Words from the field

Hello all~

We're busy this week - completing finals, exploring the idea of transitioning away from South Africa, having fun on the rocks and getting ready to abseil next to a waterfall. With many "to-do's" on the list, we wanted to share a few of the things we recently "checked off" our adventure.

Transitions Part 1:

This trip has become a venue for us to help prepare our students to return home, and we have been asking them what they need to make this transition smooth.  Along with informal discussions thinking about home and what we are excited for, we are also starting to focus more formally on how to think about this big transition.  We are looking forward to practicing our Global Studies presentations and “elevator speeches” to help us think about how we express our experience to others upon returning home.  We have begun the process of writing “warm and fuzzies,” a traditional TTS send off activity in which each person on the trip writes a note to everyone.  Folks will open these notes after our final good-byes. These notes aid in helping to feel connected during what can sometimes feel like time with mixed emotions about separation.

 

Global Studies:
Our concluding unit in the Global Studies curriculum focuses on the “politics of saving the world.”  As we prepare to release these students back into their home communities, we need to discuss the methods and intentions behind solving big problems.  The unit began with an introduction to service: voluntourism, meaning, and effects.  Utilizing the thinking of Ivan Illich, Adam Davis, and Rafia Zakaria, we deconstructed how we go about service and worked to formulate a renewed perspective on how to effectively serve.  Students participated in Socratic seminars to help facilitate thoughtful discussion.

Within this unit, the teachers also planned another cross-curricular experience (similar to “Diamond Day”) to investigate HIV/AIDS in this part of the world.  We focused on cellular, personal, and community based levels of the disease.  At the end, students worked in groups to devise a plan for distributing $15 billion of hypothetical funds to help the fight against HIV/AIDS, then analyzed the reality of PEPFAR (which initially started with these same funds) as an instrument of aid in affected countries.  The next day, we visited Plettaid, a non-profit that works with HIV/AIDS-affected communities, and questioned their staff about our lingering questions.

Next, we turned to the second major part of saving the world: foreign aid.  Students were assigned in pairs to research different aspects of foreign aid: distribution, the context of the Cold War, the World Bank and IMF, the controversy of military aid, etc.  The culmination of the research occurred as students created lesson plans with the goal of critically challenging their peers in the spheres they had investigated.  Each pair worked with a teacher to develop an effective lesson, and then they taught the classes utilizing techniques learned throughout the semester to engage with the material.

This was a great way to culminate the semester and start everyone on the process of thinking outward about the cause and effect of global issues. With their critical thinking skills, students will be able to return home, engage with the news and put context to issues.

 

iLife:

The students have taken over iLife class as they work together to finalize their plan for a Zenith Project.  Zenith is an opportunity given to the students of each semester (independently from the teachers) to address a community need.  This need could be in communities at home, at TTS, or in places that we have traveled during the semester.  Students work together to brainstorm, narrow ideas, select an option, formalize a plan, and implement the project after the semester is over.  I'm sure the students will be excited to tell you all about their idea when they get home!

In other iLife news, we turned to the subjects of healthy relationships and bodies.  We endeavored to provide factual and helpful resources that addressed a number of anonymously submitted questions. We hope our "Ladies discussing Ladies" workshop continues the theme of self-care as students return home and continue with their next adventures.