Boats and rain, do I sense a water theme?

Nov5

Over the last two days, I have had so much fun teaching my classes and doing a training at a local school. For the US Fulbright Scholar grants, different countries have different sets of responsibilities: some are teaching grants, some are research grants, and some countries expect scholars to do both teaching and research. All Tanzanian Fulbright US Scholar grants are both teaching and research grants and I am very happy about this. Because in my regular position as a professor, I do research, teaching, and service, I am happy to have the opportunity to do all three here as well. In terms of service, I hope to have some small role in building the capacity of teachers and teacher educators during my time in Zanzibar.

I am teaching two classes this semester: Teaching Science and Mathematics in Early Childhood Education and Observation and Reflection. Observation and Reflection is similar to a pre-practicum or a field experience class. The students spend some time in the seminar with me and some observing in schools. Of course, several of the students are currently teachers in schools, some at the pre-primary level. Because I have the same 30 students in my two classes, I can link content and really get to know my students.

As part of my science class, I wanted to start the semester focusing on inquiry skills and thinking of ways to incorporate open and focused explorations into lessons. I wanted them thinking about how to teach children the necessary content for exams through fun investigations and explorations. I have been fortunate over the past few years to work with great colleagues who are science educators and who taught me so much about how to design and implement inquiry in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). In January, I had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to explore the state of primary science in these countries and look at where inquiry fit in the current curricula of these countries. I am grateful to Arthur and Marilyn for including me on this journey. Visiting classrooms, watching science, and talking to science teachers during that trip impacted how I designed my class to help find the connection between the content-focused curriculum and inquiry skills and problem solving.

Materials and tested boats

From the beginning, I wanted the students to play and try an exploration just like the children will do. I reviewed some of the units from the African Primary Science Program that we explored as part of our trip to the three East African countries. These units contained some fun activities that used local materials that are cheap or free and easy to obtain. On Friday, I decided to take one of the activities from the Sinking and Floating unit and modify it for preschool age children. The activity was called Boats and Passengers. The students designed and build a boat in groups out of newspaper.

One group’s boat

We then floated the boats in a bowl of water and we added passengers (our bottle caps). In the original activity, they used metal bottle caps which are heavier, but I could only get plastic caps from our water bottles.

Since we needed to add more weight or passengers, but I ran out of bottle caps, so we added the plastic toy I had from a previous activity.

Adding the plastic piece capsized the passengers

The students had a lot of fun and I really enjoyed seeing them strategize how to put the passengers in the boat, analyze the different boats they saw groups make and test, and play with each other.

Today, I did a training at a school. It was exciting to see teachers so eager to learn and who were willing to come on a Saturday and listen to me. We discussed co-teaching and using Bloom’s Taxonomy to write objectives and plan lessons. We also discussed some classroom management techniques. Plus, this is the first training I have ever done in bare feet. The teachers were sitting on the floor on grass mats in front of the blackboard and it is customary to remove your shoes when on the grass mats. It was very comfortable. I might try teaching barefoot more often.

It is very rainy here now and the rains are very heavy, but only for 15-60 minutes as a time. The way the water pools and flows down the street is amazing. Keith had written on his blog a few weeks ago that we need to follow the locals regarding the rain and do what they do. We failed to do that today, yet again. We thought that we could get home before the rain got bad as it was only about 10 minutes away. We were wrong. When we saw we were the only people walking down the street, we should have taken it as a sign. We kept walking and ended up soaking wet, and we were still 5 minutes from home. When we got home, our clothes were soaked through and literally dripping water everywhere. Next time, we will get dessert or a drink and wait it out for 20 minutes.

Here is a video of the rain from during our lunch. This was the first downpour of the day. We got wet in the second one.

Thoughts on ethnography in the social media age and some pictures

Nov1

It is hard to believe that it is already November. First, that would mean that I am already over six weeks into my Fulbright and data collection has not really commenced. Second, it is nice and warm here, which I associate with summer, not fall, especially after living in the Boston area for the last six years. But, I am not complaining. I remind myself when I get hot of the wonderful opportunity and the beach sunsets and rooftop water views.

View from Rooftop restaurant at Jefferji House

View from Rooftop restaurant at Jafferji House

Next year I can be cold again, although I have seen that it is currently unseasonably warm in the Midwest and Northeast.
In the week or so since I last wrote a blog entry, I have visited schools to set up contact with principals and get permission to be in schools and classrooms to start my research. I have organized with one school to do a training this weekend as part as of the cooperative relationship that I want to create with schools. I have also started teaching in the last week at the university.
Keith also started teaching and I encourage you to read his blog entries from the last week (www.kamacdonaldphoto.com) to learn whether I am being replaced or not and about his teaching experiences.
My class size is similar to the classes I teach in the US at 30 students, which I am thankful for, because I know that some classes in the university are 100 or 300. My students are also similar to my students at UMass Boston in that they are mostly working in the field of education and teaching in schools in some capacity, some as early childhood teachers. Some also work with early childhood students as well as other levels because even at the younger grades, students specialize in teaching subjects so my students may teach Arabic or Science to children from preschool to grade 2.
As I started to think about how to blog about my research and my time here, the personal stuff was easy, but I realized that the research aspects were different. When I did my dissertation research and was conducting an ethnography, I did not have a blog in 2008-2009. More recently, I have been volunteering with a project in Moshi that I blog about a lot when I am there, but this project is partially service to the field and the project specifically and partially research. I rarely discuss the specific aspects of the research, but frequently discuss the environment and the service aspect. But, that is not an ethnographic project. That is a mixed methods research study with a heavy focus on the quantitative assessment data. The blog entries represented a very different lens than both the qualitative and quantitative data.
An ethnography is different. I am realizing that while I want to share aspects of my experience in preschools, I need to be very careful, both for ethical reasons and research credibility reasons, what I put up on the blog. I am developing a trust with my collaborators and participants and I am following a process. The making meaning of data does not happen instantaneously, like numbers being entered into a spreadsheet and an analysis run, the meaning grows and develops as I record data, discuss with participants, rewrite ideas, discuss again, attempt to triangulate with other sources and member checks, and then draw shared conclusions about the lived experiences of teachers and children in these classrooms. While I could write my notes each day and code them and write memos with conclusions or ideas about the meaning, it is not a complex, descriptive understanding of the given events or lessons without feedback and input from the teachers and other community members. As the title of my research states, I am studying “teacher decision-making.” I can’t evaluate teacher decision making about any aspect of the lesson or environment or their actions, without asking them questions and listening to their perspectives.
So, as part of telling the story of teachers and children in Zanzibari preschools, I will be limiting what I share here about research and it may be somewhat superficial, until I have had time to process and make meaning with my participants and can offer a shared understanding of what I am learning and not just my initial observations. I want to be open to the research process and to developing ideas organically and not assuming that because I wrote it down in a blog it is the correct explanation.
I can offer a simple example by just telling you what I saw in one class, where I am not doing research. The children were learning about the colors of the Tanzanian flag. During this lesson, the children talked about the colors of the flag, how to write and spell the names of the colors, and the meaning of the different colors. For example, green represents the plants and vegetation and yellow represents the gold and minerals present in the country. In addition to discussing the colors, the children also sang a patriotic song that I had heard before and the National Anthem. For this lesson, I can ask the teacher about the goals of the lesson and the decisions on how to present the colors and the meanings, but I also want to know more about the songs and why they are important. The children knew all the words to the songs and sang loudly, even though they were young. Where do they learn them and when? Why is it important to teach this information? I have many questions beyond these that help me to understand the social context of this lesson and the meaning making that is happening for the children and teachers. If I were including this classroom, I would want to know more about these ideas and more. But, I also would not want to present an incomplete picture, either just my classroom observation or my own impressions. Of course, my impressions and thoughts are part of the ethnographic process and will be incorporated into memos in my research file, but again, each piece is only part of the story. For a metaphor, I like to think of each piece as a sentence in the story. I may have five or six sentences that are part of the story but do not connect. I have some idea of the story, but it doesn’t yet make sense. As I ask more questions, gather more data, and incorporate the perspectives of participants and collaborators, they each give me a sentence in the story and tell me where it fits, so that in the end I have a beautiful story that makes sense and shares something significant and meaningful to all of us.

Mchuzi, makande, na wali (a meat stew) with some beans and rice. My lunch at SUZA on Friday. It was tasty.

If you are still with me, I offer you a selection of pictures from my personal adventures in the last week.

The sunrise I saw from my balcony when I got up for work last week.

A new appreciation for Part-time faculty and the end of tourist time

Oct22

It has been awhile since I posted on the blog, but that is because we have been busy doing lots of things and getting ready for the semester to start. Some are more touristy-type things and some were just routine things to move the work forward. We have also enjoyed meeting new people from different organizations over the last few weeks.

An appetizer I enjoyed last weekend during the Stone Town Food Festival (aka restaurant weekend)

On the touristy side (I don’t want to say more fun side because the research pieces have also been fun), we spent last weekend with our friend Caroline who was visiting from Dar es Salaam. She and her husband were our closest friends when we lived in Lushoto in 2008-2009 and we spent a lot of time with them and their family then. She came to Zanzibar for work and we got to learn more about what she is doing now and some organizations that she is involved with. In Lushoto, she also worked at the Rainbow School where I did my dissertation, but she worked with the Outreach Program. Now, she is in Dar again working with the Lutheran Diocese and starting a new vocational training center for youth with disabilities to provide job skills and employment opportunities. She came to Zanzibar with a group of Germans who were filming projects in this area for a documentary. I will share more on the projects and activities in my next entry. We did have a lot of fun meeting new people and learning more about the work of the German film crew. One of the men was a freelance journalist and another was a photographer and videographer, so Keith very much enjoyed talking about photography and media with them.

Vegetable platter with hummus, pesto, and babaghanoush and calamari

We also tried a another restaurant here for the first time this week, La Taperia, with tapas and sandwiches and the food was outstanding. The calamari was so fresh and delicious. And we bought mangos and watermelon and I carved them for snacks. Since I normally buy the pre-cut fruit in the supermarket, I found this to be quite an accomplishment, especially because I didn’t waste much due to my poor cutting skills.

A potato and cheese tapa with ham

And this week, I finally got started on my research. I went to visit six prospective schools that are all within walking distance of our house. Right now, I don’t have any new pictures of the schools, because I was just doing the meet and greet with principals and school leaders to get permission for my research. Everyone was very welcoming and my colleague who escorted me and introduced me to teachers and principals was very helpful. As we find in Boston, he also knew teachers at several of the schools, either through a personal connection or mostly because teachers were also students in the SUZA education programs. Each of these schools are different, but all have preschool classes (ages 4-6 here), but some are also primary schools. They represent the three different types of preschool programs: government, community-based Madrasa, and private schools. I was very grateful to my colleagues at SUZA for their work in getting me my government research permit. It was interesting to see how important that document was for entry, but also how that document allowed access and cooperation with my approved research topic and methodologies. When I am done with my research, I also have to provide reports to the government and follow all the guidelines, but that is also part of the exchange of ideas and I welcome the feedback from the government on my findings.

Tunguu campus

Yesterday, I went to the university campus in Tunguu where I will be teaching for this school year and participated in the orientation for new students in the early childhood, inclusive education, and physical education diploma programs. The pictures below of the orientation were taken by my colleague Umayra Said.

Faculty waiting for the presentations to start

A faculty member explaining the programs

Students listening to the orientation presentation and asking questions

I also received an office and found the classroom where I will be teaching one of my classes.

My office

The view outside from my office window

In the last few weeks, I have gained a new appreciation for what it is like to be an adjunct or part-time faculty member. For the last five and a half years in my position at UMass Boston, I have been a program director and in charge of schedules, information, syllabi, and other details. Although I also had to learn the system there, I have spent most of my time being the person who gave information and answered the questions from part-time faculty and addressed issues. Everyone here has been very welcoming and helpful, but sometimes I didn’t realize that I had a question or needed something until I was trying to address a problem and I needed assistance here to solve it. I am not in charge. I don’t mind that, but then I am dependent on others as our adjunct faculty are on myself and the other program directors to help them on all kinds of issues like how can I get a site for putting up links and documents, where do I print and copy things, and how do I get a projector for my classroom? We have some of the same scheduling issues to deal with here with times and rooms, but on Monday classes will start and learning will commence. This year on Facebook, my colleague Kristin Murphy, talked about the new semester excitement and jitters that she feels every time even though she has been doing it awhile. I am feeling that excitement and the jitters for my next week, but I can’t wait for this new adventure.

One of my classrooms

The student view in my classroom

Once a teacher, always a teacher, even on the beach

Oct8

This evening we decided to walk to the gelato store and then take a stroll on the beach to watch the sunset. It is a very busy beach in Stone Town on a Saturday night, with many local Zanzibaris enjoying swimming, sand, and strolling. Keith and I were strolling and stopped occasionally for him to take different pictures of the sunset, people, and the different activities. As we were walking, two boys came up to us and explained that they were students and trying to learn English and wanted to talk to us in English to practice and to get advice on what to do to better learn English. We explained that we were both working at the university and Keith would be teaching English and had taught English in Tanzania in the past. We had an interesting conversation for about 20 minutes. During the conversation, Keith mentioned that I spoke Swahili and the boys asked me what was hard about learning Swahili and what I did to improve. We talked about listening to the news and reading English and speaking in English even when speaking in Swahili was easier. At the end of the conversation, they asked me to show them my Swahili and explained what I did and taught and the types of children and teachers I work with in Swahili. I think they were impressed.

Keith caught this photo of me speaking to our group that grew throughout the conversation.

Finding Nemo, Dory, and their friends and family

Oct6

Yes, I did see Nemo and Marlin and Dory and lots of their friends and relatives. And, yes, I successfully completed my Open Water Dive certification. My course was divided into three sections: 1) e-learning, 2) the pool sessions, and 3) 4 open water dives. I would highly recommend this method to people who have good internet or tablet access and like to learn on your own with self-quizzing. I was able to do the initial studying on my tablet and then connected to the internet to take the quizzes and final exam. In fact, I did some of the reading before I left and then more on the plane. After settling in here in Zanzibar, I spent three days finishing the practical side. I practiced skills in the pool for several hours on day one here and then spent the final two days doing my open water dives in the beautiful Indian Ocean off the coast of Zanzibar.

Our boat for scuba diving and snorkeling

On both days in the ocean, we were a mixed group of divers and snorkelers. I met about 20 new people over the two days from all over the world including Kenya, South Africa, Australia, France, Norway, the US, and other countries I do not remember. As I said yesterday, I had a fantastic experience with my instructor and the dive shop.

A group of excited divers and snorkelers

On both days, we went to the same two sites, Bawe Island and The Great Northern. Both have reefs and at Great Northern there are remains of a shipwreck from about 150 years ago.

Image Courtesy of One Ocean Dive Centre, Zanzibar

Here are the boat coordinates at The Great Northern when we stopped to dive.

Between dives, we relaxed on the boat.

I was really happy to finish my first dive, because it was the dive of the day where I had to show that I could do my final set of skills. The first skill required me to simulate a controlled ascent from 6 meters (20 feet) or less when I had run out of air. In this case, you do a controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA). In this situation, you ascend in a slow controlled manner on a single exhale. I was ecstatic that I was relaxed enough to complete the skill successfully on my first try. The other tricky skill for me was using a compass to navigate. Luckily I didn’t have to go very far and it was in a straight line and back straight to my starting point.

Stone Town in the distance while relaxing at the Great Northern dive site.

Anyone who knows me knows that directions and navigation are not my strengths. The final skill was taking my mask off completely and replacing it and clearing it, which is uncomfortable because the salt water stings my contacts, but a skill I can do well.

The beautiful water by the Great Northern site

I got to see so many cool underwater fish and creatures such as angel fish as big as a plate, sea cucumbers, clams, moray eels, baby clown fish swimming in and out of the anemone, lion fish, trigger fish, pipefish, and many more.

Here is a little video of the boat in motion on the way to Bawe Island.

The Sunset and walking advertisements

Oct5

We have been enjoying ourselves in Stone Town and found out today that this Friday, I will go to the government offices to do the final processing for my research permit. We are making progress and this is very exciting.

Most days, we eat out at lunch, but are home around dinner time. It is very popular here as a tourist to sit and watch the sun set and enjoy drinks and dinner. The picture below I took last summer when I was here.

A Stone Town sunset

Because so many people want to take a picture of the sunset, it can be difficult at times to get the picture and see the sunset.

A crowded shot

Last night, we sat at this nice restaurant and ate fresh tuna and kingfish and enjoyed the view. The tables are on the beach and my toes were nestled in the sand. If you want to shop, there is no need to get up, the merchants come to you. Keith said that we have our passing advertisements as we eat.

We did experience a little bit of illness over the weekend, but we have recovered and I started my scuba open water course on Tuesday to be certified again. I knew that I wanted to take advantage of the amazing diving in Zanzibar when I found out that we were going to be living here. Twenty years ago when I was fortunate enough to live in Saudi Arabia with my parents, I was scuba certified and went on an amazing trip to the Red Sea for diving. But, since we left Saudi Arabia, I have only snorkeled and not participated in scuba. Given the length of time and changes in technology since I last did it, I wanted to do the course over again and am really glad that I did. I have had a wonderful instructor, Boko, at the One Ocean Dive Centre in Stone Town and the owner and staff have all been helpful and encouraging. Tomorrow or Friday I will post some pictures and information about my dive trips, but here is a teaser picture.

On the dive boat on the way to the first dive site

Settling in to our new home

Sep27

Yesterday, I was walking to the back of my apartment to get a bottle of water and it suddenly dawned on me that I live here. Not just that I live in this apartment, but that for the next 10 months of my life, we will be living in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Of course I planned to live here and I actively sought a grant and housing and other things to make it possible, but it was a strange moment to realize that we actually live here and that we will not be in the United States for the next 10 months. I had slowly been processing thoughts about the length of time, such as when I might see a friend again and or being happy that I don’t have to attend certain meetings for this school year. But, the reality has set in and in turn a bit of a schedule and routine.

My home office

This past week, we went to the economic capital of Dar es Salaam to the US Embassy to do our orientation and security briefing. This was the first time that Keith had been to Dar in seven years since we got on the airplane there at the end of my student Fulbright. He was able to see how much it had changed and all the growth and big buildings. We also saw a fellow Fulbrighter and enjoyed the view from their balcony.

View from a rotating restaurant called Akemi in Dar es Salaam with great food and views on the 21st floor.

A balcony view of the ocean in Dar

On my social media, I have been posting pictures on my lunch views and enjoying the beautiful Indian Ocean and the delicious fresh juice. My aunt and my mother asked me if all I did was eat and look at pretty views.

View of boats while eating lunch

Avocado and passionfruit juice

While part of me wanted to say yes and part of me wanted to say no, the truth is that we are developing our routine and the semester here does not start until the middle of October. In addition, we are waiting for our work and my research permits to be processed, so at this time we are tourists who can spend some time getting to know Zanzibar and enjoying its beauty and food. I also can spend time as a tourist working on various pieces of writing and research that I have not had the time to do in the last couple months/year and get some of that work out for review. So here is my home office that I have set up and try to get a couple of hours of writing in each morning. We also can do some preparation for our upcoming work.

Sweaty and happy after my workout

I have also gotten back to working out and doing my yoga. I found a yoga class here that meets twice a week that I hope to try soon.

On the list of other accomplishments, we are finally learning our way and I am particularly proud that I was able to find my way home the most direct route yesterday from shopping and lunch. When I ask directions, they commonly tell me just turn left or right here and then go straight till you get to whatever it is I am looking for.

The winding streets and alleys of Stone Town

I am learning that straight and follow the road have a similar meaning, but still lead to me getting lost sometimes in these curvy alleys.

Work and Play…Specifically Monkey Business

Sep18

Today, I had a fun filled day with both academic fun (for me) and personal fun. The State University of Zanzibar has several campuses. We live a few minutes’ walk from the Vuga campus. The campus I was on last year and will be teaching at is Tunguu and is 30-45 minutes by car from Stone Town. Keith will probably be teaching at a campus that is 10-15 minutes by car from Stone Town in the opposite direction, but not as far as where I will go. Luckily, we were at the Vuga campus, so it was an easy walk in the morning.

The faculty of the School of Education for SUZA are very hard working and got together on Saturday to work on the program of study and courses for the newly proposed Bachelor’s of Education in Early Childhood Education. The title of the degree is still under discussion, but they working on the structure, courses, and course titles. After several hours of discussion, the current list of courses were divided among the participants to develop draft syllabi for the next meeting. With the structure draft and syllabi drafts, they plan to consult local stakeholders for input. This was very informative for me to learn about how their program development process is similar and different from ours and to see some of the local and cultural considerations in designing the new degree. First and foremost, early childhood education as a formal teaching profession is relatively new, and formal education or even programs outside of family, friend, and neighbor care for children under 4 is also very new and limited at this time. But, their goal is to address international trends and the work is very aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Education and specifically providing SDG 4.2 to provide high quality early childhood education.

After a morning of work and some lunch, Keith and I headed out with our friend and colleague Umayra to see Jozani Forest. This was Keith’s first time in Jozani Forest and first time outside of Stone Town, since we arrived a week ago. His only other journey was the car ride in from the airport, but given that it was dark and 3am, I don’t think it gave him much of a picture of Zanzibar outside of Stone Town. We were a little late getting started for our journey to have lots of time in Jozani, but we knew we would be coming back both on our own and with different visitors we are expecting. Nevertheless, it was still really special. We got to see both the Red Colobus monkeys that only live on Zanzibar and then the Skye’s monkeys that live in various places in East Africa.

A baby colobus monkey

They were so close to us, within 4-5 feet both next to us and over our heads. We had a very nice guide who gave us lots of information about the two species of monkeys. I listened to the guide and asked questions and Keith took photos (check out his awesome photos from Jozani at www.kamacdonaldphoto.com). He focused on getting excellent photos and when we got home I told him all the information I could remember about monkeys.

Inside Jozani Forest

A family of Sykes’ Monkeys

According to our guide, this monkey is six months old because it is still little, but has its red color on the back, which is not present for the first 3-4 months.

Remember, on the right you can subscribe to this blog, so you know when I post. You can also now subscribe to Keith’s blog with a box at the right on his, to keep seeing the great photos.

Sights and Sounds

Sep15

An Anglican church steeple and a Mosque Minaret

We have been in Zanzibar for four days and I love our apartment. It is very comfortable and spacious. When we were in Washington DC, this summer we visited the National Museum of African Art and they had an exhibit on the sounds of the market in Lagos, Nigeria. It was an interesting exhibit, but also very familiar having visited many open markets in African countries. Two of the things I am enjoying are the sounds we hear and the winding streets. I will stand outside on the balcony at different times of day and look outside and watch the different people from many different places and with a wide variety of dress styles walking down the narrow passage.

One of the streets near us

Our apartment is well ventilated so we are cool with the ceiling fans and windows open, but this also means we hear lots of different sounds throughout the day. In the morning, the roosters and sounds of people washing and working remind me it is time to get up and in the afternoon we hear lots of children outside playing. At sunset we have calls to prayer from different mosques that compete for the airwaves. In the evening, we have different types of music and cats. Because this week is the Eid celebration, I am not sure if the music is just for Eid or if it will continue after the celebration is over.

Another street

To get to our apartment, we walk up 4 sets of winding stairs, but it is worth it. We just have to remember to hold on and turn the light on. This will help us get our exercise.

Our stairs remind me of stairs in a church steeple in Europe, but only 4 flights.

Arrived in Zanzibar

Sep12

We have arrived in Zanzibar. It was a very long trip: 26+ hours, 5 airports, and 4 planes. But, we have a lovely apartment with a great view and yesterday were toured around the city by a friend (who is a lecturer at the university). We got to see new things and I saw some places that I had been before. Her advice was to get lost and learn our way. Today we went looking for places and found several things we were looking for, but not the most direct way and we did get turned around and “lost,” although we knew where we were, just not where we wanted to go. But, we found our way home.

Today is Eid al-Adha and a public holiday, so we are getting a leisurely start to our time here and some time to decompress and adjust to the time change and new surroundings. We met our landlord who seems very nice and we got one phone on internet so that we can use a hotspot to get online with our other devices. Tomorrow when things open again, we will get our other phone online and shop for some things that we still need.

Please check out Keith’s (my husband) blog at www.kamacdonaldphoto.com for more about our trip and follow his adventures too. He will be posting lots of great photos that show more about the island and experiences. His photos will be awesome and he is a very engaging writer too.

Here are a few pictures from our place.

Panoramic view from the balcony

The dining table in the kitchen

The kitchen

One bathroom

Our table on the balcony

Our bedroom

The living room and there is a door there to the balcony

The Adventures of an Early Intervention/Early Childhood Professor

My International Adventures