Going back to the basics

It's no surprise to anyone that I've had my fair share of struggles here. It's been so hot, the water in the apartment is rarely running, I have no car to get groceries, and even if I wanted to drive, they drive on the opposite side here which intimidates me, and the list goes on and on and on. But I have friends, and I have two feet, and the temperature broke recently so I slept under my covers last night for the first time, and I'm on holiday, and I traveled to Maun for an awesome week with an awesome friend, so I'm staying positive, having a good time, and so appreciative for this incredible opportunity to learn, grow, and explore while being surrounded by some really great people.

What may be a surprise to some is that I've been beating myself up for not putting New Zealand or Finland as my top choice for the Fulbright. New Zealand is top in the world for integrating culture into the curriculum (think Maori schools) and Finland is top in the world in education. Obviously those should have been my top pics. Obviously those are everyone's top pics. It even says so on the list of countries to choose from. So I stayed away. I chose Botswana. I didn't even put myself out there for anything else because I did not think I had a chance. And I was angry at myself for awhile.

And then I realized as I sat in schools here where there is no technology, not even a plug-in for a CD player for music, and a large chalkboard at one end of the room and plastic tables and chairs that take up the entire classroom because class sizes are huge here: I am going back to the basics of teaching.

           And I knew I must observe classroom

through that lens.

And then I read a fellow Fulbright teacher's blog. And she brought everything full circle for me. And she is an incredible writer and her blog is incredible. And she's from Fairbanks, Alaska, which obviously means she's incredible. Here is the blog post:

http://www.nicolestellon.com/what-we-cant-learn-from-finland-apples-oranges-and-denial-in-the-us-educational-community/

In the arctic, we do not have every resource at our disposal at the moment we need it. Although we have so many more resources there than here, in order to start integrating culture into the everyday curriculum we must go back to the basics. 

And that's exactly where I am.