Staff day-- meeting the teachers

Day 15 – Monday, July 12, 2010
Today was a staff day, so we started the day in a circle in one of the classrooms where we got to really get a sense of the culture and got to meet all of the teachers. After introductions, there was a general reflection about the holiday programs and what we could learn from participation or observations in these programs. Every teacher that talked about Sarah’s program was complimentary and so impressed with the organization and the energy of the students. I don’t think I realize yet how unusual a program this was for the school. The teachers seemed surprised at the level of engagement and the positive energy that week – whereas for me, working at HTH, this is a normal, everyday thing.
One thing that struck me during the meeting was when one of the Life Orientation teachers (kinda the same idea as our advisory program at HTH) made a comment about how the black teachers needed to speak up more – that this was something that they had worked on last term but that he was noticing that the black teachers were still being silent. He attributed this to the sense that blacks felt inferior to whites, that even as he was sitting next to John he felt that in a sense he was riding “shotgun” – or was the sidekick. John’s reaction was unforgettable as I know that this is so far from how he feels about the situation, and is colorblind when it comes to race being something that divides us, but it was good I think to confront the issue, perhaps especially for the black teachers, to challenge them to speak up and assert themselves and perhaps for the white teachers to be a little more mindful of the amount of time they have the floor or perhaps trying to draw other, quieter teachers into the conversation.
After the big staff meeting, I met with Orel, Sarah, and Ingrid to try to figure out how I can fit in this next week. I’m still not clear on this and am trying to understand the demands and requirements of the matric exam that they all worry about so much. Hopefully tomorrow will make this clearer.