The last two workshops update

Just arrived in Cape Town after a relaxing morning in Durban. We had a good summit yesterday at Inanda Seminary where Ayanda is intern teaching. It was great to see her. There was a smaller, yet enthusiastic crowd. I connected with several primary school teachers and hope we can do an across the oceans project. I did a less hands on workshop on 21st century assessment and we used Burke's Placemat of 21st century skills to critique lessons.

This is a photo of the Inanda Field Steel Drum band followed by an articulate student who delivered a great welcome speech with a pitch for learning technology in schools.

The day before we drove 3.5 hrs each way to Ladysmith and we presented to a group of administrators from the Coalition of Exceptional Schools. The next day we saw one of the participants who described our presentations as "orgasmic!" Pretty funny. I talked about hands on learning and making.  The place it was held is called "The Barn" so I felt right at home as we have a barn in Ellenville.

The Circuits and brushbot workshop went swimmingly and one woman took a kit home to her daughter who is studying electricity and she made an amazing light up card to take to school.

If it's Wednesday it must be Ladysmith

Okay I have gotten a bit behind on posts. We have been doing lots of traveling in Combis or Kombis which are vans back home. We drove from Joburg to Limpopo to a small town named Jane Furse. It was a 4.5 hr ride. It is a small town which was named after a 14 yr old daughter of a missionary who died August 3 1918. She died of scarlet fever and they named the hospital and town after her.
During the apartheid times there were lots of protests from the Bantu people who live there. When they fought with the government they would run to the hospital for asylum. There was an orderly who would hide them and get them out of South Africa and into Botswana. It reminded me of the Underground Railroad stations in my country. Here is a photo of our guide Pipi and the chapel inside the old hospital complex. This is where the LEAP school is located.

Then they took us to the home of  the chief of the Sekwati Tribe. We sat quietly near his house and waited until we had permission to tour the village. It was a lesson in slowing down, being confused, not knowing the customs or language and waiting. The sunset and red rocks were beautiful.  The clay pots under the traditional house are where beer is made. The next photo is the sunset and then the rounded red rocks. But the best was the giggly 4 year old kids playing on the red dirt piles that were going to be leveled for the new road. 

The boys who found us really amusing. 

I will try to post the photos from the workshops at Jane Furse and at Ladysmith in my next session. Everyone except K2 and Wendy and me slept all the way back from Ladysmith.

Light Up! was fun especially seeing Zintle

Today we got up really early to drive to Four Corners and Dainfern College which is a gorgeous campus with great people who open up the campus to us with Teach With Africa as well as to the Leap Schools. I attended a great workshop by Pam MacMillan @pam_macmillan who is the high school tech integrator. The iStop motion animations were fabulous and I can't wait to try quadblogging.com a site that sets you up with schools in other countries than your own.

My Light Up! and Brushbot workshop wasn't until the last session. I was in the media center and it was great.

 About 12 very motivated teachers did the session. They worked together. Some started with the crafting part of making a light up card; others began with making the LED light up with copper tape and batteries and then decorating.
One high school Leap student was thrilled because she is studying electricity now. She made 3 cards, took back a recording doodad that you can mount on a card as well as lots of coin cell batteries and copper tape. Here's Nigel's first copper tape project.

People worked through the difficulties with great persistence and clever ideas. The brushbots were fine, Nigel made a great one and added one LED lights as eyes. Here is a photo of Zintle who was a TeachWithAfrica teacher at Burkes working next to the high school girl.

Here is a posed sad face then a happy face of a teacher who made a really complicated card with leaves and 2 lights- she is a crafter and maker.

 The videographer said the session reminded him of studying electronics, he gave some good advice to the makers. Here is a fun badge the IT guy at Sparks made.

and finally

Meetup today with the edTech Summit SA

Well today we get to work. We meet at 1 pm as a team. So far everyone is wonderful to talk with. I spoke at breakfast with Law who works in a High Tech charter school in San Diego. He is starting a Maker strand this year. I want to visit and see their project based curriculum in action in their elementary schools.

Went to a mall today to get some last minute things like more AAA batteries for the brushbots, and more binder clips.  I have a ridiculously heavy bag filled with maker goodies. Here is my lovely room at The Wedgwood B & B and some of the maker materials I am sifting through.  I hope they have enough time to work and that I don't talk too much but just enough. I am making kits for Brushbots and for paper circuits and really want people to try and make their own creations with the materials that I hope are familiar––safety pins, clips, paper, tape, wool, googley eyes etc.

Last night we drove to a really vibrant 'hood in Joburg where they were having Christmas in July and I saw Santa.

Yesterday I rented a cell phone and a mobile hotspot so I am feeling much more connected.  my local number is 0726153897.

My first workshop is tomorrow at Dainfern College at 2:15 which will give me lots of time to fuss around with unpacking and setting up  and I can't wait. 

Soft Landing in Cape Town

Well so far it has been an easy trip. The flights were fine, customs was a non-event. The poor guy had to ask me to take off my glasses 4 times since I had a hard time with his accent. April picked me up at the airport and we managed my ridiculously large and heavy suitcases fine.

Her place is gorgeous with spectacular views of the moody, Table Mountain. She doesn't have wireless but I am managing. I realize how dependent I am on wireless and my small world of my phone. It's different.

Today we did all sorts of errands for my workshops and being with April is fabulous she even know which aisle the ziplock bags are in and where to buy 1000 coin batteries!!  I started to make my kits. I still have to polish my lesson plans but am hoping once I join up with my Teach With Africa crew that the ideas will be more tailored to what people will want.

I can't upload a photo on her machine but perhaps tomorrow on my trusty old Mac.

I am excited for the adventure to begin.

Three days to go Teach With Africa- Liberation

Packing up at our farm in the Catskill Mountains. It's hot and sunny. I am packing up for a cool and not so sunny time in South Africa. I have gathered lots of materials both real and digital and I am getting ready for my two workshops, Light Up- paper circuits and Word Clouds and Visualizing Data- websites Wordle & Gapminder.

I am excited and humbled by the program. I want to be able to offer useful information for teachers grades K-12 and I am surely going to learn a lot from  all of them about their work, it's joys and difficulties.

I have tried to read some things this summer, a memoir Shirley, Goodness and Mercy by Chris Van Wyk as well as collections of folk tales gathered by Hugh Tracey and Nelson Mandela. I am hoping to hear some more about poetry and literature that the students study from the teachers I will be working with.

I like this poster that a friend, David Rosas- an administrator at Mott School in NYC, posted on his facebook account.  Let the liberation begin.

Thanks for all the support from Burkes, my siblings––Libby, Wilder and Dolly–– and my dear cousins, Tom, Myrna and Ellen and my dear friends, Susan and Leland. But most especially thanks to my biggest fan, Daniel.