A Peace Corps What? Education Volunteer.

Kris and I with our invitation to serve in Peace Corps Uganda, almost two years ago. (On a related note, that was the same day we heard about Oscar and Stacie getting engaged!)

Kris and I are in the 0, in the front right.

To explain my official position as Education Volunteer, I have to first talk about one of Peace Corps Uganda’s current priorities - the Primary Literacy Project. This new model aims to be more effective and sustainable than other past education models which mostly involved PCVs working as classroom teachers in local schools. PC Uganda hopes to improve on this program by expanding the responsibilities of Education PCVs, focusing on literacy at different levels in the school system, and placing volunteers at a school for six consecutive years. These volunteers are known as starters, carriers, and finishers.

Kris and I are starters – that means we are the first at our schools, and our job is to work with our Ugandan counterparts to lay the foundation for permanent change for the carriers and finishers. It also means that we won’t some of the results of our work for six years! But we know that true change takes a long time, and so does PC Uganda. The Primary Literacy Project is somewhat of a revolutionary model and, thanks to its success so far, it will be adopted by other Peace Corps countries across Africa. I am excited to say that I am currently a part of the writing team that is working to roll out our program’s curriculum for some of the other Peace Corps Africa nations!

The Education Primary Teacher Training Project Framework, 2012 – 2017, places paired volunteers at a site. One volunteer works at a Primary Teacher’s College (PTC) while the other works at an associated Primary School. The goals for all Education volunteers are to:

• Improve teaching
• Increase pupils’ success
• Improve the school community

The volunteer at the PTC, Kris in our case, is known as a Teacher Trainer. The Teacher Trainer teaches classes at the PTC and works with the student teachers in various ways, including focusing on literacy instructional practices and expanding the use of ICT resources. The volunteer at the primary school, me, is known as a Literacy Specialist. The Literacy Specialist has some of the following responsibilities:

Conducting Reading Intervention Groups

Using a modified version of the Early Grade Reading Assessment, we identify pupils in Primary 4 who need targeted reading interventions. We focus on Primary 4 because it is the transition year from local language to English in Uganda and thus a crucial time in these children’s schooling. The Literacy Specialist creates Reading Intervention Groups which are taught several times a week with the aim of bringing the identified pupils to the necessary reading levels for success.

One of my reading intervention groups being their silly selves.

Teacher Observation and Feedback

Building the capacity of in-service teachers is also a large part of our program. One of the ways Literacy Specialists work towards this objective is to observe the teachers at our schools and offer them feedback aimed towards improving literacy instruction, including gender-equitable classroom practices, and cultivating critical thinking skills.

Teacher Hope in her Primary 2 classroom.

My counterpart, Rebecca, teaching the letter "i" in local language.

The pupils were learning opposites (tall, short, thin, fat), and the question here was, in true blunt Ugandan fashion, "Which teacher at our school is short and fat?" 

Professional Development Workshops

Another way Literacy Specialists work to build the capacity of in-service teachers is through professional development. Workshops are geared towards a variety of topics including student-centered teaching techniques and activities, library skills, and HIV/AIDS or malaria education.

Expanding the Use of Libraries

Building or expanding a library is a big part of a Literacy Specialist’s job. This often involves digging out books buried in dusty locked cabinets, cleaning spaces filled with gecko poop, dead bats, and insects, and creating an organizational and lending system. It’s also one of the most rewarding parts for me personally. It provides the kind of tangible result that is often rare in volunteer work, and the smile on the children’s faces as they eagerly grab books off the shelves during library time is one of my favorite things in the world.

Improving the School Environment/Community

Ugandan PCVs also work towards trying to create a safe school culture. Part of this involves trying to implement a Positive Behavior System (PBS). The idea behind PBS is that it provides teachers with tools to manage classrooms and motivate pupils without resorting to caning or other forms of corporal punishment. I have started to introduce this idea to my school, but unfortunately, they are not quite ready for it yet.

My pupils playing games as a reward for good behavior.

Working to involve the entire community in participating in student learning is also another important aspect of this responsibility. It's an area where I am optimistic about making a difference as one of the National Directors of the My Language Spelling Bee (MLSB). The MLSB aims to increase first-language literacy rates among pupils across Uganda and improve teachers’ literacy instructional techniques. As an academic competition, we also hope that it will promote pride in indigenous languages as well as stoke excitement among parents, leading to a feeling of ownership in their children’s educations.

My school!

Last year's winners from seven different language regions.

All of the above falls under Goal 1 of the Peace Corps: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. But there are two more goals! These are what makes being a PCV a 24/7 job.

Goal 2: To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

This goal can involve anything from a formal training on cross-cultural interactions, to making Easter eggs with the neighborhood kids, to chatting with your neighbor at the market. Many of the people we encounter have never met a foreigner in person before. As the first person someone has ever known from another country, much less America, the pressure is on to represent ourselves well.

Eating with our friend and neighbor, Maude.

One of my pupils, Anitah, coming over to make friendship bracelets.

Cooking our host family tacos during language training.

Our host brother, Emma, very politely eating the meal we made for him.

Goal 3: To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

While living in-country, writing a blog, having visits from loved ones, and even changing the banner photo on your Facebook page can help meet this goal, PCVs do most of the work towards Goal 3 once they return home. This makes being a PCV not only a 24/7 job but a lifelong one as well!

Going to Ugandan events can count as work towards Goal 3 for me! Our neighbor's giveaway ceremony for his daughter - this traditional event occurs before the more modern church wedding and is where the groom pays the bride price.

Part of the ceremony involved "tricking" the groom by presenting different women. There was a lot of banter and good-natured bargaining.

Learning how to make chapati with our awesome host family.

Hopefully this gives a better, if more polished and less messy, understanding of what Kris and I are trying and hoping to do with our time in Uganda. On bad days, we tend to despair when thinking of all the things we could and should be doing to meet these goals. But on most days, we realize that we’ve already met them all in some way – and we’re not even done yet.

“Progress, not perfection.”