Once upon a Fulbright, I was driving down a country road in northern Uganda, and I came upon what I shall always think of as the minimum school.
The minimum school, alongside the dirt road, consisted of a large tree; under the tree was one chair, and upon the chair sat the teacher. Around him, sitting on the ground, were about 20 little children. The children wore minimum clothes: Each child had a string tied around his or her middle--that's all.
The teacher was most polite, and when he found out what I did for a living, asked me if I would like to see a reading lesson. How could I refuse? Here was a teacher with apparently no books, no pencils or paper, not even a chalkboard.
I saw a very good reading lesson.
How did he do it?
Very simply.
When I said that he seemed to have no supplies or equipment, that wasn't quite correct. He did have one teacher tool. He had a long straight stick (and some smarts.)
To begin the lesson, he had several children take the stick and smooth the ground. Then using a twig from a nearby bush, a student ruled the ground into lines several inches apart. On these lines, one student began to compose a story with the help and encouragement of other students who were standing around the composition, reading and adding to it. The story was about Kampala, the capital of the country, where none of them had ever been, but which obviously had been discussed in class.
The teacher provided very low supervision, occasionally providing the correct spelling of a word or making a minor grammar correction, but he saw to it that most (not all) of the students in the group read the story aloud. In fact, there were several group stories being produced at once, and when they were completed, each group read the other groups' stories, sometimes with a little help from a proud student author.
Now I ask you, aren't those likewise the aims of some of your lessons--teaching reading and writing plus integrating social studies and providing for individual differences?
So, the next time you hear complaints about not enough money to buy books or equipment, tell the story about the teacher with a straight stick, some twigs, and a tree.
(Source: Friend and colleague, Jim DeGeorge, author not noted on printed copy)
