Health, Teams, Calculators, and Kinda Down...

I'm happy to report that I'm back to 100% health-wise. I'm still not
entirely convinced it was malaria. It seems like I got off too easy. But
eh, whatevs. I'm better now and that's what matters.

The team competition has ended for the Grade 10's. In fact, everything has
ended for them. Their exams start Tuesday morning, Oct. 6 and go through
Oct. 26, though they have some breaks in between. The poor dears are just
wiped. Anyway, I didn't have the heart to only reward the 1st place teams,
so I also awarded 2nd and 3rd place, plus pencils + erasers for the rest of
the learners who didn't place. I agonized over the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
prizes though, as that amounts to 15-17 learners per class, or 30-34. I
settled on the picture idea. Many have asked me about printing photos, so I
decided 1st place would each get a picture of me and the team, plus any
other picture of their choosing. And 2nd and 3rd place would just get team
shots. (Not framed though, that's reserved for Learner of the Year). Plus
everyone got pens/mechanical pencils for the upcoming exams. Anyway, I was
worried sick that they wouldn't think it was a good enough prize. But, the
cheers were overwhelming. Whew!

The grade 9 team thing is where things are really sailing along smoothly. I
only wish I'd started it when I got here. All in all I'd say the scores are
a shade higher. There's one kid in particular I'm just thrilled with. I'd
all but written him off last term. He was all attitude, dodged class most
of the time, etc. But now he's totally trying, paying attention, etc. Yay!
I don't think the captains quite get the concept that when someone is
absent, they have to catch them up, or the absent one realizing he should
rely on his team, but baby steps I guess.

The 45 calculators arrived and I was able to purchase 180 triple A batteries
last weekend. 43 are working, which brings our school total to 58. Whoo
hoo! My ideas about giving to the top majority of the class, however, may
not play out so well. Turns out that in grades 11 and 12 they can choose
their subjects, and many aren't likely to focus on math or science. (This
is coming from my principal). I told him my concerns about having a
calculator pool at the school - i.e., someone would have to ensure both
their care AND their use (not sitting in a box). I think I'm still going to
give some to the top-top learners. But the pool idea is growing on me,
especially because the math department head is very responsible.

And my mood hasn't been the best lately. I found out today that I won't be
marking the grade 10 exams. Not that this is a bad thing, work-wise, but
I'm not going to get to see how they did. They get sent off to Windhoek for
grading. And worse, their results, along with who gets promoted or not,
don't come back till December! And I'll be long gone by then. I'm going to
talk to the principal about texting the names of those promoted to someone
who is staying in Namibia who can email me. I've just got to know.

I'm about a week away from being finished with material for my grade 8
science classes. I'm trying my HARDEST to make electricity interesting for
them. I cart my one circuit around from table to table showing them. I
have the learners stand up and pretend to be lightbulbs or batteries and I
tie them together with string. But I imagine I just sound like that Charlie
Brown teacher to them. I was sitting in a meeting today that was all in
Thimbukushu, and I imagined that I was feeling exactly like they do. My
eyes started to glaze, my mind wandering...
Anyway, once I finish up with electricity, I've got nothing left. I could
backtrack, but I purposefully took forever and a day correcting the August
exam which was reviewing the old material. AaGGHHAAAHH! What now!? I have
a whole month left!!!??

So starting Tuesday I've got 22 classes a week, down from 32. I'm sure for
a week the lull will be nice, but after that, eesh. I did start reading war
and peace before a few more interesting books crossed my path. It wasn't
that bad. Maybe I'll get through it. Jenni is sending knitting projects.
Sigh.

A teacher just came and asked me for "prizes" for his quiz competition he's
having this weekend. So that's awesome.

I'm inviting my 3 Learner of the Years from Grade 10 over for dinner next
week. They don't know it yet. Two of them are sitting in my office as I
type. I can't wait. (I couldn't decide between 2 in one of the classes, so
I'm going with both.)

So there are little specks of sunshine I suppose, but the grade 8 thing is
really gnawing at me.