An overview of Painting Possibilities 2010
Each year Painting Possibilities, the summer volunteer teaching trip to the Bishop Forson School, develops into something new to meet the needs of the school. At the end of our 2009 trip, teachers made one recommendation clear: they wanted Painting Possibilities to last two weeks, not one. But when it came time to plan this year’s trip, teachers were afraid to give up the time they needed to teach their students the lessons required pass their end-of-year exams.
Together, Mabel Glover (the school’s headmistress), Ellen and I decided that this year’s focus would be to use creative activities to teach specific lesson objectives of each class. That way we’d be involving the students in fun, creative projects, while also building on what they are learning in their classes. Mabel wanted two things from our visit: to help teachers learn to plan an original lesson plan, and to teach classes that would help students associate learning with fun.
And so we planned and taught:
- a renewable energy class that led the students to build solar cookers and wind turbines,
- a flag-project class in which students created flags displaying dreams of their future in poetry,
- a still-life and portrait painting class that taught students about geometric shapes,
- a role-playing class in which students explored how to problem solve in social situations and express themselves in English,
- a writing class that culminated in the students distributing their first newsletter,
- a math class filled with math games that made adding, subtracting and multiplying a physical and fun activity,
- a book and bead-making class that allowed students to practice math skills by role-playing buying and selling, and
- a mixtures and compounds class in which students created a tetherball court and stepping stones by learning to mix cement.
It was an ambitious goal to reach—pairing learning with fun while helping the students build on what they know. It’s ambitious because each volunteer (even ones who have been before) arrives not quite knowing what the students are like, how much they know, or how best to relate to them. Our volunteers plan in the abstract for eight months and then step into the reality of Ghana and the Bishop Forson School. The students are at first reserved, and not used to learning in ways that we are. Pencils are scarce, and paper is prized compared to our classrooms back home. Our accents are difficult for the children to understand, and no matter how hard we try to slow down, we always talk too fast. But the students are hard working, open and bright eyed—they always try the activities we bring. And this year’s volunteers were sensitive to the student’s needs, eager to connect with them, and flexible enough to adjust to what they couldn’t have planned for.
Add to all this a total of 14 hours of tutoring and two teacher workshops given by our volunteers, and you have a busy schedule and a lot of hard work. As the leader of this year’s trip, I have to commend our volunteers for the sacrifices they made to participate and the competence and thoughtfulness with which they carried out their individual two-week classes, tutoring, and workshops. Each had their surprises and challenges to contend with, and each handled them with grace. I particularly enjoyed our nightly dinner conversations, where we shared our reactions and observations as well as perspectives on how to best offer help with cultural sensitivity.
As I write this we are at the end of our trip. We have finished our classes, said goodbye to the children (tearfully), and are already talking about how to make next year’s trip better. As I head back to my life in States, one memory I’ll carry with me is our last day with the students—Friday-- when we said our goodbyes. Immediately after the closing ceremony ended, the children lined up to hug us goodbye. Their alternating broad smiles and teary eyes told us we weren’t the only ones touched by the two weeks. These children are unforgettable. They are bright, joyful, and generous. That’s the irony of coming to Ghana to give to them. They give with their hearts and their song as freely as I have ever seen anyone give. What I receive from them and learn from them in those moments is immeasurable.
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