The Best Laid Plans . . .

It seems a bit anti-climactic to write this blog now—three days after my first day at the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education—but Hurricane Irma got in the way.

            Monday, September 4, was the first day of school for Haitian schools.  I couldn’t be present at the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education because I need the paying gig at Morning Star.  However, I was up early and ready to go on Tuesday the 5^th for my first day at the Center.  I arrived at 8:00, thinking I would be the first (as a boss should be), but no—the teachers were already there!  Good for them.

            We have 50 children enrolled now, and I thought I would see little kids running around and playing.  Nope.  I’d say only about 30 kids showed up; not sure whether that was due to not having uniforms ready or what, but we certainly did not have full house.  And, most of the pre-school kids were crying.  One poor little cried all day, except when she was eating her snack of cold French fries and a cold hot dog (more on snacks later!).  Pretty much the only kids who played were the kids from Notre Maison, and that was because they’d been to the Center for summer camp and because they know each other.

            I took a walk into the station room thinking kids might be playing with some of the toys.  Nope.  More crying kids and no one sure what to do.  Some of the kids had grabbed a MatchBox car or two, but they weren’t playing with them; they holding onto them as if they were life lines!  Shoulda heard the wailing when we had to take the cars away and go outside for the raising of the flag and the singing of the national anthem (Monter le Drapeau). 

Kindergarten class

            I have never worked with little kids, but I wasn’t totally surprised by the crying.  I was more surprised by how long they could cry and easily it was to get them started again once they had stopped!

Mixed grade room

            I had visions of how the school day would go, and pretty much none of it happened! The schedule that Gertrude and I put together and that the teachers modified so did not work!  Academic classes (some) were too short.  Rest time was too long.  Somehow kids never got outside to play.  The station room wasn’t used at all.  Snacks were eaten in the classrooms, not the cafeteria.  We did not have enough water.  The multi-grade level room seemed haphazard because neither of the administrators were sure what their responsibilities were.  They’d been told that they would be teaching those kids, but nothing had been planned out for sure. 

            So many logistical things were overlooked in our planning.  Like, no one told the teachers that we had purchased a water pitcher for each room so that during snack the aide could go fill up the pitcher and bring water back.  We did not designate which bathroom was for boys and which for girls (I still haven’t purchased the signs, but we could have least told the teachers!).  We didn’t not figure on how disruptive it would be for adults to be going through the pre-K room to get to the storage rooms.  I swear, every time I went through the room, another kid would start crying (probably just after the teachers had gotten her settled down!). 

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            We—Gertrude, the other administrators, and I—failed to think of writing up some rules and regulations for the kids to follow.  Like, you don’t go into another classroom unless the teacher has asked you to.  You don’t run in the hallway.  You don’t enter the office area.  You don’t throw rocks. You don’t walk around

            I know that lots of kids in Haiti don’t get proper nutrition, so I wanted to provide a healthy daily snack for the kids.  A couple of snags with that plan—no one told me that parents would send a snack with the kids; I did not realize that the school does not have a refrigerator to keep anything cold; the kitchen does not have shelves on which to put cups, plates, utensils, etc.  And, everything needs to be locked up so that it isn’t stolen (the peanut butter and crackers are locked in a storage room nowhere near the kitchen, we have but 1-2 butter knives, and the Notre Maison kids who are expecting the snack are spread out over four different classrooms).  Wouldn’t it make sense to keep the food in the kitchen where it needs to be prepared?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to bring the kids to the cafeteria where the food is instead of delivering the food to them? 

            So, the year has not started as I thought it would, but that’s okay!  It’s started.  Nothing that starts for the first time looks like it does on paper, and there are always unforeseen needs/glitches.  And, Hurricane Irma certainly affected the start of the year—we only had two days before we had to cancel school because of the weather!  

So Much

           

 Well, tomorrow’s it—the First Day of School!

 Sweetness!

Gertrude and our cart of supplies

            The teachers have been hard at work the last week making plans and decorating their rooms.  Gertrude and I have been all over the place getting the supplies the teachers need and all the other stuff that goes with opening a school—buying garbage cans, brooms, toilet paper, dish clothes for the kitchen, dusters, toilet bowl scrubbers, toilet bowl cleaner, etc.!  Who’da thunk!

            I have spent countless hours organizing materials, moving furniture, making lists of needed repairs, setting up the room that will be used for station work.  That room is “ready,” but I’m not sure the teachers know exactly what to do with it.  I think the idea of stations and kids doing separate things is totally foreign to them (no pun intended!).  I think a big part of my job will be showing them how to use stations to instruct kids, to let the kids explore on their own, to allow for noise.  I think the noise will be an issue—my impression is that Haitian schools are very quiet except when the class is responding chorally.  Otherwise, the kids are expected to be quiet, but I don’t know that that’s because teachers believe it’s best.  I think it’s because any noise is seen as lack of teaching skill.  Maybe?  I don’t know for sure—I’ll find out in the coming weeks!

Kindergarten teacher and aide

            The things I’ve learned . . . that list could go on forever! But, I’ll keep it short for ya!

Pre-school teacher and 

1.      I continually have to check (mostly) my American culture at the door.  I say “mostly” because there are many things that American education does better than Haiti.  And, I need to push those educational practices that I know are good for children.  However, I need to see what these teachers do before I force my ideas on them.

2.     American school leadership looks very different from that in Haiti (or, at least with the leadership that I’m working with).  I arranged the tables and chairs in the rooms in pods, and our financial secretary looked uncomfortable with what I had done.  He asked whether I planned to leave them like that, and I explained that I just put them that way and that the teachers could arrange the room any way they wanted.  That idea took him by surprise.  He had the same response when he was telling some teachers where he thought the tables should go in the pre-school.  I interrupted and said that the teachers would decide that.  He again looked surprised. 

One of our stations--just play!

I don’t know whether all school directors micro-manage like that, whether they see that as part of their responsibilities, but I plan to let teachers have more decision-making freedom in their own rooms. 

3.     I really need to work on my language skills!  I want to be able to be an equal partner in the professional discussions, and I can’t do that without speaking the language.  I do not want to be dependent on a translator!

Special-needs teachers

4.     I can’t do this alone.  I have a vision for what the Haiti Center for Inclusive Education can and should be.  Sharing that vision with others is hard because of language, distance, and multiple voices.  This isn’t my school (no matter how much I want it to be!), it is our school: the kids’, the teachers’, Gertrude’s, the Board of Director’s, God’s. 

5.     I’m not doing this alone!  The support from churches, friends, family, strangers—literally people all over the world—is making this happen.  Not me.  Note to self: check the ego at the door!  Totally.

Our "station" room

6.     Haitian offices/school rooms don’t come with shelving.  Or much of any storage.  I’m starting to see why so much is stored on the floor or in piles on desks.  When buildings are constructed, there seems to be no thought to shelving or storage space or placing outlets in accessible spots.  It’s been driving me nuts, but Gertrude’s creativity is wearing off on me, and I’m slowing finding ways to “store” items and still keep it easy to get at them.

I’ve probably forgotten about a bazillion other things that I’ve learned.  As they come back to me, I will make sure to post some of them because most of what I’m learning is keeping me humble.

Pre-school tables

      I, of course, have been busy taking pictures as teachers prepared and the school slowly transformed from empty rooms to school.  Some of them are shared here.  I can’t be at the first day of school tomorrow—that darn paying job has to take precedence!—but I will be there Tuesday getting as many shots as I can.  Look for them soon!