Become immersed in the culture, history, and geography of Malawi to leverage students' learning in cross-curricular units around the topic of environmental justice rooted in the text "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."
I felt blessed to have so many amazing learning experiences with my teaching partner during our 14 days in Malawi. One experience that stands out was our time in Wimbe at the childhood home of the main character from the book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. The story came to life that day for us. We met the boy's mother, sister, and cousin. While there we saw his childhood home, school, maize crops, and the windmills he made. Placing my eyes on the windmill for the first time left me in awe.
I surprised myself during my time in Malawi. I knew ahead of time how different the culture and customs were but I think knowing in advance some of what I'd be experience allowed me to mentally prep for those specific scenarios. Before long, I found out how resilient and flexible I could be when participating in new things. Professionally I learned to appreciate the American education system. Although not perfect, learning about Malawi's education system allowed me to value my own.
Although the plan was visiting a school or two, my teaching partner and I continuously ran into educators along the way. These organic meetings gave us huge insights to Malawi's education system. We were able to visit multiple classrooms and some of which were still in session. Each facility varied but all seemed to lack any updated furniture, teaching materials, or supplies. It was amazing to see how with so little, these educators were still expected to teach so many young minds.
With the partnerships we developed during our time in Malawi, we will bring back not only our first hand accounts and experiences, but the expertise of those who guided us along the way. We plan on video conferencing with organizations like Never Ending Food and fostering student pen-pals with classrooms in Malawi. Both these activities will allow our students to learn more about the permaculture design process and forge relationships with locals who can help answer questions our students have.
Our students will be learning about Malawian culture, climate, and geography as well as permaculture design. The hope is to create a global partnership with some of the people and schools we worked with during our time in Malawi. We want our students to create their own gardens which will benefit our families and community. Throughout the process and planning our students will develop presentations that will be shared within our district's other 6th grade classrooms.
When our fellow teachers, administrators, and families learned of our fellowship to Malawi, we immediately felt the enormity of our opportunity. Our goal is to begin by focusing on sharing our experiences with our students but to eventually broaden the reach within our district and community by sharing our photographs, videos, original artifacts, and having discussions about our time in Malawi.
My teaching partner and I were able to make many changes after our fellowship to Malawi. We become a primary source for our students and colleagues because of our first hand experiences in everyday life from local villages to larger cities within Malawi. Our travels allowed us to meet a variety of Malawians, such as the family of our mentor text. Some of these connections have continued. These exchanges helped shape our experiences so we could bring back a deeper understanding to our students.
Our experience allowed us to share insights to Malawian culture with students and peers throughout the year. When we arrived to The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind mentor text, our student were already familiar where Malawi was located and some of the bigger themes in the book. Students and peers were aware of our travels and excited to dive deeper into our experience such as our time with the Kamkwamba family and to see our many cultural artifacts. We became the experts for our students learning.
The fellowship helped transform my teaching in many ways. One of the biggest impacts for me, was meeting all the educators along our 14 day journey. Each person was so welcoming, dedicated, and inspiring. We were allowed to see various classrooms and discuss the issues they face with class sizes and lack of materials. Witnessing our differences definitely highlighted the privileges we have in the American education system but also showed me the inventiveness and grit of our Malawian peers.