My Jamaican Schooling

Yesterday was my "travel day" to Jamaica and I left Boston in the early hours of the morning. At the Newark Airport I met up with my friend Abby and then we flew into Montego Bay. Our hosts (who are on staff with Won by One) met us at the airport and drove us 3 hours to Harmons after a stop in the bigger town of Mandeville for a bite at Burger King.

My whopper junior tasted like fish and as you might imagine it rather turned me off to the meal. My next taste of beef in Jamaica will be the famous "Jamaican Beef Patti" which I can guarantee will not taste at all like fish. But rather like a nice rich fatty piece of pastry heaven.

Today (Thursday) Abby and I went to the Harmons All Ages school to observe classes and get to know the teachers. Our goal was to begin to glimpse what a typical day might be like and what challenges the teachers hope the (soon to come) 12 computers will meet in their classrooms.

Abby was relegated to a small windowless classroom to proctor a "mock exam" for the eight 6th grade students who will move on to high school next year. Well, they'll move on if they are lucky or have the money to do so. One of the girls cannot read beyond a first grade level and another child simply cannot read at all. They guessed on the multiple choice exam I suppose. Abby also took the exam....under the pretense of taking it for fun. In reality she took the exam and her test became the scoring guide which she then used to grade the tests for the Principal.

The school is, at best, loosely organized and classroom management consists of raising one's voice. It is hard for someone like myself to sit back and watch. I think this trip is revealing to me how much of a "do-er" I am sometimes - always eager to be involved and proactive.

It seems that the teachers have some experience using computers (I had been led to believe otherwise) and that they are eager to get the computers so they can start using them. I fear that they have a lot to learn, lessons which can only be gained by trying, failing, and trying again. I hope the early experiences won't sour them. Their eagerness seems naive to me but that is surely a product of my own experiences and the 10 years I have been implementing and reflecting on how to best use technology in the classroom.

The prevailing attitude seems consistent with one of the attitudes expressed by teachers when they first get computers. While some teachers are fraught with anxiety about computers (paralyzed at best) others want the computer to do THEIR job for them - it is a lazy approach.

In ways I cannot blame them for these feelings, especially when they teach between 35-40 students huddled in a very tight classroom with rickety metal chairs. The metal chairs may be one of the worst parts - they scrape and screech noisily on the concrete floors, sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard multiplied times 10.

Some of the teachers were reasonably welcoming and others were put out by my presence. I suppose I must appear as an all-knowing American sweeping in with the answers, ready to sweep out again after a short period of time.

I am not what they need really - at least not in the capacity I currently serve. They need a coach and a mentor - someone who can wrestle through real academic challenges with them, someone who understands the daily grind and the culture behind it all. Someone who will be there when the computers break or they are frustrated by an inability that slaps them in the face.

This is not to imply that I am condescending or clueless, but rather that my time is short and they know it. In a way they have scrutinized me as if I am like the technology they are waiting to arrive - I have the answers and they just want me spit them out so they can do something else more desirable with their time. Like play solitaire on the computer. (One of the teachers played solitaire on the computer during the entire "planning" meeting and she took at least 3 cell phone calls. Clearly...she was not engaged.)

As some have learned about me before...I don't roll over lightly when pushed. And, one of the things I love most is the challenge of getting someone to like me when they are prone to shrug me off.

These teachers have, in many ways, met their match. I am an experienced classroom teacher, I have worked in the technology industry, I am studying technology, innovation, & education for my master's degree and I work at a teacher professional development project. Bring it ON!

I sound cocky, but in all honesty, I just hope that the coming days will be smoother, that my kindness will kill the rudeness and that at the end of my time they will see that I just want to help them get what they need. If they would dialogue with me, we could get somewhere. If they would respond to questions, I would have a better idea of what they need. Then we would actually be conversing and that is what I want the most.

Until then, I'll try to figure out how to "dance" enough to keep them entertained and reiterate the same ideas that seem most important and crucial in this beginning moment. "The computer is a tool to that CANNOT replace you....your students need YOU to help them succeed. The computer can help you, but it should not replace you."


One day they will get it - but not today. Maybe tomorrow. I'll keep dancing.