I have obtained a textbook from the school so I can study in between classes and prepare (because I haven’t even taken a biology class in over a year and a half). I have also realized how much we take for granted and don’t even think about back home. For example, since my students don’t have a textbook to follow along in, I have to draw any diagrams or pictures on the chalkboard that I think would benefit them (which is pretty much all of them). On Wednesday I went over an hour early to class in order to draw the appropriate diagrams on the board and not waste the student’s time drawing them during class. So at least by the end of this summer my art skills will have improved.

I teach three biology classes a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. My class ranges from men who have taken a few classes of biology to some who have never taken a class before. Needless to say I am starting from the basics. I have gone over basic cell structure and growth, DNA structure and replication, and now I will go into a basic introduction to genetics (this may not be the next step in a real intro class, but I know genetics pretty well so I feel I can teach this better than some other topics).

It seems that they understand what I am teaching. They don’t ask too many questions at least. Rachel told me, however, that when she started teaching at the school she was also amazed at how well behaved and attentive her students were. Then in a mid-semester evaluation the students commented that they couldn’t understand a word that she was saying. Hopefully this is not the case here, not entirely at least. But I figure that even if they manage to get the most basic concepts out of what I am teaching them I have done my job.

I am trying to think of ways to be creative though, maybe with some labs or field trips. Because what better place to study biology than in Africa! My dream is to make my class like the Mythbusters, but lack of supplies (and proper knowledge of physics on my part) has stifled this dream so far. But I promise you that we will make something explode by the end of the summer…if only I could get my hands on some Diet Coke and Mentos.

-Dan
written 06/24/11