Re: Lavabe's Madagascar 2009 Lemur Thread
Posted: June 19th, 2009, 9:22 am
"You said you felt like you were on a constant adrenlin rush over there...we can tell. The energy comes through in your writing -each of us should be so lucky as to find something about which we are as passionate!"
I'll try to get to this tomorrow, but there's one aspect that I've noticed as it relates to my teaching. I've noticed that in my Conservation Seminar over here, I am talking more about my feelings than I would ever do in the U.S. I'll talk more about what I sense, both in my heart and mind. I think part of that is that when I talk with local people in the bush, they will often talk the same way. When I went up to Joffreville last week and talked with my two closest friends there, they could immediately read me, know what I am thinking, and know what I felt inside... and vice versa. They ARE like brothers. It's truly like close family, but they always stressed trusting local people at that level, and I've never forgotten it. The other aspect is, as I've just discovered today, that I am suddenly realizing that I carry a lot of peoples' stories and history, and few will pass on that history. My students expressed to me today just how little they know about local Malagasy culture. And I am still wrestling with that bombshell today.
The good news is that in my 0730 class of about 18 students, most are showing signs of writing well, including a few who explained their own local conservation threats, tied in with what they recall about their hometowns. And well, good writing from students will always give me an adrenaline rush.
Well... yogurt and grading await me.
More tomorrow,
Lavabe
I'll try to get to this tomorrow, but there's one aspect that I've noticed as it relates to my teaching. I've noticed that in my Conservation Seminar over here, I am talking more about my feelings than I would ever do in the U.S. I'll talk more about what I sense, both in my heart and mind. I think part of that is that when I talk with local people in the bush, they will often talk the same way. When I went up to Joffreville last week and talked with my two closest friends there, they could immediately read me, know what I am thinking, and know what I felt inside... and vice versa. They ARE like brothers. It's truly like close family, but they always stressed trusting local people at that level, and I've never forgotten it. The other aspect is, as I've just discovered today, that I am suddenly realizing that I carry a lot of peoples' stories and history, and few will pass on that history. My students expressed to me today just how little they know about local Malagasy culture. And I am still wrestling with that bombshell today.
The good news is that in my 0730 class of about 18 students, most are showing signs of writing well, including a few who explained their own local conservation threats, tied in with what they recall about their hometowns. And well, good writing from students will always give me an adrenaline rush.
Well... yogurt and grading await me.
More tomorrow,
Lavabe