This weekend...

...has pretty much been dedicated to finishing up the next unit of health curriculum for the school. It has taken a back burner to the health manual this month and now time is running somewhat short.

However, I have writer's block. 100%. I only have to write one more lesson plan but for the life of me I have no good ideas. I just keep staring at my laptop and making more cups of coffee.

Perhaps blogging about it will inspire creativity. If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to use some of the many photos I have from the last month thanks to Laura and her photog skills.

As mentioned, I head out to the school at least once a week to observe some health classes. I have begun bringing my laptop along so that I can get some work done while I am waiting. It has turned out to be a surprisingly productive time for me and is quite the hit with the kids. A crowd of some size usually forms and the kids watch intently, talking amongst themselves, exclaiming when I scroll up and down the page or when a word is misspelled and underlined in red. Rather cute.

Here's the title page to the current unit, "What's In My Water?" I am working right now on "Hygiene and Me", which shall be followed with an as of yet untitled unit on sanitation.

When it is time for a new health unit to start I meet with the teachers to go over the material. In this shot the teachers are participating in a drama called Criminal Illnesses about sicknesses that travel in dirty water. The teacher in the blue shirt is playing the role of Diarrhea and the teacher standing is interrogating him.

Here we all are talking about the health program.

This has been a very interesting experience for me as I learn about culture and education. As I have been watching the classes I have been thinking a lot about how information is given and received, and the cultivation of problems solving skills, and how we can help develop and mature a learning environment at a pace that is not too fast or too slow. If I ever get to grad school I think that those are the things I will study.

But for now, one more lesson plan.